I think that it’s easy to forget that what you see every day is not what everyone else sees every day. We all live such different lives.
So a couple of weeks ago I took my camera with me one day as I ran errands around here. It was an exceptionally pretty + quiet late summer day. Nothing much was going on anywhere that I went, but I took photos anyway.
Here are a few of them… just so you can see what I see almost every day.
• • •
• • •
• • •
• • •
• • •
Some situations provoke me to the point of regressing to my EIGHT YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL SELF… mouthing off… under my breath… to myself… about someone.
###
To wit, as I may or may not have mentioned before, I live in a suburb that is non-friendly. People are neutral about other people. Pleasant, but indifferent. Aware, but detached. Previously polite to a fault.
This I can live with.
But what I cannot condone is rudeness. And that is what I’m finding more often when I go outside for a walk.
###
For example, yesterday as I was walking along – up & down the hills – around the curves, I said “hi” or “hello” to all the people who I passed. I exhibited a modicum of good manners.
I. Was. Nice.
People with headphones nodded at me. People talking on phones waved hello. People with dogs shouted a greeting back at me. People just out for a stroll said “hi” or “hello” back to me as I walked by them.
However, people reading their smart phones as they walked along – up & down the hills – around the curves IGNORED ME.
Besides the obvious fact that it’s foolhardy to not pay attention to where you’re going when you’re walking along – up & down the hills – around the curves, it is rude to not acknowledge the person who is near you in real life.
###
As we all know, REJECTION HURTS.
So naturally, being the mature adult that I am, I started talking to myself about this boorish behavior. My muttering monologue went something like this…
ADULT ME [sarcastic, through clenched teeth]: Well, don’t say anything to me. Just. Being. Polite.
CHILD ME [insulted]: Hey, hey– what’s wrong with you, you poopy head?
ADULT ME [irritated]: Boy, I tell you, Ally– you try to be nice & see what you get?
CHILD ME [frantic]: Hey booger face, I’m over here. What am I? Chopped liver? Huh?!
ADULT ME [resigned, with a sigh]: Whatever. Some people aren’t even worth the bother.
CHILD ME [zinging away]: Well, well, well… if I’m chopped liver, then you’re bologna. Cut thick. Just like you, fatso!
###
Bottom line truth of this story? I LOVED BEING SNOTTY RIGHT BACK AT THESE PEOPLE. Granted, the conversation was only in my head, but it was lots of fun to mouth off like that. Kind of a forgotten pleasure of childhood– empowering & entertaining.
SO THERE.
Last week on this day I wrote about how I was happy and pleased because we had planted some true blue pansies by the sidewalk leading up to our front door. Today I am saddened to tell you, my gentle readers, that last Friday night the deer ate 70% of my special, pretty pansies.
Apparently the deer were having their very own T.G.I.F. party out in front of our house. And they didn’t even invite us. SNOBS.
This experience reminds me of a Bible verse: “Pride goeth before Destruction, and Haughtiness goeth before the Fall.”
[Don’t know where that is in the Bible, but I know it’s there. My mother used to say that every so often. While not a church lady by any stretch of the imagination, she knew all sorts of Bible quotes that she used, along with French phrases + literary quotes, to keep me on the straight and narrow. Or to confuse me, thereby slowing me down as I sauntered along the crooked and wide.]
So yesterday morning Z-D and I went to Lowe’s to buy some average, run-of-the-mill pansies. We bought one 6-pack of pansies with yellow/brown faces and one 6-pack of pansies with purple/white faces. We came home and planted them all mixed-up with the remaining true blue pansies that the deer were too full to eat.
THEN Zen-Den gave the whole mess of pansies a thorough spraying with Liquid Fence, Deer & Rabbit Repellent. Or as I call it– the deer stink stuff.
All of which means that our flowers look lovely from afar, but smell icky when you walk by them. I believe that Fernando Lamas would approve of this solution to our deer/pansy problem. In fact, I can imagine him saying that it is better to look good than it is to smell good.
Yes, my pansies: “You look MAHVELOUS!”
[There’s more to the story. Click here.]
I took these photos mid-morning Sunday when most of the sky was so blue that the moon was visible. We rarely have super clear days like that around here.
~ ~ • ~ ~
~ ~ • ~ ~
Occasionally some wispy clouds floated through the sky across the moon reminding me that this photo-op was going to be a short one.
~ ~ • ~ ~
~ ~ • ~ ~
I couldn’t help but think about Neil Armstrong as I snapped these photos. Imagine walking on something so far away from & different from the Earth? He never considered himself to be a hero. He thought he was just part of a team that made amazing things happen.
~ ~ • ~ ~
~ ~ • ~ ~
So with a nod to the past & a hope for the future, I’ll wink at the moon when I see it… in honor of Neil Armstrong.
[The National Memorial Service for Neil Armstrong is today. Details here.]
THE SPECTACLED BEAN 