“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” — Carl Sagan
Waiting for someone to sit down and watch the boats go past in the Erie River Harbor in Canada. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Posted in Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged benches, erie river, pat bean, Weekly Photo Challenge: Waiting | 3 Comments »
“If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.” – J.M. Power
A pair of pileated woodpeckers -- Wikipedia photo
Travels With Maggie
I awoke this morning to a rapid knocking coming from outside my RV, which is now parked in the driveway at the home of my son, Lewis, who lives near the Texas Gulf Coast.
One side of Gypsy Lee faces my son’s house and the other a thick row of hedges and tall trees that daily host a vast variety of birds, squirrels, an occasional cat – and on the foliage-lined walkway every morning at 7 o’clock an elderly man walking his very vocal golden-red bloodhound.
Several small dogs on the far side of the woodsy public right of way, always bark when they hear the hound’s deep rumbling voice. Maggie, 14 and quite deaf, usually sleeps through the ruckus. Thankfully I’m almost always up at this time of morning.
Ivory-billed woodpeckers -- Painting by John James Audubon
I was still abed, however, although awake reading while waiting for daylight, when the knocking begin. It was deeper and more persistence than that of a downy woodpecker, which is the most frequent morning visitor that lets me know it’s hovering nearby by knocking on a tree. The sound always triggers my brain to the tapping and rapping at Poe’s door by a raven.
I suspected my bird this morning, however, might be a pileated woodpecker. A look through my binoculars, which are always handy, confirmed my suspicions. Even in the morning’s dim light, this large woodpecker’s size and shape can’t be missed.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen and heard this close look-alike of the more famous ivory-billed woodpecker, which was thought to be extinct until recently. Several respected ornithologists now say they have seen this bird, whose last documented sighting happened in the 1940s. Other, also respected ornithologists, are skeptical.
I just hope that we humans don’t do to the pileated woodpeckers what we did to the ivory-billed, which is to destroy its last remaining habitat.
The pileated survived because it adapted to change. It’s a good lesson for us all in this fast-changing world.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel | Tagged change, ivory-billed woodpeckers, mornings, pat bean, pileated woodpeckers, Poe, postaday2011, the raven | 4 Comments »
“Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can – there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.” – Sarah Caldwell
Bastrop State Park is home to the endangered Houston Toad. -- Wikipedia photo
Travels With Maggie
As I suspected, yesterday’s 200-mile drive from Austin to Lake Jackson was mostly done in rain. And because I knew that. Gypsy Lee, my RV, takes her time stopping on slippery roads I drove a bit slower than normal.
I also let the rain and the slower speed that put me behind scheduled alter my plans for the day, which was to take an hour off from driving and explore Bastrop State Park. The park, located off Highway 21/71 southeast of Austin, is known as the home of the “Lost Pines” because it’s separated by about a 100 miles from the Piney Woods of East Texas.
My travel agenda almost always includes planned stops like this because they usually provide good photographic fodder for my blog and satisfy my cat’s curiosity. I have a button, saved from a journalism conference I attended when I was a city editor, that states: “I Want It All.” That’s actually true, and “I Want to See It All,” too.
The lake at Bastrop State Park -- Wikipedia photo
But I let time and rain wimp me out this day, giving my wimpy excuses encouragement because my Texas State Park Pass had expired and I would have to pay to enter the park. As I drove past the park entrance, Maggie snored softly in her co-pilot seat. She reminds me of my kids when they were young. They either slept or stuck their noses in comic books when we traveled long distances. Some of my grandkids, sad to say, do the same, except instead of reading comic books they play games on their cell phones. .
This morning, while scratching my head over a blog subject, I decided to explore online what I missed seeing personally.
What I discovered was that Bastrop State Park was closed after this past summer’s Texas wildfire damage. Only yesterday, according to the online news story I found on the park’s web page, were parts of it actually opened again to the public. For more information about what I would have missed I checked out a video of the park on You Tube, You can, too. http://tinyurl.com/3mxnywq
In addition to pine trees, peaceful lake, golf course, hiking trails and camping opportunities, Bastrop State Park is also home to the endangered Houston Toad.
Darn it! A rainy day might have been the perfect toad-watching day.
Posted in Lakes, Nature, Travel | Tagged bastrop state park, endangered species, houston toad, lost pines, missed opportunity, pat bean, piney woods, postaday2011, RV travel, texas parks | 2 Comments »
Travels With Maggie
Rain drops keep falling outside my RV -- Photo by Pat Bean
“May you live all the days of your life.” Jonathan Swift
I awoke in Austin this morning, where my RV is parked outside the home of my granddaughter, Lindsey. It rained most of the night, and is still dripping. It’s an intermittent lazy kind of rain in which the sky stops to breath every few minutes.
There’s no loud pinging on my RV roof as in a storm, just a gentle tittering, like Mother Nature is quietly giggling, trying to suppress her delight in watering her Texas gardens. It reminds me of the quiet tittering I did yesterday evening as I sat beside my 2 ½ year-old great-grandson at a local restaurant where I had taken him and my granddaughter out for dinner.
Maggie asleep on the couch as rain falls outside in early dawn. -- Photo by Pat Bean
His mother, of course, was worried about his enthusiastic behavior, but I delighted in it.
“Shush,” I told her. “Remember how I used to get you in a headlock when you got a bit rambunctious as a kid. Nana can handle it.” And I did.
As I lay in my RV over-the-cab bed this morning, listening to the rain , I once again realized how blessed I am. It simply feels good to be alive. Maggie, of course, was still sleeping.
I’ll leave Austin for Lake Jackson soon, and. Mother Nature seems intent on letting the rain accompany me. I hope she keeps the rain to a gentle titter instead of letting it become as rambunctious as a 2-year-old.
Posted in Nature, Travel | Tagged blessings, family, jonathan swift, Mother Nature, pat bean, postaday2011, rain | 2 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.
Posted in African Safari, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged african safari, hippos, mystery books, nanowrimo2011, new hamshire, postaday2011, Travel, writing | 8 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.
Posted in Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged nanowrimo2011, pat bean, postaday2011, winners | 15 Comments »
When it comes to family, I have a pretty big one. They’re a mixed bag of personalities with a lot of craziness thrown in. It’s a mixture of Repuplican and Democrats and none of the above, good memories and bad memories, togetherness and apartness, hurt feelings and favoritism. It’s about as far from the Cleaver family as you can get, which means it’s closer to average than Beaver’s tribe ever was.
I love being with each and every one dearly, but also love my time apart from all the craziness. I have favorite photos of and with them all. But this picture below says it all.
It’s of me, the Nana, and the youngest family member, my very first great-grandchild. You can use your own imagination to picture the new generations of family members between the youngest and the oldest.
Junior and Nana -- Photo by Baron Marsh
Posted in Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged pat bean, postaday2011, weekly photo challenge: family | 5 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.
Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged Garden City, Kansas, nanowrimo2011, oz, pat bean, postaday2011, Sunrise | 3 Comments »
Turtles on the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park -- Photo by Pat Bean
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong. – F. Scott Fitzgerald.
NaNoWriMo Update … 45,088
I got my ending written today. But not too worry, I have plenty of scenes to add that will bring my book up to 50,000 words. My goal is to do 2,500 words on Monday and 2,500 on Tuesday, and post my book to NaNo on Thursday.
I was worried about getting the ending finished before the deadline. To have it done has taken some of the stress off the last few days. Originally I planned to do 2,000 words a day. By day 15 that plan was already in the garbage, although I was halfway through the book at that point.
When I started, I also knew who was the murderer in my murder mystery. I was surprised when it turned out to be someone else. Another surprise is how much better I felt I was writing toward the end. My characters stopped being as stilted as they were at the beginning.
I don’t know about anybody else out there, but this has been a major learning experience for me. One, I now feel more confident about completing a big project. I feel I’ve written some very bad scenes that will end up in the trash can, and some scenes with lots of possibilities.
So now my biggest worry is that my computer won’t play tricks on me before Thursday, or that we have a big earthquake here in Texas that takes out all the power lines. In other words my worry has shifted outward away from inward. It just wouldn’t seem right not to have something to worry about.
Posted in Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged Anhinga Trail, everglades national park, f. scott fitzgerald, nanowrimo2011, pat bean, postaday2011 | 3 Comments »
Elk sculpture at the National Wildlife Art Museum just outside Jackson, Wyoming. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
W. Somerset Maugham
NaNoWriMo Update … 42,529
Good writing day. With only four days to go, no need to say more.
Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged elk, jackson, nanowrimo2011, national wildlife art museum, pat bean, postaday2011, Wyoming | 2 Comments »
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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.” — Ursula K. Le GuinPat Bean is a writer, avid birder, hiker and passionate nature observer with wanderlust in her soul. She spent nine years living and traveling in a small RV. She now lives in Tucson with Scamp, a rescue who was supposed to be a Schnauzer mix but turned out to be a Siberian Husky-Shih Tzu mix who is as stubborn as his owner, her granddaughter says. She was also a journalist for 37 years, and can be reached at patbean@msn.com
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