X Is For XXXX Sugar, Top This Sort Of Excellence

April 28, 2016January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 53 Comments

“Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch, you know that I love you. I can’t help myself, ‘cuz I love you and nobody else.”

• These are the lyrics of a classic Motown song by the Four Tops, who have sung this song for decades. This song mentions sugar, but we do not know if that sugar is XXXX [powdered] or granulated.

Now do we?

• This means that for purposes of this A To Z Challenge, which never seems to end, I believe that the sugar mentioned in the above quote is of a fancy XXXX powdered variety, and not merely your everyday granulated sugar.

It could be true.

• So please, my gentle readers, indulge me as I snap my finger and wink my eye, sharing, what I’m going to say is, a perfectly acceptable post regarding the letter “X.”

Top that, people!

W Is For Walnuts, Why Not?

April 27, 2016January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 43 Comments

“Walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs.”

This proverb, which I suspect has been around as long as the English language as allowed “pears” and “heirs” to rhyme, is a wonderful nod to the wisdom of days gone by.

{ Image Source }

It’s an insight into how our ancestors approached the land. They used the land to grow food and planned ahead in a way that I admire, yet do not want to emulate.

Zen-Den and I, being the modern suburbanites that we are, have been attentive to the need to improve our land, in a 21st century way, since the first day we got here.

Except for The Big Dig Project when we purchased 110 tons of dirt to form a backyard, most of our gardening efforts have been modest, with visible results in a year or two.

We attempt to beautify.

Like today, for instance, when, with your permission my gentle readers, I’ll go busy myself outside with a bit of weeding. In the pretty garden. Where the only thing edible is dandelion greens!

V Is For Vinegar, Very Much So

April 26, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 27 Comments

Full of spit and vinegar

… is a slang term that implies someone is high-spirited, boisterous, full of vigor.

Noisy, even.

I have no idea when I first heard this innocent version of, shall we say, a classically crude saying, occasionally seen in literature, but rarely said in my world.

This is not because I’m offended by coarse language, but because this saying doesn’t float into my addled brain when I want to tell you that I’m feeling youthful and rowdy.

Too many words. Too idiomatic. Too easy to be misunderstood.

Instead, I’d rather tell you straight up and directly: I’m feeling energetic today. Watch out world.

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{ SOMETHING TO DO FOR FUN }

Here’s a website where you can create your own custom background noise. You can make the noise to help you mellow out OR be productive. It’s up to you. Go try it now.

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U Is For Upside-Down Cake, You Know

April 25, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 37 Comments

Piece of [upside-down] cake

… is my modified version of a slang saying that means something is easy to do. Not tricky at all.

I’ve added “upside-down” to this saying because I have nothing for the letter “U” within my theme of Food: Talking The Talk.

I guess you could say that finding something to post for the letter “U” … [wait for it]… has not been a piece of cake.

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In fact, if I might, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you, my gentle readers, that this challenge has been, like I suspected, a great deal of work.

I’m not complaining, mind you, but I want to be clear that for me doing this challenge with a theme, as per the guideline suggestions, takes more effort than merely showing up to my blog each day– and writing something.

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My only regret is that I can’t visit + comment on more A To Z Challenge bloggers’ blogs. Each day my stats page shows me that people from around the world have visited The Spectacled Bean, many of them leaving comments or liking what I wrote.

But instead of having the time to return all the visits, here I sit at my desk each morning writing, researching, writing, adding links, writing, editing, writing, adding images, writing.

Just saying. No disrespect intended.