March | 2025 | dual personalities

March 17, 2025

Be thou still my strength and shield*

by chuckofish

We had quite a storm on Friday night–wind, rain, hail–the whole nine yards. Luckily for us, there were no tornadoes in our immediate area.

Our internet was out, so we couldn’t watch our local TV weathermen, which was troubling. We never really knew if we needed to go to the basement. But we had a text thread going with our three children…

Anyway, we are all right. Spring storms are par for the course here, although you never really get used to them. When I was driving over to daughter #1’s house on Sunday afternoon, I had to detour around a large tree that was blocking Price Road!

The further excitement of that stormy evening was when I was awakened at 4:00 in the morning by a dog howling outside. I thought how odd, but went back to sleep. Then at 4:30 a.m. I heard it again. I got up to look out my window, and lo and behold, there was a large coyote in my front yard! He ambled across the street and disappeared behind the neighbor’s house. Zut alors!

Well, it was a very busy weekend besides the weather, indeed, with lots of activities. The twins earned an A+ for behavior in church. But for now, I will leave you with a reminder that it is St. Patrick’s Day today, so it’s time to watch The Quiet Man (1952)…

I love this Simpson’s version of the famous kissing-in-the rain scene with JW’s yellow skin showing through his rain-soaked shirt.

In other news, I have my semi-annual cancer check-up today as well, and an infusion, so Fun Times. Onward and upward.

*William Williams, 1745, Guide Me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah

6 Comments

March 14, 2025

There’s a sweet puppy at my feet as I type this.

by chuckofish

Well, it is that time of year when I am so thankful I live where there are seasons. Because don’t you just step outside that first day with a hint of spring, feel the sunshine on your face, the lack of chill in the air and think Hallelujah!? Much like the pain of Daylight Savings Time, the seasonal change is somehow always a surprise. Anyway, this week has been a treat. And Mr. Smith agrees.

In other riveting news, Missouri American Water has been slowly replacing the LEAD SERVICE LINES that connect many houses in my neighborhood to the water system. Roughly six months ago, my house was added to the list and at the time I laughed about how far away the appointment was. Yesterday, some men came and dug a giant hole and today more men replaced the pipe. There is now a lovely steel plate and orange fencing on the street. The giant piece of plywood is just casually covering a second big hole. I will report back when they remove the steel plate and fill in the hole.

Oddly, they also provided a Brita water filter/pitcher to remove any traces of lead from the water. I thought replacing the pipe would take care of that, but what do I know? And thrilled that the water company thinks I should have been using one considering I’ve lived here for two years. Sigh.

I just need to get through tomorrow’s DAR field trip to the Art Museum and then it’s the weekend and I have zero plans. I do need to stock up on hot cheetos, though, if we’re having severe weather. Stay safe out there.

3 Comments

March 13, 2025

And the land shall yield its increase*

by chuckofish

The weather gurus are preparing us for severe weather (Damaging Winds and Isolated Tornadoes Possible!) on Friday, but in the meantime, we are enjoying sunny skies and moderate temps. Spring appears to have arrived. The daffodils bloomed a few days ago!

There are buds everywhere…and I filled up my first yard bag with detritus!

In other news, March’s full moon, known as the Worm Moon, will pass into Earth’s shadow tonight, or early on March 14, depending on the time zone. This eclipse, we are told, will be visible from the Western Hemisphere. The Old Farmer’s Almanac gives you specific moonrise times for ZIP codes across the U.S. So check it out!

And Happy National Elephant Day (in Thailand)!

*Leviticus 26:4

4 Comments

March 12, 2025

“Very fond of rumpots, crackpots, and how are you, Mr. Wilson?”*

by chuckofish

Today we salute American stage and film actress, Josephine Hull (1877-1957), who died on this day in 1957. She made only seven films, including Harvey (1950) for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She is most fondly remembered for portraying doughty old ladies to perfection in the original Broadway productions of You Can’t Take it With You (1936), Arsenic and Old Lace (1941)…

…and Harvey (1944). I confess that I tried to watch Harvey a few weeks ago when it was on TCM and I had to quit after 20 minutes. James Stewart just drives me crazy and I cannot watch him anymore. I loved that movie as a child and I loved James Stewart back then too, but no more. It’s funny how that works sometimes.

The reverse is also true. I never thought much of Cary Grant growing up and as a young woman, but now I think he’s great. Also true for James Cagney(!)…I watched Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) recently and James Cagney was wonderful. He always gave 110% and I appreciate that.

Anyway, here is Josephine Hull receiving her Oscar in 1951, very graciously indeed.

We used to tease our mother that she reminded us of Josephine Hull, but now I think I am beginning to look like JH myself!

Well, have a good day! Watch an old movie, avoid Pookas.

*Wilson, reading from the encyclopedia: “P O O K A – Pooka – from old Celtic mythology – a fairy spirit in animal form – always very large. The pooka appears here and there – now and then – to this one and that one – a benign but mischievous creature – very fond of rumpots, crackpots, and how are you, Mr. Wilson?” “How are you, Mr. Wilson?” Who in the encyclopedia wants to know?

3 Comments

March 11, 2025

The thrill of the hunt

by chuckofish

Over the weekend daughter #1 bought a chair for $15 at an estate sale (second day, half off).

She got some nice old man to help her get it into her car and then managed, once home, to get it into her house by herself. I couldn’t have been prouder of her.

The weekend before daughter #2 persuaded her husband to make estate-sale-ing a family affair by going all together to the town down the road for a sale. DN bought a crowbar for $1 and she may live to regret his being hooked, but c’est la vie. Those prairie girls are learning early how to behave at a sale and how to have an eagle eye for that one thing you really can’t live without…and then tell Mamu all about it on the pretend phone!

Anyway, IYKYK how much fun hunting for treasures is.

This is a fun article by designer Emily Clark about replacing/upgrading chairs over the years in her house. (I love those last chairs–what a find!)

Choose joy!

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March 10, 2025

Hold on wait a minute

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was routine–an estate sale, happy hour, DAR meeting, church–and that’s the way I like it. [At the DAR meeting, when we recited the preamble to the U.S. constitution, I thought of Barney Fife.] Also, the OM accompanied me when I took my car to the carwash. Usually he does this for me, but I wanted to take my new car myself–so, very exciting indeed.

I picked up the twins and took them to church and Sunday School where they had a good time learning about the Great Commission. The service was long, but this week they got an A for effort despite the fact that the bud brought his new Stikbot with him to church. He knew I would take it away if he misbehaved, so…

…maybe that helped. The bud said the Apostles Creed unprompted and from memory and they both held up their hands during the benediction like good little evangelicals. I was so proud. After church we went to the Sunny Street Cafe for pancakes and daughter #1 met us there. I had to drive them back to their Dad’s store afterwards, but I don’t mind since I always hear lots of interesting stuff emanating from the back seat. Such as: the bud went to his first rock 101 class (in addition to drum lessons) wherein he plays with a band! Zut alors. Girls and boys lacrosse also has started outside. Lottie plays with 10 year-olds.

Meanwhile Sen. John Kennedy from Louisiana is my favorite new Instagram follow:

Have a great week!

P.S. The picture at the top is a drawing Katie made of her sister Ida, complete with pigtails and an “I” Illinois orange t-shirt. Brilliant.

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March 7, 2025

It’s Friday. Have a glass of wine.

by chuckofish

Happy Friday! Given the extent of my recent travels, I’d hoped to take today off, but alas, I have too much work to do. Sigh. Oh well–I can’t complain. On Monday, I flew to Grants, New Mexico where winds were so high there was chance we wouldn’t be able to land, but we did. Then after spending the day listening to the wind howl, we took off from Grants for Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where, you guessed it, it was windy. We then spent the entire next day at a coal mine–seriously, 13 hours. They served brisket three times, including at 7 a.m. when we arrived, to cover different shifts for award presentations. Then, Wednesday, we got up early and headed back to St. Louis, where it was so windy, we thought we might have to land in Springfield, Illinois. Our pilots got us on the ground in St. Louis–but I might have preferred landing at Abraham Lincoln Airport. Sigh.

I have to prepare for and then get through my DAR meeting this weekend and hopefully I can relax. I got my gutters cleaned this week which is a big ol’ checkmark off the Spring to do list. My half-birthday is Tuesday–zut alors! Time flies.

3 Comments

March 6, 2025

A firebell in the night*

by chuckofish

In case you have forgotten, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a law that tried to address growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery. By passing the law, the U.S. Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery, and Maine as a free state. It also banned slavery from the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands located north of the 36º 30’ parallel (the southern border of Missouri). The U.S. Congress passed the legislation on March 3, 1820, and President James Monroe signed it on March 6, 1820–over 200 years ago.

Thomas Jefferson considered it “as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment, but this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.”* It was a temporary fix.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively repealed the bill in 1854, and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), both of which increased tensions over slavery and contributed, as you can imagine, to the Civil War.

In other news, in case you missed it, yesterday was Ash Wednesday–I only found out because it is printed on my weekly planner! Well, gee, we forgot to have pancakes on Tuesday and make meaningless resolutions about Lent and self-care. I was busy praying hard for daughter #1 to make it home safely, flying on a small jet from Colorado on a very windy (and intermittently snowy) day. (She made it home and picked up Mr. Smith at the kennel and made it to her Wednesday night Bible study!)

And here’s an important reminder.

I will also mention that Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died a few days ago. It is strange to see so many pictures of him since for so many years she never appeared with him in public and no one even really knew what he looked like.

He was quite a handsome dude. And a lucky one. We’ll toast him (and Dolly) tonight. May flights of angels lead you on your way, Carl.

*Jefferson to Holmes, April 22, 1820

3 Comments

March 5, 2025

Midweek thoughts

by chuckofish

At the suggestion of daughter #1 I am re-reading The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. It is very good and the type of literary mystery written by an intelligent and educated author, which you rarely run across these days.

“Did no one, any more, no one in all this wide world, change their record now and then? Was everyone nowadays thirled to a formula? Authors wrote so much to a pattern that their public expected it. The public talked about “a new Silas Weekly” or “a new Lavinia Fitch” exactly as they talked about “a new brick” or “a new hairbrush.” They never said “a new book by” whoever it might be. Their interest was not in the book but in its newness. They knew quite well what the book would be like.”

The Daughter of Time was chosen by the Crime Writers’ Association in 1990 as the greatest crime novel of all time(!). After this, I will try to find some of her other books to read.

I wonder if Hilary Mantel read this book–because Tey brings Sir Thomas More to task for writing the “definitive” history of Richard III based soley on hearsay. He was actually five years old when everything transpired. He was not a witness. Did this book get her thinking about Thomas More? Did she come to the conclusion that Thomas More was a monster and not a saint….Interesting.

Well, the bud and his dad came over yesterday afternoon and we had a gab fest and the bud jumped in with the Beanie Babies for a rollicking good time…

We discussed movies and books and the state of the world.

I liked this one from Tim Challies. “God’s plan all along has been to use ordinary leaders to accomplish extraordinary things.”

And this made me laugh (and cry)…

Hang in there!

5 Comments

March 4, 2025

“And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen.”*

by chuckofish

So Gene Hackman died last month. He was 95 and had had a long and fruitful career/life. Over the weekend I watched my two favorite GH movies: Bite the Bullet (1975) and Hoosiers (1986). I enjoyed them both very much.

Bite the Bullet is a western written and directed by Richard Brooks who also wrote/directed The Professionals (1966). They are similar in a lot of (good) ways. A ragtag group of misfit men (including two former Rough Riders) and one woman are trying to get somewhere and have to cross a desert. They are good people and the one young jerk learns from the older, wiser men and changes. Each player is given one or two good scenes where they confess their secrets, but there is relatively little dialogue. Everyone handles the physical stuff like pros. It is the kind of movie I like best.

Hoosiers is one of the best sports movies ever and even if, like me, you couldn’t care less about basketball, you can’t help getting carried away by it all.

Of course, Gene Hackman made a lot of other good movies during his long career. I remember when my parents went to see The French Connection in 1971. They came home and were very excited about this great movie, which they had enjoyed very much.

Gene Hackman was always convincing and real–as a good guy and as a bad guy. I prefer the good guys.

In other news, the crocus at Don’s house are blooming!