April | 2021 | dual personalities

April 16, 2021

The wondrous chant of the gray-brown bird

by chuckofish

This weekend we are babysitting the wee twins twice! Lucky for me, daughter #1 is coming home to assist.

Did you see that the oldest Medal of Honor recipient died last week? He sounds like he was quite a guy. He reminds me of the sergeant in Glory for Me. “My first concern when I was a platoon sergeant was my men,” Charles Coolidge told the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. “I didn’t care what happened to me, but I wanted to protect my men, under any circumstances. I always referred to them as my men — not anybody [else’s], not the company’s. They were strictly my men, and I’d do anything for them.”

Here is an interesting article from the currrent issue of True West magazine, “The Santa Fe Trail Beckoned the Mosty Brothers.” Albert Mosty, it turns out, worked for our ancestor, rancher John Wesley Prowers! He kept a journal and illustrated it. Check it out! It includes this nice photo of JWP.

Here are Paul Zahl’s movie pics for April, Part II. In the small (Episcopal) world department, PZ mentions our old friend Fred Barbee, who baptized daughter #2 oh so many years ago. Fred, besides being a priest at our old church, was also the editor for many years of The Anglican Digest. I did not know that his favorite movie was One Foot in Heaven (1941)!

Here is a fun movie quiz: So you think you know the Oscars? Personally I don’t, because I haven’t watched the Oscars for years and I can’t answer questions after the 1990s. I am so old, I can remember when Bob Hope hosted them.

Today is the birthday of the great Henry Mancini (1924 – 1994). We will toast him tonight and play some of our cool Mancini LPs. What is a cocktail, after all, without a little Mancini?

Please note that yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. So here in remembrance are the first three stanzas of When Lilacs First by the Dooryard Bloomed:

1
When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,
And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,
I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love.
2
O powerful western fallen star!
O shades of night—O moody, tearful night!
O great star disappear’d—O the black murk that hides the star!
O cruel hands that hold me powerless—O helpless soul of me!
O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul.
3
In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash’d palings,
Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
With many a pointed blossom rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love,
With every leaf a miracle—and from this bush in the dooryard,
With delicate-color’d blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
A sprig with its flower I break.

(Read the whole poem here.)

Have a good weekend. Take a walk around the neighborhood–the azaleas are blooming!

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of thy people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calleth us each by name, and follow where he doth lead; who, with thee and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-BCP

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April 15, 2021

Thirty plus one!

by chuckofish

Please indulge me in a little reflection here — it is hard to believe that a year ago was my thirtieth birthday and I was about 7.5 months pregnant. The pandemic was relatively new and I thought it was great that people had flowers delivered, etc. while we were all self-isolating or quarantining or whatever we were calling it last April.

We are still pretty much in “have things delivered” mode. My mother sent flowers. My boss even sent me a bottle of champagne. We got yummy takeout for dinner and I snuck in a Target drive-up order just for the fun of running an errand.

Anyway, I am a year older with a very, very, very significant “plus one!!”

Our cupcake of love!

Katie dear now knows how to pull up to standing on her own. Here she is showing off on our newly-installed baby gate at the kitchen. She did this for the first time on a FT with her mamu and aunt, which also consisted of her screaming for, like, 10 straight minutes. This is how I imagine Katie learning a new skill:

(Do you remember this scene from *Saved by the Bell* as vividly as I do?)

Katie is not on caffeine pills, but she does get VERY EXCITED and then VERY UPSET about her newfound strength. “Who let me get this high above ground?!?!”

P.S. You might recall that when Katie was very little, she loved to gaze at brown furniture. Well, now she loves to inspect the handles and knobs on all of the brown furniture…

…and she always seems so pleased. “Yep. This here is a fine piece of furniture.”

Well, in sum, I am a happy thirty-one year old with a happy baby. Brown furniture exists, and standing up. Sometimes, champagne and flowers show up at your door. Life is good.

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April 14, 2021

It’s your birthday, Lisa.

by chuckofish

Well, it’s dear Susie’s birthday today. And as my mother mentioned, we are looking forward to fete-ing her when she visits in less than two weeks (!!). Am I reserving one of the COVID-pod igloos at Club Taco? Perhaps. Mapping out the best wineries in Jefferson County? Duh. Hitting up Macadoodles for fresh cases of wine? Obviously. Is she only going to be in town for three days? Sadly.

In other news, work had me feeling like this:

But when I got home, I found this in my mailbox:

And I am trying!

One way I recently chose joy was to purchase this gold “M” at Hobby Lobby and then Command Strip-velcro it to my craft room wall.

I’ve always wanted one because Mary Richards had one.

Now if only had those groovy outfits and friends.

In other news, it was Big Trash Day in Jefferson City this weekend–the day when everyone puts their large items out for a city-wide big trash pickup and then everyone else drives around looking for things they want. I scoped out the joint hoping to find treasure but no luck. But aren’t these flowering trees amazing?!

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April 13, 2021

“Some days are diamonds/ Some days are rocks”*

by chuckofish

Hope you are having a diamond of a day, able to enjoy the weather and read a little poetry.

The Real Prayers are not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First

The little hawk leaned sideways and, tilted, rode
the wind. Its eye at this distance looked like green
glass; its feet were the color of butter. Speed, obviously,
was joy. But then, so was the sudden, slow circle
it carved into the slightly silvery air, and the squaring
of its shoulders, and the pulling into itself the long,
sharp-edged wings, and the fall into the grass where it
tussled a moment, like a bundle of brown leaves, and
then, again, lifted itself into the air, that butter-color
clenched in order to hold a small, still body, and it flew
off as my mind sang out oh all that loose, blue rink
of sky, where does it go to, and why?
–Mary Oliver

Today is the birthday of writer Eudora Welty (1909–2001) whom I have admired for many years. It is always a good day to take down one of her books from a shelf and open and read.

“The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order, a timetable not necessarily – perhaps not possibly – chronological. The time as we know it subjectively is often the chronology that stories and novels follow: it is the continuous thread of revelation.”
Eudora Welty, One Writer’s Beginnings

I will also note that tomorrow is daughter #2’s birthday.

We will celebrate her birthday in 10 days when she and baby Katie visit for a long weekend. Of course, we can’t wait to hold that baby, but I can’t wait to hold my baby…

…who was a precious bundle of joy not so long ago and is now a beautiful and talented young woman.

Sunrise, sunset. Time is the continuous thread of revelation.

The watercolor is by Louis Michel Eilshemius, painted between 1888 and 1910. (Detroit Institute of Arts)

*Tom Petty, Walls

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April 12, 2021

“Let angels prostrate fall”*

by chuckofish

Did you have a lovely weekend? My pals Becky and Carla came over for Happy Hour in the Florida Room on Friday and so the weekend started off on the right foot. Now that we are all vaccinated, why the heck not?

Saturday was dark and stormy, but I did go out to the antique mall to wander around. I also went to TJ Maxx and bought a new shower curtain liner. Life in the fast. lane. The rest of the day I puttered around the old homestead, watched some of the Masters Golf Tournament, and caught up with my DP via phone and this nutball on FaceTime.

All the rain has had a positive effect on the flora.

Oh boy, spring has really sprung!

On Sunday I got up and went to church with the Presbyterians at 8:30 am for the second week in a row. It felt great. The service, compared with the liturgical Episcopalians, is plain, but it includes the Apostles’ Creed, the Gloria Patri, the Corporate Confession (almost the same as the General Confession), and the Doxology. The hymns (4) were all good standards, including What a Friend We Have in Jesus. The sermon was on Luke 24:13-35, the walk to Emmaus. I am so happy to have a church to attend.

After church I went and had an hour long facial, using the gift certificate that daughter #1 had given me for my birthday a year ago. It was awesome and I feel like a new woman. The wee babes came over later in the afternoon after attending a birthday party in a park. They were tired and Lottie was especially cranky. The OM made tacos, but Lottie’s mood never improved and they went home early. Sigh. Well, I wouldn’t want you to think my grandchildren were perfect angels or that we never get annoyed with their antics. But we “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

I watched A Change of Habit (1969) the DVD of which daughter #1 had left at our house. You will recall that it is Elvis’s last movie and no wonder. I fell asleep and missed part of it. Oh darn.

Now it is Monday and back to the Zoom salt mine. Have a good week!

*All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name by Edward Perronet (1780)‎

5 Comments

April 9, 2021

“In a world gone mad”*

by chuckofish

Today is the commemoration in many Christian denominations of the death of German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed/martyred by the Nazis two weeks before the Flossenbürg concentration camp was liberated by the American Army in 1945.

The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible, it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil. The “reasonable” people’s failure is obvious. With the best intentions and a naive lack of realism, they think that with a little reason they can bend back into position the framework that has got out of joint. In their lack of vision they want to do justice to all sides, and so the conflicting forces wear them down with nothing achieved. Disappointed by the world’s unreasonableness, they see themselves condemned to ineffectiveness; they step aside in resignation or collapse before the stronger party. Still more pathetic is the total collapse of moral fanaticism. Fanatics think that their single-minded principles qualify them to do battle with the powers of evil; but like a bull they rush at the red cloak instead of the person who is holding it; they exhaust themselves and are beaten. They get entangled in non-essentials and fall into the trap set by cleverer people.
–Letters and Papers from Prison

Interesting. I became acquainted with Bonhoeffer in graduate school when my best friend was a Lutheran. I was kind of embarrassed by my ignorance, but, really that was (and is) par for the course. There is just so much not to know-we do the best we can.

When I am not reading about courageous women who lived in dangerous times–try being a Protestant in 16th century France–I continue to plan curriculum and moderate Zoom classes. But the end is in sight, as my retirement has been officially announced and the search is on for my replacement. Daughter #1 has started planning the rager that will follow (a barbecue in the back yard with 7 or 8 people?)

Yesterday was the home opener of the Cardinals. (Not that I care anymore.) But I did watch Major League (1989) in honor of the occasion. Why does Bob Uecker amuse me so much? “It’s Harry Doyle with Tepee Time.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdv2Wp9MzY0

Meanwhile, in my nostalgic look back at 1970s television in order to speed the Sandman, I have been watching old episodes of Starsky and Hutch. Surprisingly, this show is not that bad. Starsky and Hutch are both appealing, although I personally have always been on team Hutch (reader, I married him)…

…and who doesn’t love Huggy Bear?

Well, I’m just saying, if you get desperate enough for something to watch…try it. There is also all that driving fast of the red Ford Torino and making u-turns etc.

Anyway, it is finally Friday and the bell tolleth for me. Have a good one.

And for kicks, here’s more Josh Turner, this time covering one of my favorite Tom Petty songs.

*Tom Petty

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April 8, 2021

Busy bee

by chuckofish

Katie has been on the move, nonstop. It is an entirely different endeavor chasing her around the apartment between meals and naps. Remember when she used to sit in front of her book basket, emptying it slowly? That is no longer our m.o. Check out this wild leg kick and ring toss:

It is a good idea to keep an eye out for flying objects around here. Even as this new stage is exhausting, Katie has also been extra sweet lately and I cannot complain.

Of note: when we are in the nursery, Katie’s favorite toy is the Aveeno Baby bottle (not to be confused with the Aquaphor tub in the living room). Someone knows that moisturizing is key!

The only other news to report is that Katie seems to enjoy the small little outings we’ve managed lately. She is a pro at patio sitting in her stroller (pouch in hand). She keeps her cool around all the other neighborhood babies and toddlers!

“All these other kids wish they had a leopard print jumpsuit like me.”

7 Comments

April 7, 2021

Thrillsville.

by chuckofish

This made me laugh.

My mother and I were recently talking (this is my new intro sentence for blog topics because she is the only person with whom I discuss anything of substance) about how we might start re-reading books we read as children. When I went to the book sale at the Jefferson City Library, they were only selling children’s books (and then records and DVDs where I made out like a bandit), but flipping through the old library chapter books really took me back. And it reminded me of some series I had totally forgotten about.

I have a very specific feeling I associate with those old chapter books–the make believe, the imagination, the old library at Flynn Park Elementary School. The other reason to re-read chapter books is that they are easier to read. Seriously, my brain is such mush these days, that I swear I need something lighter.

Here are some books I’d re-read:

The Chronicles of Narnia–for obvious reasons. But also because I read them haphazardly over many years (and I’m even sure I read the last one).

Rumer Godden’s books about dolls–The Doll’s House, Miss Happiness & Miss Flower etc. I just loved these stories and I enjoyed the perspective of the dolls. Very Toy Story before Pixar.

Swallows and Amazons–This series about English children being allowed to sail around on a small boat and camp on an island all alone is amusing in this day and age, but it is nice to read about capable people who are nice and smart, too. Capability is highly underrated these days.

Anyway, of course I can’t find my copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe right now but I found this quote online when trying to find another one and it is rather apt:

“I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis.”

What would you re-read?

5 Comments

April 6, 2021

Nothing else but miracles

by chuckofish

I had a busy day at work on Monday–four Zoom meetings! So I don’t have a whole lot to share today. Meanwhile the grass is getting greener and the leaf blowers and lawn mowers are back with a vengeance.

Yesterday was Nebraska Day and this article was very interesting about classic movie stars who were born in Nebraska. It is a very impressive list–especially compared to Missouri. But, hey, we have Scott Bakula.

This article makes some good points. “Remote, virtual, disembodied fellowship simply isn’t enough.” We are all getting too comfortable with not seeing people.

We’ll “tip our hats an’ raise our glass of cold, cold beer” to the late, great Merle Haggard (1937–2016) on his the birthday today. (April 6 is also the day he died.) And I like this rendition of one of my favorites, Mama Tried, by Reina del Cid and Toni Lindgren:

When the California State University, Bakersfield, awarded Haggard the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts in 2013, Haggard stepped to the podium and said, “Thank you. It’s nice to be noticed.” Classic Hag.

So enjoy your Tuesday and channel some positive Walt Whitman attitude.

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—the
ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?
–Walt Whitman

4 Comments

April 5, 2021

Postcards from the weekend

by chuckofish

Kilroy was (t)here. (We missed you!)

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend. Mine was exhausting! SO much social activity after weeks, months, a year of not much going on.

I was busy on Friday getting ready for Saturday.

Mimosas are a good start to any party.

Liz got emotional opening daughter #1’s handmade baby blankets. After a yummy lunch (chicken salad, of course) we sat outside in the sun and watched the wee babes frolic on the driveway. After her husband picked Liz up and daughter #3 went home with the babes, we went to pick up margaritas at Club Taco. We finished Ben Hur, which we had started the night before.

On Easter morning we got up early and went to the 8:00 am service at an actual church. It felt great to sit in a pew again and sing hymns. God-honoring worship with the Word of God faithfully preached and the Lord’s Supper celebrated was much appreciated. It will take awhile to get used to not kneeling and to drinking grape juice at communion, but I think I can manage.

When we got home, I made Episcopal Souffle (ironic, yes) and then the boy and his family came over. The babes opened their Easter baskets.

Daughter #1 gave the wee laddie a book on Porsches (estate sale find), which he opened to squeals of joy. He carried it around for the rest of the day.

Note the book in back of the Cooper (ingenious)

We had a super fun egg hunt.

Once again we sat on the driveway in the glorious sun and watched the world bicycle/drive/stroll by. Two days of beautiful spring weather and a little social interaction can do wonders for one’s spirits.

And now it’s Monday. What the…

“Make no mistake: if he rose at all
It was as His body;
If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.
It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent;
It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
Eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.
The same hinged thumbs and toes
The same valved heart
That—pierced—died, withered, paused, and then regathered
Out of enduring Might
New strength to enclose.
Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
Credulity of earlier ages:
Let us walk through the door.”
— from John Updike’s Seven Stanzas at Easter

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Month: April, 2021

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The Real Prayers are not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First

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