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Take Time to Smell the Flowers

September 5, 2013 by Pat Bean

“I will be the gladdest thing. Under the sun!  I will touch a hundred flowers.  And not pick one.”  — Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Afternoon on a Hill.”

I took time to smell the flowers by sitting down to do art with a grandson, and this is what I drew while he drew the Batmobile.

I took time to smell the flowers by sitting down to do art with a grandson, and this is what I drew while he drew the Batmobile.

Mottos to Live By

When I woke up from my unthoughtful, unlived life at nearly 40, my motto for the next few years became “Grab all the gusto you can get.” It was plagiarism of a Schlitz beer commercial: “You only go through life once, so you have to grab all the gusto you can get.”

With nearly half my life blown away, I realized that the only regrets I had were for the things I hadn’t done … well mostly anyway.

My grandson Patrick's Batmobile.

My grandson Patrick’s Batmobile.

During the next three plus decades, I did many things – and have regrets for none of what at times may have been an “excessive life.”  Perhaps that’s because I did nothing I would have been ashamed to tell the world, which, along with the mottos “do no harm” and the Golden Rule form my spiritual center.

But these days, which now number more behind me than ahead of me, my passion has become one of “taking time to smell the flowers.”

Doing so interferes with more ambitious goals, such as finishing my book, “Travels with Maggie” – which is still moving slowly along. But then I can’t imagine giving up the flowers to make the writing go faster.

Of course smelling the flowers is more than just blossoms.

This morning, it was simply taking time to sit on my bedroom balcony, drinking my cream-laced coffee, and to stare up at the Catalina Mountains while the sun made its entrance for the day.

I suddenly realized it was as close to meditation – meaning emptying the mind – as I have ever reached in my life.  I have been too busy grabbing all that gusto, when the flowers needed more quiet smelling.

But then I smiled, thinking about all that gusto. I wouldn’t change a thing.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: September writing resolutions http://tinyurl.com/mfkmqxf  Fine words to live by for the month, except that I already keep a timer by my computer and set it for 15 minutes. Old broads need to move often so they can keep moving.

Posted in Art, Journeys | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Time for a Soapbox Rant

September 3, 2013 by Pat Bean

            “We have met the enemy and he is us.” – Pogo, aka Walt Kelly

The sun is setting on journalism being anything more than paparazzi to celebrities, especially those who are not good examples to anyone. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The sun is setting on journalism being anything more than paparazzi to celebrities, especially those who are not good examples for anyone. — Photo by Pat Bean

It’s All Our Own Fault

            How many of us have read more about Miley Cyrus than about the real possibility of going to war against Syria?

Millions more, according to CNN Managing Editor Meredith Artley, who supported her words with facts that were her excuse for making Miley Cyrus’ disgraceful behavior the top CNN story last week.

The truth pains me.

I started my journalism career back when hard-working reporters kept a bottle of Black Velvet (they couldn’t afford the good stuff) stuck in the back of a desk drawer, and when demanding city editors chomped on a cigar as they chewed me, or other reporters out, for not digging deep enough for our stories.

It was the era when journalists were trying to bring the truth about the Vietnam War to the public, the days of Watergate reporting. I, personally, wrote stories about the pain of a mother who had lost her son in Vietnam, of tough environmental issues that may have made a difference, and stories about an Idaho congressman who was kiting checks – and felt victorious when he was not re-elected.

Newsrooms, during my 37-year career, got politically correct. The booze and the cigars were banished, which was probably a good thing. But what pains me is that celebrities have escaped from the back entertainment pages to dominate Page One headlines. It was already starting when I retired almost 10 years ago. And it gets more blatant every day that passes.

That it is happening is “Bullshit,” said the CNN managing editor. “We know it and you know it. We also know that you are probably dumb enough … to click on the stupid bullshit anyway, and that you will continue to do it … You want to know how many more page views the Miley Cyrus thing got than our article on the wildfires ravaging Yosemite? Like 6 gazillion more. That’s on you, not us.”

For CNN, those millions of page views add up to millions of dollars. And that’s the reason for the media now giving people what they want instead of what they need to know. I wish it were different. But it’s not.

Pogo said it perfectly. The enemy is us, and we have no one else to blame. Well, I, for one, am going to boycott all front-page entertainment news from this day forward – and make my hits count for more important news.

Who will join me?

Bean’s Pat:  Jesus and the $20 Bill http://tinyurl.com/k3o5mrj  Great memoir story by one of my favorite bloggers.

Posted in Journeys | Tagged , | 22 Comments »

Morning Adventure: A Trio of Coyotes

August 31, 2013 by Pat Bean

         “Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me – I am happy.” – Hamlin Garland.

Pepper, dripping wet, comes in at just under 20 pounds. She was smart enough this morning to call for her when she was surrounded by three coyotes twice her size. Thankfully she was unharmed. Photo by Pat Bean

Pepper, dripping wet, comes in at just under 20 pounds. She was smart enough this morning to call for help when she was surrounded by three coyotes twice her size. Thankfully she was unharmed. Photo by Pat Bean

Pepper in Danger

I heard the coyotes before light this dawn, and thrilled at the yipping. It was the sound of Mother Nature still making her presence known within city limits. I hear coyotes occasionally from my third-floor apartment in Tucson’s Catalina Mountain foothills, but I hear them almost every day when I’m visiting my daughter, who lives near the Tucson Mountains on the southwest side of the city.

This coyote, photographed beside an Arizona highway, probably weighs 35-40 pounds -- Wikipedia photo

This coyote, photographed beside an Arizona highway, probably weighs 35-40 pounds — Wikipedia photo

That’s where I was this morning – house-sitting and animal-sitting for my daughter who is camping with her three sons and husband this Labor Day weekend. The animals include one horse, two cats, three fish and three dogs. While my daughter’s dogs are all much larger than Pepper, the four of them play great together, especially her and the younger dog,  Zip, who always conduct a fast game of chase in the horse arena whenever I let them outside to do their business.

So it was this morning. The pair had already made several loops of the arena when I suddenly heard Pepper give a frightful yelp. From my position on the patio, which is attached to the back of my daughter’s home, I looked up to see Pepper surrounded in the arena by three coyotes. I almost peed my pants.

Immediately, I started yelling, waving my arms and running toward her. My speed, for an old broad, astonished even me. Thankfully the coyotes decided I was too big a threat to risk for a small-dog meal, and they casually ambled away.

It was the first time in my life that I hadn’t been delighted and awed to see the touch of wilderness that these canine cousins of Pepper’s add to the landscape.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: What I See is What I Shoot http://tinyurl.com/mdn99ee Red Grass. I love the two quotes that accompany this photo.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Favorite Places: Sabino Canyon

August 28, 2013 by Pat Bean

Looking down from the road at one of the water-filled pools in Sabino Canyon. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Looking down from the road at one of the water-filled pools in Sabino Canyon. — Photo by Pat Bean

            “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton.

Six Miles from Home

Seeing this country from coast to coast and border to border has always been more important to me than stepping on foreign shores. That’s not because I don’t want to visit other countries, but because I’ve always believed America, because of being my native country, should be explored first.

The desert's many varieties of cactus and their flowers fascinate me. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The desert’s many varieties of cactus and their flowers fascinate me. — Photo by Pat Bean

Of course there is also the fact of a limited budget, and the fact I can see more of this country within its bounds then I can any other place.

With the exception of Rhode Island, I have now been in every state, including Hawaii and Alaska – and am now saving up to go to Australia. My itch to see and visit new places, meanwhile, is being satisfied right here in Tucson.

I’ve never lived in the desert before, so just observing its beautiful landscape is a pleasurable experience. I didn’t know a desert had so much color – but then the upper Sonoran Desert here in Tucson is the lush desert. It gets more rain – actually right now we’re in its monsoon season – than other deserts.

It was just after one of our recent rumbling thunderstorms, complete with a lightning show, that I visited Sabino Canyon, which is just six miles up the road from where I live. Its pools were filled with water, and delightful to the eye.

 

I think this rock spire had a name, but I can't remember it. Maybe I will learn what it's called on my next visit to the canyon. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I think this rock spire had a name, but I can’t remember it. Maybe I will learn what it’s called on my next visit to the canyon. — Photo by Pat Bean

 

I was amazed in my travels that I have met so many people who failed to visit landmarks in their own backyards, ones that people traveled thousands of miles to see. I promised myself to never be one of them.

Travel doesn’t always have to mean an overseas airplane ride. It can simply mean going down the road a bit to see a new sight, like Sabino Canyon. It was a fun outing, which included a shuttle ride, since you can’t drive your vehicle through the canyon, and a short hike.

I plan to do it again, soon.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: North Sydney Birds http://tinyurl.com/ncdbchg If one can’t physically travel, one can still visit other places, and even bird watch, from an armchair. I do a lot of this.

Posted in Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments »

What’s Most Important

August 26, 2013 by Pat Bean

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene

You may never find that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but that shouldn't keep you from looking. -- Photo by Pat Bean

You may never find that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but that shouldn’t keep you from looking. — Photo by Pat Bean

Stepping into the Unknown

            I’m not a person who likes to give advice. I’ve made too many bad decisions in my own life to think I can mentor anyone else, particularly someone whose end goals may be 180 degrees from my own.

This refrigerator magnet is how I want to be remembered.

This refrigerator magnet is how I want to be remembered.

But the ages have taught me that if you want something in life, you should go for it. And then, if you don’t get it, you should celebrate yourself for having the guts to have gone for it.

Some things we want, like my fulfilling my dream of travel by selling my home, buying an RV and driving that first mile, only depended on me having the guts to do it.

Other things, like my dream of finding an agent and a publisher for my book, “Travels with Maggie,” depend on others – and it may never happen.  So right now, I’m celebrating each rejection slip as a triumph. I’m taking that first step toward my goal – and even if I never achieve it, I’ll know it wasn’t because I didn’t try.  

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Not Yet There http://tinyurl.com/m8clwct My morning coffee and my journal and list of things to do for the day are the way I start my days.  And so this poem and photo spoke to me.

 

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments »

Some People Call it Lost

August 20, 2013 by Pat Bean

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. – Freya Stark  

I call it an incredible Adventure

Even when I have a view of Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater. I'm thinking about my next travel adventure. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

Even when I have a view of Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater. I’m thinking about my next travel adventure. — Photo by Kim Perrin

            A friend of mine was bemoaning the fact that she was leaving her long-time home to move to an apartment in a new state. I truly didn’t know how to console her.

Every move I’ve ever made, and there have been many, has been greeted with enthusiasm and excitement: The opportunity to experience the other side of the fence has always been with me. Even as a young child, I was always exploring the world around me with eagerness, often to destroying my mother’s peace of mind.

I have friends who still pal around with the same people they met in kindergarten. I think I would like that, but I know for certain that I wouldn’t be willing to give up the transient life I’ve had, although some times the moves were just from one home to another in the same city.

 

I'm currently exploring the desert landscape, which includes lots of yucca plants, in Tucson, where my itchy feet have agreed to rest for a bit. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I’m currently exploring the desert landscape, which includes lots of yucca plants, in Tucson, where my itchy feet have agreed to rest for a bit. — Photo by Pat Bean

This is probably why Freya Stark’s quote, which begins this blog, spoke to me. While my travels will never excel this woman’s adventures – who was born in Paris in 1893 and died in Italy in 1993 and wrote 25 travel books, mostly about the Middle East – I have traveled many nooks and crannies of this country with a few over-the-sea adventures as well.

As so often when someone fascinates me, like Freya did when I read her quote,  I made an online visit to Amazon to see what I could find. My bank balance is now lighter by a few dollars as I just bought Stark’s biography, “Passionate Nomad, by Jane Fletcher Geniesse,

It’s supposed to arrive by Friday. I can hardly wait.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Hell Storm http://tinyurl.com/n4v3psm Life goes on and I like how this blogger, one of my favorite with his great photos, mostly of abandoned Americana, doesn’t whine.  

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments »

With Apologies to Edgar Allan Poe

August 19, 2013 by Pat Bean

“Poetry is just the evidence of life.  If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” – Leonard  Cohen

The Worst Poetry Ever, I Do Admit

I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.

My morning visitor. -- Photo by Pat Bean

My morning visitor. — Photo by Pat Bean

The Raven

While I welcomed the morning cheerily

While I drank my coffee dearly

While I sat upon my balcony pondering

Over my daily list, wondering

There came a cawing, cawing

Tis’ a bird, I muttered smiling

Only this and nothing more

And it is August, I said and more

And it’s sunny on the desert floor

Now who is cawing outside my window

I know for certain it’s not Lenore

Because it is black and feathery

This it is and nothing more

I went for my camera

To capture an image for ever more

But alas I failed, as I was told

This device cannot record.

Would this bird too soon fly away?

Before I could retrieve the disk

From my computer inside the door

Only this and nothing more

Quickly I ran inside

And retrieved the tiny disk

That would make the camera work.

Black feathers still perched upon the roof

Waiting and cawing, cawing

Tis a raven, I said.

And nothing more.

Bean’s Pat:  Travels and Trifles  http://tinyurl.com/lsm93un  Love the quote, and the trees

Posted in Birds, Journeys, Writing | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments »

Guess Who Came to Dinner

August 14, 2013 by Pat Bean

“The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings.” — Unknown

First came the hummingbirds to my nectar feeder. Then one day I looked out and the verdins had come to dinner, too.

Young verdins taking advantage of my nectar feeder. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Young verdins taking advantage of my nectar feeder. — Photo by Pat Bean

Then came another guest. A gila woodpecker.

A hungry gila woodpecker. He drank for about five minutes. -- Photo by Pat Bean

A hungry gila woodpecker. He drank for about five minutes. — Photo by Pat Bean

No wonder my nectar feeder is empty before day’s end.

Bean’s Pat:  Great Friends http://tinyurl.com/mdplxmy It makes me wonder if the hummingbirds had sent out invitations to dinner for their unusual

friends.

Posted in Birds | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments »

Family Matters

August 8, 2013 by Pat Bean

“The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective.” — Robert Brault

It’s All about Love

Family is like this waterfall, turbulent at times but always with a rainbow in sight. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Family is like this waterfall, turbulent at times but always with a rainbow in sight. — Photo by Pat Bean

I was listening to a woman tell a group of us what a wonderful family gathering she had just come from, and was beginning to inwardly moan at yet another “perfect family” story  when she added an addendum to her first words.

“Of course the fun was in spite of the fact that everyone in our family has big personalities. It only took an hour or two before the tensions erupted.”

In a nut shell, she had just described my family, which has been fractured and thrown to the four winds time and time again. But we’re family. And that means something — even if I’m not always sure what it means.

I’m the matriarch of five children and five spouse-in-laws; 15 grandchildren plus two more by marriage, plus seven or so grand-spouse-in-laws or partners, plus several non-related young people I claim as grandchildren; and  two great-grandchildren plus two more by marriage.

I’m not even going to count the numbers, because what counts is that each and every one is family, and family matters. Not a single one of them – I dare say not even the great-grandchildren — is perfect. And they all have big personalities — and in those two things I can truthfully say they all take after me.

I feel like the luckiest, if at times the most frustrated, person in the world.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat:  So you just write the book http://tinyurl.com/ltyqwl6 As one who is struggling with the third rewrite of “Travels with Maggie,” this tickled my funny bone. Writing is darn hard work  — even if you love doing it and consider it as necessary as breathing.

 

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

Time for Nonsense

August 6, 2013 by Pat Bean

The Llama Song – Listen to it: http://tinyurl.com/2jy2tc

            Here’s a llama. There’s a llama. And another little llama. Fuzzy llama. Funny llama. Llama llama duck. Llama Llama. Cheesecake llama. Tablet. Brick. Potato llama. Llama llama, duck.

            I was once a tree house. Lived in a cake. But I never saw the way the orange slayed the rake. I was only three years dead. But it told a tale. And now listen little child. To the safety rail.

            Did you ever see a llama? Kiss a llama. On the llama. Llamas llamas. Taste of llamas. Llama llama duck.

            Is that how it’s told now? Is it all so old?  Doorknob. Ankle. Cold. Now my song is getting thin. I’ve run out of luck! Time for me to retire now. And become a duck.

IMG_3743

Here’s the llama… — Photo by Pat Bean

Laughter is Good for the Soul

And here's the duck. They were both photographed at Riverside Park in Bayfield, Colorado -- Photo by Pat Bean

And here’s the duck. They were both photographed at Riverside Park in Bayfield, Colorado — Photo by Pat Bean

 

And this crazy song makes me laugh and laugh, Supposedly it was written by someone called Burton Earny in 2004, who has since gone into hibernation.

What makes you laugh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Pete Scully http://tinyurl.com/mwtwo5o One of the artists whose blogs I’ve begun following. I love Pete’s sketches.

Posted in Birds, Journeys, Nature | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments »

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