Religion

Every Leaf Is A Flower: 6 Links To Share As Autumn Begins In The Northern Hemisphere

/ Ally Bean / 207 Comments

I am nuts. I woke the other morning and the first thought that drifted into my mind was “crisp and clean, and no caffeine.” That’s a 1980s slogan for 7-Up. I haven’t had a 7-Up in years, nor have I seen any ads for it lately. So why was I thinking about it when I woke up? This is worrying me more than it should.

I am amused. I watched the Netflix TV series Nobody Wants This starring Kristen Bell and Aidan Adam Brody. It’s a predictable romantic comedy about an agnostic podcaster [Bell] and single rabbi [Brody] who fall in love despite their differences: families meddle, miscommunication happens, hilarity ensues. It is Bridget Loves Bernie updated for 2025. Funny, yes— but also filled with stereotypes.

Little me not smiling for the camera.

I am vindicated. I’ve never liked having my picture taken. As a child I considered a camera an intrusion into my little world, a way to slow my roll. As an adult in our selfie-obsessed world, I am an outlier who doesn’t take selfies. So imagine my joy when I read about a photographer who doesn’t ask girls to smile in their pictures.  Not everyone wants to smile for the camera and don’t I know it.

I am empowered.  As a kindhearted person who struggles with how to deal with some [shall we say?] willfully disagreeable people in daily life, I found this short YouTube video, Forgive Assholes | Have a Little Faith, inspiring.

The premise, as explained by Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, is based on the idea: “What you did is so not okay that I refuse to be connected to it anymore.” After acknowledging this, you get out your metaphorical bolt cutters and intentionally break the chain that tethers you to that person/situation. It’s wisdom with a skoosh of badass attitude.

One orange fish drawn by adult me.

I am tickled. Have you tried this online dealio where you draw a fish then make it swim? Doing so is fun and silly and the perfect diversion when daily news gets to be too much. Some people draw beautiful fish. I am not one of those people.

I am chuffed. In honor of the arrival of autumn I made a pie using this Easy Sweet Potato Pie recipe. It was outstanding, if’n I do say so myself. My change to the recipe: I didn’t use the rum substituting 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice + 1/2 teaspoon orange extract. Because Cool Whip is the work of the devil [my hill to die on], I topped the pie with homemade whipped cream.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

If you drink soft drinks, which carbonated beverage is your favorite? Do you remember its advertising slogan from the 1980s?

As a child did you like posing for a picture? As an adult do you like having your photo taken, either by yourself or others?

Can you draw a better fish than the one I drew?

Where do you stand on the controversial issue of Whipped Cream versus Cool Whip? [There is a right answer.] What culinary issue is the hill you’re willing to die on?

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How Fare Thee? Two Lighthearted Conversations + A Fast Test To Determine Your Stress

/ Ally Bean / 208 Comments
LAUGHING

A delightful former neighbor stays in touch. She moved across country and usually emails or texts, but one day she called me to talk.

Like old-timey friends.

In the process of catching up on who we each have stayed in touch with she asked me about, let’s call her, Martha.

While it’s been well over a decade since either heard from her directly, Martha is sometimes in the local news around here.

In fact I was able to explain to former neighbor that Martha, a state government employee, has been accused of failing to disclose a conflict of interest involving a  corporate lobbyist. She has denied the accusations, but resigned from her job.

Upon hearing this my former neighbor shouted, “she didn’t do it.”

I asked, “how do you know?”

“Because there’s no way she’d do anything illegal.” 

I persisted, “it’s been years since we talked with her, how can you be so sure? She may have changed. People do, you know.”

Former neighbor said, “because I sang with her in the church choir and no one in that group would ever do anything wrong.” 

To which I replied sarcastically, “well there you go! As we all know singing your heart out for Jesus is a valid legal defense against criminal accusations.”

As if!  🙄

LOVING

I overheard this.

While this isn’t the first time I’ve written about a kid who got lost in the bottom of the ravine behind our house, this succinct little plea for help charmed me. Girlfriend was NOT happy and knew exactly who was to blame for her predicament.

Here’s what happened. I walked into our kitchen at the back of the house around 5:00 p.m. The windows were open and I immediately heard a LOUD kid voice [maybe age 5 or 6?] shouting from below.

“Find me,” the voice said.

I stepped outside onto the deck to see if I could see who was shouting.

“Find… Me…,” the voice commanded.

Squinting through the leafy tree branches I looked down into the ravine, but couldn’t see anyone. However I could hear a small person whose tone of voice didn’t suggest panic, just increasing irritation with the adult powers that be.

“FIND ME!”

I was about to shout back when I heard a dad say, “Katelyn? Is that you?”

“FIND ME, NOW!” 

Picking up on the irritation in her voice I heard the dad start laughing as he asked, “where are you?”

Then in one of the best deadpan punchline deliveries ever our Miss Katelyn replied stating the obvious, “DOWN. HERE.”  

She sighed loudly implying, I believe, that it took all her effort to not say *DUH* to this dimwitted dad person whose job it is to rescue her from predicaments like this one.

And with that her father, still laughing so loudly I could hear him, maneuvered down the side of the ravine cheerfully saying, “I’ll get ‘ya!”

And he did. 🥰

LEARNING

I stumbled over this Psychology Today How Stressed Are You? Test and decided to answer the 20 questions.

From my test results I learned that I’m at 24/100 and the average is 59/100. This means I’m “Not stressed” which came as a surprise to me. Not that I’m jonesing to be more filled with stress, mind you— just that I thought I’d rate a higher score.

I feel a bit like an underachiever.

However, I attribute my relaxed attitude to the fact that FOR ONCE our annual spring home maintenance that requires 5 scheduled visits from 4 companies has happened WITHOUT INCIDENT. This means that the landscape beds and the lawn sprinkler system and the gutters and the windows and the AC system have been mulched or activated or cleared or cleaned or serviced BEFORE Memorial Day.

A personal best! 😃

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

Do you know anyone who is currently in trouble with the law? Is or was that person part of a church choir?

Have you ever called out for someone to rescue you? If so, did someone rescue you?

Had or overheard any funny conversations lately? 

If you took the test how stressed does it say you are? Does this jive with how you feel?

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Glimpses Into A 1980s Presbyterian Community Cookbook & A Peek At Angelic Little Me

/ Ally Bean / 232 Comments
And now for something completely different…

My mother collected cookbooks. The following is a church community cookbook, a fundraiser, from the 1980s. She didn’t contribute anything to it, but dutifully bought one. I’ve shared a few glimpses into it along with a group photo of little Presbyterian angels that included me.

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• On the front of the cheerful yellow custom cookbook is a lovely drawing of a generic, one presumes Presbyterian, church.

• My mother used to make this recipe for Crunchy Scalloped Turkey. It was tasty in a mushroom-soup-cracker-crumb sort of way. You understand, different times.

• This is a recipe for Blueberry Salad that I can swear on a stack of Bibles my mother never made. No way would she have put pie filling, sour cream, and [Jell-O brand?] gelatin together. Nor would I. Would you?

• Here is a Worth Remembering page featuring advice about how to clean house. My favorite idea is: “Wash old powder puffs in soapy water, rinse well and dry thoroughly. Then use them for polishing silverware, copper and brass.” Truth bomb, I have no powder puffs BUT if I did by cracky, I’d do this.

• Above is a Poetic Contribution to the cookbook. What would a church cookbook be without a hint of sanctimonious snark*? After Esther’s first rhyming stanza she shifts into a rhyme-less warning about bad breeding.

• Here is a close-up of my thick cute cat-eye glasses that measure 4.75″ wide x 1.25″ high. The little curves on the bows held the glasses securely around my ears thus keeping the glasses attached to my wiggly little self.

• And finally here is a photo of the First Presbyterian Cherub Choir in which you can see me over to the left in the front row wearing said cute little glasses.

~ QUESTIONS OF THE DAY ~

Do you have any community cookbooks? If so, did you buy the book, receive it as a gift, or inherit it?

Thinking about how you approach recipes in general, do you follow the instructions religiously or do you wing it adjusting the recipe as you go along?

Did you wear eyeglasses [aka spectacles] as a child? And how did that make you feel? Do you wear them now?

~ • ~

* Another delightful example of snark from an 1890s Presbyterian cookbook found here.

Happy Tuesday: 8 Random Links Presented For Your Eggheaded Enjoyment

/ Ally Bean / 214 Comments

THIS is one of those weird weeks that happens every year.

If you celebrate Easter in a religious way then this is Holy Week and you’re being churchy almost every day. Also Ramadan continues through this week & Passover starts mid-week.

And of course this year we’re adding the political circus that surrounds The Donald.

HOWEVER if these religious holidays are not part of your family traditions and you’re doing your best to not let The Donald live rent-free in your mind, then this week, I’m guessing, is no big deal for you and you’re focused on eating chocolate.

I come to this conclusion having recently shopped at Kroger where chocolate dominates every aisle.

[A digression: Our local store is being remodeled so shopping is like a scavenger hunt. Has been for weeks. It may be that I’m seeing chocolate everywhere because the same displays are being moved around daily.] 

ANYHOW past experience has taught me, the intrepid blogger, that this will be a slow week in blogland. And that’s okay by me.

So instead of my usual flapdoodle and twaddle, I’ll share the following links that I’ve been saving for a week like this one.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think in the comments below.

8 RANDOM LINKS FOR EGGHEADS

• This isn’t how Marie Kondo does things, but I’m here for the magic of knolling.

• Laughed while reading this and refuse to answer these questions dubbed 5 of the worse interview questions.

• There’s more to life than skinny jeans and this quiz will help you determine which cut is your style now.

• Makes good sense to keep your terracotta pots clean.

• Only knew a few of the names for beer can and bottle sizes, but feel better informed even if I’ll stick with a standard can or longneck bottle size.

• Been enjoying Wordiply every morning as a kind of warm-up for using my words elsewhere.

• Who among us hasn’t longed for a medieval mac and cheese recipe and the history associated with it?

• And finally a look at flapper fashion…

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