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Looking Back at 2011

December 29, 2011 by Pat Bean

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.

Posted in Birds, Favorite Hikes, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Wildflowers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments »

Seeking Teethly Perfection

December 28, 2011 by Pat Bean

  A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time be bites off more than he can chew.” – Herb Caen

While I may never know who has perfect teeth, since imperfect is in, I can tell you that this is a perfectly awesome bed of purple pansies that I saw at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

Imperfect Teeth: What the Heck?

That was my thought when I caught a news headline this morning announcing that crooked teeth were a growing fad in Japan.

The story went on to note that Japanese women were even paying dentists to give them more pronounced cuspids. I was dumbfounded until I read the explanation. “A crowded mouth implies youth.”

Imperfection is suddenly seen as perfection. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

We humans are a funny race.

But I guess everything has its quirks.

And in my book, these yellow pansies I saw at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, are just as perfectly beautiful as can be. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 A female blue-footed booby wants a mate with the brightest blue feet – and the male booby shows of his webbed ones by dancing in front of her.

My dog, Maggie, prefers human companions over her own kind. I truly think she believes she’s human.

Female black widow spiders are known to eat their mates after the sex is over.

Some people believe mosquitoes have teeth, 47 to be exact. Well they do, but not teeth as we know them, and perhaps not 47. I wonder if mosquitoes think imperfect teeth are perfect, too.

This wandering/wondering old broad is just glad she still has her own teeth. What do you think?

Posted in Birds, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Great Egret

December 28, 2011 by Pat Bean

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.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Don’t Tell Me There’s No Santa Claus

December 26, 2011 by Pat Bean

 “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

freechristmaswallpaper.net

Travels With Maggie

The day I discovered there was no Santa Claus is as clear in my memory as the day it happened. I had persisted in believing well after most kids had wised up. Finally my mother sat me down on the couch and explained the facts of life to me.

She said she didn’t want me to make a fool of myself in front of my more knowledgeable friends.

I remember saying: “But if he doesn’t come down the chimney, doesn’t he just use the door?”

My mother was persistent, however, and ignored my desire to continue believing.

hellokids.com

While I was devastated at the truth, my own children relished in ferreting out the truth and destroying the Santa myth at very young ages.

As these same, less naive kids grew up and left a fractured home behind, Christmases became smaller and smaller. Jobs, school, obligations, in-laws and economic realities meant my children began celebrating Christmas in their own homes.

For many years, at least one of my children would make it home for Christmas. But even that finally ended. In response I became the floater, rotating among my children for Christmas.

This year finds me at the home of my son, Lewis, celebrating Christmas a day late so my son can have all his children around him. And guess who’s coming to dinner? His ex-wife, the mother of his four children.

You see, it was her year for Christmas, but Lewis still wanted all his kids around him for the holidays. And yes, I agree, his current wife is a saint.

The compromise, however, is a great beginning for eventual world peace. Wouldn’t you agree?

But if you don’t, keep it to yourself. I already suffered enough being told there was no Santa Claus. And Maggie, who was feeling well enough to walk the park loop this morning, doesn’t want to know either.

 

Posted in Travels With Maggie | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

December 25, 2011 by Pat Bean

 

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.”

Posted in Nature, Travels With Maggie, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Merry Christmas From Maggie and Me

December 24, 2011 by Pat Bean

 Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves.” Eric Sevareid

 

Yesterday was drab and overcast, but these two blossoms that I found growing beneath a hedge cheered everything up. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

Travels With Maggie

Maggie’s short little tail was finally wagging again last night. And she slept the night through. While all may not be well,  my canine traveling companion appears to be on the mend. The new ear medication appears to be working. And that cheers me tremendously.

Christmas is looking brighter. So Merry Christmas all. Have a good one.

Posted in Travels With Maggie | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments »

Weekly Photo Challenge

December 23, 2011 by Pat Bean

“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.

 
 
 
 
 

Posted in Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Uncategorized, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Searching for Maggie’s Rainbow

December 22, 2011 by Pat Bean

 “Out perfect companions never have fewer than four feet. “ – Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

 

Maggie taking in a campfire conversation. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

It’s raining outside this morning, which isn’t a bad thing if you’re hoping for a rainbow. And I am, in the form of a magic bullet to finally solve Maggie’s chronic cocker spaniel ear problem. It’s a last-resort solution for the canine companion who became a part of my life in 1999.

I rescued Maggie from an Ogden, Utah, animal shelter where she had ended up twice. The first time she had been found wandering the streets as a tiny, barely weaned puppy. It wasn’t known if she was dumped or if she had simply wandered away.

Sadly, her first adoptive family had teenage boys who abused her, and the mom in that family finally returned her to the shelter. She was skittish of humans, although clearly wanting their company, when I adopted her.

My then aged cocker spaniel, Peaches, was in need of a companion after my cat of 18 years died. Peaches died a few months later and Maggie then became my only pet. I thought of getting a doggie companion for her, since I was working long hours at the time, but Maggie communicated to me that she preferred being an only child

 

Companions -- Photo by Carol Landau

And yes, she really does communicate with me, more so than any animal I’ve ever owned. Of course it’s Maggie who owns me

For the past seven years, she and I have been 24-hour-a-day companions. We’ve both aged in those years. I’m not as spry and Maggie’s muzzle has become grizzled. But as a dog, she has a much shorter life expectancy, which is a cruel reality.  

I fought her ear infections from the first, watching as they continued to get worse with every passing year. Tuesday night, however, was the first time I’ve seen her in extreme pain.

A deep sleeper who never even budges when I get up to go to the bathroom, Maggie was awake all night suffering and trying to get comfortable. I grieved because I couldn’t help her. And still am grieving because there might not be a solution to her pain.

When I went into the vet’s yesterday morning, I brought with me the box full of all the half-used prescriptions and over-the-counter remedies that not only hadn’t solved the problem, but which often made things worse.

The only sure solution, the vet said, was an expensive operation to remove all her ear canals, which I don’t feel is an option since Maggie is 14. Stymied herself, the vet called a specialist, who recommended a new drug that has proved somewhat successful in treating such difficult cases.

I pick it up today.

In the meantime, the vet gave Maggie a steroid shot to ease her swelling and pain, and I gave her a tiny bit of Pepto Bismol to counteract the diarrhea a steroid shot gives her. She’s had quite a few over the years and I know how she reacts.

The good news is that Maggie slept through the night. What follows now is simply hope this new drug is the rainbow after the storm that I desperately want it to be, and which Maggie’s life depends on it being. 

Posted in Travels With Maggie | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments »

Worse Than a Bad Hair Day

December 21, 2011 by Pat Bean

“It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” — Judith Viorst  quoting Alexander

The back side of Mount Ogden. That little peak on the right marked the start of the Men's Downhill for the 2002 Winter Olympics. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

Travels With Maggie

I was sick yesterday with a 24-hour bug. I broke my glasses. My computer is acting up again. And I was up all night with Maggie, whose ears were hurting. And of course, being as it’s the holiday season, I’m already over budget for the month.

This morning I ignored the rule about never feeling sorry for myself, and broke down and cried while on the phone with my oldest daughter.

You can insert the S word here if you like.

So it’s off to take Maggie to the expensive-as-hell vet who never seems to solve the problem,  get a new pair of glasses and visit the geeks.  Hopefully they can fix my computer so I can blog again tomorrow, hopefully about happier things.

Life sometimes is just not fair. Book cover illustration by Ray Cruz

Meanwhile, I thought I’d share a  picture of a happier day with you.  It’s one of my very favorite views taken from Huntsville, Utah.  

Oh, and if you’re looking for a book to give some young person this year, I suggest Judith Viorst’s “Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”

Posted in Books, Travels With Maggie | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments »

Rain, Rain, Rain; Ping, Ping, Ping

December 20, 2011 by Pat Bean

 “Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.” – Billie Holiday

Just because there are storm clouds overhead doesn't mean one can't find beauty below. Photo of Antelope Island by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

When one sleeps with their head just a couple of feet below the roof, and that roof is only about three inches thick, rain becomes a very personal thing.

Billie Holiday at two years old in 1917. -- Wikipedia photo

That’s how it felt last night when the sky above me continuously dumped its blessings on Texas’ water-starved landscape. The ping, ping, pinging, while interrupting my sleep, still sounded delightful to my ears.

The rain was still on my mind when I set down to write this blog, and so it seemed logical to write about it. When I went searching for a quote to accompany it, the one above by Billie Holiday stopped me cold. Perhaps it was because the rain was still coming down outside and I knew I would probably be walking my canine traveling companion, Maggie, in the rain this day.

The quote, however, also led me on one of those Internet explorations that I frequently take these days in search of information. I already knew Billie Holiday was a singer who set the blues and jazz worlds on fire with her music while scandalizing the world at the same time with her behavior. But I wanted to know more.

Billie Holiday was a dog lover, too. And her dog's name was Mister. -- Wikipedia photo

I found it, and it touched me. Reading about the life of this Black woman, who was raped as a child and spit on because of her color, brought the rain to my eyes. No wonder, I thought, had “God Bless the Child,” Billie’s most popular recording, been so powerful. She had to have sung it with all the emotions of an abused child’s heart.

And yet, if we are to believe her words, she could still feel the joy of simply walking in the rain.

How can I, whose life these days feels powerfully blessed, treat a walk in the rain as anything other than a delightful treat?

Posted in Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments »

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