dual personalities

Category: family

September 5, 2017

Burning down the house

by chuckofish

I spent my long weekend strolling through furniture stores and trying out sofas with daughter #1.

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We didn’t buy anything, but we took notes. We also strolled through several antique malls. I bought a book.

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I have been reading it and it is pretty darn good.

We went to a couple of happy hours and sat outside and on a roof deck, because the weather was beautiful. The wee babes came over with the boy and daughter #3 and we had a dance party where we introduced them (the wee babes) to the Talking Heads.

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A whole lot of drooling going on…

We barbequed, of course, and the bud learned some table manners.

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Little Lottiebelle impressed us with her mad skills.

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All in all, it was a fabulous long weekend at the end of which I caught up with daughter #2 in a 2-hour marathon phone convo.

Back to the salt mines and a slower pace. Have a good Monday!

7 Comments
August 22, 2017

“It feels like the crucifixion scene in Ben Hur!”

by chuckofish

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Well, we lived through the eclipse and, truth be told, it was pretty cool. My assistant and I went up to the roof of the garage at work and stood around with other flyover university employees while the sun waned until it was, indeed, totally eclipsed.

And I have to say, I love it that my son-in-law made one of these.

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It’s a wonderful world we live in, right?

(The photo at the top is from stltoday.com.)

4 Comments
August 21, 2017

Monday again and an eclipse in the bargain

by chuckofish

Another whirlwind weekend involving a speedy trip to central Missouri has come and gone.

The OM and I moved some more stuff to daughter #1’s new apartment in a rented pickup truck. Her partial moving van-load from NYC had arrived on Friday, so her apartment was full of boxes, but she was grateful to get more.

IMG_2835We had lunch at the Flat Branch Pub

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and then left her with her work cut out.

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On Sunday we went over to the boy’s house to see the wee babes and to get some baby-holding-time in.

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Good therapy for what ails you.

I also moved on to Longmire #12, An Obvious Fact,

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which is full of wonderful things like:

In the great balancing equations of Dog’s mind, there are two things he cannot resist–ham, and me holding open a vehicle door. I’m pretty sure that ham is first and the only reason me holding open a vehicle door is in the running is because it might  mean that we are going somewhere to get ham.

Walt makes me laugh and that is also good therapy for whatever ails you.

The total eclipse finally happens today and I will be glad when all the hoopla is over with. The media run-up to this has been wild. Enough already.

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I’ll let you know how it goes.

5 Comments
August 18, 2017

A little Friday vent

by chuckofish

Is it Friday already?

Tonight the OM and I are loading up a rented truck with more stuff for daughter #1 and then driving it to Columbia tomorrow. Luckily the Mizzou freshmen moved in earlier in the week, so we are hoping we won’t run into too much traffic. When I checked to find out if this was the case (student arrival date) I found this:

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Check out that Electronics section. I must say times have changed since I moved into my college dorm back during the Punic Wars.

2012_gipe_Chapin_02.jpgI flew to Smith College from flyover country, so all I had were two duffel bags filled with clothes. I think I brought a clock

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and maybe one of these–

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(I never used it.) I didn’t even have a typewriter* when I was in college. My roommate and I shared a landline phone with other girls on our floor. There was a broken television set in the living room of our house. I didn’t watch tv for four years!

When my mother was a student at Middlebury College in Vermont back in the 1940s, she took the train. She sent her laundry home in a laundry bag on the train (in the mail?) for her mother to do back home in Worcester, Mass. And her mother sent her laundry back. She probably didn’t have a clock.

Ten years ago when my children were in college, times had changed, and I have no doubt my kids got tired of hearing about it. They had personal computers. However, daughter #1 is quick to remind me that she didn’t have a cell phone until she was a sophomore in college. Deprived, she was, deprived.

But really. Why do people go to college? To watch DVDs? Play computer games? In my day, we read books and studied! We spent a lot of time in the library.

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On the weekend we might go to a party, but during the week we studied. That was just the way it was.

Well, I didn’t mean to rant, and I know I sound like an old lady, but a little deprivation might do some college students a lot of good. You know what I mean?

Anyway, I hope I will get to see the wee babes this weekend. I can tell from pictures that they are getting bigger and growing hair since I last saw them a week ago!

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I wonder what college will be like in 2035? Maybe the twins won’t go to college. They’ll just be cowboys and ride the range…

Have a good weekend!

*A typewriter=one of these:

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5 Comments
August 17, 2017

Throwback Thursday

by chuckofish

Well, the dog-days of summer are upon us. Oh, to be back east in a nice cool lake. In this snapshot one little dual personality is treading water with two older cousins in Massachusetts back in the early 1960s.

summer.jpegGood times.

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting

Under the glassy, cool, transluscent wave,

In twisted braids of lilies knitting

The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;

Listen for dear honour’s sake,

Goddess of the silver lake,

Listen and save!

–John Milton, from Comus

By the way, I did watch Under the Rainbow (1981) the other night., As expected, it was not a great movie. A young subdued Chevy Chase and a skinny Carrie Fisher were under-whelming to say the least and the movie was amateurish, but there were some very funny sight gags involving “little people”–not to mention Asians–which today would be considered politically incorrect and definitely inappropriate. I have to admit, I laughed out loud once or twice.

 

6 Comments
August 14, 2017

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”*

by chuckofish

Another weekend gone with the wind. I have been so busy lately, I sometimes don’t know whether I am coming or going. But I’m not complaining. My cup runneth over.

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I  had to include this photo from Friday night because it is so darn cute. I’m sorry I didn’t have one of the boy and the little guy in their dad and lad outfits–both were wearing Longboat Key t-shirts, blue shorts, mid-calf socks and gray Nikes. It was way too cute, even for this blog. I love the drool kerchief–it gives his outfit that cowboy je ne sais quoi.

On Saturday we got up early and packed up daughter #1’s new car.

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Then we waited around for the boy to come over 😤 and then we packed up his truck with furniture. (We didn’t fit everything in the monster truck so the OM and I will probably be heading back to Columbia next weekend, but what the heck.)

We set off in a mini convoy and made it to her new apartment by 10:30.

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#hillbillymovers (all due respect to hillbillys)

We unloaded and then headed off to Steak ‘N Shake ’cause we were mighty hungry (and we were not dressed for fine dining).

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Her t-shirt says: NOT TODAY SATAN.

Then we set up some of the stuff we had brought in her apartment.

IMG_2827.JPGWhat a difference from her tiny studio on the Upper West Side! Most of her stuff won’t arrive from NYC for a couple of weeks, but she’ll have plenty to do settling in and luxuriating in all the space, not to mention the lovely pool.

We left around 2:00 so the boy could be back for some lacrosse event he had to go to later. He is so busy and working so hard, it makes me tired thinking about it. Indeed, I fell asleep that night watching Sing (2016)

Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 2.53.07 PM.pngwhich was not that inspiring and/or funny despite the voices of a lot of well-known actors. 👎

On Sunday I went to church because I was reading–a long passage from I Kings 19: 9-18 which included:

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 

So great to read! I came home and cleaned up my house which I had neglected in all the recent activity. I did laundry and thought of daughter #1 who has a washer/dryer room in her apartment for the first time. If you have ever done without them, you will never take for granted having ones of your own. I know I don’t.

I did manage a little R&R on the patio. And more Longmire.

It was a good weekend. Have a good week!

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*Lao Tzu

3 Comments
August 10, 2017

This and that and border ruffians

by chuckofish

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Apparently ever since the little guy wore his Fredbird onesie the other day the Cardinals have been on a hitting streak.

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Coincidence? “If we could figure out what that key is, we’d never put the key away,” manager Mike Matheny said. “We’re fortunate to be riding it as long as we are, and there’s no reason to stop now.” (PD, 8/9/17)

Well, keep that onesie handy, Little Boy! The Cards are in second place!

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Onesie or RallyCat? You decide.

In memory of Glen Campbell, we thought we’d treat you to this montage of his variety show from the late sixties/early seventies. Remember The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour? Steve Martin was one of the writers and the Smothers Brothers were frequent guests. It was pretty darn hip. I was a big fan.

I was in the eighth grade and I had a major crush (okay, minor crush) on Glen’s banjo player Larry McNeely, who was very shy and so cute.

He never spoke, but, boy, could he play!

Daughter #1 is now back in flyover country. She bid farewell to NYC yesterday and had drinks at Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel on Tuesday night.

Screen Shot 2017-08-09 at 2.09.41 PM.pngPerfect. You gotta love those Madeline murals, right?

Screen Shot 2017-08-09 at 2.12.41 PM.pngBy the way, on this day in 1821 President James Monroe issued a proclamation which concluded with the words: “The admission of the said State of Missouri into this Union is declared to be complete.” Behind that declaration lay years of struggle and a series of complicated maneuvers designed to maintain the delicate balance of power between the free states and those which permitted slavery.

In case you were wondering, the state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the indigenous Missouri Indians. They were called the ouemessourita (wimihsoorita), meaning “those who have dugout canoes”.

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Thomas Hart Benton, of course

So have a happy and productive Thursday! The weekend is almost here!

5 Comments
August 7, 2017

Weekend update

by chuckofish

 

Screen Shot 2017-08-07 at 6.06.42 AM.pngWell, that was a busy week followed by a busy weekend! Daughter #1 and I checked a lot of things off our to-do list and then she went back to NYC one more time on Saturday to tie up loose ends and pack her stuff for the movers who arrive this morning.

Sunday I went to an estate sale and got a couple of things for daughter #1’s new apartment. The OM and I went out to lunch at Denny’s after our first and second choices were too crowded. (Remind me never to do that again.) Then I yakked on the phone for hours with my DP and daughter #2. I finished Longmire #10. The boy came over to show us his new pickup truck–a Ford 150 Raptor–about which I am pretty excited. Finally, a truck in the family!

And by the way, congrats to the great Kurt Warner who was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. You will recall that he was the quarterback of one of the greatest offenses in NFL history, the “Greatest Show on Turf” of the St. Louis Rams back in the early niineties.

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We love you Kurt. We haven’t cared a hoot about football since you were traded to Arizona.

Have a good week!

Lord God, whose strength is sufficient for all who lay hold on it, grant us in your mercy to comfort our hearts and be strong. Humility, temperance, purity, largeheartedness, sympathy, zeal – grant us these evidences of faith, servants of hope, fruits of love; for the sake of Jesus Christ, our strength, our righteousness, and our hope of glory. Amen.

–Christina Rosetti

3 Comments
August 4, 2017

Mission accomplished

by chuckofish

Daughter #1 and I had a great day in Columbia and found a terrific 2-bedroom apartment complete with all the modern conveniences, i.e. closets, washer and dryer, garbage disposal, dishwasher, counter space, garage, and all the things she lived without in Manhattan. She is very pleased and I got to ride around on a golf cart. I didn’t take any pictures though.

When we returned home, the boy and his family came over for dinner. We had lots of twin time. I didn’t take any pictures then either, but here are a few from the boy taken at their house.

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Well, the weekend is upon us. Daughter #1 heads back to NYC on Saturday to pack up her apartment. The movers come on Monday and then she flies home for good on Wednesday.

Quelle summer, right?

2 Comments
July 28, 2017

There ain’t nothing gonna steal my joy*

by chuckofish

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I am looking forward to catching up on some sleep this weekend, how about you?

I have no plans, and the wee babes are in Florida.

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IMG_1418.jpgThey appear to be enjoying themselves…but I miss them!

By the way, today is the anniversary of the wee babes’ parents’ wedding! It’s been five years since they tied the knot. They’ve been through a lot and we’re very proud of them.

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God the Holy Trinity make you strong in faith and love,
defend you on every side, and guide you in truth and peace;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.

Amen!

Have a great weekend!

3 Comments