dual personalities

Month: January, 2026

January 30, 2026

Happy Friday!

by marycompton

Well, I have good news. There are plenty of Gummy Nerd Clusters left. The bag was absurdly huge. And one of my favorite things about nerd clusters is that there is a limit to how many one can eat in a setting—because they are so tart.

Is this fascinating commentary or what?

I did survive the snow storm and actually really enjoyed my weekend. I crossed a number of things off my to do list—including using my steam shot to clean the grout in my bathroom. My only mistake was not adequately preparing by getting donuts for breakfast. Sigh.

Is this fascinating commentary or what?!

Mr. Smith has been enjoying the snow. In some places it was practically as deep as he is tall! He jumps around and tromps all over regardless. There are still plenty of smells to smell and neighborhood dogs to ward off from the confines of our fenced in yard. Of course, it has been too cold for me to venture to take cute pictures without getting all bundled up. Instead, I offer Mr. Smith cuddling up in the house.

Eat your heart out.

Anyway, I am off to visit my sister and her family this weekend. Hopefully, no one is going through a cranky growth spurt or gets that whopping cough while I’m there (both of these have happened). And hopefully, my back doesn’t decide it is 80 years old. I need to be able to crawl around on the floor!!

And this made me laugh.

3 Comments
January 29, 2026

A good name

by chuckofish

Today my women’s Bible Study group starts up again. We are reading I and II Thessalonians. Our study guide was written by Kathleen Buswell Nielson, with whom I went to school 50+ years ago. I am looking forward to it! (Not to mention the prospect of human interaction which I have missed over the last 5 days!)

It is also the birthday of one of my favorite ancestors, John Wesley Prowers, the cattle king of southern Colorado.

I was very pleased when I heard that daughter #2 and DN had decided to name their baby after him.

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” — Proverbs: 22:1

Usually I watch Red River (1948) or another cowboy movie in honor of JWP’s birthday. We’ll see how I feel tonight. It is a whole new world not having the OM to watch certain movies with.

Well, onward and upward. This article about how the two ‘wills’ of God profoundly shape how we should pray was quite thought-provoking. “May we all pray more and may the Lord bless our prayers.”

Happy Thursday! The weekend is just around the corner.

3 Comments
January 28, 2026

At a humble window see

by chuckofish

Yesterday was a beautiful day–cold, but beautiful. Blue sky, untouched white snow reflecting the sunlight. Very nice. I sat in my office and watched a huge red-tailed hawk cruise around.

Here’s a poem, “Shovelling Snow” by Harry Edward Mills, written around 1901:

And Don shared this lovely Dan Fogelberg piece with me:

More cold weather coming up, so I’ll be sitting by my window for the foreseeable future.

“Every bit we eat, and every drop we drink is mercy; every step we take, and every breath we draw, mercy. [These are] what we have reason to acknowledge with thankfulness to God’s praise.” (Matthew Henry, 1662-1713)

3 Comments
January 27, 2026

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

by chuckofish

My driveway was plowed yesterday morning and the front walk cleared (with a leaf blower!) so I was free to move around the neighborhood. I went to the public library to return some books, including two murder mysteries written by A.B. Guthrie, Jr. in the 1970s, which I enjoyed. The library was closed, like a lot of other places. Officially we got 8.5 inches of snow in Kirkwood. Seems about right. Now we are adjusting to sub-zero temps and continuing to hunker down.

Today we toast two writers who both died on January 27–John Updike in 2009 and J.D. Salinger in 2010.

They are both writers I admire a lot.

In honor of the aforementioned birthdays, I re-read For Esmé–with Love and Squalor. I was pleased that I still regarded it with the same enthusiasm as I did years ago.

They sang without instrumental accompaniment–or, more accurately in their case, without any interference. Their voices were melodious and unsentimental, almost to the point where a somewhat more denominational man than myself might, without straining, have experienced levitation. A couple of the very youngest children dragged the tempo a trifle, but in a way that only the composer’s mother could have found fault with. I had never heard the hymn, but I kept hoping it was one with a dozen or more verses.

Keep warm. Happy Tuesday!

3 Comments
January 26, 2026

Once upon a storm

by chuckofish

Well, I got a few things done on Friday before the storm hit–like everyone else who was out and about buying bread and milk and salt/ice melt. I went to Trader Joe’s early and bought flowers and then went to church where I arranged them for Sunday, which I knew might be cancelled, but what the heck, I did my duty.

I will note that as I drove around and made my various stops, people were very nice and polite, even cheerful. Part of this is because I have gray hair and look like an old lady, so people are usually quick to assist me when they think I need help. I am always a little taken aback by this because I feel like a completely capable woman, but again, what the heck–if someone wants to take my grocery cart back to the cart corral for me in the single digit weather, have at it.

The boy came over in the afternoon to pick up some stuff and to have wine time with me since daughter #1 had many errands to run after work. Everyone was in a tizzy about whether various events would be cancelled. Well, I had no plans to worry about so I just concentrated on hunkering down…

Church was cancelled after all–I certainly couldn’t get out of my driveway. And this was the scene in Wildwood…

While admittedly there is no substitute for worshiping together in person, we were encouraged to watch a previously recorded service on our YouTube channel or watch the recorded adult ed classes.

Daughter #1’s church was also closed as was daughter #2’s. Central had already recorded their sermon to be viewed…

So Mr. Smith heard the word of God on Sunday morning.

All Souls suggested reading a book of the Bible and praying or watching a previous sermon. So many options. I listened to an old sermon given at Central by Dr. Dan Doriani last October on James 3:1-12, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In the afternoon the twins had fun frolicking in the snow…

And so did the prairie girls…

Now it is Monday and I am waiting for the yard guys to come plow my driveway.

All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well…

3 Comments
January 23, 2026

That’s On Me.

by marycompton

Yes, you may have heard, it’s going to snow and ice and be cold. With this in mind, I decided to stop at my local Costco on the way home from pilates to get some Diet Pepsi because I’m down to my last two cans. Can’t have me going all The Shining this weekend.

Anyway, it was a madhouse. The parking lot was insane. There were no carts. Like, I had to go back outside and bring one in. And the checkout lines stretched practically to the prepared food department. It was like shopping at Trader Joe’s on the Upper West Side.

I survived and got what I needed. And also a Party Size bag of Gummy Nerd Clusters.

Tomorrow, I have to work and then run a few more errands–including going to Trader Joe’s in Brentwood Commons. My mother is hoping to squeeze some Wine Time with me before the storm hits. Let’s pray for the electric grid, those who are (hopefully) treating our roads, and all of our sanity as we deal with winter weather.

Hopefully, when I write again next week, there will still be some Gummy Nerd Clusters left. As the old Magic 8 Ball used to say, “Very doubtful.”

5 Comments
January 22, 2026

ephemera /ĭ-fĕm′ər-ə/

by chuckofish

I was going through some boxes yesterday and I found this photo taken in 1927 (nearly 100 years ago!) of my mother and her older sister and it reminded me so much of daughter #2’s two girls. I mean really. I hope their Mom gets their portrait taken together so that 100 years from now someone can find it and put it in a frame.

I also found letters my brother wrote to us in the fall of his freshman year in college (1969)–“Don’t worry I’m not turning into a hippie.” (Um, oh yes you were.) I am sending those letters to him so he can share them with his children.

I found clippings from 19th century newspapers and magazines, cut out by ancestors to keep.


I will keep those along with various ancient Valentines…

(Recognize the Peanuts gang from 1967?)

I found a lot of stuff from my Mother’s years at Middlebury College, including the bills. It cost about $500 a semester in 1946-47. Also lots of letters, sometimes with illustrations:

Quite a treasure trove…and I admit I threw away very little. The best I can do is get it all a little better organized/labeled for my children.

Don’t judge me!

|

5 Comments
January 21, 2026

Of gods and generals

by chuckofish

There was a small earth quake in central Illinois yesterday morning, but it didn’t amount to much and there was no damage reported. The magnitude 3.8 quake, we are told, struck at 1:27 a.m. Central Time, about 3 miles north-northeast of Ohlman, Illinois. The shallow tremor was felt across parts of Christian and Sangamon counties. According to daughter #2 they didn’t feel a thing in nearby Champaign County.

Today we toast General Ethan Allen (1738-1789) on his birthday, who is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War. Fun fact: A descendant of Ethan Allen, Ethan Allen Hitchcock Shepley, was the chancellor of our flyover university from 1953-1961, following Arthur Holly Compton. I always liked the story my mother told of the time our Labrador Retriever ran away and she got a phone call from the chancellor’s wife saying they had our dog. So she walked over to their house across campus and picked him up. She said Mrs. Shepley was very nice and said Teak was a good dog. My memory may be off–it might have been Mrs. Eliot, the wife of a later chancellor, who was nice, but whatever. It’s a good story.

We also toast Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863), Confederate general and military officer, on his birthday. He has always been a favorite of mine, even though he fought on the wrong side.

And speaking of generals, it is also the birthday of J. Carrol Naish (1896-1973), the character actor who memorably played General Phil Sheridan in Rio Grande (1950) which starred John Wayne.

Naish, although of Irish extraction, was one of those capable film actors who played an array of ethnically-diverse characters during his long career, including Sitting Bull twice.

Yes, Naish played lots of Italians, Hispanics, Native Americans, Jews, Irishmen, and even Wasps–because it is after all, called acting.

The world is more than we know.

3 Comments
January 20, 2026

What are you watching?

by chuckofish

Because there is nothing much to watch on television, I bought the dvd set of Wolf Hall (on sale on Amazon), first telecast on Masterpiece Theater back in 2015. It is a British television series adaptation of the wonderful book trilogy by Hilary Mantel about the life of Thomas Cromwell. It stars Mark Rylance as Cromwell.

Boy, is it good.

I am also watching the 4-part documentary about the Judds on Hulu. The Judd Family: Truth Be Told purports to reveal “the complex story” of the Judds, who, you recall, were a mother and daughter country duo back in the 1980s. The younger sister, Ashley Judd, had a movie career in the 1990s into the aughts before she crashed and burned too.

Yes, “complex” is an understatement. Both Wynonna and Ashley have a big part in this documentary and I’m glad that the sisters are speaking to each other and obviously are still close. I am enjoying it in that modern voyeuristic way–what a chaotic hot mess they were! Glad I’m not that screwed up! But I apologize. I feel really sorry for Ashley and Wynonna. We were fans of the Judds back in the day and we were as shocked/not shocked as anybody when Naomi committed suicide the day before she and Wynonna were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022. It’s a sad story.

Have you watched anything good lately?

P.S. Just a reminder that today is the birthday of Frederico Fellini (1920-93), Italian film director and screenwriter. Time to watch La Strada (11954) I guess!

4 Comments
January 19, 2026

Could see some snowflakes

by chuckofish

Boy, did they get the weather all wrong on Saturday! We had no idea there was a veritable blizzard coming…

My iPhone camera never shows snow falling–but believe me, it looked like a fake movie scene with big, fat soap flakes coming down. It stopped pretty soon and didn’t amount to all that much, but it did take us by surprise. Luckily our January DAR meeting was already scheduled as a Zoom meeting, so I could just stay home. Daughter #1 is one smart regent!

It was super cold on Sunday morning again but we faithful made it to church. We heard another good sermon on Joshua–we’re up to chapter 3, verses 1-17–crossing the Jordan River. After the service Lottie asked me if she got an A+ and I said, ahem no, not today. She said, Yeah, I guess I was more of a B+. Our adult ed class was part two of Intro to Covenant which I am enjoying so much. How great is it to sit in a room with 200+ people who are all in the process of being sanctified! We went to the Sunny Street diner afterwards and the twins had dinosaur pancakes and the boy tried something new–loaded hash browns. I had my usual #2 on the seniors’ menu. Everyone was happy and content with their choices.

Today, it should be noted, is my dear mother’s birthday–her 100th! My oh my, she has been gone for 38 years. I think about her every day. Time is unreal, or as Borges says,

And yet, and yet… Denying temporal succession, denying the self, denying the astronomical universe, are apparent desperations and secret consolations. Our destiny … is not frightful by being unreal; it is frightful because it is irreversible and iron-clad. Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire. The world, unfortunately, is real; I, unfortunately, am Borges.

It is also Dolly Parton’s 80th birthday (!) and she is still going strong–here’s her new song, ably assisted by Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Reba, and Queen Latifa:

You go, girl! Everything’s going to be all right.

Precious Ida B had a wonderful birthday on Saturday…

And this sign on the neighborhood Catholic church makes me laugh every year…

Enjoy your Monday!

2 Comments