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Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Art, Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged changes, journaling, may sarton, pat bean, Zion National Park on January 28, 2013| 14 Comments »

A Change in my Blogging Voice

One of the few pieces of art that I did while living in Gypsy Lee. I painted it during a 10-day stay at Zion National Park, which is one of my favorite places to visit.

“…The whole part of a journal is to catch events on the wing.” May Sarton

From the Road to at least Temporary Roots

My dookie beginning to 2013, thanks to the flu-crud and a broken foot, has slowed this wondering-wandering old broad down.

But I was slowing down even before that. Today marks the first day of the second month in which I traded life on the road in a 22-foot RV called Gypsy Lee for a 600-square foot apartment in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains.

A canyon wren that I saw, and painted, in Zion National Park.

I spent almost nine years in Gypsy Lee, which I realized is more time than I lived in any one home with roots in my life. These past years were the culmination of a lifetime of dreams, and I’m proud of myself that I made them come true. They were the ones in which I truly felt I was living the life I was supposed to lead. I hope travel will continue to be a part of my life, well as soon as my foot heals and lets me once again handle the three flights of stairs up to my apartment. But for now I am enjoying my choice of a temporary home base.

And I can’t help but think that perhaps being slowed down for a while isn’t even going to turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Yes, I’m still a Pollyanna kind of girl who will never give up looking for that rainbow after the storm.

My inspiration for my tree and canyon wall painting — Photo by Pat Bean

One of the silver linings to have magically appeared has been Betty Ann, a neighbor who now gives my energetic canine companion, Pepper, her daily four walks. She’s turned out to be a kindred soul, who shares my love of books, writing and animals. If not for her I would either have had to move in with my gracious, Tucson daughter, who is currently doing my laundry and shopping, or sent Pepper home with her until my foot healed. I wasn’t fond of either of those choices.

The second bit of silver is that my forced inside time has me once again dragging out my art supplies. I carried them around with me in Gypsy Lee, but except for a rare occasion they stayed packed away. Now I have room to keep them handy and hope to return to being artsy fartsy, as I call my amateur endeavors. I’m even going to be brave enough to start sharing them with you.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling my way as to what this blog will be all about in the coming year. The best I can tell you is it’s going to be eclectic and “my life on the wing.” Hopefully it will once again be daily as well. I think I have my blogging mojo back. But don’t hold your breath.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Relax – Go with the flow http://tinyurl.com/abhdxpv Since I’m been doing this since breaking my foot, I liked this post for making me feel better about myself.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Beyond

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged beyond, chalk river, pat bean, weekly photo challenge on January 20, 2013| 23 Comments »

“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” — Albert Einstein

The Gold That Lies Beyond

This golden meadow beyond Chalk River reminded me of the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. — Photo by Pat Bean

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Update on the Sprained Ankle

The doctor had the audacity to laugh after skeptically agreeing my foot should be re-X-rayed.

“Oh you were right to trust your instincts,” he said, a big smile on your face. “It is broken.”

She-ee-et was my response. My grandmother said if you could say the manure word using three syllables, you would remain a lady.

I wonder just how many times you can say it before the lady loses her standing, because I repeated the word quite a few times when he said that I would most likely be in a cast for eight weeks.

I want my life back, and so I’m trying hard to look beyond the next eight weeks.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Winged Display http://tinyurl.com/a5u5esn Fantastic photo of a great horned owl.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Illumination

Posted in Books, Journeys, Nature, tagged favorite books, illumination, pat bean, weekly photo challenge on January 12, 2013| 4 Comments »

“The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experiences of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.” — Moses Hadas

A Tree — and Just a Few of my Many Favorite Books

Simply a tree that grows in the front yard of my son, Lewis, who lies on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Simply a tree that grows in the front yard of my son, Lewis, who lives on the Texas Gulf Coast.

The Farseer Trilogies by Robin Hobb

Erroneous Zones by Wayne Dyer

Road Fever by Tim Cahill

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Through Wolf’s Eyes by Jane Lindskold

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Arrows of the Queen and all the rest of the Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackey

The Deep Blue Good-Bye and the 20 other Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald

Anything by Agatha Christie

And Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

Now, please share some of your favorite books.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise

Posted in Nature, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged pat bean, postaday, Ralph Waldo Emerson, weekly photo challenge on December 22, 2012| 5 Comments »

“Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Waiting to Surprise Someone

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Passing the Buck to Edward Abbey

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Nature, tagged Edward Abbey, pat bean, postaday on December 20, 2012| 7 Comments »

Edward Abbey — Wikipedia photo

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” – Edward Abbey

One of My Heroes

Edward Abbey’s above quote is possibly my favorite of all quotes. If you’re one of those like me, who seeks out Mother Nature at every opportunity, I’m sure you’ll understand.

Abbey, author of the “Monkey Wrench Gang,” “Desert Solitaire,” “Fire on the Mountain,” and others, also said:

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”

“The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other – instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.”

“Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit.”

“Society is like a stew. If you don’t stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.”

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Penguin Encounter http://tinyurl.com/cqqocs3 Continuation of Wild Junket’s Antarctica adventure.

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Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged changing lifestyles, Guadalupe Mountains, Guadalupe Peak, pat bean, postaday, tuccson on December 18, 2012| 4 Comments »

Texas to Arizona

“Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you’re riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your visit to reality. Wake up and live!” – Bob Marley

Changing Lifestyles – At Least Temporarily

The Guadalupe Mountains — Photo by Pat Bean

After two months of leisurely cross-country travel, which I just completed blogging about, and six weeks traveling around Texas to enjoy the company of children and grandchildren whom I hadn’t seen since April or longer, I set off to Tucson to spend Christmas with my youngest daughter and her family.

My canine traveling companion, Pepper, and I made the 950-mile trip in three days, which was way too fast for sight-seeing along the way. That’s best done by traveling only a hundred miles and then staying put for a day or more.

The first night I made it to Anson, Texas, where I hooked Gypsy Lee up for the night in a not-too-appealing RV park that was shared with a motel. It was located next to a noisy cotton mill and litter, every piece of which Pepper wanted to investigate, was plentiful on our short walks around the area.

Guadalupe Peak — Photo by PatBean

The next day, the drive was accompanied by rain, dust storms and high winds that sent tumbleweeds doing their thing across the highway. The wind had RV, Gypsy Lee, doing a rock and roll dance, even after I stopped for the day early in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Thankfully the RV park was nicer.

The next day was calm, and when Highway 180 took me back into Texas through the Guadalupe Mountains, I stopped briefly to enjoy being in the presence of Guadalupe Peak which at 8,749 feet is the highest point in Texas.

After that, I stayed in the driver’s seat, stopping only for gas until I reached Tucson, which is where Pepper and I are going to stay — at least for a while. I found a small pet-friendly, one-bedroom apartment in the Catalina Mountain foothills, which after living in a tiny RV for eight years, seems like a mansion.

But I’m keeping Gypsy Lee primed for the road for when the wanderlust hits again.

Book Report: Still in snail mode.

Bean’s Pat: Bird Light Wind http://tinyurl.com/cnevdu8 Red-shouldered hawk. Fantastic photos

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Delicate

Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged Arches National Park, delicate, pat bean, Utah parks, weekly photo challenge on December 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

It’s a Matter of Balance

“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and woried to death by a fown on the right man’s brow.” — Ovid

Balancing Rock in Utah’ Arches National Park. You can see it in the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. — Photo by Pat Bean

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Chalk Ridge Falls

Posted in Favorite Hikes, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged chalk ridge falls, hiking, pat bean, postaday on December 14, 2012| 3 Comments »

Another hiker, the only one we saw on the hike, volunteered to take our picture.

“Collect moments, not things.” – Unknown

A Hike for the Memory Bank

When my oldest son, D.C. graduated from high school in Utah, he joined the Army, which sent him to Hawaii. Then he got married, had three kids, made the Army his career, had many tours of overseas duty, and when he was stateside, he and I never lived in the same state.

The waterfall. — Photo by Pat Bean

He finally retired, and lately we’ve finally been able to spend more than just a day or two together maybe once a year. Not only did I get to have Thanksgiving with him and his family this year, he and I found time to take a hike together. It was great easy trail, with a waterfall at the end of a loop, turtles sunning themselves on logs and a suspension bridge across a river. Mother Nature kept calling me to look at this tree or that plant.

But it will now be awhile before I see D.C. and his family again. Gypsy Lee, Pepper and I are back on the road to visit another child. When you have five kids, as I did way too many years ago, and they all scatter to the five winds, that becomes a way of life.

The turtles. When I tried to get closer they dove beneath the water. — Photo by Pat Bean

That’s why memories are important. And the photos I took of the hike will bring them back many times. I hope you don’t mind my sharing them with you. Book Report: Stuck again. It seems the closer I get to the end of Travels with Maggie, the slower I get. What’s up with this I’m asking myself.

Bean’s Pat: The Leisurely Life http://tinyurl.com/d6n8vue After the storm, birds and sunsets

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A Tennessee Warbler and a Bluebird

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Birds, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged eastern bluebiird, nstchez trace state resort park, pat bean, postaday, tennessee warbler on December 8, 2012| 3 Comments »

“I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it. – Oscar Hammerstein II

Tennessee warbler — Wikipedia photo by Jerry Oldenette

Adventures with Pepper: Day 55

Natchez Trace State Resort Park was awesome, and I would have stayed much longer than one night except I had no phone or internet service, and I had a magazine writing deadline to meet.

Eastern bluebird — Photo by Pat Bean

I didn’t rush to get off the next morning, however, because my plan was to just drive to Memphis, 120 miles away.

After much debating with myself during the night, I had decided to skip the remainder of the Natchez Trace and take the quicker shorter route home to family. The decision was partly based on my desire to hug children and grandchildren and partly on budget concerns. Gypsy Lee’s furnace was acting up and I needed to get it checked out, and I thought what I saved on the trip would cover any needed repairs.

Thankful that I had finally made the decision, I let myself enjoy a cup of coffee while I stared out at Pin Oak Lake and watched the sun come up. I’m learning that sometimes you need to just sit for a while without your hands on a keyboard or a book in your hand. It’s taken me way too many years to learn the reward of doing this, which most days is just renewed energy for a busy day ahead.

This day I had a different reward. First there was the Tennessee warbler, about 10 of them merrily pecking in the grass right outside my RV. Thankfully they stayed around long enough for me to get out my field guide and identify them as the bird was a lifer for me, meaning the first one of its species that I had identified.

It was the 703^rd bird species to go on my list, and I watched them until they decided it was time to move on.

The second reward was a colorful eastern bluebird that was using the mirror of the truck parked next to me to watch itself in the vehicle’s window. It kept turning around and around for a better look. And it was so interested in itself that I was able to slide my RV window open and get a good picture.

What a great start to my day.

Book Report: Back to working on Travels with Maggie more seriously. I’m almost back to where I decided to reread what I had already edited this second time around. I was mostly pleased with what I read, and made a format decision that should let me finish the last few chapters more quickly.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Serenity Spell http://tinyurl.com/a4gfcco Eyes of the Everglades. I love black-crowned night herons.

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Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged decisions, kudzu, Natchez Trace, pat bean, postaday, robert frost on December 6, 2012| 6 Comments »

The Road Not Taken — and Kudzu

Kudzu taking over the landscape. Photo by Pat Bean ,

“Everyone has to make their own decisions … You just have to be able to accept the consequences without complaining.” – Grace Jones

Adventures with Pepper: Day: Day 53-54

After two sight-seeing filled days in Nashville, I stayed put at Nashville RV Park for an extra day so as to catch up on my journal, my writing, and some needed rest. I spent most of that day, however, replotting my route back to Texas.

Pin Oak Lake, Natchz Trace State Resort Park, Tennessee. — Photo by Pat Bean

I had planned to drive the entire Natchez Trace but was now reconsidering. I had previously driven the lower end of the trace, and if I only spent one day on the historic old foot path, I could cut miles and days off my trip back to Texas.

Usually when I get into an argument with myself about which route to take, the longer, slower, less traveled one wins the day. But my slow, beit fantastic, drive through Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway had been tiring.

I was also eager to once again hook up with kids and grandkids that I hadn’t seen in over half a year. So this time, after a night of sleeplessly continuing to mull the decision, I didn’t take Robert Frost’s less-traveled road, but his road-not-taken instead.

It was

A bit of color could be seen through the trees, but today’s drive was mostly a green one. — Photo by Pat Bean

a slow pleasant 150-mile drive in which autumn’s fall colors had been replaced by trees buried beneath kudzu. If you’re not from the South, you might ask what is kudzu.

It’s an invasive plant that grows and spreads over the landscape like uncontrolled wild fires, beautiful but deadly to plants that it envelops in its viny arms.

I ended the day at Tennessee’s Natchez Trace State Resort Park, where I hooked Gypsy Lee up beside Pin Oak Lake, took Pepper for a long walk, then settled down with her outside to watch the sun set over the lake.

I went to be still thinking about my choice of routes because the options were still ahead of me.

Book Report: Worked on Travels with Maggie for only a half hour this morning, stopping for a dentist appointment.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Life out of the Box http://tinyurl.com/cptj25y The value of a notebook. This should give us all pause to be thankful for what we have.

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