A Week In Which A Mellow Bean Lets It Go

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I’m hiding in our home office this morning.  Adjacent to the foyer and away from the kitchen, it’s a room with French doors that I can close when need be.

Like today, for instance.

This is a morning when I’m trying to ignore the dreadful whiny motor sound of our dishwasher as it cleans the dishes.  Our dishwasher has, of late, become cantankerous.  Still doing that which is asked of it, but making certain that I know that it’s working hard to do so.

Old age affects us all in different ways, I suppose.

This week I’ve spent more time in the home office, or study as the builder referred to it, than usual.  Fortunately it’s a lovely room replete with my desk, my computer, a large over-filled bookcase, a funky old occasional chair and, of course, a potted pothos so that there’s another living organism in here with me.  It’s a writerly space.

From here I’ve watched this week’s happenings around Chez Bean.

I’ve overseen the AC being serviced, the windows being washed, the plumbing being inspected, the neighbor’s tree being cut down while using our driveway as a service road to get to their tree, and the gutters being cleaned out.

I’m exhausted from all of this work!  😉

But you see, that’s what’s going on around here.  Me, simply letting go, watching optimistically as other people and machines accomplish things.  While I research + write stories and essays that may, or may not, find their way into this blog.

If life is best lived by focusing on how you do things, then this week I’m one mellow positive bean, letting it all get done one way or another without my interference.

Come what may.

In The Spirit Of Gardening, I Am

IMG_0008We have no pansies in our planting beds this spring.

I don’t know where my mind was last fall, but it wasn’t on planning ahead for pops of color, courtesy of pansies, around the house.

My bad.

No, instead, the little bit of color that we have in the planting beds is from a few bedraggled, unenthusiastic, ancient daffodils who look like they’re huddled together outside taking a smoke.

If they could speak, they’d be talking in an old guy NJ accent, asking each other for a light.  “Hey, Murray!  You got a lighter over dere?  Whatcha say you lets me use it.  Tanks, buddy.”

I feel that I’m working with the landscape crew in spirit.

The crew started our spring cleanup yesterday, but it takes them a day or two to complete our property.  When we used to do the clean up ourselves it took us at least 4 weekend days, working together for 8 hours each day, to get this yard looking snazzy.

Too much for us.

So today while the crew is making things tidy outside, I’m inside perusing garden websites and gardening catalogues.  It’s amazing how many plants and garden doodads we need when I apply myself to the task of helping the landscape crew in this way.

And that, kids, is what’s going on around here.  I’m waiting for the big reveal after the landscape crew finishes, feeling that this expensive indulgence is worth the price.  And I’m grooving on the idea that when you get down to it, middle age has its perks.  

The One About Kismet & Guidelines For A Contented Life

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OVER THE YEARS, like most introspective people who I know, I’ve adopted all sorts of different versions of what I call the rules of life.

And sometimes babbled about them on this blog.

WHILE I LIKE my rules of life and feel that they apply in general, I’m self-aware enough to know that I need something visual + succinct to encourage me to face each day with quiet resolve.

That’s where I believe practical guidance comes into the picture. 

LATELY I’VE BEEN following the ideas that you see in the above photo;  I call them guidelines for a contented life.  I don’t know who wrote them, but when I first read them while browsing in T.J. Maxx, a discount store that I rarely go into, I liked them.

Now I ask you, what could be better than stumbling upon inspiration on sale?!

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Two Impressions About SNL Turning 40

I stayed up to watch most of the SNL 40th anniversary special last night.  I doubt that I know anyone who didn’t watch at least part of it, even if we don’t watch the show on a regular basis anymore.

I roll with those who laugh.

My first impression after watching the show was that while the skits on Saturday Night Live have had their ups and downs over the years, the players who performed the skits have been consistently amazing, if for no other reason than that they showed up.

It’s easy to forget how difficult it is to be involved in a live performance and make it work to the best of your ability.  There’s a lesson there: just because you aren’t a brilliant success in one place, doesn’t mean that you’re a failure.

Just look at what some of these players went on to do.

And my second impression is that SNL used to have some funny, universally recognized catchphrases [“Jane, you ignorant slut.”“Well, isn’t that special?”] but that’s no longer the case, is it?  If it is, I never hear or read them.

I miss those snarky SNL characters, with their enduring catchphrases and spot on observations, who made me laugh at the foibles of human nature while bringing skits to life.  Those hilarious characters, who permeated our real world, were nothing if not memorable.

Like the ones from long ago who we saw last night.

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