Del Griffith! How the hell are ya?
by chuckofish
Hope y’all had as nice a Thanksgiving as we did. Good food, good company and, as usual, we ended the day with these guys:
dual personalities
Month: November, 2013
November 28, 2013
Happy birthday, Buddy
by chuckofish
The boy turns 27 today!
The above photo is one of my favorite pictures of the boy. He is about four. Funnily enough, it was taken by one of his Sunday School teachers. He is in the act of throwing an accurately decorated paper (jet) plane. Hmmm.
He hasn’t changed much really.
He shares a birthday with John Bunyan (1628), William Blake (1827) and Randy Newman (1943). Two of his illustrious ancestors died on this day: William Whipple, signer of the American Declaration of Independence, and the boy’s great-great-great grandfather John S. Hough.
The Episcopal Church celebrates this day as a feast day in honor of King Kamehameha and Queen Emma of Hawaii, who were good Episcopalians.
So hats off to the boy! We are looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with him and his lovely wife. Once again I will provide the cheesey potato casserole. And, of course, birthday presents for the birthday boy!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
November 27, 2013
Let’s get this party started
by chuckofish
Daughter #2 arrived home yesterday safe and sound.
We stopped on the way home from the airport, as is our tradition, for margaritas.
Then we went home, unpacked our pajama pants and got comfortable
and watched our favorite misfit Christmas special.
Let the good times roll!
November 26, 2013
Ponder anew: counting our blessings
by chuckofish
“Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen
So November is almost over. Advent starts this Sunday! Have I been successful in my effort to be more consciously thankful? I think so.
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things.”
This is so true. And, hey, what we may think of as small things are probably the Big Things. There are many, many things to be grateful for, but these are the main five in my book.
1. Home and family–so easy to take for granted–but my ordinary life is quite wonderful.
2. A church home: Isn’t it wonderful (to borrow a phrase) to have some place to go “where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came”?
3. Work: I am personally so grateful to have a job that I actually like and where I feel I am making a small difference.
4. Health–One of those things that I don’t really appreciate until I am sick or my knee hurts–so it takes some effort to think, hey, I feel pretty good today!
5. An inquiring mind: It’s so important to exercise this gift every day along with that not-so-athletic body! And there is also this:
“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King
So in these waning days of November as we ready ourselves for the festive national holiday of Thanksgiving, let us actually give thanks!
November 25, 2013
How shall we love thee, holy hidden being?*
by chuckofish
I bought these perfectly delightful Turkey cookies after church on Sunday from the Youth Group who was fundraising for some worthy cause. Aren’t they special?
In other news, I was surprised to see that we now have cushions in our pews. Last week we did not.
Taken with my iPhone, excuse me.
The Lord works in mysterious ways, and so does our rector.
We had our leaves blown and vacuumed on Friday. I’m sure my husband is very thankful that he did not have to do it. The yard looks great, although the leaves continue to fall.
Most of the weekend was spent puttering around the old manse, readying it for daughter #2’s arrival on Tuesday.
While cleaning off my desk, I was reminded that on this day four years ago one of my dearest friends died suddenly. We were supposed to have lunch that day but she canceled in the morning because she wasn’t feeling well. Later in the day she went to the hospital. We exchanged a few emails. I was shocked to find out the next day that she had died that night at home in her sleep.
Irene was two years ahead of me in school from kindergarten through high school. We weren’t friends until later when we were both active in the same church. She was a successful realtor when she heeded the call and took off for divinity school in Virginia. She was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church and served in a variety of places. Her last assignment was to my Grace Church. At the time we had an interim who, to be honest, tried our Christian souls. We on the vestry tried very conscientiously to work with him, but then at a vestry meeting, he announced he was leaving (the next day) and that the Bishop had appointed Irene to step in. I was happy to speak up and say I had known her practically all my life and that she was a wonderful person and that we should be thrilled to have her. Everyone breathed a sigh of collective relief. (Several people actually told me that afterwards.)
And Irene truly was a blessing to our church, healing many wounds and reassuring us that we really were okay and not the bad Episcopalians the other guy had inferred we were on a regular basis. For the next 18 months, she guided us through the search process for a new rector who started in June of 2009. She died in November at age 55.
The lesson here is that you just don’t know when anyone might suddenly be removed from your life. So tell everyone you care about that you love them on a regular basis. The last time I met with Irene for coffee I said, “I love you, Irene” when we parted, and I am glad I did. Now every day when I drive by Starbucks on Lindbergh Road, I think of Irene.
* Hymn 573 by Laurence Housman (1865–1959)
November 23, 2013
One thing led to another…
by chuckofish
As you know, lately I’ve been binging on worthy comfort literature from the middle of the last century. I just re-read Assignment in Brittany, Helen MacInnes’s 1942 novel about a British agent in France just after Dunkirk — I recommend it without reservation and naturally had to find out more.
According to Wikipedia, the book was so accurate that it became required reading for allied agents during the war. Many surmised that MacInnes got her information from her husband, renowned classicist, Gilbert Highet, who served in MI6, but of course that is highly unlikely as it would have been a big breach of the official secrets act. She was just smart and observant and knew a lot of interesting people, including her husband, who was also her one true love.
They were both Scottish and met at university (he does have a nice Scottish face, don’t you think? It’s the eyes). During the ’30s, they became so repelled by Hitler and so appalled at British apathy that they moved to the U.S. where Highet became a professor at Columbia. When the war broke out he had only been there for a couple of years, yet despite his career and his young family, without hesitation he took the train to Canada and enlisted. He was called up to active duty in 1940 and served throughout the war. Later, they both became American citizens.
In addition to being a prolific classical scholar, Highet wrote about teaching and literature. Some of his pithier remarks are widely quoted on the internet:
He even wrote some poetry. I particularly like his ‘post-obit’ that was recently discovered among his papers:
What will you think of me when I die,
Helen? There won’t be an official life —
a paragraph at most. But you alone
could write a volume. Most is secret;
and that you will not write. The rest is public,
covering fifty harsh laborious years,
and unimportant. Please remember me
as we lived secretly and happily.
“He was a merry man, God rest his soul;”
he was a merry man, and loved you well.
You can read more about Gilbert Highet here. I found the poem in an article, “The Correspondence of Gilbert Highet and Helen MacInnes,” by Robert J. Ball, Classical World 101 (2008): 504-531.
Thanks to Helen MacInnes and Gilbert Highet for improving my week immensely. May we all be as merry and love as well!
November 22, 2013
This is how my mind works
by chuckofish
So we all have been preoccupied recently with the year 1963, especially with the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.
So I got to thinking about what would be an appropriate movie to recommend as this Friday’s pick.
So I looked up the top-grossing films of 1963. You would not believe what fun movies are on that list! Indeed, many are favorites of mine. There is hardly a serious drama in the bunch. Here are the top 16, starting with #1:
Cleopatra, How the West Was Won, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Tom Jones, Irma la Douce, The Sword in the Stone, Son of Flubber, The Birds, Dr. No, The V.I.P.s, McClintock!, Charade, Bye Bye Birdie, Move Over, Darling, Come Blow Your Horn, The Thrill of It All,
and #17: The Great Escape.
I’ve missed him, have you?
It is kind of eye-opening. It was a different world back then and the movie stars were different too–Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley MacLaine, John Wayne and Steve McQueen and this guy:
Albert Finney, you were adorable
Not to put too fine a line on it (or to be disrespectful), but it was all downhill from November 22, 1963. The world became a depressing and chaotic place.
I was just in the second grade that fall, but I have to say I have always gravitated to the early 1960s time period as a favorite era (see above list of movies).
Flyover blondes and me
I guess I was happy then. My parents were still fairly young and seemed happy and not un-hip to me. We had moved into a new (old) house. Things were on an upward trajectory. I suppose that’s why.
ANYWAY, How the West Was Won has always been in my Top Ten list.
I went to see it at the movies with my best friend Trudie Glick (her birthday party) and it was practically the first movie I had ever seen at the movies. My 12 year-old brother, of course, had already seen it and he gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up. He told me about all the really good parts. I was pretty bowled over by it–remember, it was in Cinerama–and especially loved the magnificent musical score by Alfred Newman. It is the soundtrack by which I have judged all soundtracks since.
Charade, starring Audrey and Cary Grant, is another all-time favorite of mine.
This rom-com is bright and light and much-copied. The original is always best! Stanley Donen’s direction is perfect–he made some great movies with Audrey Hepburn. And Cary Grant is on his A-game. Plus there is all that and wonderful European scenery and Henry Mancini music.
Move Over, Darling and The Thrill of It All are both terrific Doris Day vehicles, even with the B-Team James Garner (i.e. not Rock Hudson). The Thrill of It All in particular has been a favorite of our family: Happy Soap saved my life!
So I leave it to you which movie to pick, but I recommend them all (maybe not Son of Flubber). No conspiracy theories for me this weekend.
November 21, 2013
A sonnet for Thursday
by chuckofish
Well, two hundred years ago they also felt out of tune and forlorn! And check out this pensive portrait of Wordsworth.
“The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.–Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.”
― William Wordsworth, The Major Works
1802
November 20, 2013
What makes a home beautiful?
by chuckofish
Bloggers are fond of asking themselves this question. The glossy home magazines endlessly try to answer this question.
1. For me, a house has to look lived in. Clearly the home is a reflection of the people who live in it. So if the house doesn’t even looked lived in, how can it be beautiful? Thank goodness, perfection is not the answer.
2. A home needs lots of art on the walls. My mother taught me that you should only have “original” art on the first floor. Prints, posters and the like belong upstairs. I get that. She considered old family photographs as art. But definitely not new photographs, i.e. school pictures. Art is a very personal thing and it always amazes me when people have decorators pick art for them to hang on their walls.
3. I like a mix of antiques and new furniture. My mother abhorred “suites” of furniture, i.e. sets bought all together. She said that if you collect antiques or vintage furniture, nothing will match and you will have different periods and styles represented. And that’s okay.
4. I like plants. I probably have too many, but a punch of green in every room is a necessity. They also clean the air!
5. Books! I know a lot of people think books are dust-attracters and a waste of money when there are libraries and kindles out there, but, gee, a home is neither beautiful nor lived-in without books. You either get that or you don’t. However, using books as a decorating prop is a no-no in my opinion.
6. I love dishes–old, new, whatever. I like to display them. I remember frequently going to the furniture store (which was next door to the grocery store) with my mother to gaze at the china displays. We would say, “Oh, I like that pattern!” and “Oh, isn’t that one pretty?!” This, of course, is how you teach your children to appreciate beautiful things. It’s not about buying things, but learning to look at things and see them and discriminate between the beautiful and the average. It’s like going to art museums to look at the art and saying, “I like that!” You learn to have an opinion.
7. Fresh flowers.
8. Needlework: samplers, needlepoint pillows, lovely bed linens–especially when made by people we love.
This, of course, is my list and I do not mean to imply that someone who loves a match-matchy house with lots of family pictures in the living room and no books is wrong. As daughter #1 says, “It is just not my aesthetic.” People should decorate to suit themselves.
As you can tell, I was much influenced by my mother, who (I think) had great taste. She learned a lot from her mother, but she really had a sense of style that far surpassed anyone else in her family. Where did that come from? I don’t know. She understood what a “tableau” or “vignette” was long before they became decorating watchwords. She never had much money to spend on her home, but she did her best to make it beautiful.
The great Albert Hadley once said: “Decorating is not about making stage sets, it’s not about making pretty pictures for the magazines; it’s really about creating a quality of life, a beauty that nourishes the soul.”
I agree. My mother would have agreed too. Furthermore, I am grateful for my home and for the people who live/have lived in it. A sense of gratitude also adds to the beauty of a home, don’t you think?
November 19, 2013
O powerful, western, fallen star!
by chuckofish
On this day 150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln gave this short address at the dedication of the military cemetery ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He wrote it himself and he did not have a teleprompter. Read the whole thing.
FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO OUR FATHERS BROUGHT FORTH ON THIS CONTINENT A NEW NATION CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY AND DEDICATED TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL •
NOW WE ARE ENGAGED IN A GREAT CIVIL WAR TESTING WHETHER THAT NATION OR ANY NATION SO CONCEIVED AND SO DEDICATED CAN LONG ENDURE • WE ARE MET ON A GREAT BATTLEFIELD OF THAT WAR • WE HAVE COME TO DEDICATE A PORTION OF THAT FIELD AS A FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR THOSE WHO HERE GAVE THEIR LIVES THAT THAT NATION MIGHT LIVE • IT IS ALTOGETHER FITTING AND PROPER THAT WE SHOULD DO THIS • BUT IN A LARGER SENSE WE CAN NOT DEDICATE~WE CAN NOT CONSECRATE~WE CAN NOT HALLOW~THIS GROUND • THE BRAVE MEN LIVING AND DEAD WHO STRUGGLED HERE HAVE CONSECRATED IT FAR ABOVE OUR POOR POWER TO ADD OR DETRACT • THE WORLD WILL LITTLE NOTE NOR LONG REMEMBER WHAT WE SAY HERE BUT IT CAN NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID HERE • IT IS FOR US THE LIVING RATHER TO BE DEDICATED HERE TO THE UNFINISHED WORK WHICH THEY WHO FOUGHT HERE HAVE THUS FAR SO NOBLY ADVANCED • IT IS RATHER FOR US TO BE HERE DEDICATED TO THE GREAT TASK REMAINING BEFORE US~THAT FROM THESE HONORED DEAD WE TAKE INCREASED DEVOTION TO THAT CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY GAVE THE LAST FULL MEASURE OF DEVOTION~THAT WE HERE HIGHLY RESOLVE THAT THESE DEAD SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN~THAT THIS NATION UNDER GOD SHALL HAVE A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM~AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH •
(This is the version of the text inscribed on the walls at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.)
Awesome.
The Lincoln Address Memorial (top left) at the Gettysburg National Cemetery
Another place for the bucket list.
dual personalities 