dual personalities

Month: October, 2011

October 12, 2011

Life is stranger than fiction department

by chuckofish

Did you know that although she was not credited by name, one of the executive producers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was none other than Dolly Parton? Really. She had a production partnership (called Sandollar Entertainment) with Sandy Gallin, who had managed Dolly’s career. You gotta love it.

I wonder if that is why Buffy has the same birthday as Dolly? That’s January 19 for the uninformed, which, by the way, is also our mother’s birthday. Sometimes life just really makes perfect sense.

2 Comments
October 11, 2011

Antiques Roadshow

by chuckofish

I do love the Antiques Roadshow! Some people may like the treasure-hunt aspect of it, the maybe-I’ll-find-something-in-my-attic-and-I-can-retire quality of the show. But for me, it is wonderful to be reminded that other people value and have saved their family “heirlooms”. Frequently people say, when told the value of their “heirloom”, that it is not important since they will never sell it. That is a good thing.

What is an heirloom anyway? It is “a piece of property that descends to the heir as an inseparable part of an inheritance of real property.” Inseparable being the operative term.

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October 10, 2011

On driving

by chuckofish

Road sign in Devon, England

As my sixteen year old son swerved violently drove around a sharp corner on a particularly scenic back road of northern NY (and I do mean northern), I remarked rather breathlessly that it was nice he didn’t have to learn to drive on the terrible narrow roads around his grandmother’s house in Devon, England. Tim, gripping the wheel more tightly said through gritted teeth, “yes, and our road signs are clearer too.” This put me in mind of one of our favorite English passtimes, namely finding strange road signs and attempting to interpret them.

What do you think this one means? Motorcycles should only jump over cars in order to get access to this road?

Then there’s the ever popular

I've really seen this

and the equally cryptic

but not this

Only the British…

3 Comments
October 10, 2011

Sixty-two years ago today

by chuckofish

From an address to the parents by Ronald Beasley, headmaster of Mary Institute, October 10, 1949:

This is the goal we must strive for at Mary Institute: to teach our girls they must live with themselves…If we can develop within the child the conviction that the great things in the world are the things within her–not those outside such as the radio and the telephone–and can give her the inner strength to be herself, to stand firmly by the conviction that she can be herself, then Mary Institute will serve the future as it has the past.

Well, besides the quaint “radio and telephone”, it holds up–I am totally about living with myself.

And for the record, I don’t mind being referred to as one of “our girls”.

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October 10, 2011

Individual creatures

by chuckofish

“Sometimes in my capacity as mother, I find myself sitting open-mouthed and terrified before my own children, little individual creatures moving solidly along in their own paths and yet in some mysterious manner vividly reminiscent of a past which my husband and I know we have never communicated to them…”
–Shirley Jackson

8 Comments
October 9, 2011

Forbearance

by chuckofish

From today’s lectionary: Philippians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

This is actually one of my favorite scripture passages. Saint Paul at his best–giving heartfelt, succinct advice: pay attention to every word.

But I like the old Revised Standard Version of verse 5: “Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.” “Forbearance” is such a good word and one I can relate to a lot more than gentleness. It means: tolerance and restraint in the face of provocation. Gentleness and Forbearance just don’t mean the same thing.

2 Comments
October 8, 2011

Haunted House of the week

by chuckofish

The Winchester House

Well if we’re going to get into the spirit of the season (pun intended), a good place to start is San Jose, California’s Winchester House, reputed to be the most haunted house in America. Now it’s big business but once it was just the happy home of a nutty old lady who was convinced that if she stopped adding on to the house, she would die. Here’s a quote from the web site which you can see

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October 8, 2011

Pumpkins

by chuckofish

Dual personalities circa 1973

It is officially pumpkin season here in the Midwest. There are piles of them outside Dierberg’s Market and the pumpkin patch is up at the neighborhood Methodist Church. I have unpacked my vintage 60’s Halloween candles.

Witches, ghosts, pumpkins…Can pilgrims be far behind?

5 Comments
October 7, 2011

…and in my kitchen…

by chuckofish

As you can see, I love my blue and white china as well! And so did our maternal grandmother…

I have some of that same Chinese export china in my dining room cabinet.


I wish I had a picture of our mother’s hutch…I’m sure with some digging around I can turn something up. Stay tuned for more blue and white china.

3 Comments
October 7, 2011

In my kitchen…

by chuckofish

some of my favorite things

I guess you can tell that I like blue and white china. Most of this is Spode (the real thing, hand made in England, not the stuff they are currently making in China) from my mother-in-law (bless her!) plus an eclectic assortment of odds and ends that I just like including: an antique Japanese plate ( top shelf, center back); a Suzie Cooper creamer and sugar bowl set (top shelf, center); a ceramic seal (hard to see, top left), my sweet tiny loons, three cool pebbles, and china sherds I picked up in the garden or on the beach in England. As I was dusting these today I was reminded of what the artist Kandisky once wrote:

“Everything that is dead quivers. Not only the things of poetry, stars, moon, wood, flowers, but even a white trouser button glittering out of a puddle in the street…Everything has a secret soul which is silent more often than it speaks.”

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