May We All Be This With It When We Reach Our 70s

August 13, 2015 / Ally Bean / 17 Comments

“I wore rouge today.”

I was standing in the personal care aisle at Kroger. I wanted to buy some hair mousse, which is in a white container, and is on the shelf about ankle height, near the end of the aisle, on the left.

“Or I guess they call it blush now.”

In front of me was a woman, late-70s, with a coupon in her hand. She and her cart were blocking my path– not because she was careless, but because shoppers and boxes of product yet to be stocked crowded the aisle.

“I have on mascara, too.”

She batted her eyes at me so I could see her blackened eyelashes behind her thick eyeglass lenses.

I smiled and said, “It looks nice. I don’t have any on today.” I batted my eyes back at her.

This made her smile.

“I don’t usually wear any, but I had to go somewhere special. I went to lunch with a friend and there were men there.”

I smiled at her, nodded my head– and tried to casually, gracefully lean over to the left, reach around her cart and grab my mousse.

It was not meant to be.

“I’m sorry I’m in your way here. But I have this coupon for $2.00 off and I can’t find the right product.”

I could see her predicament, the hair care line she was looking for had 4 different manifestations of their products, all in different colored bottles.

So I waited. No rush really.

“It was a free lunch at Barrington Manor. You know that place? It’s assisted living for old people. I’m not ready for that place yet.”

I told her that I knew where it was, in a fancy part of town.

“They had a make-up stylist after lunch who showed us how to wear make-up now that we’re senior citizens. I didn’t have him do mine, but I asked questions.”

{ silence as she eyeballed the shelves }

“And they gave us a make-up bag filled with $37.00 worth of free make-up. FREE.”

{ big smile as she continued to look for the hair care product }

“Thirty-seven dollars!”

After about 30 seconds she found what she wanted to buy, then turned to me with her coupon and her product.

“This is right, isn’t it? For the $2.00 off. Like on the coupon.”

I looked at what she had picked up and pointed out that the words on her coupon were the same as the words on the bottle.

“Well, I hope I can read these words,” she said. “I taught reading for years. That’s what I did. Read. Words.”

And with a chuckle and a “thank you” she moved on, leaving me to grab my hair mousse off the shelf and to reflect upon what it means to age stylishly while retaining your sense of humor.

May we all be so cheerful, curious and coherent when we reach her age.

Amen.

A “Better Call Noah” Garden Update

July 9, 2015July 9, 2015 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

This summer has been humid and wet– mold everywhere on the roses, on the tree trunks, on the sides of terra-cotta pots, on stones along the paths.

Perennial plants, such as cat mint, are so waterlogged that they’ve wilted, unable to spread their roots, trapped in clay soil that has formed its own kind of water-filled hole around them.

And then we have some potted annuals that are going out of their way to show-off their colors. Like these petunias, for instance. That have gotten leggy and dramatic, attempting to cover the entire deck.

On a weird note, unlike previous years in which squirrels took over our property, this year has brought us rabbits, snakes and one red fox. The rabbits seem intent on eating all the weeds [yeah!], while the snakes lurk under bushes, near the front door.

Not happy about that. Neither one of us is.

The red fox seems to be joyful as he jogs across our property. Don’t know much about him, being a newcomer to the suburb ‘ya know, but from the skip in his step I can guess that this summer is his kind of weather.

~ ~ • ~ ~

On an encouraging note, I’m happy to report that two of my three my milkweed “experiments” are doing well. The plants that I started from seed didn’t take, but the white milkweed, a sturdy plant that I purchased at the garden center, is growing 30″ tall in the back yard near the woods.

No flowers yet, but looking good.

The yellow milkweed, purchased at the same garden center, looked half-dead when I bought it. Withered brown-tinged leaves. Not so big. But now, planted in full sunshine near the garage, it’s about a foot high and has pretty yellow flowers on it.

Just goes to show, don’t judge a potted plant by its leaves. 😉

I’m not certain but I think that we are beginning to get monarch butterflies here. Zen-Den saw one when he was mowing out back– and I snapped this photo of a butterfly [moth?] when I was out front.

Usually by mid-summer I’ve glorious flowers, waiting in the sunshine to be photographed. But this year I have Noah on speed dial while my camera naps the days away.

Too soggy for photos of posies.

We Went To Nashville, Y’all

June 23, 2015July 1, 2025 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

Like just about every post that I write about our travels…

Zen-Den was in [fill in the blank] for work and I decided to join him.

In this case he was in Nashville, TN, aka Music City USA. So I flew down there for a goof-off weekend in a city that is cheerful and easy to navigate.

Nashville is fun, y’all. Here are the highlights of our Weekend.

:: We went to the Parthenon.

Built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition, this building has INCREDIBLE detail, a small art museum in the basement featuring regional American landscape art, and is located in a large, somewhat uncared for, city park.

I learned how little I know about Greek mythology while here, y’all.

:: We went to a fancy part of town called Green Hills.

There we wandered around a mall, and adjacent lifestyle center, that had many of the same stores that we have here, BUT they were twice as large with FRIENDLY sales help. As much as I don’t usually enjoy shopping, this I liked.

I bought a Coach purse, y’all.

:: We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

This museum was amazing. FASCINATING. Curated to tell, entertain and engage everyone with music, videos, instruments, album covers, photographs, costumes, interactive displays and tasteful decor, we enjoyed this museum more than we thought that we would.

I saw Elvis’s gold Cadillac, y’all.

:: We ate at Ted’s Montana Grill.

This is a chain restaurant, owned by Ted Turner, that features beef and buffalo, along with salads and fish and milkshakes. The restaurant was beautifully decorated in a 1970s steak-house style with lots of dark wood and shiny brass. The food was DELICIOUS and the service was attentive.

I ate a bison burger– and I washed my hands with Boraxo powdered soap, y’all.

:: And finally, the answer to the question that everyone asks when you go to Nashville: Yes, we went to the Grand Ole Opry.

It was GREAT. We saw lots of older performers who we’d never heard of [Connie Smith?], but eventually, as the evening progressed, we saw performers who we knew, like Vince Gill and Pure Prairie League. Then, in true Opry fashion, two superstars stopped by the Opry on a whim– and the crowd went crazy.

I saw Tricia Yearwood AND her husband, Garth Brooks, perform together, y’all.

Friends Of The Family, Groovy Fauna Edition

June 12, 2015February 14, 2023 / Ally Bean / 22 Comments

At the risk of sounding hippy dippy I’ll share with you that morning & evening I like to go outside into the garden with a beverage and commune with nature.

~ ~ • ~ ~

I enjoy the aloneness of it. Tossing my thoughts aside. Being in the moment. Enjoying the colors of the flora. Trippy.

~ • ~ ~

~ ~ • ~ ~

But this Spring I’ve come to realize that often when I’m outside doing my Earth Mother thing, I am not alone. There be more than flora, there be fauna, too.

~ ~ • ~ ~

And this fauna doesn’t seem to give a flying fig through a donut hole that I’m out there too. You’d think that they would care, wouldn’t ‘ya?

~ ~ • ~ ~

But they don’t seem to groove on the idea that this is my garden– and not theirs. They just keep on keeping on like they belong out there. Far out man. 😉