November | 2014 | dual personalities

November 17, 2014

“They can’t keep me out of heaven on a technicality!”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of Clarence Day (November 18, 1874–December 28, 1935), the author of Life With Father and long-time contributor to The New Yorker.

Born in New York City, he attended St. Paul’s School and Yale, where he edited the humor magazine. He was an Episcopalian. But bedridden with arthritis for the last 23 years of his life, he was barely able to hold a pencil. Isn’t it amazing that he wrote such hilarious material?

Scenes from Life With Father, along with its 1932 predecessor, God and My Father, and its 1937 sequel, Life with Mother, published posthumously, were the basis for the 1939 play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, which became one of Broadway’s longest-running non-musical hits. In 1947—the year the play ended on Broadway—it was made into a wonderful film starring William Powell and Irene Dunne and directed by Michael Curtiz.

Sadly, Day died in 1935, never having realized the sensational success of his book or the play and movie based on it.

We always got a big kick out of it, especially all the poking fun at Episcopalians:

Mary: That’s funny. The words are the same, but it’s the wrong tune.

Clarence Day: Oh, it can’t be the wrong tune. We sing it exactly that way in church.

Mary: We don’t sing it that way in the Methodist Church. You see, we’re Methodist.

Clarence Day: Oh, that’s too bad. Oh, I don’t mean it’s too bad that you’re a Methodist. Anybody’s got a right to be anything they want, but what I mean is, we’re… *Episcopalians*.

Clarence Day is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

That would be an interesting place to visit, don’t you think? A rural cemetery, it is one of the largest in New York City and is a designated historic landmark. There are lots of famous people buried there including Fiorello La Guardia, Irving Berlin, Damon Runyon…and Herman Melville! But I digress.

In the meantime, I’ll toast ol’ Clarence tonight (along with his mother and Father).

*Life With Father (1947)

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November 17, 2014

Our shelter from the stormy blast*

by chuckofish

Yes, the Christmas cacti are blooming! Can it really be that time of year again?

It must be…’cause it snowed too!

Note the leaf bags!

The anthem at the Offertory at church on Sunday was the poem “Love” by George Herbert (1593-1632) which is a particularly lovely one:

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning

If I lacked anything.

“A guest,” I answered, “worthy to be here”:

Love said, “You shall be he.”

“I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,

I cannot look on thee.”

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

“Who made the eyes but I?”

“Truth, Lord; but I have marred them; let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.”

“And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?”

“My dear, then I will serve.”

“You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.”

So I did sit and eat.

It snowed all day, but never amounted to too much. Time to get serious, though, about the snowball descent to the end of the year.

Have a good week!

*Hymn #680, Isaac Watts

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November 15, 2014

Merci Beaucoup

by chuckofish

My dual personality’s post yesterday so captured my imagination that I was instantly tempted to continue the pet peeve theme today. I can’t deny that I have plenty of them. I can get really, really annoyed by women who toss their paper towels carelessly on the floor of the bathroom, guys who spit on the carpet, colleagues who feel superior to benighted fools who actually believe in God, and people at church who loudly alter personal pronouns and change Father to Creator in hymns and prayers. Okay, yes, I could go on and on. But I won’t, because it occurred to me that this habitually negative dual personality (most unlike her sister in this respect) could use an exercise in gratitude. Also, with Thanksgiving looming, gratitude is seasonally appropriate. Leaving aside the obvious ones like family, friends, God, country, and health, here we go in no particular order.

1. Touch. The feel of warm blankets and sheepskin. I live in the North Country and we keep the house chilly or, more accurately, the house keeps cold whether we like it or not. But if you can get tucked up cozy warm, a fine rest awaits.

Tim fast asleep in front of the fire at our camp

2. The sight and sound of the seasons (so much alliteration!). I love to hear migrating geese honk and watch their wavering Vs as they fly overhead.

Snow Geese. Photo from Northcountrynow.com

Snow Geese in flight. Photo from Northcountrynow.com

3. Words. They’re like friends or favorite authors. It’s as wonderful to find new ones as it is to rediscover those with which we have lost touch.

Gormenghast…Withdrawn and ruinous it broods in umbra: the immemorial masonry: the towers, the tracts. Is all corroding? No. Through an avenue of spires a zephyr floats; a bird whistles; a freshet beats away from a choked river. Deep in a fist of stone a doll’s hand wriggles, warm rebellious on the frozen palm. A shadow shifts its length. A spider stirs… And darkness winds between the characters. (Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast)

4. Smell. Fresh bread, cookies baking, a wood fire…

5. Taste. Really good coffee or tea; excellent cheese; a fine glass of red wine…and, yes, my latest addiction, gum drops.

6. Music. What would we do without it? Even German heavy metal has it’s place, right boys?

but if you’re feeling less Teutonic, you might want to try this blast from the past I recently rediscovered

Surprise, surprise…I have discovered that I can more easily come up with things to be grateful for than I can things that annoy me! There’s hope for me after all. Now I feel ready to start my work day. I’ll be writing, so wish me fluency and the ability to formulate my argument well.

Have a great and grateful weekend!

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November 14, 2014

What news on the Rialto?

by chuckofish

Did you see this funny post on the subject of pet peeves by Emily McDowell on Cup of Jo yesterday?

It got me thinking about my own pet peeves. Here are a few of mine.

1. Newscasters/journalists who make grammatical errors. Zut alors! It is reaching epidemic proportions and it really drives me crazy. I also hate when TV news reporters mispronounce words, such as “thee-A-ter” and “IN-surance”. I mean really.

2. People who microwave smelly frozen dinners for lunch at work and then the whole place smells disgusting all afternoon.

3. When there are many, many empty spots on the fourth floor of the parking garage and I park far away from everyone and someone comes and parks right next to me.

4. People who use the word “folks”.

5. Overuse of the F-bomb in 21st-century films. Ye gods! Is this really necessary? Do people really talk this way? Would it take that much effort to write dialogue without the F-word? (P.S. Emily McDowell overuses this word too.) There is, of course, one exception to this pet peeve:

I laughed when I saw the pet peeve (of Emily’s) that was “excessive movie quoting”. Certainly my family has been guilty of that on occasion (okay, a lot)–but we keep it within the family (I think). However, I think this has been going on since Shakespeare’s time. “Get thee to a nunnery!” “What news on the Rialto?” It is just human nature to quote and to feel hip and in on the private joke doing so.

I realize these pet peeves make me sound old, old, old, and I guess I am. Daughter #1 calls me “Oldie Hawn” (btw, overuse of Simpson-quoting is not a pet peeve in my world.) Oh, well. C’est la vie.

Thank goodness it is less than two weeks until Thanksgiving when we can indulge in mega-movie-quoting while watching the above-mentioned movie. Until then, I am thinking of watching another favorite-to-quote-from movie tonight:

“So what else is on your mind besides hundred-proof women, ninety-proof whiskey, and fourteen-carat gold?”

How about you?

8 Comments

November 13, 2014

Let me think about that for a moment

by chuckofish

Here is some food for thought on this Thursday n November. Take a moment (or two or three) for some deep thoughts.

1. “The trouble with you,” Walter had said in a recent phone conversation, “is that you’re too prepared. You don’t give the Holy Spirit room to do wondrous things. You need to take risks now and then–that’s what makes life snap, crackle and pop.”

–Jan Karon, At Home in Mitford

2. “When I was an object of much contempt and derision in the university,” he later wrote, “I strolled forth one day, buffeted and afflicted, with my little Testament in my hand … The first text which caught my eye was this: ‘They found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear his cross.'”

–Charles Simeon

3. “That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.”

–Henry David Thoreau

British 2nd Division at Kohima, India war memorial

Discuss among yourselves.

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November 12, 2014

Strengthen such as do stand

by chuckofish

Today is the lesser feast day of evangelical Anglican Charles Simeon (1759–1836) on the Episcopal calendar. Simeon is best known for serving Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, and Cambridge University for 54 years, practicing and popularizing biblical, expository preaching and pioneering on-campus discipleship among university students. He is also credited with starting the evangelical revival in the Church of England.

Two hundred years ago students at the English Universities were required to attend church regularly, and to receive the Holy Communion at least once a year. This latter requirement often had bad effects, in that it encouraged hypocrisy and an irreverent reception of the sacrament. Occasionally, however, it had a very good effect, as with the Cambridge student Charles Simeon. He wrote: “On 29 January 1779 I came to college. On 2 February I understood that at division of term I must attend the Lord’s Supper. The Provost absolutely required it. Conscience told me that, if I must go, I must repent and turn to God.”

Kings College Chapel

By this experience his life was transformed. Upon finishing his college work he was ordained, and shortly appointed chaplain of Holy Trinity, Cambridge, where he remained for 55 years, until shortly before his death on 12 November 1836. His ministry helped to transform the lives of many undergraduates, of whom we may mention two in particular. Henry Martyn inspired by Simeon, abandoned his intention of going into law and instead devoted his life and his considerable talents to preaching the Gospel in India and Persia. William Wilberforce, also led in part by Simeon’s ministry of teaching and example, devoted his life to the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire. Simeon’s enthusiasm and zeal brought him much ridicule and abuse, which he bore uncomplainingly. Though he himself remained in one place, his influence extended through the Anglican world. (Lectionary Home Page)

Holy Trinity, Cambridge

Simeon’s black Wedgewood teapot used at his Friday night Conversation Parties

Simeon’s preaching Bible

Bust of Simeon just outside the entrance to the Gonville and Caius Library.

Simeon prayed the following prayer each Sunday before delivering his sermon:

“O God, who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our hearing, be with us now to sanctify unto us the truths that shall be delivered from them.
“Be with us especially to enlighten our minds by the Holy Spirit; and by the mighty working of thy power, bring in to the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived.
“Be pleased also O Lord, to strengthen such as do stand, and comfort and help the weak hearted, and raise up them that fall, and finally to beat down Satan under all our feet.
“All this we humbly ask in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Looking south, down the River Cam, is Simeon’s Bridge. In 1816 Simeon financed the major portion of this bridge connecting King’s College property on both sides of The Backs. This is also the river into which Simeon threw a guinea (coin) as a self-prescribed punishment for not rising at the hour to which he had committed himself for Bible reading and prayer.

I like that prayer. And I want to go to there.

Photos are from the Charles Simeon website.

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November 11, 2014

“He was a good man. Make sure that it says so on the patrol report.”*

by chuckofish

Our grandfather’s grave in San Francisco

Veterans Day was once known as Armistice Day. The term comes from an armistice between Germany and the Allied Nations on November 11, 1918. World War I actually ended on June 28, 1919, during the Treaty of Versailles. The first Armistice Day was acknowledged on November 11, 1919.

On June 1, 1954, Armistice Day had its named changed to Veterans Day, so that the veterans of WWII and all the men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces would be honored.

So take some time today to think about your ancestors who served their country in the Armed Forces. A favorite fighting ancestor of mine is Moses Wheeler who fought in the French and Indian War. He was a soldier on the frontier as early as 1746,

and was one of the company of Capt. Stevens in his celebrated defense of the Fort at No. 4…and was also with Hobbs in his terrible encounter with Sackett…[Wheeler] was a very large man, yet of good proportions, and was said to have been, in his prime, the strongest man in the cordon of forts on the frontier. One time Wheeler and five others were detailed to take a cannon to the top of Hoosac Mountain. It appeared to some of them a hard task and they stood around it a long time earnestly discussing the way in which it should be done. At length, tiring of their suggestions, Wheeler threw up his arms, at the same time exclaiming “Stand aside boys, I am going to take the cannon up the mountain myself,” and swinging it upon his shoulder bore it to the place which had been designated for it, pausing only once for rest upon the way.

It is related that the reason of his pausing as he did was to get a drink from a spring which he saw bubbling up beside his path. As soon as he saw this he flung his cannon from his shoulder and throwing himself flat on his stomach, the more readily to get at the water, he commenced drinking, as the soldiers expressed it, “like a horse.” Thinking he would kill himself they warned him to desist, but as he gave no heed to their admonition three of them seized one leg and two the other and drew him forcibly away. He thought it rather hard usage but concluded on the whole it was best to submit to it. After resting awhile he again resumed his cannon and bore it to its place, when he found that he had burst his shoes open which were new when he started from the foot of the mountain, and his pantaloons were such a wreck that they were good for nothing afterwards. The officers and soldiers were, however, so pleased with his exploit they they clubbed together and very generously more than made up the loss. After this he became quite a hero to the Indians, who, whenever they came where he was, always wanted to see “The Strong Man.”

(History of Charlestown, New-Hampshire by Rev. Henry H. Saunderson, 1876)

If this story sounds a bit familiar, it is because James Fenimore Cooper used some of Wheeler’s story to embellish a character in The Deerslayer. In the 1957 movie he was played by Forrest Tucker.

Is it any wonder that 240 years later we named the boy after this ancestor?

If I had a copy of The Deerslayer, I would surely watch it tonight. I’ll find something suitable. How about you?

*John Wayne in Operation Pacific

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November 10, 2014

“As if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear”*

by chuckofish

Are you prepared for the day of the Lord? For whom would it be good news? (Matthew 25: 1-13) These were the questions asked in our sermon yesterday. They are good ones to ask yourself. My rector was not terribly helpful in answering them, but that’s par for the course. You have to work out your own salvation anyway, so c’est la vie. I’m still stuck on old Amos’ imagery from the OT reading anyway (see above).

Well, the highlight of my weekend was an after-church jaunt to the Missouri History Museum with the OM. I had not been in years, but I had heard that the “250 in 250: A Yearlong Exhibit Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of St. Louis” was not to be missed.

This turned out to be an over-statement. “Through the stories of 50 People, 50 Places, 50 Images, 50 Moments, and 50 Objects we were invited to learn all about St. Louis.” This kind of display is not really my cup of tea, but it was okay.

Across the hall, however, was a very cool exhibit–“The Louisiana Purchase: Making St. Louis, Remaking America”.

You will recall that in 1803 the United States agreed to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory—828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. The United States doubled its size, expanding the nation westward. Beyond the geographic expansion, The Louisiana Purchase remade St. Louis into an American city—”and reshaped and redefined what it meant to be an American.” Featuring loans from the National Archives and documents and artifacts from the Missouri History Museum’s collections, the exhibition explores the complex negotiations related to The Louisiana Purchase and its after-effect on St. Louis. A highlight of the exhibition is the Treaty of Cession (in French), better known as The Louisiana Purchase Treaty. The Treaty was first drafted in French and then translated into English, so it can be said that the French text is the “original original.”

Anyway, the Museum has changed quite a lot since the days when we would visit with our mother. Nowhere in sight is the riverboat wheelhouse which was a favorite of mine and my dual personality’s as wee children. Also the gun collection, which made up a good part of the second floor exhibition space, is nowhere to be seen. Thankfully in moth balls is all the Veiled Prophet knick-knack-iture that also took up a lot of space in days gone by. Yes, it is all very 21st century and up-to-the-minute PC-wise, but I do miss the old-fashioned dusty taxidermy and Mark Twainia of the olden days.

Well, I’ve been there and done that now, but it is a good and mindful thing to be reminded of the wonderful and important part Missouri played in our national history.

There is a fancy restaurant in the museum, but we headed over to the Wildflower Cafe in the CWE for some eggs benedict. Yum.

How was your weekend?

*Amos 5:18 (Not Abraham Lincoln like you thought)

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November 8, 2014

Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery*

by chuckofish

Now that it has gotten colder and we are all beginning to hunker down for winter, I have been imagining myself tucked up with a lap blanket, a cup of tea and some embroidery. There’s plenty in my house to look to for inspiration. My dear dual personality made us this wonderful counted cross-stitch sampler for our wedding present.

It hangs in our bedroom above a bookcase, where, alas, it’s glass also reflects the overhead light, thus making it difficult to get a good photo. But isn’t it beautiful? Just imagine how much work went into it! On the other side of the closet door, on the same wall, sits a piece that my Aunt Donna made for us as a house-warming gift.

I love the circles and the colors, which go very well in the room. Can you imagine trying to keep those lines from wobbling? I apologize for the poor photos — I was trying to get close so you could see the detail.

Our mother was also quite deft with the needle, though she didn’t do that much embroidery. Years ago, I found this pillow cover tucked away in a box. I think she made it, or it might have been my grandmother. Some of the thread has worn away, but I really love the Jacobean design and the colors. It’s now in my living room.

I, too, have taken up the needle from time to time, albeit I am something of a novice compared to my sister, aunt, and mother. A few years ago I finished a pillow cover that still awaits blocking and backing. It’s a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry.

Not too bad, eh? Some day I’ll get my act together and have it made into a pillow. In the meantime, I have two projects that I picked up last year at the church Christmas Bazaar. Which one should I tackle first?

The way I see it, embroidery is just the ticket for reducing stress, which is something I need to do. Today we’re heading out to our camp to spend the night (for the first time in years) and I can see myself embroidering in front of the fire — a glass of wine a the ready — and the quiet tones of civilized conversation to sooth our work-weary souls. Okay, the reality will probably be somewhat different (grading, cleaning, more grading), but, one day, I WILL pick up the needle again.

Until then, I’ll just have to dream about it. Have a great weekend!

*Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor

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November 7, 2014

Friday movie pick

by chuckofish

The other night I tried to watch Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) on TCM, but I didn’t make it to the end. I knew how it was going to end, and it was pretty depressing.

Indeed, there was nothing uplifting in the story of the hapless Czar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra and their downfall and ultimate murder. I remember seeing it at the movies back when it came out. My mother thought it was great and wept through much of it, but seeing it again, I was unmoved. And I should note that the soundtrack was terrible.

The next night I watched Anastasia (1956)–the film adaption of the stage play starring Ingrid Bergman in her second Academy Award-winning role and the great Yul Brynner.

It was pretty great. It is the story of an opportunistic Russian businessman (Brynner) who tries to pass a mysterious woman (Bergman) off as the Grand Duchess Anastasia. However, she is so convincing in her performance that even the biggest skeptics, including the Dowager Empress herself, believe her.

So Anastasia is my Friday movie pick. Check it out. Although Yul’s part is not nearly big enough to suit me, it is a good movie and the soundtrack by the great Alfred Newman is terrific.

Have a great weekend!

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Month: November, 2014

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