Today we salute Marty Stuart, Country Music Hall of Famer, five-time Grammy-winner, and AMA Lifetime Achievement honoree, on his birthday.
As you know, I have been a fan of his since I was about 14 (He was 12.) I have seen him many times in concert.
Enjoy!
How was your weekend? We had blue skies overhead, but it did get kind of toasty watching the bud play soccer on Sunday afternoon!
On Saturday morning daughter #1 and I ventured to Saint Charles across the Missouri River to a DAR cemetery marker ceremony. The SAR Color Guard was there in full regalia to lend support and authenticity to the event. Much appreciated, guys. (Sometimes I do think we live in Mayberry.)
In case you have forgotten, the Battle of Fort San Carlos, was fought on May 26, 1780, between British-allied Indians and defenders of the Franco-Spanish village of St. Louis (Louisiana Territory) during the American Revolutionary War. The garrison, a motley assortment of regulars and militiamen led by Upper Louisiana’s lieutenant governor, Captain Fernando de Leyba, suffered a small number of casualties. A few of the veterans of that battle were buried in Saint Charles. Their graves were later moved to the Saint Charles Borromeo Cemetery in Saint Charles and that is where the marker was dedicated. Lest we forget.
Afterwards we went to old town St. Charles and walked up and down Main Street visiting some “vintique” stores, and ate lunch on the patio of Llewellyn’s Pub, which was delightful.
Meanwhile, I was glad to see that the twins were practicing their BB gun marksmanship in their backyard.
On Sunday I went to church and heard a good sermon on Philippians 1:27-2:4: “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents.”
We sang “Come Ye Sinners” and I wept from start to finish. The choir was back and in fine fettle and sang “Land of Pure Delight”. Lovely.
And now the inimitable Voddie Baucham has entered into eternity (last Thursday) at the age of 56. It is a lot to process.
Voddie was an American pastor, author and educator. He served nine years as Dean of Theology from 2015 to 2024 at African Christian University in Zambia. Rest in peace, brother.
Well, we go on. Read some history, pet a nice dog. Come to Jesus.
I met a friend for coffee this morning and rather than leave Mr. Smith in his crate, I left him in the kitchen. Free to roam. And drink some water. And eat his breakfast. But apparently, he was affronted. Because this is the face that greeted me upon my return.
I mean, if looks could kill, right? He seems to have forgotten that just the night before he was enjoying my lap.
Anyway, I had wonderful time in Mahomet last weekend. We braved the spitting rain to see the Little Bulldogs complete three cheers at the Mahomet High School football stadium, hit up two estate sales, AND went to Oktoberfest at the local brewery.
Please note, the perspective is all wrong on this. The stein was legitimately much larger than my hefeweizen. It never ceases to amaze those of us who have lived in grotesquely large cities that you can just go to a place, get a parking spot, and find a table to sit and bask in the live music and outdoor festivities. It was lovely.
This weekend, my mother and I are heading to St. Charles for a DAR event–a patriot grave marker–and we may check out some “vintique” malls while we’re there. I hope to catch up on some chores. And maybe get some fencing to block off access to underneath my deck. Of course, I know the face I’ll get if I do that.
At the top of the Washington monument in Washington D.C., on the East-facing surface, are two Latin words: Laus Deo. “Laus Deo,” translated from the Latin, means “Praise Be To God.” The words cannot be seen from below and they face perpetually to the rising Sun in the east.
The presence of those two words on his monument may recall, however, the prayer George Washington offered at his first inauguration as the first President of the United States:
“Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United states at large.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Amen, indeed!
If you haven’t seen this yet, check it out:
I will leave you with this video of 2 1/2-year old Idabelle’s favorite radio song. She knows all the words and sings along. How I wish I had a video of that!
Yea, though I walk through the valley
I will have[Chorus]
No fear (No fear)
No fear (No fear)
The mighty power of Jesus is fighting for me here
No fear (No fear)
No fear (No fear)
The light of the world makes the darkness disappear
Today we remember and toast the great Phil Hartman, comedian, actor, screenwriter and graphic designer, who was born on this day in 1948. Did you know that before he was a TV personality, he designed album covers–including this favorite from my youth.
He was a voice actor extraordinaire:
as well as a sketch comedy star…
We miss him. SNL and The Simpsons have never been the same without him.
On another sad note, Italian actress Claudia Cardinale died yesterday at age 87. I always loved her, especially in Circus World (1964) and The Professionals (1966).
Her delivery of the line, “Go to hell” in the latter film was classic. She was also great in Fellini’s 8 1/2 (1963), Visconti’s The Leopard (1963), The Pink Panther (1963) and as the woman caught in sin in Jesus of Nazareth (1977).
Riposi in pace, bella.
In other news, I love stuff like this: here’s a list of questions that evolutionists need to be able to answer if they want to remain plausible.
And here’s the story of the “watchmaker who forgave her enemies”: the wonderful Corrie Ten Boom. It’s always a good reminder!
Have a good day–hang in there!
*Lionel Hutz (Phil Hartman)
Well, as of yesterday it is officially fall. It is a little cooler and we have had a lot of much-needed rain and we are grateful.
Today we toast the 219th anniversary of the return of the exploring expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark back to St. Louis in 1806. The people of St. Louis, we are told, “gathered on the Shore and Hizzared three cheers” and rifles were fired in a welcoming volley as they landed their canoes on the levee.
Two years and four months earlier, the band had departed quietly from a gathering point at Wood River, Illinois, for their 8,000-mile expedition through the Northwest. The Corps of Discovery encountered a wide variety of natural landscapes on their trek to the Pacific coast, including rolling prairies, vast rivers, towering limestone bluffs, and rugged mountain ranges. They also encountered hardship, privation, extremes of temperature and climate, danger from Indians, grizzly bears, and a wide range of physical discomforts. Several times they were presumed lost.
The two captains were fetted that evening at a state dinner followed by a grand ball. The rest of the crew were eager to resume civilian life and quickly spent their accumulation of two years’ pay in the frontier village. One can only imagine their relief and joy upon returning.
By the way, the 22 foot tall bronze statue, The Captains’ Return (shown above), depicts the return of William Clark and Meriwether Lewis to St. Louis in 1806. It was commissioned by the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation to mark the bicentennial of the end of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. After its initial placement in 2006, flooding of the Mississippi River often led to the statue being partially submerged with the result that Clark looked as if he was waving his hat as in distress. In 2014, the statue was removed and restored to fix damage from the floods, and in 2016, the statue was returned to the riverfront to a location slightly south and about 17 feet higher than before. The sculptor, Harry Weber, has thirty-one works displayed throughout the city.
And this is a good opinion piece by Albert Mohler, Jr. about the Charlie Kirk memorial service. As he says, “We will be thinking about this service for a long time.”
(Photo from Pinterest)
Information for this post mostly gleaned from St. Louis Day By Day by Frances Hurd Stadler.
How was your weekend? Since daughter #1 was out of town and I had no plans of my own, it was a pretty quiet one for me. There wasn’t even a good estate sale to go to!
I did watch some good movies…
Friday night I watched The Natural (1984) and it was great. Just great. I loved everything about it. Robert Redford was perfect as were all the supporting characters–especially Richard Farnsworth with his sad blue eyes.
The cinematography was exceptional, the music was perfect, the direction A+. The script was unusually restrained and, may I say, profound. I cried at the beginning. I cried at the end.
I also watched Tom Horn (1980) which is Steve McQueen’s penultimate movie and a favorite of mine. It also stars Richard Farnsworth.
Directed by William Wiard and adapted to the screen by Thomas McGuane and Bud Schrake from Horn’s own autobiography, it is a sad, serious movie about changing times.
I highly recommend both movies.
We went to church as usual on Sunday; the twins were great. Lottie took good notes–writing down the words she didn’t know for clarification later: “vindicate ungodly”. I hope her dad obliged!
We had a great sermon on Philippians 1:18-26 and a wonderful adult class on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
After church the boy and the twins and I stopped at the kennel to pick up Mr. Smith. He rode to my house with the boy and behaved himself.
(He was a little bedraggled from having played in his water dish.)
When we got home, the boy helped me move some furniture out to the curb where it will be picked up on Bulky Trash Pick-up day. So grateful for that help!
After they went home, I watched the livestream of the memorial service for Charlie Kirk–100,000+ (original estimates of 100K bumped to up to 300,000) people in a stadium and the President of the U.S. plus most of his cabinet and Elon Musk in attendance. Impressive. You can watch it on Youtube.
Yup.
Daughter #2 arrived back from the prairie and she picked up Mr. Smith and stayed for a glass of wine.
Happy Monday–have a good week!
Well, Hello, dear readers. Daughter #1 here after quite the hiatus. My mother and I continue to cross things off the massive to do list, arguing at least once a week with an AI bot about whether or not a REPRESENTATIVE! is available. Lol, except seriously.
As my mother has said, Mr Smith continues to serve as emotional support dog during the 12 minutes a night when he is not keeping a close watch and discouraging those meddlesome neighbors from walking down the sidewalk in front of our house. “OH HELL NO, I know that hunched over old lady with a cane on the far side of Hanley is not walking through my line of vision,” he barks, practically spitting with rage. I can translate, clearly.
But for a few minutes each night (more and more as it gets darker earlier), he sits in my lap like this.
I dropped Mr. Smith at the Kennel this afternoon because I’m heading to Illinois for a little sister time this weekend. But first I have to get through the Mideast District Meeting for the Missouri DAR on Friday morning–always a lesson in patience.
At church, our current sermon series is a study of James, where, of course, we are reminded to “Count it all joy, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
And with that, happy weekend!
Of all the streets that blur in to the sunset,
There must be one (which, I am not sure)
That I by now have walked for the last time
Without guessing it, the pawn of that Someone
Who fixes in advance omnipotent laws,
Sets up a secret and unwavering scale
for all the shadows, dreams, and forms
Woven into the texture of this life.
If there is a limit to all things and a measure
And a last time and nothing more and forgetfulness,
Who will tell us to whom in this house
We without knowing it have said farewell?
Through the dawning window night withdraws
And among the stacked books which throw
Irregular shadows on the dim table,
There must be one which I will never read.
There is in the South more than one worn gate,
With its cement urns and planted cactus,
Which is already forbidden to my entry,
Inaccessible, as in a lithograph.
There is a door you have closed forever
And some mirror is expecting you in vain;
To you the crossroads seem wide open,
Yet watching you, four-faced, is a Janus.
There is among all your memories one
Which has now been lost beyond recall.
You will not be seen going down to that fountain
Neither by white sun nor by yellow moon.
You will never recapture what the Persian
Said in his language woven with birds and roses,
When, in the sunset, before the light disperses,
You wish to give words to unforgettable things.
And the steadily flowing Rhone and the lake,
All that vast yesterday over which today I bend?
They will be as lost as Carthage,
Scourged by the Romans with fire and salt.
At dawn I seem to hear the turbulent
Murmur of crowds milling and fading away;
They are all I have been loved by, forgotten by;
Space, time, and Borges now are leaving me.
–Jorge Luis Borges, “Limits”
A poem for Thursday. Have a good day!
Yesterday Robert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah at the age of 89. He was never a particular favorite of mine, but it is always sad to see a Hollywood icon from the olden days die. He was undeniably handsome, but he had a cold, cynical look in his eye that made him less attractive to me than, say, Paul Newman. But I really liked him in The Sting (1973) and The Natural (1984)–two of my favorite movies.
Maybe I’ll watch The Natural. Sigh.
It’s been a sad week.
This is a good one about reading as the best way to rebel in a world that can glance at everything and gaze at nothing. “In our world today, many voices seek our attention. Influencers everywhere hawk their wares. How tragic if we develop the capacity to attune to everything but the Word of the Lord. The most radical, countercultural practice we can cultivate today is an intensity in reading and listening to the Scriptures.”
So watch an old movie, read an old book, read the Bible!
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
(Psalm 119:103-105)
*Roy Hobbs in The Natural
dual personalities 