dual personalities

Month: December, 2017

December 16, 2017

Loudly sing “cuckoo”!

by chuckofish

I don’t know about you but I’m beginning to feel slightly “cuckoo”. Still, we’re making progress. The tree is up.

The decorations are (mostly) out.

Presents are beginning to pile up, and my Christmas cactus has ONE bud! Note, too, the sweet Bonsai tree from my brother and his family. The trauma of travel cost it some leaves, but for now I’ve put it in the spot that all my plants love, so I think it will recover.

I have ALL my wrapping left to do, but the packages just keep arriving.

This morning I made brownies to take to the Tai Chi Christmas party the DH and I will attend in about half an hour (!). After those festivities, I’ll spend the day writing Christmas cards and preparing the house for the arrival of sons #2 and #3 later this week.  Tomorrow, the DH and I will read at the Lessons and Carols service at our Presbyterian Church. It will be a busy weekend, but I’m looking forward to it.

When you get tired of all the holiday folderol and want to remember a simpler time, follow this link, watch the video, and spot our mother (hint: she’s the last person to board the truck and she’s wearing shades).

 

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December 15, 2017

Have a holly jolly weekend

by chuckofish

Another busy week gone with the wind. Good grief, where does the time go? I’m not sure, but my routine has been disrupted by holiday office parties on school nights (!) and similar activities. I’m certainly not complaining. ‘Tis the season and all that.

Our weekend should be relatively calm. I will continue at a leisurely pace to wrap presents and write cards. Daughter #1 is coming home to help us trim our big tree. Hopefully the wee babes and their parents will come over for dinner on Sunday.

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Unknown-4.jpegLottie is on the verge of crawling.

This time last year we were very worried about the wee babes who were only a few days old and so tiny.

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We were at the NICU every day then and on that Friday daughter #2 and I were caught going home in a freak ice storm that wrecked havoc with traffic for hours. How blessed we are to have gotten through that time and to have our darling babes happy and healthy and ready for their first real Christmas. I reminded someone yesterday that we had many people and churches of varying denominations praying for those babies back then, and we are very grateful. The power of prayer is a real thing.

Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing,  in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (I Thess: 6:16-18)

As it is Friday,  I want to point out to you that TCM is airing a lot of Christmas movies in the coming days, including tonight:

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Set your DVR for some seasonal fun. BTW, The Shop Around the Corner (1940) is the movie upon which You’ve Got Mail (1998) is based. James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan–check out the original.

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Have a great weekend! Keep the faith.

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December 13, 2017

Just a reminder

by chuckofish

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Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat.
But how about the children, have you taken thought of that?
What about the little boy that lives down the lane,
Ragged in the snowstorm, whistling in the rain?
What about the little girl the other side of town?
There’s no one she can run to, and her world is falling down.
Dead father, drunken father, father gone away,
Sick mother, no mother, think of them today.
These are the lost ones, little ones alone.
These too are Maryland, these are our own.
Christmas is coming, and shall they be dismayed?
Send a Merry Christmas check to the Children’s Aid.

–Ogden Nash, a former president and longtime board member of the Children’s Aid Society of Maryland, wrote this poem in 1942.

Well, this is just a humble reminder that we should all think of others at this time of year and not just ourselves and our own loved ones. It is easy to get carried away with all the hoopla, isn’t it?

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One of the charities I support is the Episcopal City Mission, which was started back in 1894 when Charles Holmes, a lay person at Christ Church Cathedral here in my flyover town, organized volunteers from the cathedral to minister at City Hospital, the City Jail, the City Workhouse, and the Asylum. Thus was born the House Missions, which was known under various names until it became Episcopal City Mission in the 1950’s. With the establishment of juvenile facilities in the city, the ministry grew to include pastoral care for children.

Eventually, other Protestant denominations joined in this important ministry to those confined in the public institutions of St. Louis.  In 1953 the decision was made to divide the ministry to these institutions among various denominations. The Episcopal Diocese chose to work with troubled youth and asked to continue the ministry to children in detention under the name of Episcopal City Mission (ECM). Its ministry to youth was firmly established in the Juvenile Detention Centers and recognized by the Family Court System. ECM became the agency authorized by the Court System to provide for the ongoing spiritual needs of detained children in St. Louis City and County.

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Current chaplains at ECM

Small world department: The chaplain on the right was a youth leader when the boy was active in K-Life back in middle school. He has definitely stepped up. Good to see him still walking the walk.

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

–BCP, Prayers and Thanksgivings

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December 13, 2017

This and that or “God bless us every one!”

by chuckofish

c393bf6a87663c04775c06c66a1abc3d.jpgWell, here we are 12 days from Christmas. I have a pile of presents to wrap, but my cards are in the mail.

I have to wait until my girls are home before I can watch White Christmas, so I watched the 1951 A Christmas Carol with the wonderful Alastair Sim–definitely the best version of the classic by Charles Dickens–last night. It is a great movie and should be part of every pre-Christmas routine. I always choke up when they play “Barbara Allen.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97PwRDfHBlg

Tonight I might watch Mary Poppins (1964) and toast Dick Van Dyke, who was born on this day in 1925.

dick-van-dyke-e-julie-andrews-in-una-scena-del-film-mary-pop.jpgWe went to see Mary Poppins for my little sister’s birthday, in 1964, a week before Christmas. We had dinner at the University Club and then went to the Fox Theater across the street. It was a Big Deal and I’m not sure why. But it was super fun and we all loved it. Have you watched this movie recently? It holds up and is definitely not just for children.

I thought this article in the WSJ was interesting. I mean, haven’t I been saying this for years? Didn’t I once, a few years ago, even email a high school classmate (not a close friend) whose picture I had seen in an alumni magazine, asking her where did she get that dress? It had sleeves! She wrote right back with the answer, saying, I know, right?

Designers should throw us old ladies a bone.

And, okay, I thought this was funny:

Enjoy your day!

7 Comments
December 12, 2017

“L’enfer, c’est les autres”*

by chuckofish

Did you read last week that the French superstar Johnny Hallyday died? Well, c’est vrai. I actually know who Johnny Hallyday was, because I had a French teacher in middle school (or thereabouts) who introduced our class to him.

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Madame was, in our pre-teen view, an old crone who wore orthopedic shoes. My mother assured me that she had probably once been quite beautiful–ye gods, how could she tell? I remained unconvinced. When she brought in the Johnny Hallyday records and tried to tell us that he was the bees knees–zut alors! how we laughed!

Yes, we were idiots and proudly so.

Now I am the old crone in not-quite-orthopedic shoes and Johnny’s death serves as yet another reminder of how awful we girls were back in the early nineteen-seventies. I suppose it has always been thus–the young so intolerant of the old and so stubborn about listening to anything they have to say.

On the other hand, Madame was probably one of those teachers who said to me, “You don’t like me, do you, Katie?” and I had to lie and say, “What are you talking about? Of course, I like you! I love French class!”

Well, I looked Madame up on the internet and found her papers in the archive of Smith College. Check them out if you’re interested. (I am not.) I mean really.

I only feel bad that I no doubt embarrassed our mother. I’m sure she was horrified from time to time by the stories I related about school and the things that we laughed at. We laughed at everything. But I have to say in my defense, that although I had to take French for something like twelve years at my school, I never learned a thing. This was not all my fault. Sure, I can say, “Incroyable!” and sound like a native (wink wink) but that’s about all.

*Hell is other people”–Jean-Paul Sartre

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December 11, 2017

“Therefore we sing to greet our King; forever let our praises ring.”*

by chuckofish

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After my busy weekend I feel like the wee laddie in the photo above. Pooped. He had conked out after sitting on my lap through his mother’s graduation ceremony on Saturday morning. The wee lassie had just woken up in this picture and was a tad grumpy. If they had had a clue what was going on, they would have been very proud of their hard-working mama. Yes, daughter #3, having started an EdD degree as a part-time “night” student several years ago, persevered through her husband having cancer, the birth of premature twins and daily trips to the NICU for 100+ days, while holding down a full-time job, to finish. It can be done and she’s proof. Huzzah.

I will add that when daughter #3 went up on stage to be hooded, Lottie, who was standing on her other grandmother’s lap, said in a loud voice, “DA-DA!”

IMG_2988.JPGAfter the ceremony, the OM and I went home and I rolled up my sleeves while the OM got comfortable in his recliner. In fact, I was a whirling dervish of activity, wrapping presents to mail out of town, wrapping more presents, cleaning up, decorating the small tree,

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Not the best little tree we’ve ever had, but pretty nevertheless!

setting the table (minus one leaf which went down to the basement), addressing Christmas cards…I got a lot done. We even went out to dinner with dear friends. But I was pretty tired by Sunday evening, when I had to get dressed up again and trudge over to church for Lessons and Carols.

I read the first lesson, the one about Adam and Eve in the garden when they sew fig leaves together and make loincloths for themselves. I enjoyed reading it. “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Screen Shot 2017-12-10 at 3.51.05 PM.pngWe sang five good Advent hymns, including my favorite, #265,  by Sabine Baring-Gould. It is in a key I can never get my voice around, though, and I always feel like I  must sound like Cyril Richard as Captain Hook in Peter Pan.

Well, it was quelle busy weekend as expected, but a good one. Here’s one of our favorite scenes from A Christmas Story (1983) –It makes me glad that I don’t have to go out and do more shopping! Well…not much more shopping…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS9L8wjXBEk

Don’t bother me…I’m thinking!

*Hymn #61, Carl P. Daw, Jr.

7 Comments
December 9, 2017

A little Christmas levity

by chuckofish

Life is getting very busy, but it’s important to keep laughing, so I’m going to share a few Christmas funnies I found online. Here’s one for the grammarians among us.

Question: What do you call Santa’s elves?

Answer: Subordinate Clauses!

I really like that one.

Here are a couple of choice pun pics.

You have to admit that’s pretty clever. I like the next one, too.

Some kids get really desperate over presents…

but it’s up to us to remind them of what’s really important:

Have a joyous weekend!

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December 8, 2017

“You don’t know how it feels to be me”*

by chuckofish

‘Tis the season when we all need to take a chill pill and go easy on people. Everyone is stressed out. My DP had some good holiday advice a few days ago and here are a few more things to keep in mind.

First of all, try not to think of all this yuletide preparation as a burden. If it is a burden, you have put it on yourself. Personally, I love getting ready for Christmas, especially the unpacking of the ornaments and decorations, the new and the old. For me, it is a gradual process. There are no deadlines. If something doesn’t get put up this year, so be it. No one will care or (probably) notice. And it will all be lovely.

If no one invites you to a party, have your own. We don’t have a lot of friends, but those we have will all be coming over to our house on the Saturday before Christmas, and I’m sure they are happy about that. We can get dressed up and twist the night away…at least until 8:30 p.m. when we all turn into pumpkins!

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Put money in the Salvation Army red kettle every time you see one! Have your cash ready. Don’t view those bell-ringing Santas as an annoyance. The money goes to a good cause.

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Watch some Christmas movies! For me at least, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without The Bishop’s Wife (1947) and White Christmas (1954) and 3 Godfathers (1947)! Unimaginable. If Danny Kaye can’t put you in the holiday spirit, no one can.

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Go to church–at least once! Remember that Jesus really is the reason for the season. The rest is all hype and advertising. We are celebrating with a Festival of Lessons and Carols at our church this Sunday evening. Check and see if there is a similar service in your neighborhood. If you can’t actually attend one, listen to the King’s College, Cambridge service which is broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 on December 24. The service is also broadcast on Christmas Day, and at various times on the BBC World Service.

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

(John 1: 1-14, KJV)

Have a good weekend! The wee babes (and their parents) have been sick this week. We’ll see them on Saturday when we go to their mom’s graduation–she’s getting her EdD!

*Tom Petty

P.S. I  had to include this photo which was posted on Facebook by my friend Carla. It is a Christmas greeting from Christ the Redeemer Church in Pelham, NY where her son is a seminarian intern (3rd from left). Episcopalians know how to amuse themselves.24955408_907583359417728_8121163159467983182_o.jpg

6 Comments
December 7, 2017

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”*

by chuckofish

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“Alexandra drew her shawl closer about her and stood leaning against the frame of the mill, looking at the stars which glittered so keenly through the frosty autumn air. She always loved to watch them, to think of their vastness and distance, and of their ordered march. It fortified her to reflect upon the great operations of nature, and when she thought of the law that lay behind them, she felt a sense of personal security. That night she had a new consciousness of the country, felt almost a new relation to it. Even her talk with the boys had not taken away the feeling that had overwhelmed her when she drove back to the Divide that afternoon. She had never known before how much the country meant to her. The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring.”

–Willa Cather, O Pioneers!

Today we toast Willa Cather (1873-1947), whom we love, on her birthday.

The painting is “High Plains — Range Land,” an oil on linen painting by Raymond J. Eastwood.

*William Wordsworth

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December 6, 2017

Mid-week look back

by chuckofish

Back in December of 1866 a group of men and women met at the home of William H. Colcord to form a church which would become one of the largest and most influential independent Protestant churches in the city, Pilgrim Congregational Church.

A Gothic-style building was dedicated in 1872, but the growing congregation moved to its present location at Union and Kensington in 1907.

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The “new” building, an imposing pink granite structure designed by Mauran, Russell and Garden, is not what I think of us as your typical Congregational church, but this is not New England. The OM’s grandmother attended church there, as did his  mother growing up. His parents were married there. I remember going there once. The OM says it was to hear John Anderson, the presidential candidate, speak in 1980, but I have no memory of that event.

Anyway, the church still stands near other distinguished west-end institutions: Soldan High School, designed by William Ittner and attended by Tennessee Williams,

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Union Avenue Christian Church,

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Westminster Presbyterian,

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and the former Young Men’s Hebrew Association headquarters.

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The neighborhood is much changed from its former heyday, but the churches keep going. Union Avenue Christian Church is now the home of the Union Avenue Opera, and the church is still vibrant with a strong commitment to remain as a faith community at their urban location.

O Lord Jesus, with whom we have passed another Christian year, following thee from thy birth in our flesh to thy sufferings and triumph, and listening to the utterances and counsels of thy Spirit: Even thus would we also end this year of grace, and stand complete in thee our Righteousness; humbly beseeching thee that we may evermore continue in thy faith and abide in thy love; who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

–Henry Alford

We all need to hang in there.

(The photos of Pilgrim Church are from Chris Naffziger, St. Louis Patina; the rest from google)

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