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Posts Tagged ‘pat bean’

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

Posted in Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , on February 21, 2013| 16 Comments »

        “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” — John Ruskin

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The view across the city to the mountains this morning at dawn. — Photo by Pat Bean

          “The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?” — J. B. Priestley

A Rare One I’m Told

snow            I posted a picture of snow falling outside my bedroom balcony on Facebook yesterday that brought a myriad of comments.

            I thought you said you were in Tucson, was the gist of the responses.

            I am, and snow doesn’t often fall in Tucson. And yesterday’s brief flurry was gone before time for afternoon tea, or whatever pick me up you prefer.

            So it was very surprising to me this morning that when I woke up there was snow on the grounds here in the Catalina foothills to match the magic of snow and a sunrise on the mountains.

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            Betty Ann, who has lived in Tucson for over 10 years and who came to walk Pepper for me, a job she’s doing until my broken ankle heals, said she couldn’t remember waking up to a morning like this.

            What a shame. I wouldn’t mind waking up to a morning like this any day.   

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

  Bean’s Pat:   Lyin’, cheatin’ and a stolen country song. http://tinyurl.com/a2ar56v Don’t read this column if you take life too seriously and don’t enjoy laughing.

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Only the Red Bird Remains of my Past

Posted in Art, Birds, Journeys, Travel, tagged , , , on February 19, 2013| 3 Comments »

“It’s surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time.”  — Barbara Kingsolver

“To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.” — Margaret Fairless Barber

This simple colored-pencil drawing of a cardinal holds all my past memories. I hung it on my wall this morning.

This simple colored-pencil drawing of a cardinal holds all my past memories. I hung it on my wall this morning.

A Lifetime of Memories in a Golden Frame

The year was 1978 when I found myself single with two of my five children still left to support. It wasn’t an easy time, especially that first month when I had to borrow money to pay rent.

Although there have been many difficult times since that day, as there are for all who occupy this planet, my life from this point forward only got better and better..  

I spent the next 26 years finishing up a 37-year career in journalism, following it – and twice  where my heart led me to go.

My career took me to the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas, for three years, then to Ogden, Utah, as features editor for the Standard-Examiner. I stayed for three years here before love took me to Las Vegas for eight months that included a stint working for the Las Vegas Sun.

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I find it interesting that color-pencil drawings of birds, like this eastern bluebird I quickly doodled this past week, are the most common sketches in my art journal.

When love betrayed me, I took myself away from the neon lights to Twin Falls, Idaho, where I stayed for two years as regional editor for the Times-News. It was then back to Ogden, where my former newspaper offered me a job as assistant city editor

In 1987, I answered my heart once again and moved to Erda, Utah, and undertook a daily 56-mile commute to my job in Ogden. But in 1989, I moved back to Ogden alone. I happily stayed there until 2004, at which time I sold my home and bought my RV, Gypsy Lee.

With few exceptions, everything I owned was either packed into my 22-foot home on the road, sold or given away.  The exceptions, mostly books, were eventually stored at my youngest daughter’s home here in Tucson, where I recently moved into a small apartment after almost nine years spent living on the road exploring America from sea to shining sea. .

Sunday, my daughter brought me a few of those bins. And this morning, I hung the only remaining possession that remained from 1978 on the wall of my apartment.

As I stood back and looked at this simple sketch of a cardinal, which belonged to my grandmother, whom I adored and whom died when I was only 10 years old, tears came into my eyes.

The colored-pencil drawing, which even for a while accompanied me in my RV travels, held a lifetime of memories. It is the only thing I own that connects me to my past. As a person who prefers to look forward not backward, I have no regrets that there is nothing else.

But my heart tells me that this red bird may be the most precious thing I own today.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Unusual Hotels http://tinyurl.com/a7n3736 This blog made me want to travel to Fiji for a night’s stay beneath the sea. I may have moved into an apartment but my itch for traveling to new places is unabated. I found these places fascinating. Which hotel would you stay in if you could?

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Kisses

Posted in Journeys, Lakes, Nature, Uncategorized, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , on February 16, 2013| 8 Comments »

“A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves. ”  ~John Muir

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Tree Partnerships

During the three summers I spent at Lake Walcott, I never got tired of looking at the park’s many trees. My favorites were the willows, Russian olives and the cottonwoods. The cottonwoods, thanks to Snake River irrigation water, were huge, the willows graceful and the frosty color of the Russian olives, which also grew larger than any I had seen elsewhere, gave the park’s greenness a vibrant texture.

Arms entwined in a naked embrace. Bell-lughing now. How about you? -- Photo by Pat Bean

Arms entwined in a naked embrace. Belly-laughing  now. How about you? — Photo by Pat Bean

What amazed me was how many of them seemed to have grown up in pairs.

And like John Muir, I saw the trees in their many moods: From their naked branches, whose forms sometimes made me think of an Escher painting, to their passionate dance when a wind storm blew across the park, to their quiet summer verdancy when they issued an invitation for me to sit beneath them and partake of their shaded coolness.  

And when I saw this week’s photo theme, the trees were the first thing that popped into my mind. if trees could make love, would their foreplay begin with kissing leaves? What do you think?

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WORLDWALK

Posted in Birds, Books, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on February 15, 2013| 7 Comments »

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

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Where the road leads, I followed. This one let to the top of Mesa Verde in Colorado. — Photo by Pat Bean

There are needs, and then there are NEEDS

I know what it means to have a tugging in your heart that must be answered. A need to be loved, when I thought I wasn’t, was the first. Fulfilling that need had both good and bad consequences, but my children, their children, and their children made the journey worthwhile.

"I Married Adenture" by Osa Johnson.

“I Married Adventure” by Osa Johnson.

The second, the one that defined me as the wondering-wanderer, started at about age 12 when I read Osa Johnson’s “I Married Adventure.” From the first pages of that book until forever,  traveling to see the world has been in my blood. Exactly how I wanted to see North America firmed up after I read William Least Heat Moon’s “Blue Highways.

The third thing that tugged at me waited until I was a young mother with young children, all of whom had given me a very vexing day. My 6-year-old son had taught his younger brothers how to climb the backyard fence, then he and his 8-year-old sister had engaged in serious sibling rivalry all day. The youngest boy, meanwhile,  had gotten into the sugar bowl and had tracked the sweet granules all over the house.

I was close to being a sobbing mess when my 4-year-old son gifted me with a stemless yellow flower. The adoring look in his eyes turned what had been a shadowed day into one of bright sunshine. Never mind that he had stolen the flower from the neighbor’s yard.

blue-highways-2At about 2 a.m. the next morning, I woke up and felt this burning need to write about how that yellow flower had affected me. From that minute forward, I have needed to write as much as I needed to breathe.

Perhaps that is why when I learned about Steven Newman’s book, “Worldwalk,” in which he wrote about his four-year walk around the world, I knew it was a book I had to read.

I quickly discovered that the 1989 book –which details Steve’s optimistic 15,000-mile trek (of course he took boats where he couldn’t walk) across five continents and 20 countries, with only what would fit in a backpack — was not just not available on Kindle, it was out of print.

Thanks to the Internet, however, I found a rag-eared, stained paperback, copy for which I paid $1 plus $3.99 in shipping charges. The book didn’t disappoint, and I highly recommend it to any reader who believes the good in this world outweighs the bad, and who has an insatiable need to see the world, even if from an armchair.  

In fact, if you’re the first to request my copy, by privately messaging me on Facebook or e-mail, I’ll mail it to you free.  I love sharing books I have read.

Bean’s Pat:  Peregrine falcons http://tinyurl.com/b7hasb7 If you want to feel proud of yourself as a human being who cares that we share the land with wildlife, this is a bird that should help. Peregrine falcons, once nearing extinction, made a tremendous comeback after we humans started caring – and banned the use of DDT.

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The Coot and the Turtle

Posted in Books, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , , , on February 13, 2013| 4 Comments »

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” ~Albert Einstein

A Fable is Hiding Here Somewhere

coot and turtle 2This photograph reminded me of the fables of Aesop, supposedly an ancient Greek slave and story-teller who often used animals in his stories to get across a point.

Probably one of the best known Aesop fable is the one when the slow-moving tortoise teaches the fast-moving hare that slow and steady can still win a race.

Perhaps you can think of a fable in which the turtle teaches the coot a lesson, or perhaps the coot will be the teacher.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Hiking Hollywood http://tinyurl.com/ak7nlmk I chose this blog today because I wanted to take an armchair hike, and because it was not typical of what we think of when we think of Hollywood. “Instead of being presented with stereotypes by age sex, color, class or religion, children must have the opportunity to learn that within each range, some people are loathsome and some are delightful.” – Margaret Mead

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A Bit of This, a Bit of That

Posted in Art, Birds, Journeys, tagged , , , on February 12, 2013| 7 Comments »

            “ Beware of the half- truth. You may have gotten the wrong half.” – Unknown

A page from one of my sketch books of a chipping sparrow. I promised to share my art occasionally and this just seemed like a good day to do it.

A page from one of my sketch books of a chipping sparrow. I promised to share my art occasionally and this just seemed like a good day to do it.

So Much to Do, So Little Time. Dang it!

            The worse thing about my broken ankle, well now that I’m not in pain and it doesn’t hurt to walk a bit in my clunky boot, is not being able to drive.

            Thankfully, I had my daughter tootle me around town this weekend. I bought a vacuum, went to the post office and, drug store, did shopping for two weeks of groceries, and picked up pillows for my couch — which I had ordered to match the chair I bought because the chair that came with my red couch was ugly.

            Thankfully I had one of my grandson’s help in getting everything up to my third-floor apartment.

            Today was spent on a bunch of catch-up tasks, including the completion of a couple of writing projects. No not my book. I know. I know.

            I did a Valentine’s article for American Profile magazine and worked on a piece for Story Circle Network’s March journal.

            Now it’s almost 6 p.m. and I realized I hadn’t done anything for my own blog.

            Well, this is it – and all you are going to get today.

            I hope everyone had a happy Monday.

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Posted in Birds, Favorite Hikes, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , , , , on February 6, 2013| 5 Comments »

Sunrise and a Pair of Cooper’s Hawks

“The grand show is eternal It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling, vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in turn, as the round earth rolls.” – John Muir

First I saw the sunrise ... -- Photo by Pat Bean

First I saw the sunrise … — Photo by Pat Bean

A morning couldn’t get any better 

And then I saw one hawk ... -- Photo by Pat Bean

And then I saw one hawk … — Photo by Pat Bean

           I was sitting at my computer, drinking my cream-laced Sumatran coffee and wondering what I was going to blog about today when my phone chimed that I had just received a text message.            “Shhh. Come look,” my neighbor Betty Ann had written.

And so, quietly, I stepped out onto my third-floor balcony and was greeted with a blooming-pink sunrise that brought cheer to my soul. Beautiful, I thought, but why did I have to be quiet to see it.

And then I heard a throaty kek-keky-kek coming from a tall tree in the courtyard.

... and then I saw the second Cooper's hawk. -- Photo by Pat Bean

… and then I saw the second Cooper’s hawk. — Photo by Pat Bean

Not one, but two hawks, were sitting among the branches. I quickly, and quietly, stepped back inside and grabbed my camera.

From their rusty-red breasts, I thought I was looking at a couple of red-shouldered hawks, but a few minutes later, when I put my binoculars on them, I realized they were Cooper’s hawks. While both birds of prey have streaked red breasts, their head shapes and the rest of their coloring is quite different.

I’m hoping the pair will build a nest in that tree. What a daily bird-watching adventure I will have if they do. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Hiking the Colorado Trail http://tinyurl.com/b2tqg2l I love hiking trails, but for the next month or so my broken foot is keeping me off them. Perhaps that’ why I so enjoyed my arm-chair hike this morning with this Fabulous 50’s blogger.

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Pepper has no favorites

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Dogs, Journeys, tagged , , , , , on February 5, 2013| 13 Comments »

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.” Maya Angelou

Mind Triggers

The sight that greeted me when I looked up from the computer. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The sight that greeted me when I looked up from the computer. — Photo by Pat Bean

            I was just completing yesterday’s blog about Willie Nelson, when I looked up from the computer and saw my canine companion, Pepper, grinning from ear-to-ear as she sat in the middle of a devastated stuffed cat.

The dead cat. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The dead cat. — Photo by Pat Bean

I couldn’t do anything but smile. The toy had been on sale at PetSmart, and I had bought it for her, knowing full-well I would pay the clean-up consequences.            And then Willie’s quote about bigoted people not being his friend popped into my wondering-wandering mind, and I laughed, and continued laughing as I picked up the stuffing from every room in my small apartment.

Pepper is not prejudiced against cats. She’s also destroyed a big stuffed dog, a bear, a raccoon, and several ducks. She even took a bite out of my daughter’s Great Dane’s indestructible dinosaur.

Indestructible was the word my daughter used, even after I warned her that Pepper didn’t know the meaning of the word.

They look so innocent when they're asleep. -- Photo by Pat Bean

They look so innocent when they’re asleep. — Photo by Pat Bean

During Pepper and my first month together, she destroyed three pillows and their pillow cases, two pens (the stain of one which can still be seen on the rug in my RV) a computer cord, half a dozen pairs of socks, two of my daughter-in-law’s flip-flops and just about anything else she could get her teeth into.            Fortunately, she finally learned the difference between things that were hers and things that were mine, well except for socks and these days I blame myself for leaving any within her reach.

In the meantime I, or since I moved to Tucson, also my daughter, keep her supplied with plenty of chew bones, chew toys and occasionally a stuffed animal which can give her days of fun, and me days of picking up stuffing.

But as I said, she’s not prejudiced. She’ll chew up any stuffed animal.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Alastair’s Blog http://tinyurl.com/b4ggr4t How to Wash a Cat. I got great belly laughs from this one. I hope you laugh at it as much as I did. Laughter’s good for the soul. And I’m not prejudiced against cats, just for the record.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

Posted in Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , on February 2, 2013| 8 Comments »

Chitters in 2010 -- Photo by Pat Bean

Chitters in 2010 — Photo by Pat Bean

“Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open. You’re able to benefit for the unique viewpoints of others without being crippled by your own judgment.” — Ralph Marston

Chitters

Chitters is a great horned owl that I met back in the 1980s. And yes, he is unique. What other great horned owl twitters – as in chitters@ogdennaturecenter

He became the Ogden (Utah) Nature Center’s mascot when it was determined he couldn’t survive in the wild. But he did fly free for a short time, which is when I first learned about this magnificent bird.

A nature center worker called the newspaper where I was working after Chitters got loose. She was hoping for extra eyes to find him. The article I wrote in response to the plea noted that a female owl had been hanging around the nature center trying to attract Chitters’ attention. She succeeded, and at the first opportunity Chitters made his escape.

“Imagine that female’s surprise,” said the Nature Center’s spokesman, “when Chitters fails to bring her food, as courting males are supposed to do.”

Chitters turned up back at the Nature Center several days later, skinny and much the worse for wear. Perhaps he has progeny flying free over Ogden, or perhaps not.

The photo of Chitters above is one I took of him during a visit to Ogden a couple of years ago. Isn’t he beautiful?

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Around the World

Posted in Favorite Places, Journeys, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 1, 2013| 12 Comments »

            “Oh the places you’ll go (and the things you will see) … You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose…. Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way” – Dr. Seuss

Planning the Dream

When I set out in Gypsy Lee to see as much of this awesome country as I could, it was at the end of years of dreaming and many months of planning.

"Oh the places you'll go ..." frequently hummed in my head while I was traveling this country in Gypsy Lee. -- Dr. Seuss illustration

“Oh the places you’ll go …” frequently hummed in my head while I was traveling this country in Gypsy Lee. — Dr. Seuss illustration

Now, after almost nine years of on the road living and traveling, I’m beginning to dream once again. This time it’s of a round-the-world trip.My must-stops for such an adventure are: Australia, so I can visit Alice Springs, Uluru and travel across the continent on a train; China, so I can stand on the Great Wall; Portugal, because my great-great-great grandfather was a Portuguese sailor who jumped ship in America; Paris, so I can visit The Louvre; England, so I can see in person some of the settings of the British mysteries that I love to read; Ushuaia; because, well just because; and Zimbabwe, so I can see Victoria Falls.

Several airlines and travel trek companies are willing to help me plan just such a trip, I discovered this morning when I started an Internet search. I even started filling out a travel planner with one of them.

I’m truly hoping life, physically and financially, will allow me my dream. But if not, I’m sure having fun with the planning. It’s another kind of arm-chair travel that I find so fascinating.

If you could take such a trip, where would you go?

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Great Gray Owl http://tinyurl.com/b7o29ac Fantastic photos of a bird that is still on my dream list as I’ve never yet seen one in the wild.

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