Daily Life

Three Changes I’ve Made During The 2012 Presidential Election Campaign

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

1.  I’ve started watching CBS news.  I used to watch ABC, but our local affiliate could not shut up about the national election.  It was weird.

So I clicked over onto CBS and discovered that our local affiliate talked about [get this] local news & weather & traffic.  And that CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose, Gayle King & Norah O’Donnell is a delight.  No sales pitches. No silliness. No crowds of onlookers.  Just [get this] news & intelligent discussion & quiet humor.

In other words, my kind of people.

2.  I decided to boycott a business because this small, local business put up way too many political signs in front of its store.  While it is a right for any business to do this, it is also my right to stop frequenting an establishment because of it.  There are consequences for extreme partisanship– and one is the loss of customers who believe that politics is a personal matter, not part of a business plan.

[In fairness, I cannot take credit for this idea.  A friend pointed out to me that she had stopped going to her doctor because this doctor had become so blatantly political outside & inside her practice, that my friend walked away from the practice.]

There is a time & place for all things.

3.  I have learned to drive more slowly and with much more awareness.  Those darned lawn signs obscure who or what might be darting out from behind them.  Small children & pets are drawn to those signs, and more than once I’ve hit the brakes while driving through suburbia because I’ve noticed suspicious movement around the signs.

I understand that to many people political signs are a right… a need… an important way to make a difference.  So if you do put them out in front of your property, please consider putting them up close to your house instead of by the street.  I know they’ll be less visible, but doing such might avert a horrible accident.

Just saying, no offense intended…

Beguiled By Color & Clarity

/ Ally Bean / 20 Comments

Last night as I was preparing dinner I glanced across the kitchen and saw this prism of light on the cabinet drawer handle.  Isn’t it pretty?  I was mesmerized by it, so I took a photo of it.

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Then a few minutes later I looked outside and saw the clear autumn sky.  So naturally I stopped what I was doing again to take a photo of it.  I always adore photos of the sky taken through trees.

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Looking at these photos all I can think is that life is in the details.  Simple moments remembered.  Beautiful colors created by the play of light in the early evening that charmed me into taking photos… just because.

Another Sunday, Another Walk In A Park

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

“I know nothing.”  ~ Nancy Botwin, Weeds

Years ago Zen-Den and I went to a garden show that was held in a city park.  I’ve always wanted to go back to that park and see what else was there beyond what we saw during the show.

I was convinced that the entire park was a nice, manicured city park which would be a lovely place to go for a stroll on a gorgeous fall afternoon before we headed to the grocery to do some shopping.  So on this past Sunday afternoon Z-D and I made our way back to that city park where we quickly figured out that I was wrong.  There was a lot more to this park than I realized.

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Despite appearing on the surface to be civilized, it turned out that many parts of this city park were more rugged than paved.  In fact, in some places it was almost creepy with a dirt path through overgrown vines + shrubs + HUGE trees blocking out all the daylight.

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Just about the time that Z-D and I were beginning to wonder what we’d gotten ourselves into with this walk, we came back around a trail loop and found ourselves walking through this stretch of well-maintained park.  Looking at the colorful leaves was mesmerizing, and made the effort to get there all the more worth it.

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When we got back to our car we realized that we’d wandered, trudged & walked for over one hour and had seen HALF of this city park.  Apparently this park is quite large.

Our Sunday afternoon in the park might not have been the adventure that I thought we were going to have, but it was fun nonetheless.  Turns out that sometimes [many times?] not knowing where I’m going, works in my favor.

Even Though I Make No Sense Doesn’t Mean That I’m Not Right

/ Ally Bean / 23 Comments

A glimpse into a marriage…

Mr. Man has a habit of not shutting the blinds on the windows in the bathroom before he gets naked and showers.  In the summertime when the leaves are on the trees and the mornings are bright & sunny, this is okay.  But now that the trees are losing leaves and the mornings are dark, he is on display when he gets ready to shower.

I don’t like this and I told him so.  In uncertain terms.  That made sense to me before I said them to him.

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ME:  You can’t stand in the bathroom in the morning with the blinds open.

Him:  Huh?

ME:  Someone could see you.

Him:  Who?

ME:  Someone out for a walk in the early morning… on the street behind us… who looked through the trees and saw you in the bathroom.

Him:  Who would that be?  It’s a private drive back there.  And someone out there can’t see through the trees, across the ravine and up this high to our second floor window.

ME:  But they might have a camera with a telescopic lens– and then they could see you.  Clearly.

Him:  Not likely.  The only creatures who can see me are the squirrels in the trees back there.

ME:  Well, that’s not good.  You don’t want that, right?

Him:  I don’t give a [insert curse word of your choice] if squirrels see me naked.

ME:  Well, well… there could be a sniper back there with a rifle and he could see you… if he was in the neighbor’s second floor bedroom… through their window.  With a gun.

Him:  HUH?!!

ME:  And he could shoot you because you’d be a clear shot.  YOU DON’T WANT THAT, DO YOU?

Him:  THERE IS NO SNIPER BACK THERE.  HE IS NOT GOING TO SHOOT ME WITH HIS RIFLE.

ME:  Well, there could be.  And then I’d be a widow all because you couldn’t be bothered to shut the blinds.

Him:  Where do you get this stuff?

ME:  It could happen.

Him:  No way.  How did the sniper get into the neighbor’s house anyway?  Or are you saying that our neighbors are snipers?  Like that Mr. & Mrs. Smith movie?

ME:  No, of course not.  Our neighbors aren’t assassins.  DON’T. BE. SILLY.  I got the idea from all the NCIS reruns… that you make me watch.

Him:  THAT I MAKE YOU WATCH?  How do I make you watch them?

ME:  You put them on the TV and then I see them… and begin thinking about what could happen if someone saw you naked in the morning getting ready to take a shower.

Him:  That’s what you get from watching NCIS?  That someone might shoot me?

ME:  Yes it is.  So just shut the [insert curse word of your choice] blinds before you get undressed.  OK?

Him:  Sure.  All you had to do is ask.