About ten years ago I borrowed the complete set of “The O.C.” dvds from my sister-in-law Lauren. I have never returned them. At this point, they no longer have a DVD player and the show can be streamed on Hulu. I don’t think Lauren minds. We laugh about how I stole them. It’s a family joke.
Anyway, last weekend I was in Jefferson City packing (it is amazing how much stuff is in a kitchen) and since I turned off the internet last month, I had to watch DVDs. Hello, time for “The O.C.” I don’t know what it is, but I just enjoy that show so much. Don’t get me wrong, it is not good. The clothes are terrible. And the plots are ridiculous. But, it’s just enjoyable. It made me think of how my mother enjoys watching “The Rockford Files”. Having watched a few episodes of the show during my tenure back under my parents’ roof, I can say with authority, don’t get me wrong, it is not good. The clothes are terrible. And the plots are ridiculous. Something about the television of our youth must excuse what we disdain in more modern fare.
Anyway, again, let’s not forget that “The O.C.” played a major role in introducing us to the angsty music of the early-aughts.
Incidentally, my brother recently sent the fam text thread a screengrab of his iTunes playing Guster.
And if you know, you know. Between that text and angsty college music, I had a real hankering to listen to Guster on my drive back to St. Louis on Saturday afternoon. Let me tell you, belting every word (because of course they come back to you with no effort) is a real stress reliever. And Summer wasn’t wrong, most of this music is like one guitar and a whole lot of complaining. I don’t mind though.
“There is hardship in everything except eating pancakes.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
I read this article about Welsh male voice choirs still singing and my heart was glad. I hope they can keep that Welsh torch lit for music. We have a lot of men in our PCA congregation and, praise Jesus, they all sing out throughout the service. It is indeed wonderful. (And such a change from the Episcopal churches I have belonged to.)
And Kevin DeYoung explains the fight of faith in this sad world.
Meanwhile the Christmas cactus is blooming again!
The big questions in life are not “Who am I?” The big question in life is “Whose am I?” You have got to answer that question. Whose are you? Whose are you? That’s the issue. In the twentieth century, we get all bent out of shape about self-identity and stuff. Who am I, and my worth, and my esteem, and my value, and all that — man. When you read the Bible, the huge issue is right relationship with God and to whom you belong, whose you are.
Well, I had a wonderful time visiting my precious daughter #2 and her wee family over the weekend. How could I not? I did nothing but hold/gaze at little Ida…
…and hang out with Katie…
I also spent copious amounts of time having deep conversations about important subjects with daughter #2 while the little ones napped. When DN returned from his wedding festivities on Sunday, we were able to catch up as well and celebrate his birthday.
Time well spent indeed.
Daughter #1, Mr. Smith and the OM held the fort.
Now it is back to my old routine. I caught up with my Bible reading. I did laundry and watered the plants. I hung out with the boy who dropped by on his way to work.
Our pastor sent this recording of the hymn Abide with Me, a hymn that the church has often sung in days of grief and mourning, to our congregation following the shooting at our sister PCA church in Nashville. This version, sung by Jeremy Casella, was recorded in the sanctuary of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville.
For our brothers and sisters in Nashville we pray that even as they grieve, they would know the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, a peace that will guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7), amidst their tears.
Anne of course had something meaningful to say about all the ““takes” in [her] feed, from every conceivable point of view, a cacophony of grief and schadenfreude.” You might want to read it.
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide; When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
I made it back to mid-MO from my quickie visit to Maryland. Easy Peasy. The OM did not burn the house down. Life is good.
For
“Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it…”
Greetings readers and happy Friday! Well, the prosecco has been flowing since Monday because this girl got a house! Yes, after numerous offers (too many to count), one was finally accepted!
I’ll be moving to University City and living several blocks down from my father’s childhood home. Who saw this coming? Not I. But the house is cute and has lots of lovely stained glass windows.
It’s not the little house, but it has lots of charm and an upstairs!
I am very excited. My parents are too. My father will miss Mr. Smith most of all.
Speaking of Mr. Smith. He paid another trip to the groomer where they trimmed the fur around his eyes. And just look at his little face.
Mr. Smith got to ride in the car twice. We took the Mamu car service to and from the groomer.
And because it’s Friday and Matt Mitchell makes me laugh, enjoy.
Today I am getting ready to head to Maryland tomorrow to see daughter #2 and her little family. DN is going to be in a wedding this weekend in Pennsylvania so I am going “to help” in his absence not that I need an excuse or anything.
I think baby Ida is pretty excited.
Meanwhile the chorus of leaf blowers/lawn mowers has started up in our neighborhood–non-stop noise which will go on for nine months. Ye gods! Do I sound like an old battle ax or what? Well you know what they say: “How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth.”
(John Milton: Sonnet 7)
So please say a travel prayer for me–fair weather and no delays. I’ll be back next week. Daughter #1 will be here tomorrow with a post.
Today we celebrate the birthday of Louis L’Amour (1908-88) who was an extremely prolific and successful writer of “frontier stories.” Born Louis Dearborn LaMoore in Jamestown, North Dakota, he left school at 15 and never went to college. A voracious reader, however, he credited the 19th century British author G.A. Henty with teaching him most of what he knew and for giving him the foundation on which to build his subsequent lifelong education.
I was surprised that only around 15 movies were ever made based on his novels, and most of them are not worth viewing. Hondo (1953), of course, stands out as the exception. It is well worth watching, if for no other reason than to see John Wayne throw a variety of objects around, including a small boy into the river. “That’s the way I learned.”
It is also the birthday of James Brown (1920-92) whose handsome face you will remember from such films as Air Force (1943), Objective, Burma! (1945), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), and the television series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954-59). And, oh my goodness, he appeared in Murder She Wrote in 1988!
And fun fact: Lee Aaker, who played the boy in Hondo, also played the boy in Rin Tin Tin.
Well, I think I will read one of G.A. Henty’s books for boys. He is still very much in print, although I have no doubt he is considered a racist, sexist imperialist by many.
“Among the Huguenots he learned to be gentle and courteous; to bear himself among his elders respectfully, but without fear or shyness; to consider that, while all things were of minor consequence in comparison to the right to worship God in freedom and purity, yet that a man should be fearless of death, ready to defend his rights, but with moderation and without pushing them to the injury of others; that he should be grave and decorous of speech, and yet of a gay and cheerful spirit.”
G.A. Henty, Saint Bartholomew’s Eve: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars
Anyway, this is how my mind works…such as it is still working.
Well, spring is officially here. Usually by mid-March I have been able to clean up the Florida Room and move my houseplants out there, but not so this year. It has been way too cold! They say it is going to warm up this week, but it is also going to rain. C’est la vie. I can dig it.
I just ordered some photo prints, because heavens to Betsy, I need to get baby Idabelle in a frame!
Not to mention this photogenic monster…
No matter how many times the OM tells him sternly to “sit still and watch the movie!” he continues to zoom around the room and attack everyone’s socks and slippers.
Life is never dull around here.
Meanwhile I am plugging away in the Book of Daniel, the second half of which is progressing from OT narrative to apocalyptic literature in an alarming way–definitely not covered by Veggie Tales and my lightweight Episcopalian upbringing. I have a lot to learn.
The twins’ Mom is out of town for a few days so they came over on Saturday for lunch and a movie. We watched the Disney classic Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks in a Circus (1960). I figured they are old enough to handle a 90-minute movie about a little boy who runs away to the circus and they mostly were.
I had seen the movie fairly recently and was struck by how appealing the chimp is (and I am not a monkey person). He and Kevin Corcoran are great together. The twins liked the monkey but they had a lot of questions. “Why is he wearing pants?” And they were kind of shocked by his naughty/depraved behavior (irony alert)!
They were, however, enthralled with the circus act scenes and were very impressed with the kids who did the stunt riding.
Lottie also couldn’t believe the elephants were “dancing in a conga line.”
I asked her where she learned about conga lines and she said from her friends at school. 🤔
Anyway, I recommend it as a wholesome movie with a (spoiler alert) happy ending. You better get a copy though before it is canceled. I mean, all those poor animals being made to wear pants and dance in conga lines…
Meanwhile Mr. Smith continues to grow and perfect his own dance routine.
He could jump through a ring of fire no problem.
For the first time in a long time I went to church on Sunday at 8:30 am by myself, because I wanted to go look at some houses with daughter #1 later in the morning. It was weird but also kind of nice to have no distractions. But don’t worry–I will be glad to have my distractions back!
Anyway, I was reminded of this poem by William Butler Yeats:
Greetings! Dual Personality #2 here. You haven’t heard from me since October 2022 (!), but so little has happened in my life since then that it might as well have been last week. Let’s see. My DP gave me a difficult and, fittingly for this post, international-themed jigsaw puzzle for Christmas, and I had a fun time putting it together.
When not confronting the fact that my spatial reasoning abilities are waning (“that piece has to fit in that spot!”), I’ve spent quite a bit of time expanding my TV viewing repertoire. Truth be told, most nights I’m too tired to read and end up scrolling through Netflix or Amazon prime for something to watch. My recent choices have skewed their algorithms horribly, so now they only recommend foreign mysteries and 1950s sci fi movies (I’ll leave the latter for another time). Anyway, if you’re in the mood for something different and don’t mind reading subtitles, you might try the following:
Wild District (a Colombian show about an ex-guerrilla reuniting with his family and uncovering government corruption) Netflix
Green Frontier (another Columbian show, this one about a murder in the rainforest) Netflix
Under Fire (a Belgian series about a fire department in Ostend) Netflix
Arctic Circle (a Finnish show about an epidemic in Lapland) Amazon
Shahmaran (a Turkish fantasy series involving the mythical queen of snakes) Netflix
High Water (a Polish series about a record-breaking flood in lower Siliesia) Netflix
From the snowy wastes of Lapland
to the Colombian rainforest,
international shows offer a glimpse into unfamiliar environments and cultures. I mean, who knew that the Colombian government was corrupt (ha, ha)? One even picks up a few foreign words; I now know how to say thanks in Polish – dzięki (which sounds like Jengi when they say it). The older I get, the less I want to travel, and I am quite content to experience the streets of Ostend, the South American rainforest or the frozen tundra of Lapland from the comfort of my sofa, though I confess to being a little alarmed by how many of these shows I have binge-watched in the past six months. I should get out more.
I’ve also branched out in the kitchen. My son and daughter-in-law gave me a healthy baking cookbook for Christmas, and so far I have made this delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cake. It makes a perfect breakfast with a nice cup of tea or coffee.
I’ve got breakfast down but my dinners definitely need overhauling. All my dishes taste the same (meat, onions, cheese, oh my!). When I read my nephew’s Facebook post recommending the purchase of a well-known cookbook, Őzlem’s Turkish Table, to aid the Turkish earthquake victims, I bought it. The first dish I tried, Fırında Sebzeli Köfte (baked Turkish meatballs with vegetables), was easy to make and very tasty! This cookbook has inspired me to buy new ingredients such as red pepper paste and pomegranate molasses. I’m dying to try the latter but haven’t decided on the recipe yet. Anyway, we’re reviving our tastebuds one dish at a time. I even made a good Brazilian beef stroganoff, though I did not serve it with fries and rice.
Whether you are still stuck in winter doldrums or have moved on to spring friskiness, change it up a little. Don’t get me wrong. I love old movies as much as ever, but to be honest, I cannot rewatch my favorites too often and have to give them rests. I haven’t found anything as good, but I have enjoyed what I’ve watched. Anyway, you might try a foreign series or movie and cook something appropriate to go with it. Work on a puzzle or read some poetry. I leave you with Rainer Maria Rilke’s intense verse that I discovered last night (see, I don’t only watch TV!):
That’s from his Poems from the Book of Hours, and it’s pretty great, don’t you think? I know this post has been a tad eclectic but it has been a while, and I am out of practice. Until next time (whenever that may be), stay well!
dual personalities 