Candy & Eyeballs & Nickels, OH MY!

October 29, 2015October 29, 2015 / Ally Bean / 36 Comments

Old School Jack-O-Lanterns.

Around here Halloween is A BIG DEAL.

Just about everyone decorates the exterior of their house for the holiday. And most of the families, save the conservative Christians and the Mormons, are home to hand out candy or whatever on Trick-or-Treat Night.

It’s the one time of year when adult neighbors, often with a bottle of beer or a glass of wine in hand, sometimes in costume, accompany their kids to our doorstep, then actually acknowledge and speak with us.

The Harvest Moon.

Trying to set a good example for the kids, I suppose. Be cordial. Even if we, your parents, can’t be arsed to say “hello” under any other circumstances.

Be that as it may, I still find it to be a fun holiday.

If only because little kids dressed up are a hoot to watch stumbling around the streets. And because bigger kids are a hoot to talk with as they try to barter for more candy. Both make me laugh.

Treats For The Beggars.

In the past, on evenings with perfect weather, we’ve had 220 beggars. Because this neighborhood is growing, with many new homes built this past summer, I’m planning for 250 kids who will get a piece of candy OR a bloody eyeball OR a nickel.

And if we’ve handed out all of that before the 2 hours of begging is over, I think we’ll take our chances, turn off the lights and hope that these kids don’t know about soaping windows!

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So what’s up with your Halloween plans, my gentle readers? Share your spooky or kooky in the comments below.

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Of Autumn Beauty & Chores Most Necessary

October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 / Ally Bean / 28 Comments

Our weather this week has been perfect.

The night temps are down into the 50s while the days are in the 70s. We have clear blue skies with sunshine going on during the day.

Twinkling stars have filled the sky at night, while the moon, which is now waning, has been such a small crescent that its light doesn’t diminish the shining stars.

With all due respect to December and the holiday season, I’d suggest that this is the most wonderful time of the year.

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I noticed the stars early this morning while I was taking the screens out of the windows.

Late yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from the man who cleans our gutters and washes our windows. He asked if he could come over today, the weather being so nice and all.

I said “sure.”

So very early this morning I removed all the screens from the windows, and gazed into the dark blue starry sky, appreciating its simple beauty.

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Tomorrow the sprinkler system will be deactivated for winter.

The man who does this is a delightful, talkative character who always leaves me laughing. The stories he tells, often about our neighbors, are, shall we say, insightful.

But after he’s finished blowing the air out of the underground sprinkler system, the rest of the winterization chores will be ours to do at our leisure.

Or not to do at all, I suppose.

And on that tentative note, I shall end this post. An old-school style blog post that offers no controversy or angst to the blogosphere, but tells its own quiet little story. Such as it is.

A Lazy-ish Summer Weekend, Idyllic As Can Be

August 18, 2015January 24, 2016 / Ally Bean / 22 Comments

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It was a relaxing weekend here. Nothing special going on, but enough to do to keep us content.

I read an enjoyable novel.

He watched his latest TV obsession.

We went for a walk around the neighborhood noticing that the new houses under construction are very large indeed.

I did laundry.

He repaired and painted the mailbox post while I cleaned the mailbox and numbers.

We went to a triple-A baseball game.

I shopped online for a new lamppost light to replace the worn-out one shown above.

He caught up on work while sitting at the kitchen table.

We ate, for dinner, cold sandwiches instead of cooking hot somethings.

And we drank bottles of beer instead of goblets of wine.

It was a weekend befitting warm August days under clear blue skies.

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So gentle readers and kind lurkers, what did you do this past weekend?

Please tell all in the comments below.

May We All Be This With It When We Reach Our 70s

August 13, 2015 / Ally Bean / 17 Comments

“I wore rouge today.”

I was standing in the personal care aisle at Kroger. I wanted to buy some hair mousse, which is in a white container, and is on the shelf about ankle height, near the end of the aisle, on the left.

“Or I guess they call it blush now.”

In front of me was a woman, late-70s, with a coupon in her hand. She and her cart were blocking my path– not because she was careless, but because shoppers and boxes of product yet to be stocked crowded the aisle.

“I have on mascara, too.”

She batted her eyes at me so I could see her blackened eyelashes behind her thick eyeglass lenses.

I smiled and said, “It looks nice. I don’t have any on today.” I batted my eyes back at her.

This made her smile.

“I don’t usually wear any, but I had to go somewhere special. I went to lunch with a friend and there were men there.”

I smiled at her, nodded my head– and tried to casually, gracefully lean over to the left, reach around her cart and grab my mousse.

It was not meant to be.

“I’m sorry I’m in your way here. But I have this coupon for $2.00 off and I can’t find the right product.”

I could see her predicament, the hair care line she was looking for had 4 different manifestations of their products, all in different colored bottles.

So I waited. No rush really.

“It was a free lunch at Barrington Manor. You know that place? It’s assisted living for old people. I’m not ready for that place yet.”

I told her that I knew where it was, in a fancy part of town.

“They had a make-up stylist after lunch who showed us how to wear make-up now that we’re senior citizens. I didn’t have him do mine, but I asked questions.”

{ silence as she eyeballed the shelves }

“And they gave us a make-up bag filled with $37.00 worth of free make-up. FREE.”

{ big smile as she continued to look for the hair care product }

“Thirty-seven dollars!”

After about 30 seconds she found what she wanted to buy, then turned to me with her coupon and her product.

“This is right, isn’t it? For the $2.00 off. Like on the coupon.”

I looked at what she had picked up and pointed out that the words on her coupon were the same as the words on the bottle.

“Well, I hope I can read these words,” she said. “I taught reading for years. That’s what I did. Read. Words.”

And with a chuckle and a “thank you” she moved on, leaving me to grab my hair mousse off the shelf and to reflect upon what it means to age stylishly while retaining your sense of humor.

May we all be so cheerful, curious and coherent when we reach her age.

Amen.