Stormy Nights, Foggy Mornings & Musings On Curse Words

July 27, 2015May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 26 Comments

Butterfly in the sun.

IT’S RAINING HERE AGAIN this morning.

We had a few days of blue skies and sunshine last week, but late yesterday afternoon the thunder and rain rolled in again. It was just about the time we were getting ready to have a cookout. Natch.

I’m beyond caring about the weather. What more is there to say about it?

Well, what more is there to say about it without resorting to swearing? And you know, gentle readers, that this is not that kind of blog.

Oh no, we keep it polite here at The Spectacled Bean. Or, at least, polite enough to not offend the delicate sensibilities of any reader over 40 years old.

• • •

OCCASIONALLY I WONDER IF I wrote in a more, shall we say, direct way using curse words, then readers would perceive me as being more authentic and edgy, therefore interesting.

If I’d done that kind of writing, which I easily could have, I wonder if I’d have been more popular as a blogger, than I am now.

Cherry tomatoes in the rain.

I’ve no moral objections to curse words, I say them irl. However when it comes to writing I hesitate to use them.

I’m content as things are on the blog, but observing the language used by revered bloggers, I do [sometimes] question my decision to keep it clean here.

A Glimpse Into Life With The Beans, Mid-Summer Edition

July 23, 2015 / Ally Bean / 24 Comments

The Good

Zen-Den went to the grocery and bought everything on the list, including cornstarch. This, as he pointed out to me, was a big deal because, as he said: “even five years ago I wouldn’t have known what cornstarch was– and would have bought corn meal instead.”

Congratulations, darling. You’ve passed GROCERY SHOPPING 201, an intermediate level course in advanced shopping techniques wherein husbands learn to buy exactly that which is written on the list.

Isn’t he something? Let’s give it up for the Z-D.

~ • ~

The Bad

Influenced by Mad Men [and a bit of nostalgia for my parents], I had a hankering for an Old Fashioned. So I got out the bourbon and the sugar bowl in which I keep sugar cubes and the Angostura Bitters. Then I made myself an Old Fashioned using the last of the bourbon.

While my drink sat on the counter below, as I attempted to put the sugar bowl back onto the cupboard shelf above, in a horrible moment of miscalculation, I knocked the lid off the sugar bowl. It fell onto the counter, shattering into 3 gazillion + 1 pieces, many of which landed in my drink.

Leaving me distraught and drinkless.

~ • ~

The Ugly

Because of the excessive rain, we’ve not used our screened-in porch as much as we usually do in the summer. However, the other evening there was no rain, so we decided to go out there to sit.

Almost immediately we both noticed that there were ants walking around on the rug in the screened-in porch. This is amazing because the porch is up a story from the ground below, but those miserable, icky, sneaky, destructive ants were on. my. porch.

I took off one of my Birks, grabbed it with my hand and started hitting the ants until they stopped moving. I put the sandal back on when I thought that I’d killed all the ants, but I hadn’t. So when I saw one last ant moving, in a fit of anger, I stomped down really hard with my sandaled foot on the last ant… and twisted my left ankle in the process.

I hate ants.

~ • ~

A Soggy Summer: How Bored Can A Bean Get?

July 13, 2015 / Ally Bean / 28 Comments

Things I have done in the past week to try to entertain myself while it rains almost non-stop outside during July, a month when accomplishing things on my “Save It For Summer” To Do List is a top priority.

1) I rooted for Zen-Den to burn up a waffle while he was making some for breakfast yesterday morning. I thought that the smoke might add a little excitement to the day.

He, however, didn’t burn anything, made delicious waffles, and even cleaned up the kitchen afterward, thereby depriving me of things to complain about here in a blog post.

Yes, I’m bored enough to feel defeated about not having a cooking mishap to start the day.

2) I watched hours of TV shows about buying property in Alaska. Alaska is a state that I adored in Northern Exposure, but after watching these shows, I dunno about these people.

While watching these shows I learned that 33% of the homes in Alaska have outhouses. And that people there seem ga-ga over views of mountains that all look the same to me. And that moose wander around free-range style in Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, population 300,000.

Clearly, no matter how much I loved Maggie and Joel, this is not a state for me, a woman who thinks staying at a Motel 6 is roughing it.

3) I sorted through all the catalogues that are in this house. I ended up with a 14″ high pile of catalogues, unwanted, in my way, yet here, for reasons most varied.

Some were catalogues from companies that I have bought things from online, while other catalogues, unsolicited, seem to magically appear in our mailbox. Then like a ninny, I bring them inside the house.

My conclusion? Catalogues are a plague of locust, impossible to stop.

4) I researched perfumes online. I want a new fragrance, but when shopping in the stores I can’t find one that suits my fussy nose. So I sat here, at the computer, reading online descriptions of fragrances, knowing full well that perfume is something that needs to be sniffed and dabbed before buying it.

Yet all because I cannot accomplish anything around the house like I want to do, I was bored enough to read about perfume, as if that was a good use of my time.

I mean really? Reading about fragrance? I’m doomed.

A “Better Call Noah” Garden Update

July 9, 2015July 9, 2015 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

This summer has been humid and wet– mold everywhere on the roses, on the tree trunks, on the sides of terra-cotta pots, on stones along the paths.

Perennial plants, such as cat mint, are so waterlogged that they’ve wilted, unable to spread their roots, trapped in clay soil that has formed its own kind of water-filled hole around them.

And then we have some potted annuals that are going out of their way to show-off their colors. Like these petunias, for instance. That have gotten leggy and dramatic, attempting to cover the entire deck.

On a weird note, unlike previous years in which squirrels took over our property, this year has brought us rabbits, snakes and one red fox. The rabbits seem intent on eating all the weeds [yeah!], while the snakes lurk under bushes, near the front door.

Not happy about that. Neither one of us is.

The red fox seems to be joyful as he jogs across our property. Don’t know much about him, being a newcomer to the suburb ‘ya know, but from the skip in his step I can guess that this summer is his kind of weather.

~ ~ • ~ ~

On an encouraging note, I’m happy to report that two of my three my milkweed “experiments” are doing well. The plants that I started from seed didn’t take, but the white milkweed, a sturdy plant that I purchased at the garden center, is growing 30″ tall in the back yard near the woods.

No flowers yet, but looking good.

The yellow milkweed, purchased at the same garden center, looked half-dead when I bought it. Withered brown-tinged leaves. Not so big. But now, planted in full sunshine near the garage, it’s about a foot high and has pretty yellow flowers on it.

Just goes to show, don’t judge a potted plant by its leaves. 😉

I’m not certain but I think that we are beginning to get monarch butterflies here. Zen-Den saw one when he was mowing out back– and I snapped this photo of a butterfly [moth?] when I was out front.

Usually by mid-summer I’ve glorious flowers, waiting in the sunshine to be photographed. But this year I have Noah on speed dial while my camera naps the days away.

Too soggy for photos of posies.