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Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category

This Bird’s Not a Wizard

Posted in Birds, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , , on September 30, 2013| 4 Comments »

 

This great photo of a Merlin in pursuit of a blue jay was taken by John Harrison who put it up on Wikimedia. You can see his photos at: http://flickr.com/photos/15512543@N04/

This great photo of a Merlin in pursuit of a blue jay was taken by John Harrison who put it up on Wikimedia.

 

“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Yet I Think It’s Magical

I had been seeing this dark bird shape flash overhead for several days, but hadn’t got a good enough look to identify it. Solving the mystery of what bird I’m observing is part of my bird-watching passion.

A close up look at a merlin. -- Wikimedia photo

A close up look at a merlin. — Wikimedia photo

It was mourning dove size, but it flew nothing like a dove. I thought it flew like a hawk but it was too small for the Cooper’s hawks that have been keeping the apartment complex company all year.

The brief glimpses I had of the bird were tantalizingly frustrating. It would fly overhead past me, and by the time I looked up after seeing its shadow, it had disappeared into the trees.

Merlins, before they grew up and became majestic birds of prey. -- Wikimedia photo

Merlins, before they grew up and became majestic birds of prey. — Wikimedia photo

Finally a few mornings ago, as I sat drinking my cream-laced coffee and watching dawn break, I identified it as a merlin. It whizzed past my third floor balcony at eye level, probably after one of the small song birds that had been flitting around waiting to catch the morning sun, too.

Merlins are not year-round residents of the Tucson area, but they do migrate through and winter here, according to my birding field guide. Since I haven’t seen the merlin in the past couple of days, and since it’s not yet winter, I suspect it was just passing through on its way farther south.

With all the small birds around the complex, it probably decided this was a good place to fuel up. Merlins, according to Cornell University’s ornithological web site, rely on speed and agility to hunt their prey. The merlins often hunt by flying fast and low, using trees and large shrubs to take prey by surprise. While they actually capture most birds in flight, they will also tail-chase a bird to catch it.

. While not a lifer, I’ve only been able to identify this member of the falcon family a few times. But bird experts say the merlin is becoming more numerous in urban areas, so perhaps there are more “magical” merlin sightings in my future.

The Wondering-Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering-Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Ian Butler Photographer http://tinyurl.com/ledqorr Great photo of a dunlin for all you birders out there.

 

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September in the Rear View Mirror

Posted in Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , on September 27, 2013| 8 Comments »

   “You know, people talk about this being an uncertain time. You know, all time is uncertain. I mean it was uncertain back in – in 2007, we just didn’t know it was uncertain. It was – uncertain on December 10th, 2001. It was uncertain on October 18th, 1987, you just didn’t know it.” – Warren Buffet

I want to think of September as the beginning of my favorite time of year -- but now I know it has to be shared with 9/11.

I want to think of September as the beginning of my favorite time of year — but now I know it has to be shared with 9/11. — Photo by Pat Bean

I Let the Month Pass Purposely

Nine/Eleven: A word that once was only the numbers one called in an emergency. Now, 9/11 has become a synonym for pain, anger, tragedy, loss, and images of two toppling towers, a violated Pentagon, and a plane crash in which both villains and heroes died.

The first sign of autumn from my balcony window. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The first sign of autumn from my balcony window. — Photo by Pat Bean

Perhaps that is why I’m suddenly realizing I lost what has always been my best month of the year, the one that ushers in my favorite season of the year, autumn. I realized my loss when I wrote down the date in my journal this morning and the unthinking passage of time was hammered into my brain.

It’s not unusual for me to let time slip by too fast without thought, but this feels different. I saw people blogging about the terrorist attack earlier this month, and decided both not to read those blogs, not to think about their content, and certain not to write a similar one of my own .

I was a newspaper city editor on that fateful day back in 2001, and the job had immersed me in giving local meaning of the tragedy event to the paper’s 65,000 readers. I had followed up the next year in overseeing and writing a memorial series on 9/11.

Enough was enough, I had thought this year when I thought to ignore the day. I want my cup to be half full not half empty. I want to remember happier days. And so I let September slip me by.

But now I’m remembering, and as I write this my eyes are becoming moist. I guess I wasn’t meant to forget.

The Wondering-Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering-Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: At least this blogger kept his eyes open to the joys of September http://tinyurl.com/ma4mmeq

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Bluebird of Happiness

Posted in Birds, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , on September 20, 2013| 2 Comments »

  “The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression.” – Gary Larson

Three Choices 

Male mountain bluebird. Have you ever seen anything bluer? -- Wikipedia photo

Male mountain bluebird. Have you ever seen anything bluer? — Wikipedia photo

           North America has three bluebirds, an eastern, a western and the mountain bluebird. My tiny blue, glass figurine that represents the symbol of happiness — which is still hidden somewhere in the bins I stored away before taking to the road in my RV — most certainly represents the mountain variety. I hope I find it soon.

A mountain bluebird’s feathers, in my experience, are the bluest of blues. So blue that I was startled the day I first saw one. It seemed to sparkle in the cool, high mountain air where a recent snowfall had frosted the spruces and firs.

It was April 10, 1999. The day is etched in my memory because it was the day I began a passionate love affair with all birds – from the gigantic California condor, whose recovery from near extinction I have often wrote about, to the tiny calliope who once flashed me with its brilliant purple neck feathers.

This is an eastern bluebird that I photographed in the Natchez Trace as he sat on the rearview mirror of my RV. Hes cute, too, isn't he? == Photo by Pat Bean

This is an eastern bluebird that I photographed in the Natchez Trace as he sat on the rearview mirror of my RV. He’s cute, too, isn’t he? — Photo by Pat Bean

I’ve seen many mountain bluebirds since then, including at least 300 the time I was driving Highway 95 through the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. For about 10 miles of the drive, small flocks of the birds flittered along the roadside as I passed them by. I occasionally pulled off the road for a better look through my binoculars. The red-rock settings of the canyon made the blue feathers of the bird stand out — and glitter like stars on a dark night away from city lights.

Once, I participated in an Audubon check of bluebird boxes near the top of Monte Cristo in Northern Utah. During one of the nest box inspections, the leader of this long-term project was dive-bombed by two agitated bird parents as he unscrewed the top of the box so we could all check what was inside. I held my breath as I observed six baby mountain bluebirds with developing soft smoky gray feathers. It was truly a magical moment, especially when we all retreated and the parents saw that their babies were unharmed.

And so was the moment I had yesterday, when I observed my first mountain bluebird in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains, which are now my backyard.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: 23 Thorns http://tinyurl.com/qbdv4fk I started this blog because it was titled Baobab Tree. I can’t resist trees — or blogs about them. But the blog talked about a lot more than trees, including rhinos and fish eagles, and I was fascinated and charmed by the conversation, lengthy though it was – and with more to come. .

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Posted in Nature, Quote for the Day, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , on September 16, 2013| 2 Comments »

Weekly Photo Challenge

  “When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out — because that’s what’s inside. When your are squeezed what comes out is what is inside.” — Wayne Dyer  “

Who's looking at who? -- Photo by Pat Bean

Who’s looking at who? — Photo by Pat Bean

Inside an Aquarium

Yellow is the color of these school uniforms

Yellow is the color of these school uniforms, — Photo by Pat Bean

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx.

Just passing by. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Just passing by. — Photo by Pat Bean

“Death is not the greatest loss. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.” – Norman Cousins.

           Bean’s Pat: Summer Fun: http://tinyurl.com/mm3jckm The world as seen through the eyes of youth is always more fun. I liked this blog because it reminds us to stay young at heart.

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Photo Challenge: An Unusual Point of View

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Art, Journeys, Nature, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , on September 9, 2013| 3 Comments »

 

    “Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.” – Henry David Thoreau

Mother Nature used the rain to paint this canvas of wet and dry gravel pattrns. My apartment is at the top of the stairs yu see in the background. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Mother Nature used the rain to paint this canvas of wet and dry gravel pattrns. My apartment is at the top of the stairs you see in the background. — Photo by Pat Bean

Morning Walk with Pepper

It was lightly drizzling this morning when Pepper and I took a walk while dawn made her presence known. This is my favorite time of day, and as usual, Pepper and I  had the apartment complex courtyards to ourselves.

This is a close-up of the lavender blossoms on the bush next to the tree, which a gardener neatly trimmed. I can't help but wonder how many blossoms were lost to the trimming tool. -- Photo by Pat Bean

This is a close-up of the lavender blossoms on the bush next to the tree, which a gardener neatly trimmed. I can’t help but wonder how many blossoms were lost to the trimming tool. — Photo by Pat Bean

Some mornings we leave the manicured grounds and take the short trail beyond the parking lot ,so as to glimpse a view of the unfettered desert in  its many moods. But not this morning.

Today, we simply walked the path we walk several times a day, keeping our eyes open to the world around us. Well, I keep my eyes open and Pepper keeps her nose open. Like most dogs, she sees more through smell than I see through my eyes.

Her nose lets her know there is a lizard hiding beneath that rock over yonder, and that Ellie, a favorite German shepherd playmate, peed beside this tree. Of course she pees on top of the spot to let Ellie know she’s been here, too.

My eyes, meanwhile, take in a canvas painted by the rain. It’s the pattern of wet and dry gravel beneath a tree just outside my apartment. I don’t have my camera with me, but after our walk I retrieve it and go back down from my third-floor apartment to capture Mother Nature’s whimsical drawing – well that’s how I see it.

And then I realize that it can serve as my point of view for the week’s photo challenge.

Bean’s Pat: Hoof Beats and Foot Prints http://tinyurl.com/nz6fu4o This is a blogger who also takes time to capture the simple things that can be found in a day, when you take the time to look.

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Favorite Places: Sabino Canyon

Posted in Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , on August 28, 2013| 12 Comments »

Looking down from the road at one of the water-filled pools in Sabino Canyon. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Looking down from the road at one of the water-filled pools in Sabino Canyon. — Photo by Pat Bean

            “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton.

Six Miles from Home

Seeing this country from coast to coast and border to border has always been more important to me than stepping on foreign shores. That’s not because I don’t want to visit other countries, but because I’ve always believed America, because of being my native country, should be explored first.

The desert's many varieties of cactus and their flowers fascinate me. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The desert’s many varieties of cactus and their flowers fascinate me. — Photo by Pat Bean

Of course there is also the fact of a limited budget, and the fact I can see more of this country within its bounds then I can any other place.

With the exception of Rhode Island, I have now been in every state, including Hawaii and Alaska – and am now saving up to go to Australia. My itch to see and visit new places, meanwhile, is being satisfied right here in Tucson.

I’ve never lived in the desert before, so just observing its beautiful landscape is a pleasurable experience. I didn’t know a desert had so much color – but then the upper Sonoran Desert here in Tucson is the lush desert. It gets more rain – actually right now we’re in its monsoon season – than other deserts.

It was just after one of our recent rumbling thunderstorms, complete with a lightning show, that I visited Sabino Canyon, which is just six miles up the road from where I live. Its pools were filled with water, and delightful to the eye.

 

I think this rock spire had a name, but I can't remember it. Maybe I will learn what it's called on my next visit to the canyon. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I think this rock spire had a name, but I can’t remember it. Maybe I will learn what it’s called on my next visit to the canyon. — Photo by Pat Bean

 

I was amazed in my travels that I have met so many people who failed to visit landmarks in their own backyards, ones that people traveled thousands of miles to see. I promised myself to never be one of them.

Travel doesn’t always have to mean an overseas airplane ride. It can simply mean going down the road a bit to see a new sight, like Sabino Canyon. It was a fun outing, which included a shuttle ride, since you can’t drive your vehicle through the canyon, and a short hike.

I plan to do it again, soon.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: North Sydney Birds http://tinyurl.com/ncdbchg If one can’t physically travel, one can still visit other places, and even bird watch, from an armchair. I do a lot of this.

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What’s Most Important

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , on August 26, 2013| 4 Comments »

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene

You may never find that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but that shouldn't keep you from looking. -- Photo by Pat Bean

You may never find that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but that shouldn’t keep you from looking. — Photo by Pat Bean

Stepping into the Unknown

            I’m not a person who likes to give advice. I’ve made too many bad decisions in my own life to think I can mentor anyone else, particularly someone whose end goals may be 180 degrees from my own.

This refrigerator magnet is how I want to be remembered.

This refrigerator magnet is how I want to be remembered.

But the ages have taught me that if you want something in life, you should go for it. And then, if you don’t get it, you should celebrate yourself for having the guts to have gone for it.

Some things we want, like my fulfilling my dream of travel by selling my home, buying an RV and driving that first mile, only depended on me having the guts to do it.

Other things, like my dream of finding an agent and a publisher for my book, “Travels with Maggie,” depend on others – and it may never happen.  So right now, I’m celebrating each rejection slip as a triumph. I’m taking that first step toward my goal – and even if I never achieve it, I’ll know it wasn’t because I didn’t try.  

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Not Yet There http://tinyurl.com/m8clwct My morning coffee and my journal and list of things to do for the day are the way I start my days.  And so this poem and photo spoke to me.

 

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Some People Call it Lost

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , on August 20, 2013| 15 Comments »

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. – Freya Stark  

I call it an incredible Adventure

Even when I have a view of Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater. I'm thinking about my next travel adventure. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

Even when I have a view of Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater. I’m thinking about my next travel adventure. — Photo by Kim Perrin

            A friend of mine was bemoaning the fact that she was leaving her long-time home to move to an apartment in a new state. I truly didn’t know how to console her.

Every move I’ve ever made, and there have been many, has been greeted with enthusiasm and excitement: The opportunity to experience the other side of the fence has always been with me. Even as a young child, I was always exploring the world around me with eagerness, often to destroying my mother’s peace of mind.

I have friends who still pal around with the same people they met in kindergarten. I think I would like that, but I know for certain that I wouldn’t be willing to give up the transient life I’ve had, although some times the moves were just from one home to another in the same city.

 

I'm currently exploring the desert landscape, which includes lots of yucca plants, in Tucson, where my itchy feet have agreed to rest for a bit. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I’m currently exploring the desert landscape, which includes lots of yucca plants, in Tucson, where my itchy feet have agreed to rest for a bit. — Photo by Pat Bean

This is probably why Freya Stark’s quote, which begins this blog, spoke to me. While my travels will never excel this woman’s adventures – who was born in Paris in 1893 and died in Italy in 1993 and wrote 25 travel books, mostly about the Middle East – I have traveled many nooks and crannies of this country with a few over-the-sea adventures as well.

As so often when someone fascinates me, like Freya did when I read her quote,  I made an online visit to Amazon to see what I could find. My bank balance is now lighter by a few dollars as I just bought Stark’s biography, “Passionate Nomad, by Jane Fletcher Geniesse,

It’s supposed to arrive by Friday. I can hardly wait.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Hell Storm http://tinyurl.com/n4v3psm Life goes on and I like how this blogger, one of my favorite with his great photos, mostly of abandoned Americana, doesn’t whine.  

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Family Matters

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Travels With Maggie, tagged , on August 8, 2013| 12 Comments »

“The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective.” — Robert Brault

It’s All about Love

Family is like this waterfall, turbulent at times but always with a rainbow in sight. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Family is like this waterfall, turbulent at times but always with a rainbow in sight. — Photo by Pat Bean

I was listening to a woman tell a group of us what a wonderful family gathering she had just come from, and was beginning to inwardly moan at yet another “perfect family” story  when she added an addendum to her first words.

“Of course the fun was in spite of the fact that everyone in our family has big personalities. It only took an hour or two before the tensions erupted.”

In a nut shell, she had just described my family, which has been fractured and thrown to the four winds time and time again. But we’re family. And that means something — even if I’m not always sure what it means.

I’m the matriarch of five children and five spouse-in-laws; 15 grandchildren plus two more by marriage, plus seven or so grand-spouse-in-laws or partners, plus several non-related young people I claim as grandchildren; and  two great-grandchildren plus two more by marriage.

I’m not even going to count the numbers, because what counts is that each and every one is family, and family matters. Not a single one of them – I dare say not even the great-grandchildren — is perfect. And they all have big personalities — and in those two things I can truthfully say they all take after me.

I feel like the luckiest, if at times the most frustrated, person in the world.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat:  So you just write the book http://tinyurl.com/ltyqwl6 As one who is struggling with the third rewrite of “Travels with Maggie,” this tickled my funny bone. Writing is darn hard work  — even if you love doing it and consider it as necessary as breathing.

 

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Time for Nonsense

Posted in Birds, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , on August 6, 2013| 3 Comments »

The Llama Song – Listen to it: http://tinyurl.com/2jy2tc

            Here’s a llama. There’s a llama. And another little llama. Fuzzy llama. Funny llama. Llama llama duck. Llama Llama. Cheesecake llama. Tablet. Brick. Potato llama. Llama llama, duck.

            I was once a tree house. Lived in a cake. But I never saw the way the orange slayed the rake. I was only three years dead. But it told a tale. And now listen little child. To the safety rail.

            Did you ever see a llama? Kiss a llama. On the llama. Llamas llamas. Taste of llamas. Llama llama duck.

            Is that how it’s told now? Is it all so old?  Doorknob. Ankle. Cold. Now my song is getting thin. I’ve run out of luck! Time for me to retire now. And become a duck.

IMG_3743

Here’s the llama… — Photo by Pat Bean

Laughter is Good for the Soul

And here's the duck. They were both photographed at Riverside Park in Bayfield, Colorado -- Photo by Pat Bean

And here’s the duck. They were both photographed at Riverside Park in Bayfield, Colorado — Photo by Pat Bean

 

And this crazy song makes me laugh and laugh, Supposedly it was written by someone called Burton Earny in 2004, who has since gone into hibernation.

What makes you laugh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Pete Scully http://tinyurl.com/mwtwo5o One of the artists whose blogs I’ve begun following. I love Pete’s sketches.

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