A Sure Sign Of Summer: Kettle Corn For Breakfast

June 9, 2016January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 60 Comments

Tiny blue vase, handmade, purchased from potter at festival, filled with a daisy + rosemary from our garden, sitting on the kitchen counter… and taking up much less space than the bag of kettle corn, also purchased at festival.

I know for sure that it’s summertime because I’m eating kettle corn for breakfast.

[Don’t judge.]

Last weekend we went to the first festival of the season where we purchased a bag of kettle corn.

Said bag, which is too large to fit on the pantry shelf, is now sitting on the kitchen counter near the new vase featured in the photo.

[We bought the “small” bag of kettle corn, btw.]

From what I can tell, all festivals around here are required by law to have at least one kettle corn booth wherein they make the stuff fresh before your very eyes.

Then the kettle corn makers are required to give you a free sample of it right when you’re tired from walking around the festival, but not hungry because you just ate something filling at the previous food booth.

[I’m a sucker for a pulled pork sandwich with a speciality BBQ sauce.]

So, you decide to buy a bag of the kettle corn to take home with you because you know you like it. And because this is a festival that helps some small town OR civic organization OR large church make money that they use to help the needy.

[The cynic in me says the festival might be helping itself first before the needy, but whatevs.]

And that, my gentle readers, is how I know it is summer. I’ve got popcorn kernel residue stuck in my teeth before 8:00 a.m. and I’ve helped the needy. 😉

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HOW DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE THAT IT’S SUMMERTIME WHERE YOU LIVE?

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A Look At Archetypes: Who Are Your Friends?

May 19, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 57 Comments

Laverne & Shirley: Back in the day one friend was all you needed! { Source }

This is something fun to think about.

I was listening to Sorta Awesome, a podcast I enjoy. The conversation topic of Episode 54 was how every woman needs a variety of friends in her life because each friend serves a different, but necessary, role in your life.

They were talking about archetypes, not specific names of people. This wasn’t gossip.

As the show went on I started thinking about who I need in my life. The women on the program believed they needed 10 friends, but I decided that at this point in my life I need 5 friends.

Call me a minimalist. Or an introvert.

Below you’ll find my list of the five friends who I need to keep me grateful, connected, grounded, hopeful, and happy.

[A digression. Yesterday in The Guardian I read an article: “Why don’t I have any friends?” Not surprisingly, there are a variety of answers to this question. I mention the article here, my gentle readers, for your general edification. Just saying. No disrespect intended.]

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The Biographer… is the friend who knows all the nuances + details of your life, meaning that any problem you take to her needs no background story because she knows it, she knows you, and she knows what you need to do.

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The Oprah Fan… is the friend who knows what’s on-trend, whether it be spiritual or sartorial, funny or frowned-upon, healthy or home-y, and she is willing to share her knowledge so you’ll be on-trend, too.

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The Loyal Opposition… is the friend who, like you, pays attention to the events in the world, but often comes to a different conclusion about what’s going on and why it is happening.

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The Cheerleader… is the friend who is on your side, without any need for you to explain or justify, in-depth, what you are up to; she’s your own personal pep squad.

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The Snarkologist… is the friend who makes me laugh out loud because she is unfiltered, truthful, and willing to skewer, in a most wonderful way, anything or anyone who deserves to be taken down a peg.

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How about you, my gentle readers? Who are your friends?

Ally, Ally, Quite Contrary…

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 / Ally Bean / 44 Comments

How does your Spring garden grow?

Glad you asked. Here are few photos of the backyard.

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A maroon pansy, planted last fall, has returned and is looking pretty.

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The gray stone path on the hillside is happy to be the center of attention between salvia and boxwoods.

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A hosta and a catmint with tiny purple blooms stand side-by-side under the deck, thrilled with the wet + cool weather.

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The pachysandra patch directs your attention into the forest, which is amazingly green this Spring.

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And up on the deck, a potted orange gerbera daisy suggests that Summer is around the corner.

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, everyone.

Make it a good one.

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L Is For Lime, Like It Or Not

April 14, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 30 Comments

Take life with a Grain of salt, a Slice of lime, and a shot of tequila

… is good advice that I’ve never taken literally because I don’t like to drink shots of tequila.

If I might be allowed to combine these ingredients with some simple syrup into a margarita on the rocks, then I’m right there with you chilling out about life, being cool about things.

Which is what I take this slang saying to mean.

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OF COURSE if we happen to make it two margaritas, then I’m singing a song about a lime.

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AND IF by chance we make it three margaritas? I’m wearing a sombrero because like Hobbes says: “What fun is it being ‘cool’ if you can’t wear a sombrero!”