Learning To Wait

November 18, 2013November 18, 2013 / Ally Bean / 12 Comments

[Sub-titled: Maybe My Middle School English Teacher Did Teach Me Something After All]

Thursday afternoon I was at home, waiting for a few things to happen. I couldn’t go any farther on the projects at hand until I got some more info from other sources, so I was feeling a bit stuck. And grumbly. I wasn’t in the mood to watch TV or to read, so to keep myself from turning into a crabius maximus I decided to goof around with my camera.

First I took a photo of the gorgeous blue sky. I like to photograph the autumn sky so that when the winter days get gray and gloomy I can look at my photos and remember that once upon a time we had sunshine and clarity. You understand.

Then I decided to try to take a photo of the sun. At first, all I could manage was this impressionistic blur which was more Claude Monet than Ansel Adams.

However, after a few more attempts I got this photo of the sun. Granted, it’s not the most spectacular photo ever, but I did achieve my goal and entertain myself in the process so we’re going to call this a win. Huzzah!

But here’s the thing, as I was goofing around with my camera I got thinking about a few stanzas of a poem that I was ~~forced~~ inspired to learn along the way. A poem, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, that seemed to perfectly encapsulate my stuck-at-home-in-the-suburbs afternoon. A poem that Miss Gillan, my 7th grade English teacher who was about a hundred years old when I had her, would be happy to know I still remember… more or less.

A Psalm Of Life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest !
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

[a bunch of stanzas that I don’t recall]

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Tattoos, Doodles & Unfinished Projects

August 23, 2013October 12, 2018 / Ally Bean / 15 Comments

A most peculiar week, this one. Blue moon and all. Must have had something to do with it.

~ • ~

A friend is thinking about getting a tat. 3 of her 4 children have at least one tattoo, and she feels like an old fogey without one. She wants something meaningful with a bit of color, but not gaudy. Nothing wordy. Wordy ones, we agree, are too much like work. Who wants to read themselves?

I’m of the tats need to be organic and flowing school of thought. She’s of the tats need to include all family members, somehow, school of thought. Will let you know what she decides on… if she ever does.

~ • ~

Besides contemplating theoretical body art, this week I’ve watched Dr. Who. Did you know that I was a Whovian? Well, now you do.

I’m on the 10th Doctor with Donna Noble as his companion. I’ve read that she comes to some lousy end, so I’m finding this season to be rather bittersweet. She’s one of my favorite companions; I do so love her attitude and spunk. Noisy woman with a heart. Doesn’t travel light, that one.

Oddly enough, watching Dr. Who this week has me doodling. I don’t know why, but every time I sit down to watch an episode, I pick up pen/pencil + paper and commence doodling. Lots of swirls and flowers– and boxy faces composed of rectangles, triangles, stars.

Perhaps I’m creating a tattoo for myself and don’t even know it? Or maybe I’m more lost in thought than usual. Regardless, I’m happy listening to/glancing at the Doctor and Donna. And doodling. Must. Draw. Doodles.

~ • ~

Sometimes I’m amazed by how I decide to do something productive [like paint the bottom pedestal part of our kitchen table] and how the weather decides to be uncooperative [like hazy/rainy/stormy/humid all fricking week].

This is a project, if it is to be done properly, that requires lots of sunlight and low humidity and a very happy me. Yet not one day this blue moon week have I been able to work on my project. Do we not all believe that effort should be rewarded? Am I not trying here?

They tell us that the weather isn’t personal, but this week it has seemed personal. That I’m being thwarted for no good reason whatsoever. That all my plans have fallen to dust and I’ve been left alone to work around the mess that unfulfilled plans create.

But as we all know: you live, you learn. Which, from what I can tell, means that some weeks you live with a huge unfinished project smack dab in the middle of your kitchen. And you learn to not whine about it.

We Went To Utah For A Long Weekend

August 12, 2013July 1, 2025 / Ally Bean / 19 Comments

The hubster was on business out in Salt Lake City, Utah, so I decided that it was time for me to see Utah. He left here on Monday and I joined him there on Thursday.

The tail of an airplane + many pigeons at Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum.

On Thursday afternoon Zen-Den and I went into downtown Salt Lake City so that I could see what it was all about. SLC was just as clean and organized as I had heard that it would be. I didn’t take any photos of the buildings or streets, but visually it was inviting. And clean. I mentioned that, right? With people walking within designated painted lines on the streets in accordance with the timing of the traffic lights. Who knew?

The Wasatch Mountains.

We have friends who live just north of Salt Lake City and on Friday they took a day off from work to drive us around the area. It was generous of them to do this, can’t thank them enough. First we went to Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum and looked at their wonderful collection of airplanes and memorabilia– which, of course, I liked. Then we went to lunch at Taggart’s Grill, a restaurant and bakery nestled in the Wasatch Mountains, with camera-shy pet peacocks who live in the garden around the restaurant. The food was delicious. Coolness.

The Great Salt Lake.

After that we drove up through the Wasatch Mountains and then down to the edge of the Great Salt Lake. Everywhere I turned I saw the most amazing sights– whether they were natural formations, or unique small towns, or a herd of bison living free on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. Amazing.

A herd of bison on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.

On Saturday Zen-Den and I drove up to the mountain resort town of Park City, Utah, to go to an art show. Park City is home to Sundance Film Festival— and many wealthy people from the looks of it. The community was perfect. Like Disney perfect. Like so planned that I worried that we’d be thrown off the set for not adhering to the director’s vision of what the town’s residents should look like. Oh well.

Wild sunflowers that grow as weeds along the highways in northern Utah.

That evening in Park City we had tickets to the outdoor Deer Valley Music Festival with the Utah Symphony featuring Mandy Patinkin. He was amazing and professional with an astounding vocal range, charming personal stories and a quiet sense of humor. Delightful.

Starlings [I think] in a nest under the eaves.

On Sunday morning before we left we decided to drive around the University of Utah in SLC and surrounding neighborhoods. Again, so clean. And well-maintained. And, I’m assuming, safe. I say this because the capitol of Utah is in a residential neighborhood with no fences or guards around it. The building is just sitting there. Pretty.

Utah daylilies in an unusual shade of orange that I’ve never seen before.

We enjoyed Utah and would like to go back there someday. Maybe take a week and drive up into Wyoming and Idaho while we’re in the area. Maybe take more photos of the cities– and the buildings– and the unfailingly polite people who waited on us. That part I really, really liked. Worth the price of the vacation alone.

A City Girl’s Random Musings On Goats

August 8, 2013October 18, 2017 / Ally Bean / 17 Comments

:: This morning when I read this article about the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., using goats to clear a field of poisonous weeds, I knew that it was going to be a good day. Is this the best idea ever?

Probably yes.

:: Thinking about goats reminded me of a wonderful graduation party that we went to earlier this summer. The graduation girl was a graduate of a rural high school, so the party was at her parents’ house out in the country.

Many of the guests were farmers and at one point the conversation turned to goats. Show goats, to be exact. [Did you even know there was such a thing? I didn’t.]

Come to find out, 4-H kids raise and groom certain goats with the right disposition and the right looks to be show goats. These goats are somewhat pampered as I understand it. Loved by one and all. Winners of ribbons. Indulged. And kept around the farm as pets, not livestock.

An important distinction when you are an animal on a farm.

:: I have a goat necklace from Switzerland. Really. I’ve always liked goats. So when I was a girl in high school my aunt and uncle sent me a silver goat necklace purchased while vacationing in Europe. I don’t know where that necklace is now, but I’m sure that it’s around the house somewhere.

Misplaced, but not forgotten.

:: Not too far from here is a dairy that has cows as well as a few goats. Beside the goat barn is a machine that for 25¢ dispenses goat chow. [Yes, just like cat chow or monkey chow or dog chow.] One of my favorite things to do in life is to buy a handful of goat chow and feed the goats. Their little goat lips tickle the palm of your hand as they nibble. And they are always appreciative of what you have to offer them to eat.