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Posts Tagged ‘postaday2011’

Don’t Tell Me There’s No Santa Claus

Posted in Travels With Maggie, tagged , , , , , , on December 26, 2011| 10 Comments »

 “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.

 

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Posted in Nature, Travels With Maggie, Writing, tagged , , , , , on December 25, 2011| 7 Comments »

 

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.”

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Merry Christmas From Maggie and Me

Posted in Travels With Maggie, tagged , , , on December 24, 2011| 7 Comments »

 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.

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Weekly Photo Challenge

Posted in Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Uncategorized, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , on December 23, 2011| 4 Comments »

“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.

 
 
 
 
 

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Searching for Maggie’s Rainbow

Posted in Travels With Maggie, tagged , , , , on December 22, 2011| 12 Comments »

 “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. 

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Worse Than a Bad Hair Day

Posted in Books, Travels With Maggie, tagged , , , , on December 21, 2011| 6 Comments »

“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.”

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Rain, Rain, Rain; Ping, Ping, Ping

Posted in Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, tagged , , , , , on December 20, 2011| 5 Comments »

 “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?

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Birding Reward for Dumping Gypsy Lee

Posted in Birds, Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, tagged , , , , , , , on December 19, 2011| 7 Comments »

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

 

American woodcock. The one we saw at Brazos Bend had a beautiful red belly but flew away too quickly for me to get a photograph. -- Wikipedia photo

 

Travels With Maggie

The best option I’ve found to dump the holding tanks in my RV when I’m visiting my son in Lake Jackson is Brazos Bend State Park. The compensation for making the 80-mile round-trip drive is that the Texas park, known for its alligators, is one of my favorite places to bird.

I announced my intentions of making the drive to my son, Lewis, asking if he would like to make the trip with me. He passed the word along to his wife, Karen.

“Mom needs to take a dump at Brazos Bend,” is how he put it, which suddenly became a standing joke among us.

Saturday, the two of them, also birders, joined me for the adventure. Arriving at the park, I renewed my annual Texas State Park pass, then took care of Gypsy Lee’s business while Karen and Lewis walked Maggie and watched a flock of cedar waxwings.

 

But this red-eyed fellow, a black-crowned night heron, posed nicely for me. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Ten minutes after I had put on plastic gloves, hooked up a sewer hose and pulled levers, Gypsy Lee’s holding tanks were empty and I was ready to join the birding party.

We decided to hike the Hoots Hollow trail near the park entrance. It was a good choice.

One of the first birds we saw as we entered the moss-dripping forest was an American woodcock. It was cause for great joy as the bird was a lifer for all three of us. It brought my list of species seen up to 699.

But the benefits of having to drive to Brazos Bend to dump didn’t end there. Just as we were about to exit the trail, I got my 700th species, a Swainson’s thrush. It had been quite awhile since I had added any new bird species to my life list, and to get two in one day was fantastic.

Our continued birding around Forty Acre Lake was also great. We ended the day with 57 species, our final one being a black-crowned night heron that posed for my camera.

The day left me looking forward to my next “dump.”

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Weekly Photo Challenge

Posted in Nature, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , , on December 18, 2011| 6 Comments »

“Looking back, you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life, and that person was you.  It is not too late to become that person again.”   ~Robert Brault

Self Portrait

As I frequently point out, I’m a writer not a photographer. It’s a conscious decision to prioritize my life, which is already too full of the many things I do.  I’ve always wanted it all, but finally had to accept that each thing I do takes a chunk away from something else. 

Since writing is at the top of my important list,  I spend more time with a notepad than a camera.  To assure that I continue doing this, my only camera is a small pocket point-and-shoot. It’s a Canon PowerShot with a decent zoom and image stabilizer that is almost alwaays with me. It has no straps and I carry no tripod so it fits quite nicely in the right-hand pocket of my cargo pants.

Without any extra equipment, however, I was a little perturbed at this week’s photo challenge. I wasn’t sure I could take a decent  self-portrait. 

The problem must have been fermenting in my brain when I visited Brazos Bend State Park yesterday.  While I was standing on a pier that jutted into the water, taking photos of common moorhens and a big old alligator watching them from his tiny island outpost, the solution suddenly appeared below me.

Can you see me?

Self-Portrait -- Photo by Pat Bean

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The Oleander Unexpected Oxymoron

Posted in Travel, Travels With Maggie, tagged , , , , , on December 16, 2011| 7 Comments »

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” Confucious

 

The Mrs. Trueheart -- International Oleander Society photo

 

Travels With Maggie

A recent walk through a cemetery in Galveston in search of the graves of my ancestors yielded an unexpected surprise.

 

The historical marker that sent me on a search to discover the oleander connection to my Trueheart ancestors. -- Photo by Pat Bean

A historical marker told me that several varieties of oleander were named after family members of my great-great-great-great-grandparents, John and Anne Trueheart.

Of course I later went on a search to find out which varieties honored them. Except for one exception, the search turned out to be as elusive as the bodies in the Galveston Cemetery, all of which got jostled about by hurricanes hitting the Texas Gulf Coast island.

The one subspecies I found that I believe without a doubt was named after my ancestors is the Mrs. Trueheart. It’s a strikingly deep pink, full blossomed oleander, whose photographic image delighted me.

That I find surprises in my travel and walks with Maggie is not surprising. They’re the reasons why I’m not a couch potato. This one just happened to be a bit more surprising than average.

Unexpected surprise? Now isn’t that an oxymoron?

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