family | dual personalities

November 5, 2018

“See, I am making all things new.”*

by chuckofish

Why do plumbing emergencies always happen on the weekend? Because they just do. C’est la vie.

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The OM keeps an eye on the plumber as he snakes the sewer line.

Well, we had one such emergency on Saturday. The OM dealt with it mostly, since daughter #1 and I were out garage/rummage sale-ing when it occurred. Don’t worry, I helped with the clean-up on Sunday (following the longest church service in history–Pledge Sunday, All Saints Sunday and two baptisms all in one.)

The wee babes and their parents were in Kansas City, so I didn’t get to see them! Daughter #1 hurried back to Mid-MO so she could catch them as they paused in Columbia on their drive back Sunday afternoon. Sigh. I missed seeing them.

Screen Shot 2018-11-04 at 5.15.21 PM.png But I had a fun weekend, nevertheless. The bluegrass concert on Friday night was great. We checked out all the new Christmas stuff at Home Goods. We watched one of our favorite movies, The Man Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995), in which Hugh Grant stars and actually plays a nice guy for a change.

Screen Shot 2018-11-04 at 1.01.59 PM.png On Sunday afternoon, after vacuuming and cleaning up, I went through my “keep out” closet where I stow all my presents (like Babe Paley, I shop for Christmas presents all year long) and made lists of what I have for Christmas and what I still need to do.

It is time to get serious about the holidays.

And now it is Monday (!) and I’m back at the salt mine…

*Revelation 21:5

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October 29, 2018

Postcards from the weekend

by chuckofish

What a joy to have two daughters home for the weekend! The sun shone all weekend. We did all the things.

Margaritas at Amigos

Muny Mochas at Ted Drewes

Wee babes getting ready for Boo at the Zoo

So much fun AND we even went to church! My BFF Carla gave the Stewardship talk and it was an amazing testimony about church community. I was reminded that no matter how irritated I may become with my denomination, it is important to have a church home.

Screen Shot 2018-10-29 at 6.50.08 AM.png I am taking daughter #2 to the airport this morning and then it’s back to the salt mine and my usual routine. Have a good week!

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October 26, 2018

Red letter days

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2018-10-01 at 1.05.35 PM.png Thank goodness today is Friday! And bonus: this morning I am running up to the airport to pick up daughter #2 who is popping in for a quick visit from Maryland! Daughter #1 will drive in from mid-MO to join us later tonight.

We’re going to have a little Halloween party so the wee babes can come over and wear their costumes again. In between we’ll do our usual old-lady stuff: go out to lunch, check out estate sales and sip margaritas in the afternoon. Who cares if it’s going to rain all weekend?

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You will recall that today is the 157th anniversary of the day the Pony Express ceased operation in 1861. The idea of a fast mail route to the Pacific coast was prompted largely by California’s newfound prominence and its rapidly growing population. William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell, who were already in the freighting and drayage business, founded the Pony Express in St. Joseph, MO in 1859, delivering messages, newspapers, and mail from St. Joseph to Sacramento, CA along an approximately 1,900-mile-long route.

Screen Shot 2018-10-25 at 1.34.46 PM.png Majors was a religious man and resolved “by the help of God” to overcome all difficulties. He presented each rider with a special edition Bible and required them to sign an oath:

I, …, do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God.”

The Pony Express demonstrated that a unified transcontinental system of communications could be established and operated year-round. When replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and its reliance on the ability and endurance of individual young, hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism and awesomeness.

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In honor of this anniversary I propose we try to find Pony Express (1953) starring Charlton Heston as Buffalo Bill and Forrest Tucker as Wild Bill Hickok. I’m sure it is highly fictionalized (i.e. made up out of whole cloth), but any movie with a young Chuck Heston is probably worth watching.

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And here is Crowder’s new song, which I like a lot.

Have a great weekend!

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October 25, 2018

“Lord of harvest, grant that we Wholesome grain and pure may be”*

by chuckofish

On Tuesday night, after a separate work event, I rushed over to the Candy Corn Festival being held at a big Lutheran Church half an hour away in order to meet the wee babes (in costume) and their parents.

The 6:00-6:45 p.m. time period was set aside for the toddlers from the pre-schools that were included and it was wild. The four of us could barely keep up with these two curious babes.

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Lottie says, “Neigh!”

BTW, there was another Rapunzel (in a store-bought costume) at the event, but Lottie, even sans wig, was way cuter. I did not spy another Flynn Rider, but there would have been no competition there either. I mean really.

And for some context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mayDR-PlXo

BTW, I did not get any candy corn.

*Henry Alford

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October 22, 2018

“Let us with a gladsome mind, praise the Lord, for he is kind”*

by chuckofish

The weekend turned out to be busier than anticipated, mainly because the weather was so beautiful.

After my estate sale adventures proved uninspiring, I convinced the OM to take an autumnal drive to Washington, MO in Franklin County (about an hour’s drive)…

Screen Shot 2018-10-21 at 11.52.00 AM.png …and have lunch at The Green Duck.

Despite a wrong turn and an unnecessary 20-minute detour, we found our destination and enjoyed a yummy lunch which was definitely a step above our usual weekend Steak ‘N Shake indulgence. I will note that the OM appears to have forgotten all his Boy Scout orienteering skills in his embrace of and subsequent dependence on Google Maps and his iPhone. Then again, it must be admitted that we were looking for The Blue Duck restaurant as opposed to The Green Duck. (Blue Duck, you will recall, was a bad guy in Lonesome Dove.) Zut alors! Life is so complicated.

On Sunday I went to church and read an odd lesson from Hebrews wherein I had to say Melchizedek twice. Later that afternoon I had to go to a work event (the 2nd annual “Hootenanny”) held at the Ethical Society…

The Sunday School room wall at the Ethical Society–God love ’em

…where old hippies sang protest songs and promised to Resist Authority.

This is my life

Of course, seniors singing protest songs is akin to Episcopalians singing gospel music…so I was not uncomfortable. When I got home it was nearly time for the wee babes to come over for Sunday tacos with their parents and I barely had time to vacuum up the crumbs from their last visit.

So you can see that my weekend went by in a flash. I did manage to watch Signs (1999) as well as a “quirky” English spy thriller, Q Planes (1939) which starred Laurence Olivier, Valerie Hobson and Ralph Richardson (always a favorite of mine.)

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It is definitely worth watching.

I am presently working my way through season 2 of Miami Vice, which in retrospect, is decidedly not the great show we thought it was back in the 1980s. (Except episode three–“Out Where t he Buses Don’t Run”–which is great.) Now I watch it mainly to see this guy…

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…and remember/chuckle at the 80s fashions… Screen Shot 2018-10-21 at 12.52.15 PM.png

La di da, la d i da.

Have a good week!

*Hymn #389, John Milton

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October 18, 2018

“Come to my heart and bring it to rest As the bird flies home to its welcome nest”*

by chuckofish

Earlier this week the OM made some grumbling reference to our upcoming anniversary (38!) and whether I wanted “to do anything.” I suppose if I had said–yes, let’s get dressed up and paint the town! Please make a reservation for two at Tony’s (or some other extremely expensive restaurant)–he would have grumbled and done so. However, he knows me well enough after all these years to know I would never say that. It is a school night, after all.

So, anyway, we will probably kick back tonight and watch a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie to celebrate his birthday (b. 1960) today. Maybe the OM will pick up dinner at Chick-fil-a on the way home.

“The Puritan ethic of marriage was first to look not for a partner whom you do love passionately at this moment but rather for one whom you can love steadily as your best friend for life, then to proceed with God’s help to do just that.”
― J.I. Packer

Meanwhile the wee babes came over last night and we watched Mary Poppins (1964)–they were mesmerized. [Don’t worry: we didn’t let them stand that close the whole time!] They love music and singing and Mary Poppins is one great song after another!

Three hours with the wee babes is exhausting but also the most fun of the week!

*Paul Laurence Dunbar

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October 17, 2018

“Double, double toil and trouble”*

by chuckofish

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Well, it is that time of year when we look back fondly at Halloweens of yesteryear. Here is daughter #2 striking a pose circa 1994. She is wearing the witch costume that my mother made around 1987 for daughter #1 and that was worn for years afterwards.

This year super creative daughter #3 made Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (from the Disney epic Tangled) costumes for the wee babes:

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The cuteness level will be over the top!

For me, it’s more about the candy.

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Which I will deny myself.

The OM and I are babysitting for a few hours tonight. Zut alors!

*Macbeth: IV.i 10

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October 12, 2018

“Je maintiendra.”*

by chuckofish

Friday has arrived and Fall too, it would seem. The temperatures dropped yesterday and I must say I am enjoying the cooler temps and all that goes with that.

Talk about God rays…Is this photo cool or what?

Screen Shot 2018-10-11 at 11.41.58 AM.png Well, I have no Big Plans for the weekend. I am hoping to go to a program co-sponsored by the Missouri Historical Society Library and Research Center and the St. Louis Genealogical Society. Who knows? I may learn something.

Screen Shot 2018-10-11 at 9.17.23 AM.png I will catch up on puttering and house projects and reading.

Meanwhile the wee babes have been enjoying their little Lutheran pre-school/daycare…

Screen Shot 2018-10-11 at 3.17.38 PM.png …but they have caught every bug out there, and are frequently home with a temperature. Screen Shot 2018-10-11 at 8.52.08 AM.png So we have not seen them in two weeks! Our regular Sunday night dinners are regular no more. C’est la vie. Here’s hoping (🙏) we see them this weekend!

The OM and I watched a good movie the other night which I recommend to you as my weekend movie pick.

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As usual, this poster in no way represents the tone of the actual movie or, indeed, what it is actually about.

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing! (1942) is an early film from “The Archers,” the terrific team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who wrote, directed, and produced the film.

Screen Shot 2018-10-11 at 10.07.24 AM Made during the war, it is an exciting tale of six downed British airmen in German-occupied Holland, who are all very different, but all determined to get back to England and fight again. They are aided in their escape by stalwart Netherlanders, including some bright children and very brave women. [Sidebar: I couldn’t help wondering how the brash young women of today would fare against real Nazis.]

The filmmakers knew how to make all the characters distinguishable and real with just a few lines of dialogue. I was impressed.

Do check it out. It is available on Amazon Prime. Have a great weekend!

* Screen Shot 2018-10-11 at 11.16.26 AM.png

7 Comments

October 10, 2018

A chip off the old block

by chuckofish

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Thought for the day: “At bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Pictured above: the wee laddie (left)/the boy at approximately the same age circa 1988 (right).

I mean really.

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Of course, he is working hard on scarring up his precious new face. Par for the course.

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October 1, 2018

Release one leaf at break of day*

by chuckofish

I watched 21 Jump Street over the weekend, and, as usual, I laughed.

You know that I detest vulgarity, but there is something about this particular avalanche of vulgarity that always cheers me up. I couldn’t say why exactly. It must be Channing Tatum in AP Chemistry.

I also got to see the wee babes when I went to cheer on the boy at the Pedal the Cause bicycle race on Sunday.

They enjoyed running around on a hot morning waiting for him to cross the finish line.

And they were proud of him when he did! I was too!

I had a good weekend puttering around. I also read quite a bit of Alistair McCall Smith’s 18th book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, The House of Unexpected Sisters. This suited me just fine. Precious Romotswe and I have always been on the same page.

Mma Romotswe was usually very even-tempered. She rarely allowed matters to rile her, and only very occasionally expressed a strong opinion. She could see the world as others saw it–she understood if people took a different view of things–but there were limits, and Mma Potokwane had just described one of them. “These people,” she said, with a note of irritation creeping into her voice, “what are they thinking of? They spend all their time criticizing the good things we have–the old Botswana morality, for example…but what do they say should be put in their place? They have nothing to offer, Mma. They say that life will be better if we get rid of our traditions, but what if we did that, all that would come would be selfishness, Mma. It would be every person for himself, or herself. People would forget about other people because there would be nothing to bind them together; none of the memories, songs, greetings, or customs that make people into a nation. We would have plenty of shiny cars, Mma–plenty of Mercedes-Benzes–but inside we would be as empty as an ant-hill…

And now it is October!

*Robert Frost, from “October’

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