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Posts Tagged ‘mary oliver’

Getting Unstuck

Posted in aging, Art, Books, Journeys, Writing, tagged , , , , on June 12, 2024| 3 Comments »

Having writer’s block is like being stuck up a tree with no way to get down. — Art by Pat Bean

The Write Words

I moderate a small email chat group called Writer2Writer for Story Circle Network. Recently I asked participants to name their favorite author and then write about why.

I started the chat off by quoting Mary Oliver, one of my favorite authors, whose instructions for living a life is to “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” And since Mary was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, when Mary said tell, I’m sure she meant write about it. The words responded with me because that’s what I’ve been trying to do for most of my life.

But lately, I’ve been rather stuck. And that leads me to comment on a response to my writing prompt. It was from Stephanie Raffelock, who wrote: “A battered, dog eared, highlighted and underlined copy of May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude sits on the table next to my chair. I can quote the opening line without opening the book: “Begin here. It is raining.” 

“Such simple lines,” wrote Stephanie. “Crisp and real. Who knew that they would lead to years of journals, which in turn would lead to a first short story and later, essays. Begin here. That’s all I have to do to start writing on any day,” said my writing colleague.

And those words from Mary, Stephanie and May were exactly what I needed to get unstuck. I immediately sat down and filled a couple of pages in my current journal, and then started writing this blog.

Thank you, Mary, Stephanie and May.  

So, who, my treasured readers, is your favorite author and why?

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is an avid reader, an enthusiastic birder, the author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), is always searching for life’s silver lining, and these days aging her way – and that’s usually not gracefully.

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Morning Thoughts: A Precious Life

Posted in aging, Art, Birds, Journeys, tagged on May 16, 2022| 1 Comment »

Saw -Whet owl — Art piddling by Pat Bean

Poet Mary Oliver writes that we should make the best of our “one and precious life.” I agree. The quandary is how to do that when you’re 83, and not by a long shot as agile as you once were, and you’re retired from what you once thought of as a meaningful job.

I’ve created myself a happy life, filled mostly with reading, writing, piddling with art, watching birds, spending time with friends, and having the time to connect the life I’ve lived with what’s going on in the world today.

Mostly, it’s satisfying. But there’s still something missing. I want to somehow have an influence on making the world a better place.

When I was a working newspaper reporter, I felt useful in that I kept readers informed of their community and felt blessed that I got to write about people who were doing positive things in the world — even if I also had to write about people who were doing the opposite, too.

I also felt extremely lucky that I loved my job, and that it gave me a sense that I counted for something in this world.

That feeling is gone. I’ve become a spuddler, one who satisfies herself with trivial things.

I recently expressed these things to a friend, who told me to stop thinking so much and simply enjoy the life I had earned. I love my friends.

And then I came across these words by author and poet Donna Ashworth; Ageing isn’t about lost youth, it’s about finding the difference between shiny and worthy … and the time to dedicate to the things that bring you joy. It’s the wisdom to say no to the things that don’t… The courage to be happy in your own skin. It’s about finding out who you were meant to be, all along.

I love being an old broad – most of the time.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

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Lightning Finds Me Twice

Posted in Journeys, Travel, Wildflowers, tagged , , , , , , on March 18, 2012| 24 Comments »

 “To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go.” Mary Oliver

Princess Meghan Joined Maggie in the Clouds

This well may be the hardest blog I’ve ever written. But it’s part of my travel journey and I know I must share it for continuity in my blogging. One of these days I’ll write the whole story, but the wound is still too fresh for complete details.

 

Wisteria and tiny pink ground flowers as seen through my RV window. -- Photo by Pat Bean

After losing my long-time canine travel companion, Maggie, and adopting Princess Meghan, a tiny, energetic beagle as her replacement, I lost her also.

In a space of eight days, I stood beside two beloved pets as they were humanely euthanized. A freak accident left Meghan paralyzed and I felt I had no choice.

My body shut down for four days and only today is it beginning to revive itself. I mostly stayed alone in my RV with the shades drawn. The shades are up today, and I’m once again open to the outside world.

A plethora of bird song is humming through the air, and a nearby white wisteria is scenting the landscape. I’m extremely grateful to notice because my senses were so dimmed by my sorrow that I truly could not enjoy the roadside bluebonnets that accompanied me Friday on a journey from Lake Jackson to Harker Heights north of Austin.

I saw them, but felt no joy.

I was going to continue on Saturday toward Tucson, where a sick daughter wants her mother, but my body refused to go on. So I’m sitting here at my oldest son’s home for a few days. I suspect I’ll continue my journey Tuesday or Wednesday.

It will be a lonely trip, but I do believe this tough old broad will at least be able to enjoy the sights along the way. Hopefully there will be more roadside bluebonnets.

And hopefully, this blog will once again take on its upbeat travel theme. Dookie happens to everyone and getting on with life is always the best thing we can do.

 Camping With a Canine in Cornwall http://tinyurl.com/726he22 This reminded me of many of my own adventuress when I was a tent camper. And it cheered me up.

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