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.

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

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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.

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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?

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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. 😉

Break A Leaf: The Garden Show Must Go On

May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 / Ally Bean / 31 Comments

What is a garden, but one big stage production?

And as any well-grounded director knows, every big theater production is filled with characters.

Here’s the diva, a honey locust tree, bowing to the backyard audience, wowing them with her pale yellow scented spring flowers.

Below her, the stones and grasses, covered with her discarded snowflake-like flower petals, create an encouraging group of extras, allowing her to look her best. Always.

Meanwhile, out in the front yard along the driveway, catmint is stealing the show. He’s the star who has blossomed into his own this year, giving a most dazzling performance.

While on the other side of the front yard, under some birch trees, his understudy waits in the wings, hoping to grow-up and be as famous as his great-uncle over by the driveway.

Around back, the colorful ingénues are content, contained until it is time for their dramatic entrance onto the stage. So young. So pretty.

Near the ingénues, the comedy duo of tomato and pepper sit hopefully. Grown ostensibly for their vegetables, more often than not, these garden stars fall victim to the shenanigans of overly enthusiastic fans such as squirrels and raccoons.

And finally, no production would be complete without a character actor who supports the story. A true thespian, sure of where he is going, the stone path is always willing to allow the other plants to shine. Knowing that without him, there’d be no garden production at all.

THE END

Bunny Haiku & To April I Say Adieu

April 30, 2015May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 24 Comments

April is one of my least favorite months of the year.

I’m allergic to it and I don’t groove on all the mud courtesy of the rain and I have to pay taxes and I have to watch on the news while “patriotic” wingnuts get their panties in a wad over what it means to be an American and et cetera, et cetera.

Blah.

However, one thing that I do like about April is that it’s national poetry month. I didn’t learn much of anything about poetry when I was in college because my English major program was much too practical for such things, but I did learn how to write a haiku.

Thus I give you the following poem, with stunning rabbit-y photos taken yesterday, as my good-bye to April, a month that makes me sneeze like no other month can.

Ah-choo.

Bunny Haiku

Bunny on a hill,

Spotted me, then turned ’round,

Now perfectly still.

Fred the Monkey & Sandrine the Bear’s Fun Afternoon

February 27, 2015February 9, 2019 / Ally Bean / 39 Comments

[The following story is my entry in evilsquirrel13’s The Second Annual Contest of Whatever. Please enjoy!]

Fred the Monkey & Sandrine the Bear’s Fun Afternoon

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Fred the Monkey was bored.

All day it had snowed outside while he was stuck inside Grandpa Aloha and Grandma Mahalo’s house. He wanted someone to play with, so he asked them if he could call Sandrine the Bear and invite her over to play games.

Grandpa and Grandma said that it was okay.

Sandrine arrived at the front door wrapped in her mother’s scarf. She looked pretty and was warm. Sandrine was ready to have fun.

Fred suggested that they play an easy game first. He found Grandma Mahalo’s Tic-Tac-Toe game and the friends started to play it.

Because Sandrine was his guest, Fred let her go first. She was “X.”

Fred was “O.”

Grandpa Aloha looked on as they played. He loved to watch the kids goof-off just like he did growing up in Hawaii.

Suddenly, he realized that down in the basement there might be his favorite game for the kids to play. He went downstairs and searched.

When Fred and Sandrine saw what Grandpa Aloha had found for them to play, they were delighted. Grandpa’s favorite old-time game was Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.

Sandrine got to pick her side first. She was “Red Rocker.”

Fred was “Blue Bomber.”

But after many exciting rounds of the game, both monkey and bear were ready for a snack. They’d had enough fun punching each other.

Fortunately, Grandma Mahalo was more than happy to make them some tea and serve it with cookies.

Then it was time for Sandrine to go home, but the friends decided to do one last silly thing before she left. They took a selfie with Buddha so that they’d have a photo to remind them of their fun afternoon playing games together.