Remember Your Spirit

Learning To Wait

/ 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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

Something Different This Way Comes

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

“It looks like the repo man has been here.”

~ Zen-Den, looking at the mess in our home office

– • –

Over the weekend we decided to start the process of updating our home office.  It’s where I write this blog and I’ve never been happy with the furniture arrangement and accessories in here.  Too dark.  Too orange-y.  Too blah.

So we ordered a real desk.  Then in anticipation of its arrival we dismantled the computer system that sits on/around/near the horizontal surfaces that I’ve spent the last few years pretending are a desk.  And finally, we dragged all this old, orange-y, non-desk furniture into the basement.

Bottom line?  Cora, my trusty desktop computer that I use to write this blog, is now sitting on a little table that is scrunched into a dusty corner of the deconstructed home office.  Consequently, this means that for the next few weeks until the desk is here and the computer system is back in place, I’m going to be away from the my favorite keyboard.

Considering that Late Summer morphing into Autumn is a beautiful and mellow time of year, I’ve decided that while everything is in flux I’m taking a proper blogging hiatus during the month of September.  Might even extend it into October.  We’ll see.

So with that being said, I’m stepping away from the computer and taking a bit of time off to enjoy my life without the need to write about it.  Shocking idea, I know.

I’ll catch up with you later, kids.  Be safe. Be happy. Be. 

Existential Suburban Angst: Deciding What Color Armchairs To Buy For The TV Room

/ Ally Bean / 18 Comments

My mind is a swimming mess of colors now.  Pity that this isn’t because of a Reiki session;  then I’d be all mellow with the colors in my mind.

Grooving on the Infinite.

Instead, the reality is that we have finally gotten to the point of deciding on new armchairs for the TV room.  Thus I have fabric swatches from Pottery Barn positioned all over the TV room.

As one does in these situations.

I have some swatches pinned to the drapes.  I have some swatches sitting on the floor next to the rug.  I  have some swatches stuck to the back of a kitchen chair placed in the TV room so that I can see what the colors look like from afar.  In other words, I’m looking at color in all its fabulousity from every angle possible because I know how easy it is to pick the wrong shade.

Been there.  Done that.  Many, many times. 

To add to this dilemma, we already have all the walls painted and the sofa purchased [called ocean blue, but I’d call it more blue-gray] and an antique rug in place [basically maroon/ruby-red, navy/blue-gray, gold/tan with bits of peach and aqua].  All of which means that these chairs have to fit within a rather complex color scheme dictated by an old faded rug.

Charming? Yes.  Difficult for me to do? You betcha.

So that’s what is going on around here this afternoon.  And will probably be haunting my dreams this evening.  And plaguing my brain for the next few weeks because decisions like this one come slowly to me.  But when I finally figure out this conundrum, all major decorating decisions in this house will be a thing of the past.

And won’t that be an exciting day for all concerned?!

Everything Including Half Of The Kitchen Sink

/ Ally Bean / 15 Comments

•  I was testing my camera to make sure that it was still working after it had gotten dropped and knocked about a few times.  For no reason whatsoever I took a few photos of the kitchen sink.  So here you go:

HALF OF OUR KITCHEN SINK.

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•  Now that it is August I’ve decided to shift my posting schedule to afternoons.  And to do more of the dreaded bullet. point. posts.  And to just babble a bit more than usual.  In other words, I’m going to take it easy in my real life and think that I will do the same thing here.  No stories, just stream-of-consciousness.

YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

•  It is gorgeous outside today.  Blue skies, white clouds, low humidity, happy birds, pretty flowers.  This is what summer should look and feel like.  I see that rain is in our forecast again [still], but I’m grooving on this beauty today for as long as it lasts.  Sounds like a philosophy of life, doesn’t it?  Maybe I could make a bumper sticker:

GROOVE ON THE PRETTY WHILE IT IS HERE.

•  And with that piece of pithiness I’m going outside to do what I consider to be play;  that is, I’m going outside to weed the garden.  Yes, I’m a middle-aged, middle class, midwestern woman.

WHY DO YOU ASK?