dual personalities

Month: October, 2025

October 31, 2025

What then shall we say to these things?

by chuckofish

Happy Reformation Day!

On this day in 1517 Martin Luther posted a list of propositions for an academic disputation on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenburg, Germany. The 95 Theses are retrospectively considered to have launched the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation shaped world history more deeply than most people realize. The very fact that you can read these words is a result of the Reformers’ mission to educate the common man so that he could read the Word of God for himself.

“I defy the Pope and all his laws. . . . If God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow, shall know more of the Scripture than thou dost.”

—William Tyndale

“The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God; we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and sleep to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise.”

—Richard Sibbes

What happened on Reformation Day?

Celebrate as you wish…and have a good weekend!

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October 30, 2025

Baby the rain must fall

by chuckofish

Yesterday was a rainy, yucky day and I felt lousy so I indulged myself and watched movies, starting with the wonderful The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947). I was also inspired by an old DP blogpost which listed great movie scenes, so I thought I would do one with great movies with scenes in the rain, such as The Seven Samurai (1954)…

…The Public Enemy (1931)

…and then seventy years later, Road to Perdition (2002)

…the final scene in Cool Hand Luke (1967)

..and also the finale of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

…and the finale of Casablanca (1942) (okay–in the fog)

…and, of course:

And lest we forget:

Turn up the sound, watch them all. You’ll be glad you did.

5 Comments
October 29, 2025

It was a stormy night, like this

by chuckofish

I have a cold and am very stuffed up. I can hardly breathe. Such a bummer.

Meanwhile, October is almost over and I have not watched any movies on my list of seasonal favorites! Not a one. But I will watch The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947). It’s such a good one.

I may not get much else done this week, but I will do that!

Hang in there and I will too.

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October 28, 2025

“An’ weary winter comin fast”*

by chuckofish

November is just around the corner! I have finally started moving my plants in from the Florida room–it is quite a job. Now I have to find room inside my house for some of these monsters!

Yikes! I admit, I may have a bit of a problem with books and house plants…too many…

I followed this writer to her new Substack home. I think she is funny. This one about the good parts of geezerhood is no exception: “Here is an excuse for geezers to get out of virtually anything: ‘I’m sorry. I don’t feel like it.’ Practice saying, ‘I don’t feel like it,’ and see how trippingly it comes to the tongue.”

The song Christ The True and Better has wonderful lyrics and is (surprise!) based on this sermon clip from Tim Keller.

Amen! Amen!
From beginning to end
Christ the story, His the glory
Alleluia! Amen!

And here’s some news you can use.

(Hat tip to the boy.)

*Robert Burns

3 Comments
October 27, 2025

The Spirit and the gifts are ours

by chuckofish

Well, I had an easy trip up and back to outstate-Illinois in my Mini Countryman, which is a speed demon on the windy prairie highway and zooms across the cornfields like the Autobahn. I do love my car.

If I ever want to fly
Mulholland Drive
I am alive

Hollywood is under me
I’m Martin Sheen
I’m Steve McQueen
I’m Jimmy Dean

DN went to his conference and I helped daughter #2, who is in the large basketball phase of her pregnancy, with the prairie girls. We went to Home Depot to buy paint for a bathroom update …

…they were into it. It was a whole scene.

Back home, I got up on Sunday and met the boy and the twins at church. I had missed the week before when I was in Virginia so it seemed like forever (two weeks)–how nice to be back! Our pastor gave a really good sermon on Philippians 3:1-11 (and even made an unusual, but appropriate, reference to Mike Wazowski, which made the bud perk right up.) Where does our confidence come from? The righteousness of God that depends on faith!

As Reformation Day approaches (October 31), we sang “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, plus a selection of 19th century and 21st century hymns, plus a mighty solo rendition of the Fernando Ortega hymn, “Give Me Jesus”–perfect.

It was a gloomy and rainy Sunday afternoon, so I opted to stay home and not go to the bud’s soccer game(s). As Mamu I am allowed to do that.

Have a good week! Here’s a poem:

And maybe it was a bar tune,
Maybe not, but there we were, hunched
over too-small desks in History 101,
all ninety-five freshmen humming—
by need not desire—every note, every verse
of Luther’s best-loved hymn, Our helper He…
the right man on our side as we scribbled,
hands almost numb, the body they may kill –
his theology of lyrics, our theology –
from age to age the same for the final question
the spirit and the gifts are ours of the final exam,
and we would win the battle, our hearts pumping
with belief, our throats thumping with crescendo:
one little word would never fell us.

–Marjorie Maddox, “A Mighty Fortress”

3 Comments
October 24, 2025

As always, I am ready for the weekend.

by chuckofish

Well, as my mother said, we had a lovely time in Virginia. I will admit, however, that I did not adequately recover on Sunday evening and have, thus, felt out of sorts all week. Hopefully, I can relax this weekend, but my calendar is chock full of DAR and church-related events. Anyway, did I not pick the best souvenirs in all of Viriginia?

A tri-corner hat chew toy and a mug that looks like a drum?! It does not get better AND they fit in my luggage. These things bring me joy.

In other news, I listened to the John Crist interview with Candace Cameron Bure on our flight from Baltimore to St. Louis. Maybe it was the complimentary in-flight wine (it was definitely the in-flight wine), but I chuckled quite a bit. One fascinating tidbit–DJ Tanner’s catchphrase, “Oh mylanta!” came from her unwillingness to say “OMG!” because she would have been taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Well, I will admit that I am ready for bed. I turned the heat on this morning because I was too cold while working from home. I turned the air conditioning off a week ago. Sigh. At least it will be cozy tonight!

Hope you have a relaxing and joyful weekend!

3 Comments
October 23, 2025

Barking through the moonlight

by chuckofish

Well, I went to the dentist yesterday for my semi-annual cleaning. This is always somewhat stressful as one always expects the worst. But as usual I got an A+ for my dental hygiene, and I left feeling good about myself. ⭐ 🙌 I also felt very mellow as the music which had been playing in the background during my visit was all late sixties hits–“House of the Rising Sun”, “Mellow Yellow”, “Daydream Believer”, “I’ve Got You, Babe”, and even “Like a Rolling Stone”. I do not expect to be jamming to Bob Dylan at the dentist, and I’m not complaining. But, yes, a bit surreal.

I finished My Beloved by Jan Karon and thoroughly enjoyed it. It may not be Middlemarch (another study of provincial life), but these days I could not handle that. I am quite satisfied with Jan Karon.

In other news, the boy came over and gassed up my car, so I am ready to head to the prairie today for a few days with daughter #2 and the prairie girls. It has been very blustery of late 💨💨 so let’s hope I don’t blow off the highway.

And here’s a poem about dogs by Billy Collins:

The neighbors’ dog will not stop barking.
He is barking at the fence, barking at nothing,
barking at the mosquitos settling on his fur.
He is barking through the moonlight,
barking at distant sirens,
barking at squirrels he can’t see.

(“Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House”)

2 Comments
October 22, 2025

Double, double toil and trouble

by chuckofish

I hope you are enjoying beautiful fall weather. I have brought out my turtlenecks and sweaters–at long last–and am enjoying the cooler temps before actually turning on the heat.

Meanwhile, things are looking spooky over at the twins’ house.

And the prairie girls made lion masks…

They roared their terrible roars.

I guess Halloween is just around the corner!

And really, the nerve of some bears…

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October 21, 2025

“Old friends looking up to watch the birds/ holding arms to climb a curb”*

by chuckofish

It was good to get the hell outta Dodge, as we so quaintly say in my neck of the woods, and visit the lovely state of Virginia and my lovely friends, Harriet and Allan. The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful. We were wined and dined and generally indulged. Of course, I did not take many pictures, but these will give you an idea…

We checked out their beach house down the road in Virginia Beach…

…and we checked out my old stomping grounds in Williamsburg–William & Mary–which was celebrating homecoming and having a reunion weekend, but we missed the rush.

We stepped inside my old church, Bruton Parish…

…and walked around Colonial Williamsburg…

We saw General Lafayette…

…and we took care to get a photo of daughter #1 with him to share with our DAR chapter since we have just celebrated the 200 anniversary of his visit to St. Louis.

I really enjoyed being back there and re-living one of the deeply spiritual moments of my life, running into John Wayne on Duke of Gloucester Street when he was in town filming the Perry Como Christmas Special in the fall of 1978.

The next day we ventured over to Yorktown on the anniversary of the surrender of General Charles Cornwallis to General George Washington and the French fleet during the American Revolutionary War. We were very impressed with their museum there…

…and the town is beautiful.

We especially enjoyed the fife and drum corps in the living history encampment…

I definitely recommend visiting these important historic sites!

We spent a lot of time talking (and drinking wine) as we ladies like to do, and that, of course, was the best part of our visit!

*Willie Nelson

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October 20, 2025

The House Was Quiet and The World Was Calm*

by chuckofish

I am back from my travels. I had a fabulous time, but the return trip was arduous. It took about 12 hours to get home because we were delayed in Baltimore–updating the software on the plane (for real?) took much longer than anticipated–modern problems. It was taxing, but daughter #1 and I made it and she even managed to retrieve Mr. Smith from the kennel three hours after closing time.

He was happy to be home and he loved the tri-corner hat chew toy she brought him from Colonial Williamsburg.

Tomorrow I will have a longer post about our visit to Virginia, but for now, this is all I can do.

*Read the poem by Wallace Stevens here.

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