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Weekly Photo Challenge: Ready

Posted in Birds, Favorite Places, Travel, Uncategorized, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , , , on February 13, 2012| 8 Comments »

 “Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is bliss, taste it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is life, fight for it.” – Mother Teresa 

A Canada goose READY for take off at Farragut State Park in Northern Idaho. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

Bean’s Pat: Martina’s Design Studio: Gone Too Far To Turn Back. http://photosbymartina.wordpress.com/ Words to live by.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Launch

Posted in Journeys, Travel, Uncategorized, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , , on January 7, 2012| 9 Comments »

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” – Henry David Thoreau

Launching myself out of an airplane was a scary moment -- but I smiled all the way down. -- Photo by NikNak

I’ve always thought the advice to do something that scares you at least once a year was good advice. Besides the jolt of adrenalin it gives your brain, it helps in gaining a true appreciation for life.

Following that advice wasn’t hard to do when white-water rafting was my passion. But with age, that activity drifted away with the currents. I found that canoeing was more in tune with my body.

When I turned 70, I got my annual  jolt of adrenalin by jumping out of an airplane, which I thought perfectly fit this week’s photo challenge.

But I now I face another challenge. What can this wandering/wondering old broad do this year to scare herself. I’m open to suggestions.

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Great Egret

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on December 28, 2011| 2 Comments »

There's gotta be a tasty morsel down there somewhere -- Photo by Pat Bean

“For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive.”– David Herbert Lawrence
 
Bird Talk
 
Went birding this morning instead of posting my blog. So all you get today is a picture of the great egret I watched fishing for its dinner at the Sea Center in Lake Jackson, Texas.  I hope you had a great day, too.

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Weekly Photo Challenge

Posted in Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Uncategorized, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , on December 23, 2011| 4 Comments »

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.” — Gandhi
 
Between
 
Life works better if one doesn’t get between angry alligators. It’s sort of like the admonition not to dismiss dragons if you live near one.
Standoff in Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp — Photo by Pat Bean

Maggie Post Script: The new medicine hasn’t arrived yet and she’s still in pain, but thankfully sleeping right now.  We both thank everyone for their kind wishes, and just wanted everyone to know we’re both hanging in there.

 
 
 
 
 

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Cowboys and Giants, Errands and Beach-Walking

Posted in Birds, Books, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2011| 2 Comments »

“I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it on all the beaches of the world … perhaps you’ve seen it.” – Steven Wright

Wave-watching from the Quintana Jetty on the Texas Gulf Coast. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum’s latest antics in “Explosive Eighteen” called louder to me last night than the Cowboys and Giants.

This ruddy turnstone was also wave-watching. -- Photo by Pat Bean

So after dinner with my son and his family, I escaped back out to my RV to read instead of watch the Dallas Cowboy?New York Giants football game. As a Dallas native, I’m an avid cowboy fan, but I seldom watch football these days, preferring instead to read about the game the next day.

I also knew that this particularly game was going to spark family tensions. My Texan son, Lewis, would be pulling for the Cowboys, while my fantastic New Yorker daughter-in-law, Karen, would be rooting for the Giants. Both of them are rabid followers of their teams.

My son left for work before I got up this morning, but my daughter-in-law stopped by my RV to say good-bye before she left for the day. I

Footprints in the sand intrigue me. -- Photo by Pat Bean

didn’t need to ask who won. The smile on her face lit up the overcast dawn. Hopefully my son will have cheered up by the time he gets home.

In the meantime, I have errands to run. I have to mail off Christmas packages and get propane for my RV, which means a road trip from Lake Jackson to Brazoria.

After that, Maggie and I are going to the beach for a little bird-watching, wave-watching and sand-walking. I can’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon. Can you?

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100 Things For Which I’m Thankful

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on November 24, 2011| 10 Comments »

Happy Thanksgiving All

Butterflies to chase with my camera -- Photo by Pat Bean

 My following annual list of 100 things I’m thankful for is in no particular order. 

  1. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo
  2. My dog, Maggie
  3. Family, which includes 5 children, 15 grandchildren, and 5 (soon to be 6) great-grandchildren.
  4. Friends, both old and new
  5. Purple and pink sunrises
  6. Jack in the Box chocolate milk shakes
  7. Still having a zest for life at 72
  8. Being an American woman who can feel safe traveling the country alone
  9. My new computer, when its working right
  10. The Internet
  11. Mother Nature
  12. Underarm deodorant
  13. Physical therapy that’s taken away the pain in my neck
  14. Scenic hiking trails
  15. The view from atop Angel’s Landing
  16. The rain this week in Texas
  17. Books
  18. My Kindle
  19. My son’s safe return from Afghanistan

    My son's safe return from Afghanistan -- Photo by Pat bean

  20. Pleasant surprises
  21. Audible books
  22. My RV, Gypsy Lee
  23. Comfortable shoes
  24. That I finally visited Yosemite this year
  25. My summer as a campground host at Lake Walcott State Park in Idaho
  26. The double image of a roseate spoonbill in a pond.
  27. A walk on the beach
  28. A challenging game of Settlers
  29. Backroads
  30. The opportunity to learn something new every day
  31. Story Circle Network
  32. Birds in all their variations
  33. Soft blankets
  34. Good coffee heavily laced with cream
  35. Air conditioning in summer and heat in winter
  36. Fresh fallen snow
  37. The achievements of my children and grandchildren
  38. Gardens
  39. Over-sized, soft flannel pajamas
  40. Good memories
  41. My digital pocket camera
  42. WordPress that hosts my daily blog
  43. Good health
  44. My curiosity
  45. Blank journals and my favorite Pentelgel pen

    Autumn reflections -- Photo by Pat Bean

  46. Fresh pineapple
  47. Not knowing what the future holds
  48. Sitting around a campfire with friends
  49. The Rocky Mountains
  50. Butterflies to chase with my camera
  51. Rainbows
  52. Scented candles
  53. That I’m a writer
  54. Quotable quotes
  55. The Audubon Society
  56. My Social Security check
  57. People who don’t litter
  58. Museums and art galleries to visit
  59. A full moon night
  60. Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar,” recording
  61. Travel books that take me to faraway places
  62. My National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America
  63. A good hair cut, for Maggie, too

    My canine traveling companion, Maggie -- Photo by Pat Bean

  64. Dragonflies
  65. An orchid lei
  66. Smiles on people’s faces
  67. Van Gogh paintings
  68. Belly laughs
  69. Sister women
  70. Autumn reflections in a quiet lake
  71. Freshly laundered clothes
  72. Glowing sunsets
  73. Watching a thunder and lightning storm out my RV window
  74. Clean water to drink
  75. A hot bath
  76. National Parks
  77. County fairs
  78. Quiet time alone
  79. Redwood and Live Oak trees
  80. Wildlife sanctuaries
  81. Road trips
  82. Happy children
  83. Holidays with family around me
  84. America, from sea to shining sea
  85. Bright colors
  86. Southern Utah’s red-rock landscape
  87. Discovering a new writer whose books I can’t put down
  88. Having grandchildren who think Nana’s cool
  89. That I can afford, unaffordable health insurance
  90. My 37 years as a journalist
  91. Having too many things I want to do each day
  92. My blog followers
  93. Sun on a cool day, shade on a hot one
  94. A comfortable bed
  95. Warm chocolate chip cookies
  96. A good margarita
  97. Massages
  98. Texas bluebonnets
  99. Polite drivers
  100. And finally my determination to finish NaNoWriMo for the first time.

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Canyon View and NaNoWriMo Update

Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized, Writing, tagged , , , , on November 18, 2011| 5 Comments »

My Favorite Places

Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado -- Photo by Pat Bean

NaNoWriMo Update … 30,325 words

Through joy and through sorrow, I wrote. Through hunger and through thirst, I wrote. Through goo report and through ill report, I wrote. Through sunshine and through moonshire, I wrote. What I wrote is is unnecessary to say. — Edgar A. Poe

But Poe never had to write when his computer was suffering a glitch.

Anyway the bad news is no new words on my novel today. But I watched a glorious military retirement for my son, whom I am very proud of, and I got my computer back. So all is well, all is well.

And  tomorrow it’s back to NaNo and at least 2,000 more words.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Windows

Posted in Nature, Travel, Uncategorized, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , on November 6, 2011| 4 Comments »

Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won’t come in. — Alan Alda 

Windows into the past: Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. -- Photo by Pat Bean

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Grand Staircase – Escalante and NaNoWriMo Update

Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on November 4, 2011| 4 Comments »

 

Hogsback Ridge between Escalante and Boulder on Utah's Highway 12, often called America's most scenic road. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

My Favorite Places

 

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument landscape -- Photo by Pat Bean

“I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.” – Richard Wright

NaNoWriMo Update .. 8,326 words

Sitting down in front of the computer for five straight hours today wasn’t going to happen. I was stiff from two hours of physical therapy yesterday to make my old broad body unstiff, particularly my neck and shoulders.

So I did my writing in bits and spurts. I got up to 2,000 new words by 4 p.m., after starting at 6 a.m. Did I mention I was still in my pajamas?

My main character is going to have a dog, and if there’s anything I know it’s a relationship one can have with a beloved pet. So today I wrote a lot about that, along with planting a first clue for my mystery. I’ve always hated it when you read a mystery and there are either no clues – or no red herrings.

Thankfully today, I had nowhere to go and my daughter’s big house al to myself, well except for three dogs, one cat that needs insulin shots twice and day and three aquariums full of fish.

. It also showed me, however, that I tend to get more done on the days I have to do more. I’m finding this challenge very interesting.

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South Dakota’s Badlands

Posted in Travel, Uncategorized, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on October 27, 2011| 3 Comments »

Now why would anyone want to call this landscape the badlands. Awesome lands is what I would call this view located in the Badlands National Park.

 
 

The area in the center of this photo, taken in Badlands National Park, was once a jungle. -- Photo by Pat Bean

My Favorite Places

For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment, but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life – the light and the air which vary continually. For me, it only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value.” – Claude Monet

 

NaNoWri Mo Update

I’ve decided that I will start each November novel writing day with what’s long been my favorite song. It’s an oldie, but goodie that first topped the Billboard Chart back in 1972. It got me through many a tough day of working and raising children at the same time. The lyrics tell me “I can do anything.”

  I hope that includes writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

 I am Woman, Hear Me Roar 

“I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend
’cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
No one’s ever gonna keep me down again

You can bend but never break me
’cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
’cause you’ve deepened the conviction in my soul

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin’ arms across the land
But I’m still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman”

— Helen Reddy and Ray Burton

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