In The Garden – THE SPECTACLED BEAN

Share Your World | Hell’s Bells Nut Shells

Walnut shells on the garden bench left by industrious [*hungry?*] squirrels.

• What do you consider is the most perfect food for you? (It can be your favorite food to something extremely healthy.)

APPLES: Natural. Sweet. Healthy. Portable. Alkaline. Reasonably priced. Easy to sauce. Nice to crisp. Wonderful to pie. Tasty to cider. Pretty to look at.

• Are you focused on today or tomorrow?

I’m usually focused on both. They are, after all, connected to each other in ways unbroken. Like the flow of the eternity symbol [figure eight on its side] my mind glides effortlessly from today to tomorrow, and then back again to today. I’m mindful of now, but with a sense of perspective about later.

• If you could interview one of your great-great-great grandparents, who would it be (if you know their name) and what would you ask?

The only great-great-great grandparent that I know of is the man who immigrated from Scotland to America. He was, supposedly, from a well-off nobleman’s family [weren’t they all?], but being a minor son with no title to inherit, he decided to come here to make his fortune.

If I could talk with him I’d ask him: why did he came here? what did he do for a living when he got here? and how did this life differ from the one he left?

• What inspired you this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

Here’s what inspired me last week: did you know that a rainbow can happen even if it’s not raining where you are?

I didn’t, nor did Zen-Den.

On Thursday night he drove home from where he works downtown, and noticed, as he drove along, that a rainbow in the sky seemed to end at our house.

When he got home, he walked inside the house and asked me when it’d rained. I told him that it hadn’t rained here.

He said that it hadn’t rained on his drive home either… BUT there was a rainbow in the sky out front of our house now.

Of course, we both went running out the front door to see this rainbow– and by golly there it was. Large and bright and colorful.

Now how amazing is that?

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Catch up with everyone else who is answering Cee’s Share Your World Questions this week by clicking HERE.

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Confessions Of A Formerly Super Conscientious Woman + 3 New Projects

Once upon a time I was a super conscientious woman.

I lived and died by Checking Things Off My To Do List. My self-worth was contingent upon these checks because the results were more important to me than the process. Woe be it to anyone who got in my way: I was not always the nicest person.

Sad to say, apologizes offered.

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CURRENTLY: I want the walls in our home office to be *griege*, the trendy color of the moment. All I have to do is figure out which shade of *griege* goes best with the furniture and artwork that we already have.

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Then my goals and desires began to change.

That is, I got older and more self-aware. I evolved into a wiser + wearier woman who no longer felt obliged to Do A Lot Every Day Or Else. I still accomplish things, quite a few things– but at a slower pace, focusing on the process that I now allow to be organic rather than forced.

Mellowness is good for me.

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CURRENTLY: I want to continue upgrading our terrace using odds-n-ends of slate and limestone to create a patio with a level surface that is unique– and less pebble-y than what is there now.

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This new me is easier to be around.

Despite these unsettling difficult Trumpian times we’re living through, I’m a more relaxed version of my previous self. This iteration, Ally Bean 2.0 The Best Yet, evolved quietly during the last decade of my life when I didn’t feel well and couldn’t decide a thing without overthinking it.

However, no longer stuck am I.

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CURRENTLY: I want to organize all the inherited stuff that has accumulated around here, in our basement, for decades. Then I want this stuff sold | auctioned | donated | given away | tossed out. Enough already with the past, I say.

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I don’t know why I’m telling you this today, my gentle readers.

All I can say is that this morning as I was planning my day I realized How Differently I Handle Any Decision Or Activity now, compared to how I used to do things when society had me convinced that my self-worth hinged on my super conscientiousness.

But you know what? It doesn’t.

No Conundrums. No Chaos. No Calamities.

The title of this post explains it.

Most of the time when I write here I have something specific to *blah, blah, blah* about, but today all is well.

So instead of manufacturing a faux problem to blog about I’ll share a few photos of a pretty butterfly flitting about, with purpose and intent, on our butterfly bush.

I believe that sometimes it all comes together and the best thing to do is to appreciate it. Like I’m doing today.

When A Bee Gets Buzzed, What Does It Mean?

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MY WEEK THUS FAR HAS BEEN A DOOZY, filled with broken things, unreliable people, and inconveniently rainy weather. Nothing, despite my best efforts, has gone smoothly.

Exhausted after a trying day, I was sitting on our deck last night. I had a glass of pinot noir on the table beside me, and was minding me own beeswax, so to speak.

A bee, like the one in the photo above, came out of nowhere and flew directly, seemingly intentionally, into my glass of wine, then proceeded to do the backstroke in the wine in the glass.

As much as this sounds like I’m making up this story, I’m being literal: a large, healthy bee, managed to ruin my glass of red wine, while having himself the best swim ever.

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IT WAS HILARIOUS TO WATCH HIM going around in circles inside the glass, of course. However, at the same time, it was damned annoying because the wine wasn’t a cheap bottle of plonk– and I had to toss the contents of the glass, bee and all, over the side of the deck onto the grass below.

Zen-Den, gracious human being that he is, brought me another glass of wine from the bottle in the kitchen… and he handed me a paper cocktail napkin to use to cover the top of the glass while I continued to sit on the deck.

But me being me, an English major educated and encouraged to find the meaning in all things, I got lost in my head trying to figure out what it meant that a bee got buzzed, in a most dramatic way, right when I was trying to mellow out.

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THE BEST EXPLANATION I COULD COME UP WITH, based on Occam’s Razor‘s idea of simplicity + obviousness, was that the bee represented me this week, busy doing things, but not in ways that make me happy.

And that following the bee’s lead, I needed to speed up my wine consumption if I was to have as much fun and relaxation as this uninvited bee was having in my wine glass.

So, not being one to argue with Scientific Logic, or the Serendipitous Nature of the Universe, I drank my first glass of wine. Then sipped another one. And suddenly, as if it was all meant to be, everything seemed right within my world.

Share Your World | Butterfly Hide And Seek

*Nothing to see here. No butterfly hiding behind purple salvia. Nope, that’s not what’s going on here. Move along, move along.*

• Would you want $200,000 right now or $250,000 in a year? It’s safe to assume all money is tax free.

Considering our recent remodeling wild ride, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like the $200,000 now, please.

• Is it more important to love or be loved?

Off the top of my head I’d say that it’s more important to love than to be loved. Love, an action verb about giving, resonates with me more than the idea of just receiving love, that to me suggests a passive approach to life.

[Good question. This answer subject to change upon further reflection.]

*But wait, it is a butterfly doing its butterfly thing, seeking nectar from the flower, and looking good while doing it.*

• List things that represent abundance to you.

flowers in crystal vases surrounded by lighted beeswax candles
rag wool scarves and mittens
a fully stocked refrigerator filled with fruits, vegetables, cheese, and wine
a three-car garage
ingredients on hand to make cookies
diamonds, rubies, sapphires– and garnets, even if they’re only semi-precious
comfortable furniture that coordinates nicely, but doesn’t look all matchy-matchy
lazy Sunday afternoons

• What inspired you this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

I find everyday observational humor inspiring because it makes me laugh, not cry, at reality. So when I stumbled upon the following Shopping Cart Alignment Chart by Rob Beschizza at boingboing, and couldn’t stop laughing, I was inspired.

And because I’m a forthright blogger, I will freely tell you who I am according to this chart. I’m never LAWFUL GOOD, but instead vacillate between CHAOTIC GOOD [which gives me more joy than it should] and CHAOTIC NEUTRAL.

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Catch up with everyone else who is answering Cee’s Share Your World Questions this week by clicking HERE.

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Share Your World | Summertime, With A Hint Of Autumn

• How do you like to spend a rainy day?

Oddly enough off the top of my head I don’t have a specific answer for this question. I just get on with things regardless of the rain, I guess. Could I take a rain check and get back with you? 😁

• List at least five favorite treats. (They do not have to be sugary).

Zagnut Candy Bar, when I can find one
Fritos Corn Chips, the original ones, please
Lemon Meringue Pie, from a local speciality grocery store
Little Powdered Sugar Donuts, any brand
Fried Green Bean Appetizer, with spicy dipping sauce

• Where’s your favorite place to take out-of-town guests?

If they aren’t insanely uptight people, I like to take out-of-town guests to eat at a unique Tex-Mex restaurant that’s in a haunted former speakeasy, and is known for its pork chops.

[If the out-of-town guests are insanely uptight people then I don’t have to worry about where to take them because they’ll tell me where they want to go.]

• You are trapped in an elevator, who would you want to be trapped with?

Michelle Obama

• Optional Bonus Question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week’s gratitude award goes to Pottery Barn’s entertaining + informative online quiz, FIND YOUR STYLE. According to Potter Barn I “have a cool, spirited sensibility” with an “eclectic, bold, and well-worn” decorating style. Sounds about right to me– especially that well-worn part. 😧

This week’s looking forward to something goes to nothing in particular. This is a slow time of year around here, too hot and humid to do much of anything. I’m not complaining, but for me it’s best to stay inside out of the sun, waiting for autumn– when there’s something fun to do all the time.

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Once a week Cee asks the questions on her blog, and I answer them here on my blog. This post is part of Cee’s Share Your World Weekly Writing Challenge.

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Share Your World | Pretty & Potted

Calibrachoa, mint + citronella mosquito plant in pots looking summer-y up on the deck.

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Once a week Cee asks the questions on her blog. Then, when I get it together like this week, I answer the questions here on my blog.

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• What do you do when you’re not working? If you are retired, what do you that is not part of your regular daytime routine?

I like to go to local festivals to see the people and enjoy the atmosphere. I like to go to parks to see the people and look at nature. I like to go to speciality grocery stores to see the people and buy the tasty goodies.

• What would you do if you won the lottery?

Probably not much of anything different from what I do now.

Maybe buy a new car [mine’s 14 years old]? Maybe go on vacation for longer than a week? Maybe give it all to the humane society, on the proviso that they never name a building or fund after me. That would be tacky.

• What makes you laugh the most?

TV situation comedies that point out human foibles make me laugh the most. Currently I like The Big Bang Theory + Grace and Frankie + The Good Place. I like reruns of Will and Grace + Friends + Parks and Recreation.

• What is your biggest pet peeve with modern technology?

< begin rant >

The conceit that modern technology is making my life easier. It is not.

To wit, it’s making communication more immediate, but that’s not necessarily easier. It’s making cars and microwaves swankier, but that’s not necessarily easier. It’s making airport check-in and banking more self-directed, but that’s not necessarily easier.

Why? Because there are more steps + options now when it comes to doing anything. Everything. All the time.

Meaning that, in my opinion, modern technology adds an unasked for layer of complexity to my life that I then have to muddle through to get anything accomplished.

And it wears me out.

< end rant >

• Optional Bonus Question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week’s gratitude award goes to an early start to our home remodeling projects. We weren’t schedule to begin until late June/early July, but our projects got moved forward. Sure, it’s chaos around here, but I feel better, less anxious, now that we’re in process rather than waiting around for things to start.

This week’s looking forward to something goes to… well, honestly, I’m not looking forward to any one thing. No big weekend plans. No small weekend plans. I’m just kind of living in the moment right now… for the moment! 😉

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This post is part of Cee’s Share Your World Weekly Writing Challenge.

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