rainbows | Pat Bean's blog

Posts Tagged ‘rainbows’

Sunshine Days and Rain

Posted in Journeys, Morning Thoughts, tagged friends, rain, rainbows on September 24, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Looking at a rainbow off my bedroom balcony. — Photo by Pat Bean

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbows, you gotta put up with the rain.” – Dolly Parton

Morning Chat

My long-time friend Kim visited me this past weekend. We sat up the first night and drank Jack and Cokes on my balcony and chatted until the wee hours of the morning the first night, went to a paint class the next day, and a corny musical play at the Gaslight Theater here in Tucson, where we both laughed ourselves silly, last night.

Kim and I at the end of our paint class.

She had gotten a cheap ticket for the visit by landing at the Phoenix-Gateway Mesa Airport, which is two hours from my place. No problem because I jump at any opportunity these days to be on the road.

She arrived at 10 a.m. on Friday, which was perfect. But her flight back to Utah left at 6 a.m., which meant that we begin her drive back to the airport at 2:30 a.m. Not too big a deal until we were almost there and it started to rain, Drips at first and then buckets, which made seeing, especially for my old eyes, a bit difficult.

But I was familiar with the route and we made it safely to the airport, where Kim got thoroughly drenched before she got her suitcase out of the hatchback. With the rain now coming down mightily, I creeped my way back to Interstate 10 via Loop 202 and through the town of Chandler. Back on the interstate, the rained stopped and I could once again enjoy the early morning drive.

I have to admit, I had cursed the rain when I had to drive through it.

This morning when I woke up, I discovered that the rain had come to Tucson overnight. But when a few minutes later I found myself waking my canine companion, Scamp, in the rain, I realized I was loving it.

I find it interesting how circumstances can give one’s brain a 180-degree turn.

Blog pick of the day.

Bean Pat: To everyone who loves walking in the rain.

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

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Rain Makes for Lazy Days

Posted in Art, Nature, tagged desert flowers, lazy days, pat bean, rain, rainbows on September 19, 2014| 4 Comments »

“What is the purpose of the giant sequoia tree? The purpose of the giant sequoia tree is to provide shade for the tiny titmouse.” – Edward Abbey

I’ve seen rainbows almost every day for the past week. I’m glad I took time to enjoy them. This one was seen from my bedroom balcony. — Photo by Pat Bean

And We’ve Had Rain

Flowers pop out everywhere in the desert after a rain, and I tried to capture the transformation in this quick watercolor. -- Art by Pat Bean

Flowers pop out everywhere in the desert after a rain, and I think this old painting of mine well captures the excitement of such a transformation.

I finally got caught up on my e-mail, household chores and a few other things yesterday after doing little for the past week but watching old Survivor seasons (recently added to Amazon Prime) on my computer, reading a lot, and walking dogs.

I’m retired, and so I shouldn’t feel guilty – but I do.

I wonder what my purpose in life is these days? It’s a question I’ve long pondered without coming up with a good answer.

Meanwhile, it feels good to once again have my fingers playing on my computer keyboard. And for today that’s enough. I’ve always found it best to simply live in the moment.

Bean Pat: Write like Han Solo http://tinyurl.com/kkuw8gs I found this to be a thought-provoking blog on writing.

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What’s Most Important

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged goals, pat bean, rainbows, writing on August 26, 2013| 4 Comments »

“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

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.

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.

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.

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Yes Virginia, There Really are Angels

Posted in Travel, tagged angels, delta airlines, flowers, kindness, pat bean, postaday, rainbows on July 10, 2012| 4 Comments »

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” Seneca

And They Work for Delta Airlines

If I could, I’d give this whole garden of flowers, which I found growing at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens, to my two Delta Airline angels. — Photo by Pat Bean

I have a granddaughter getting married this weekend in Texas.

So about six weeks ago, so as not to leave my campground hosting duties here at Lake Walcott for too long, I made airline reservations that would get me into Texas early Saturday morning for that evening’s wedding. Or so I thought.

The plan was that my son, who lives only a couple of hours away, would pick me up at the airport. But then I got a call from him yesterday asking me to take another look at my flight reservations.

“You’re booked to catch the 8:10 p.m. flight, and not the 8:10 a.m. flight,” he said.

And may their days be full of rainbows, like this one I saw near Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota. — Photo by Pat Bean

He was right – and I was in a panic. My flight wouldn’t arrive in Texas until after all the happenings had ended. And of course I had purchased one of those non-refundable, non-changeable tickets.

Trying very hard to not panic, I called Delta Airlines. After the usual wait for an agent, I was connected to sweet, young, voice, the kind that you just know is not going to be able to help you. Fate, I thought, wasn’t going to be kind to me.

But after I, as calmly as my fast-beating heart would allow, explained my predicament, the honeyed voice asked if I would hold while she talked with a supervisor.

It wasn’t a short hold, but the voice came back several times to let me know she was still working on my problem.

Finally, as if this were a fairy tale where everyone lived happily ever after, she told me that my flight had been changed from an evening one to a morning one, and that there would be no charge.

“Normally it would have cost $350 to change,” she said, “but this was clearly a mistake.”

I wished I could have hugged this delightful young woman, and the supervisor who approved the change, too.

I now believe in Angels.

Bean’s Pat: The Kindness Kronicles http://thekindnesskronicles.wordpress.com I wonder if my angels ever read this bloggers post about daily kindness. Blog pick of the day from this wondering wanderer.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Hope

Posted in Nature, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged albert einstein, hope, pat bean, postaday2012, rainbows on January 28, 2012| 3 Comments »

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” – Albert Einstein

Mesa Falls, Idaho

What better way to say hope than with a rainbow. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Bean’s Pat: Life in the Bogs: A Raptor Visitation http://tinyurl.com/7hk4jrm Great blog, great photos every day. But this inquiring mind wants to know if this is a Cooper’s or juvenile northern goshawk.

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Prompt Promotes Positiveness

Posted in Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged pat bean, positiveness, postaday2012, rainbows, violet weingarten, writing prompt on January 23, 2012| 5 Comments »

“Is life to short to be taking shit, or is life too short to be minding it.” – Violet Weingarten

South Dakota rainbow: Where's your focus, on the storm or on the rainbow? -- Photo by Pat Bean

Writing

Take your name, and describe yourself using its initials. That was this month’s writing prompt for the Story Circle Network writing circle of which I’m a member.

My response was:

P — Peace-loving, pedaling, passionate, pussy push-over
A — A personality, artsy-fartsy, anger-phobic, adventuress

T — Traveler, titterer, time-waster, tolerant

B — Boisterous, birder, book-lover, bra-less

E — Enthusiastic, eclectic, energized, escapee

A — Aries, adaptive, awesome old broad, animal lover

N — Nosy, nature-worshiper, not-normal, non-venomous

My responses, interestingly, weighted in on the positive side of my attributes, as did those of the circle’s other members. Many of us expressed amazement at how good it felt to look more closely at the positive side of ourselves – and we all wondered why we didn’t do it more.

The prompt was so much fun, and personally educational, that I thought I would pass it along. I’d be delighted if you would share your adjectives in comments to this blog.

Have fun!

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Searching for Maggie’s Rainbow

Posted in Travels With Maggie, tagged chronic ear infections, cocker spaniels, pat bean, postaday2011, rainbows 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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As in Life, a Rainbow Hides in Every Storm

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged japanese magnolia, Lake Jackson, postaday2011, rainbows, silver linings, storm music, storms, Texas, winter color on February 1, 2011| 5 Comments »

This is all I could see outside my RV window at 7 a.m. this morning. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.” — Frank Lane

Travels With Maggie

I’m writing my blog this morning as pelting rain drums a tune on the roof of my RV, which is rocking and rolling with the wind. A clash of distance thunder sounds the cymbals.

There’s something in me that loves an enthusiastic storm, especially when I’m all snug and cozy in warm flannel pajamas with a good book to read. A cracking fireplace blaze would be nice, but when living in a 22-foot home on wheels, one has to make sacrifices.

My canine traveling companion, Maggie, since it is only 7 a.m., is still sleeping. If left undisturbed – and thunder and lightning don’t normally wake her – she’ll sleep until about 9:30 a.m., when she’ll wake up and give me that “I’m ready for my morning walk RIGHT NOW” look.

This scarlet cheer was tucked beneath a hedge. -- Photo by Pat Bean

If it’s still raining, we’ll use my large umbrella. Maggie knows the drill. And she won’t dawdle, as she normally does.

I usually dawdle, too, another reason why Maggie and I are the perfect traveling companions. I carry binoculars around my neck and frequently stop to search out any bird sounds I hear. Yesterday a knock-know drumming alerted me to a cute little downy woodpecker in the tree above my head. A soft whistling then refocused my binoculars to a tufted titmouse in the same tree.

I also take time to snap a picture or two with my small digital camera. Remembering to stick it in my pocket for our walks took me a long time, but these days I feel naked without it.

The first bloom on the Japanese magnolia tree in my son's yard. This tree blooms before it puts on leaves and is always a winter treat. -- Photo by Pat Bean

A few minutes ago, on a whim, I shot a view of the storm outside through the inside of

my RV window. Looking at it, I thought about the photos I took yesterday of winter color around my son’s Texas Gulf Coast home, where winter never fully settles in for the duration.

The contrast between the images speak to me of the silver lining behind every storm.

Do they say something to you?

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