The Good News Is That The Neighbors Are Getting A New Roof

June 3, 2013June 3, 2013 / Ally Bean / 20 Comments

I cannot catch a break lately.

Last week as I watched my life get rather wonky, I decided that on this Monday, when I had nothing scheduled, I’d hang out on our screened-in porch. I figured that I’d take my laptop out there and set up camp for the day. To do this, all I need to do is to move the round glass-topped side table in front of a wicker lounge chair, add a few pillows for back support, reposition a smaller wooden side table for my mug of coffee– and I’m good to go.

And considering that the weather today is finally sunny + clear + mild, you’d think that I’d be out there, wouldn’t you? Doing my own suburban take on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Walden Pond lifestyle. Finding spiritual inspiration sitting next to the trees with the birds chirping and the squirrels squirreling. Being all peaceful and such.

But I’m not.

Instead, I’m in my home office with the French doors to the foyer closed, shades on windows down, trying to ignore the loud ruckus that is going on next door– and in front of my house. This is because my peaceful screened-in porch sanctuary looks out upon the chaos and mess going on next door as a new roof is being installed. Meaning that I am not feeling passionately at one with the whole world a la RWE, but I am feeling passive like a victim of Lemony Snicket’s Unfortunate Events.

However, be that as it may, looking on the brighter side of things, the neighbors are getting a new roof that they need after theirs was done-in by some hail damage last summer. So this is necessary. And when this is all finished I’ll be the one who gets to look at the prettiest roof in town.

So there’s that.

~ ~ • ~ ~

~ Pretty Pillows Not Being Used By Me Today ~

Scattered

May 31, 2013May 31, 2013 / Ally Bean / 26 Comments

“Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”

~ Benjamin Franklin

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My energy this week has been scattered. Some moments I’ve been focused + productive. But other moments (most moments) I’ve been angsty + worried. Then add in the fact that this is a 4-day work week– and I don’t know what I’m all about.

While it is true that I am more comfortable than most with the vagaries of life, this week I’ve felt out of sorts about my lack of progress or connection or accomplishment or whatever. Scattered, I tell you.

So yesterday afternoon I decided that the best thing for me to do was to see what I could see outside around the house. I thought that a distraction would be good. Naturally I took my camera with me.

It was a hazy sunny day which meant that most of my photos weren’t clear– just kind of a fuzzy, glare-y mess. Rather like my week. And with the sun in my eyes, those photos that were clear tended to have lousy composition– off-kilter or scattered. Still a few of them turned out okay.

And so on that positive note, I’m off to enjoy a summer weekend where being scattered is a plus. On the agenda we have a walk in a county park [on the other side of town]; a meal at an English pub [in another part of town]; an art show [in an entirely different direction]; and a cocktail hour on the terrace next to the woods [out the back door]. Life may be scattered for me now, but it is good. Happy Weekend everyone!

I Hate Fickle

March 25, 2013May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 15 Comments

fick•le adjective

Definition of FICKLE – : marked by lack of steadfastness, constancy, or stability : given to erratic changeableness

Origin of FICKLE – Middle English fikel deceitful, inconstant, from Old English ficol deceitful; akin to Old English befician to deceive, and probably to Old English fāh hostile

~ Merriam-Webster

• So this morning it is still snowing here. Pathetic. I am tired of this stuff. I am depressed because I cannot make any progress on any of my health + home decorating goals. I am bored being stuck inside. I feel like I have lost the month of March, one of my favorites, to fickleness.

• This last week or so I’ve used my iPad more. It’s a great device if you want to consume something. Read an article or a book. Watch a movie or a TV show. Play a game. Wonderful. Easy. But when it comes to creating an email message or a blog comment I find it awkward. Fickle even.

This cute little machine auto-corrects willy-nilly and often sends/publishes what I write before I’m finished writing it. So if you’ve received something from me that doesn’t make sense, know that it came from me & my iPad. And that I am trying to get more comfortable using it. There’s a learning curve here.

• And while I’m in a complaining mood, let’s talk about advertisements. In just the last few months I’ve seen more adverts on blogs & in magazines & on cable TV & in my snail mailbox than ever before. And I don’t like this trend. It seems desperate.

It is visual clutter and/or wasteful. And, quite truthfully, when I see or receive lots of advertisements I immediately wonder what is really going on. My spidey senses tell me that I am now the product and that someone is trying to use me. Deceive me, perhaps. It is fickle [in the original meaning of the word], ‘ya know?

I Was Wrong. Snow. Again. And I Am Not Overly Thrilled With It.

March 13, 2013March 13, 2013 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

~ • ~

So I wake up this morning in a cheerful mood.

I am ready to face the day with joy and purpose and hope. It is springtime after all. This is the time of year where things get done. And I am ready to do things. Oh. Yes. I. Am. And then I look outside and see SNOW!

~ • ~

This does not make me happy.

Have I not put up with this crap for months now? Have I not been a good person who doesn’t whine about the mess & inconvenience that snow brings with it? Have I not stated clearly here in this blog that the time for snow is over? HUH? Did I just not say that but a few posts ago?

~ • ~

Yet, there is snow in my world.

And as much as I’d like to continue on with this rant, I have to admit that the blue sky that has accompanied this LAST SNOWFALL* is beautiful. And encouraging. And rather, dare I say it, springlike.

~ • ~

Being nothing if not pragmatic, I have a plan.

Today I will focus on the pretty white clouds in the sky and totally ignore the white mess on the ground. Yep, that’s my plan. DENIAL. When asked by other people what I think of this snowfall, I will say: what snow? I don’t see anything like that around here. All I see is Spring in the making. Hallelujah!

~ • ~

* from my ~~lips~~ blog post to God’s ear