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I’m an Old Broad and Proud of It

Posted in Birds, Books, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Writing, tagged , , , , on January 2, 2012| 18 Comments »

 “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.” – Robert Frost

A tree that doesn't want to die. Now this is what I call a passion for life. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

When I first started writing about my travels, I tried to disguise the fact that I was an old broad. Then one day, after a hint from an online writing colleague that being an old broad was what set me apart from all the glamorous young women out there traveling in search of love. I claimed the honor.

I first heard the term “old broad” back when I was a journalist reporting on the environment. In writing about wilderness issues and the value of protecting it, I came across a group called “Great Old Broads for Wilderness.”

I sent this photo of me taken by my friend, Shirley Lee, in Cozumel to my kids announcing that I had a new boy friend. Even old broads want to have fun.

Wow, I thought, when I met some of these women, like Susan Tixier, the brain behind the organization, and author Terry Tempest Williams, as they exercised their passions to help protect wild lands from disappearing from America. Suddenly the term old broad seemed more honorific than derogatory.

Recently I’ve added a couple of new adjectives to my own old broad-persona that I feel fit perfectly. I’m a wandering-wondering old broad with passions for writing, travel, birds, books and Mother Nature.

One of my goals for this year is to rewrite my travel book with this voice. It’s too bad I didn’t do it the first time around. I won’t make that mistake this year with my blog. It’s a promise.

And my canine traveling companion, Maggie, who is also an old broad, is my witness.

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Eagerly Looking Forward to 2012

Posted in Birds, Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Writing, tagged , , , , , on December 31, 2011| 11 Comments »

 “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” Edwin Land

Travels With Maggie

 

I was hoping for a nice sunrise this morning to illustrate the start of both a new year and new day. But it's misty outside this morning here in Lake Jackson. The above sunrise, however, was one of many I enjoyed this year. It was taken on a June morning at Lake Walcott State Park in Idaho. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The melodious song of a Carolina Wren is playing outside my window, serenading me as I drink my morning two cups of cream-laced African coffee..

It is early, but I wanted to get a head start on writing my blog before I drive 300 miles to celebrate a late Christmas and New Year’s with my oldest daughter, who lives in Rowlett on the outskirts of Dallas.

Along with enjoying being serenaded by “hope with feathers,” I’m listening to the soft snores of my canine traveling companion, Maggie, who is curled up asleep on the couch. I’m grateful for the sound as Maggie is 14, and I know my days with her are limited. This is, especially true as she is still recovering from a painful chronic ear infection that has long resisted treatment.

I hope in 2012 to once again make it to the top of Angel's Landing in Zion. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

Darkness still holds the day at bay outside. I am happy and at peace with myself and the world as I await the sun, and perhaps a nice sunrise. A new day, with its blank pages so full of promise, always thrills me. Sometimes I make wise use of it, and sometimes I don’t.

A new year is even more thrilling. As always I greet it with resolutions to be better and do more.

I am looking forward to spending part of each day in 2012 writing this blog. My other writing goal is simply 500 words of writing a day, plus work on rewriting my travel book. As always, I hope to eat better (and less) and exercise more.

I’m also hoping this wandering/wondering old broad’s body will once again take me to the top of Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park.. It is my one special place in this world, and last year my body rebelled and wouldn’t get me up there. 

Hopefully this year will be different. Making the 2 ½ mile climb/scramble to the top gives me confidence that I can face anything fate throws my way.

Daylight is now coming. It’s misty so it looks like there will be no spectacular sunrise. Still, I greet the dawn with eagerness, as always wondering what surprises await me and Maggie as we head down the road.  I can hear Dr. Seuss’ words playing in my head. “Oh the places you’ll go, and the things you’ll see …”

Happy New Year all!

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15 Bloggers Who Tumble My Thoughts

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Writing, tagged , , on December 30, 2011| 5 Comments »

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” Anne Lamott

It's nice to be noticed. Thank you 4amWriter

Versatile Blogger Award

4amWriter, whose thought-provoking writing blog I discovered while participating in NANO, the challenge to write a first draft of a 50,000-word novel in the month of November, has honored me with a Versatile Blogger Award.

In return I am to thank the person who gave me the award, share seven things about myself, pass the honor along to 15 bloggers whose posts I enjoy reading, and then let each of them know about it. They, in turn, need to follow the above instructions.

There’s also something in the rules about linking to their blogs, but I haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet. If anyone can tell me, in kindergarten words, how to do it, I’ll praise your blog in an upcoming post. How’s that for motivation.

OK. Seven things about myself that you may or may not already know.

One: I’m fond of Pollyanna’s rose-colored glasses as a way to look at the world.

Two: I don’t like conflict and when possible I run in the opposite direction.

Three: I’m one of the most stubborn people you will every meet.

Where ever the road leads, that's where I want to go. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Four: My favorite adult drink is Jack Daniels and Coke

Five: I have no roots and feel most at home when I’m driving down a back road behind the wheel of my RV, Gypsy Lee, with my canine traveling companion, Maggie, at my side. .

Six: I was a newspaper journalist for 37 years, sneaking in the back door as a darkroom flunkie and ending my career as an associate editor at a 65,000 daily circulation paper.

Seven: I dropped out of high school to get married at the age of 16, had four kids by the age of 21 (five at 25) and at the age of 28 stuck into college without a high school diploma.

Eight: Who’s counting? Mother Nature is my higher power and I love to write about her. .

The blogs I like, and of course there are more than I named here, are ones that make me think They mostly reflect my interests of writing, birds, travel and nature.

To Write is To Write : http://towriteistowrite.com A blog for struggling writers and cat lovers.

Telling Herstories: http://storycirclenetwork.wordpress.com/ The Story Circle Networks blog for women writers.

Speak! Good Dog; http://magicdogpress.com About book publishing and lots of other things.

Life in the Bogs: http:bogsofohio.wordpress.com A love affair with photography, nature and one special pond.

Wazeau’s World: http://wazeau.wordpress.com Birds and cats living together with a prolific photographer. The photos usually make me laugh.

Love thy bike: http://lovethybike.wordpress.com Seeing the world on a bike. Great places, great photos.

Everywhere Once: http://everywhereonce.com Touring the country in a RV with Brian and Shannon

Chicks With Ticks: http://chickswithticks.wordpress.com A great blog about adventuring in the outdoors. It gets the adrenalin going.

Texas Tweeties: http://bobzeller.wordpress.com All about birds. A man with a passion.

Fabulous Geezer Sisters: http://www.geezersisters.com Author Ruth Pennyebaker thoughts on just about everything.

Martina’s Photography Designs: http://photosbymartina.wordpress.com Photographs of what the eyes see, the mind thinks and the heart feels.

The WUC http://thewuc.com A broth of thoughts, stories, wucs and wit. Sometimes not for the easily offended.

Not Yet There http://notyethere.wordpress.com Discovering this blogger, who shares my passion for nature and life’s journey, was one of the great things that happened to me in 2011.

A Year on the Road http://allevenson.wordpress.com Follow Al around the country in his RV, the Jolly Swag. Between his and my travels, you get a clearer picture of this country.

Deidra Alexander’s Blog http://deidraalexander.com A person with people to kill and lives to ruin. She’s a mystery writer and my latest blog find.

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Looking Back at 2011

Posted in Birds, Favorite Hikes, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Wildflowers, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on December 29, 2011| 16 Comments »

I stood at the top of Tioga Pass in 2011 and looked out at Yosemite's Half Dome. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver

Travels With Maggie

Been thinking about my New Year’s Resolutions. I always make them and I always break them’

This past year, however, I did almost keep one. And that was the goal to blog daily. I came up about a dozen blogs short. Just one slip a month.

Too bad I thought, when I counted them up.

Sand and snow at Great Sand Dune National Park in Colorado was an April view for me. -- Photo by Pat Bean

There was a lesson in the tallying, however. I realized how a mere slip here and there adds up. Next year I’m going to meet the goal of blogging daily, which has been a great way to keep track of my life, make new friends, share my travels, as well as my defeats and achievements. It’s also helped me gain a voice in my writing.

What I did last year, meanwhile, was to compete (after five years of failing) the NANO challenge of writing a first draft of a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. That’s the 2011 achievement I’m most proud of accomplishing. It wasn’t a New Year’s resolution, however.

I also knocked off a few places on my travel list this past year, including first visits to Yosemite and great Sand Dune national parks and to Mono Lake.

 

I volunteered for the summer as a campground host at Lake Walcott State Park, and plan to return there this coming summer. I was elected to the Board of Directors for Story Circle Network, the national writing group to which I belong. I had a photo of mine published in the Fodor’s African Safari Guide and my world bird list hit the 700 mark, of which about 500 are North American species.

And Maggie and I made sure to take time to smell the flowers that grew in 2011. -- Photo by Pat Bean

All in all, I think it was a pretty good year.

 It’s finally time, I’ve decided, to stop beating myself up for all the things I didn’t do and give myself credit for what I did do. I truly hope you will do the same.

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Posted in Nature, Travels With Maggie, Writing, tagged , , , , , on December 25, 2011| 7 Comments »

 

My blogging friend, Kathy (To Write Is To Write, http://tinyurl.com/6v75bjp ) wrote about her favorite Christmas song today, and inspired me to do the same.

I’m not a religious person, finding my higher power in Mother Nature’s world. I believe, if there is a god, we can find him or her within ourselves. And so despite the chaos we see in this world today, I do believe there’s hope for better, more peaceful days.

It’s just that I think that we have to do the work ourselves to make it so.

And so my favorite Christmas carol is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Days.” The song is based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that was written on Christmas Day in 1864. His inspiration was a son, who was a Union Civil War soldier.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

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Art and Life Come Together at the Birdcage

Posted in Art, Birds, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on December 13, 2011| 4 Comments »

“An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world.” George Santayana

Birdcage Mural at the St. Louis Zoo -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

Inspiration for a blog topic eluded me this morning. After an hour spent reading e-mails, favorite blogs and the depressing news in the New York Times, I still hadn’t come up with a keyboard burner.

Spoonbill nest against the frame of the Birdcage -- Photo by Pat Bean

So I did what I usually do when this happens. I peruse the photos I’ve taken since my canine traveling companion, Maggie, and I began living and traveling full-time in our RV, Gypsy Lee. Thankfully I have seven years and over 123,00 miles of fodder to search for an idea. The walk back down memory lane is always pleasurable so I’m not complaining.

This morning my fancy was stopped at the St. Louis Zoo, home of the Birdcage. This walk-in aviary was built for the 1904 World’s Fair by the Smithsonian Institution at a cost of $17,500.

It was supposed to be moved to the organization’s National Zoo in Washington D.C. after the fair ended, but St. Louis residents protested, and the Smithsonian generously allowed the city to buy the flight cage for $3,500.

Pieces of sky framed by the Birdcage's ribs, with artfully placed birds. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Cost of the birds was extra. Records show that these charges included $7.50 for a pair of Mandarin ducks and $20 for four Canada geese.

Today it’s been turned into a cypress swamp that houses aquatic birds commonly found along the Mississippi River.

Looking through the pictures that I took back in 2006, I was struck by the amazing likeness between art and the real thing. The art is part of the glass tile mural outside the cage and the real things are the birds that live in the aviary.

I found both beautiful, particularly when I thought about the artist who created the mural.

Now I’m curious to know who was the artist.  Do you know?

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Excuses, Xmas Shopping and an Important Announcement

Posted in Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , on December 7, 2011| 10 Comments »

Remember
This December,
That love weighs more than gold!
~Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon

Travels With Maggie

 

Rocky considers himself a family member, too, and wonders what's beneath the tree for him. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I didn’t post a blog yesterday. And I didn’t add a 1,000 words to the travel book that I’m rewriting.

So what, you may be asking, did I do?

I walked Maggie, of course, and cleaned her ears, a daily chore because of her proneness to chronic cocker spaniel ear infection – and I went Christmas shopping.

It is that time of year you know. And because of that I’m not beating myself up too badly for what I didn’t do. You see, I’m a traitor to my gender. I HATE SHOPPING!

But on the opposite end of the spectrum, I LOVE CHRISTMAS, and giving gifts to my loved ones. The challenge for me is finding something I think each person in my growing family will like within my limited budget of $20 or less per person.

We break into this blog for an Important Announcement: Believe it or not just as I was mentioning my large family, I got a text message saying one more has been added. My granddaughter in Orlando, Florida, just delivered a beautiful (I know he is even though I haven’t seen him yet), healthy 6-pound-9-ounce boy to it.

 

Maggie and I passed this tree on our morning walk in the park across from son's home. I thought it as festive as any Christmas tree. -- Photo by Pat Bean

We now take you back to our regular program:

Anyway, I try to pick up things in my travels that I think will appeal to one loved one or another, but this year I didn’t do much of that. It left me with a hard day of shopping, but with only two presents yet to buy.

That’s actually way ahead of schedule for me. I’ve been known to frantically be shopping the stores at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go shout the news of my new great-grandchild to the world.

And then hopefully tackle my travel book.

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What Next After NaNoWriMo

Posted in African Safari, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on December 1, 2011| 8 Comments »

  “Than indecision brings its own delays, and days are lost lamenting o’er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

My travel book would include details about my search for Mother Nature in places like the New Hampshire woods where I came across this peaceful creek. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Too Many Unfinished Projects

Writing a first draft of a 50,000 word novel in 30 days has given me confidence for the old-broad writing days that still remain to me. There’s no question that I will write, for doing so is for me the same as breathing. I was fortunate that I found a way as a journalist to do it almost daily and get paid for it for 37 years.

When I retired from the job, however, I never saw myself retiring as a writer. I thought I would continue as a free-lance writer of travel and birding articles.

The Internet changed all that, however. The sources I had, including writing for my own former newspaper, dried up after a couple of years.

Suddenly it was a whole new world out there, and I faced either changing or being satisfied with writing only for myself. But it’s never worked that way for me. I both want to be read and to be paid for my writing as a way of personal validation

 

The photo of this hippo I took while on my African safari appears in Fodor's recently released "African Safari Guidebook." -- Photo by Pat Bean

The other change in the world of writing has been that self-publication is no longer considered a vanity, as it was during earlier days. In fact, many writing guides and teachers are encouraging wanna-be authors to go this route.

I’m seriously considering the possibility.

My immediate problem, however, is which project should I tackle first. Until NaNo, I failed to complete any major projects that didn’t have a pay-off deadline. The reasons are many, beginning with my own self doubts about a project’s worth. As former NaNo winners predicted, this inner questioning hit during my second week of the novel challenge. Working past it felt great.

 

The bear at Lake Walcott State Park in Idaho -- Photo by Pat Bean

So, with this said, let me explain my options – at least as I see them. Actually, I think I’m writing this blog as a way to get my own head straight.

First, there is the NaNo novel, which my ego says has good possibilities. Ever since I was a teenager reading Nancy Drew, I’ve wanted to write a mystery. The NaNo one is my second. The first is one of those uncompleted projects that never went beyond the first draft.

Then there’s the travel book I’ve already written, which needs a bit of rewriting. It has been read by critics who gave it mostly thumbs up, although all said it needed my voice. I now think I’ve developed my voice.

It would be the quickest project to finish. It’s called “Travels With Maggie.” I said in an earlier hunt for an agent that I thought it would fit nicely on the book shelf between Steinbeck’s “Travels With Charley” and Kuralt’s “On the Road” with a little bit of Tim Cahill thrown in and written with a feminine voice. .

Then there is the African safari travel/picture book that I started and which now begs to be finished.

Then there is a commitment to put together a nature book about Lake Walcott State Park in Idaho, where I spent last summer as a campground host and where I will return again this coming summer.

And finally there is a the memoir that is beginning to demand I write. It would be a story of a high school honor roll student who dropped out of school at 16 to get married and who had four children by the time she was 21, and who went on to become a reporter, city editor and finally associate editor of a 66,000 circulation newspaper. There’s a lot of skeletons, heartache, joys and growing up in between.

I’m giving myself a break until Monday to come up with an answer, after which I’m counting on the discipline of NaNo to help keep me to whatever deadline I set for myself.

I’m leaning toward the travel book as my next project.. What do you think? I really want to know.

 

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Final NaNoWriMo Update … 50,046 Words

Posted in Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , on November 30, 2011| 15 Comments »

 “Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating.” – Denis Waitley

 

Yes, I am.

When I submitted my 50,026 words that the word count tool on my Open Office program said I had written, NaNo’s word counter disagreed. It said I only had 49,528 words.

So it was back to the computer for another hour and a half yesterday to insert an extra scene into the first horrible draft of my murder mystery.

But the next time I submitted the novel for verification, the NaNo word counter told me I was a “winner.” And Indeed I felt like one.

While the book, if I choose to go forward with it, needs a lot of work, it is complete and it does have things in it I like. It is the first fiction book I’ve ever written in first person.

While the main character, who is 28 years old, is not me, I realized as I lay in bed last night that I had her wondering where she was going to settle down and find herself. It’s a question that at 72, I’m coming to grips with myself. It felt funny realizing that connection only last night.

The main character’s name is Carnegie Hall, Carny of course for short. Her musician parents played around in a practice room at Carnegie Hall and she was their little souvenir. Nothing of me there. But she inherits a dog that has a lot of similar traits to my canine traveling companion, Maggie. I even named the dog Maggie.

As I wrote I used bits and pieces of people I knew and both their and my own experiences in many instances. I also let my environmental awareness play a role. It’s a book with a Texas Gulf Coast beach setting where a Ridley sea turtle comes to nest and where Carny, an artist, paints shore birds.

I learned many things from this intensive writing experience. And while it would be great if I had learned these things at a younger age, it’s always better late than never.

Of all the many resolutions. I’ve made in my life, most were broken within the first week. This time I stayed true to myself. There’s a lot to be said for finishing a project once started. Besides daily writing, as writers should do, I also learned to say the word “No” to things that interfered with my morning ritual. I already knew from long experience that If I don’t write first thing in the morning, I don’t write.

Thank you NaNo for challenging me. And congratulations to all you other NaNo winners out there. I’d love to hear how you made the journey.

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Kansas Sky and NaNoWri Update

Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on November 28, 2011| 3 Comments »

 “There is nothing to writing. All you need to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway

A morning sky in Garden City, Kansas. It was windy Oz kind of day. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

NaNoWriMo update … 47,602 word

Of course these days it’s the computer that takes our blood donations, well at least for most of us, I’m assuming.

The home stretch is in sight. So I’m saving my words for the finish. I need a head start because I have a 2 p.m. appointment tomorrow.

Happy writing everybody.

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