Here’s a snapshot I found of our older brother when he was a few months old in 1951. Our mother’s younger sister is holding him. He was born a little early and only weighed about 5 lbs. He looks a little stressed. (Note furrowed brow.)
But look at the bouncing baby boy a few months later!
Babies.
Since I will no doubt be stuck at home this weekend due to inclement weather–and today is a snow day–I think I will round up all the Richard Scarry books I have and see if the boy wants to take his copies home to the nursery.
The little, tiny babies won’t be home for awhile…
…but they’ll be needing books soon, right? Yeah, they will.
Meanwhile, I am going to try to enjoy staying inside and catching up on all the things that need catching up.
You know, re-organizing my office.
Putting away the Christmas stained glass which I forgot to do last weekend. Checking to see what other Christmas decorations I missed.
And tonight I’ll toast James Joyce who died on this day in 1941. It was he who said: “I confess that I do not see what good it does to fulminate against the English tyranny while the Roman tyranny occupies the palace of the soul.” [“Ireland, Island of Saints and Sages,” lecture, Università Popolare, Trieste (27 April 1907), printed in James Joyce: Occasional, Critical and Political Writing (2002)]
Good point.
Have a good weekend…It’s a long one too!
Thirty years ago: the boy, suitably attired in black tie with his Auntie DP at Christmas.
Yesterday: the boy with little Lottie in the NICU. Ah, sunrise, sunset…
I spent my weekend catching up at home, putting everything back in pre-holiday order. But, without fail, there is always something I cannot find and sure enough, this year was no different. C’est la vie. I am coping.
We also celebrated daughter #3’s Epiphany birthday and had a gourmet meatloaf meal, because she is so easy to please. Then we watched 3 Godfathers. Is she not the best daughter-in-law ever?
The OM and I also watched a couple of other movies this weekend. Our favorite was Hell or High Water (2016) starring Chris Pine and Ben Foster as two modern-day bank-robbing brothers set on saving the family ranch. Jeff Bridges plays the Texas Ranger bent on catching them.
Directed by the unknown-to-me Scotsman David Mackenzie and with a screenplay by actor/writer Taylor Sheridan (he was in Sons of Anarchy), it gets high fives from me. I appreciated its excellent, intelligent screenplay featuring interesting, relatable characters and a plot that kept me guessing. The acting was top-notch. My only complaint was the sound mixing, which like most modern movies, stunk–i.e. it is frequently difficult to understand what people are saying. And what they were saying was worth hearing, for once.
We also saw Arrival (2016), which was also very good and thought-provoking too. It stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. It is science fiction, however, and not really my thing. My DP really liked it though and recommended it highly to me, so I pass that along.
I will also note that we saw La La Land (2016) last week, which has received rave reviews and a lot of hype. Directed by newcomer Damian Chazelle and starring the appealing Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, it is about two young people struggling to make it in L.A. I didn’t buy any of it.
Not to be harsh, but I found it amateurish and forgettable in every way. Rent Singin’ In the Rain if you want to see a good musical.
P.S. You can bet that La La Land will win all the Academy Awards this year (as it swept the Golden Globes), and that is why I no longer watch the show.
*Dr. Louise Banks in Arrival
I have always liked Patti Smith and I liked this. (If you click through you can watch her beautiful performance at the Nobel Prize ceremony.)
I was born in Chicago on December 30, 1946, within the vortex of a huge snowstorm. My father had to help the taxi-driver navigate Lake Shore Drive with the windows wide open, while my mother was in labor. I was a scrawny baby, and my father worked to keep me alive, holding me over a steamy washtub to help me breathe. I will think of them both when I step on the stage of the Riviera Theatre, in Chicago, on my seventieth birthday, with my band, and my son and daughter.
Ah, scrawny babies. Our grand-babies are coming along, looking better every day, responding to their parents’ steadfast love and devotion. Little girl is over 2 lbs. now and little boy is almost up to 2 lbs. They are gettin’ there.
I was sorry to hear about Carrie Fisher who died yesterday at age 60. A contemporary of mine, she reminded me of a lot of the girls I grew up with. She wasn’t much of an actress–let’s admit it, she was pretty terrible in Star Wars, but she was a funny, funny gal who had been through a lot and kept going. My heartfelt condolences go out to her mother Debbie Reynolds.
Well, I hope you are enjoying this week between Christmas and New Years. I am.
Have a great day!
Today is Blue Christmas, also called the Longest Night in the Western Christian tradition, a day in the Advent season marking the longest night of the year. On this day, some churches hold a church service that honors people who have lost loved ones in that year.
I was unaware of this “tradition,” but it is easy to understand how easy it is for people to get especially sad at this time of year. Those long, dark nights are so depressing and we miss our loved ones. Sigh.
Listening to Elvis sing “Blue Christmas” would make us all feel better, but WordPress would not let me upload video, so you will just have to imagine him singing in your head.
Another way to cheer up is to stare at your tree and look at all the pretty ornaments that you have collected over the years. Sometimes this leads to thinking about how ancient you have become (along with your “vintage” ornaments) but c’est la vie.
It may also bring you joy to get busy wrapping all those presents you have gotten for friends and family, because, you know, it is better to give than to receive.
On the other hand, I have given some real flops (or “boners” as we call them) in my day and that is always a depressing reality of Christmas. Expectations are always in the stratosphere around 12/25 and they are bound to be grounded at some point.
Well, try to “think positive” and count your blessings. Daughter #2 is keeping me company and my spirits up at work. And who doesn’t love a poinsettia?
Have a good Wednesday!
It was a busy week. Daughter #2 came home and between going to work, trips to the NICU at the hospital and an ice storm, we managed to trim the big tree
and watch Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and Edward Scissorhands (1990). We even made several fires in the fireplace without the aid of our Eagle Scout who did come and help us wrangle the tree into the tree stand. Merci beaucoup.
Daughter #2 graded 29 papers and the OM gassed up the cars.
We went to church yesterday, the fourth Sunday in Advent, and sang the rest of the advent hymns. The rector gave us all high fives for showing up. In fact, a lot of churches were closed because of the weather and very cold temperatures. This is a new thing. On Saturday night you see the names of church closings scrolling on the bottom of your television screen, just like school closings during the week. [Insert eye roll here.] Please.
Today we will go back to work for a few days and visit the hospital and get ready for daughter #1’s arrival on Friday. And we will “rejoice! rejoice!” because, you know, “Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!”
Have a good week and stay calm.
*Hymn 57, Charles Wesley
We were thrown for a loop when daughter #3 was checked into the hospital last Wednesday and then again when she was moved to a bigger hospital with a super-duper micro-preemie unit the next day. We thought she would just be on “bed-rest” for the duration of her high-risk pregnancy, but she delivered the twins on Sunday.
They are tiny, tiny, but breathing on their own. Please pray hard for our little boy and little girl.
Many years ago my spiritual director taught me a prayer for those times words escape you:
Jesus, [insert name], Jesus.
I have used it a lot.
*Genesis 28:15
Photo from Pinterest
How was your four-day weekend? Mine was nice and long and pretty relaxing.
After watching the Macy’s parade and our local parade from the comfort of our couch,
(I spilled the entire Mimosa after taking this Instagram photo!)
we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner over at the boy’s house, featuring daughter #3’s famous stuffed poitrine de dinde and my cheesy potatoes.
Kirkwood beat Webster Groves for the fourth successive year in the 115th Turkey Day game (the oldest football rivalry game west of the Mississippi River). Please note that this was six days after winning the Class 6 state football title. We did not go to either game, but we are basking in the sunshine of their victories.
Ringing the Frisco Bell
On Black Friday I stayed home and got out a lot of my Christmas decorations. It is always fun to see these guys again.
Of course, despite my best efforts to be organized and having put everything away in the designated spot in the basement, I could not find the new outdoor lights that I bought last year. So the OM trudged off to Walgreens to see what they had
and came home with something in fairly good taste. We got those up on Sunday without too much ado.
I also had coffee with friends and shopped locally like a good citizen on Small Business Saturday. It seemed like everybody was out and about, spending money freely, in our small flyover berg. What’s all this consumer confidence about?
Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent and the Gospel lesson was Matthew 24:36-44, which I like to think of as the “Left Behind” passage
wherein Jesus warns that “Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Unfortunately our associate rector did not touch on this specifically in her sermon. Big surprise.
Then the boy and daughter #3 came over to our house for dinner on Sunday night to celebrate his 30th birthday. The OM made spaghetti and we had cake.
I am channeling my mother here. Can you stand it?
Now we are back at the salt mine and December approaches.
*Hymn 61
Today the boy turns 30!
His birthday is all the sweeter because he is a cancer survivor and a papa-to-be. Here’s hoping 2017 will be a fabulous year for the boy.
P.S. I may refer to my son as “the boy,” but he is sure enough a man.
(But those baby pictures sure are cute.)
*Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)–Read the whole thing here.
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[b] met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him,“Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17: 11–19)
Well, at least today we should be openly thankful. It is culturally acceptable and all that.
My plans are simple. I will read in bed for awhile
before engaging in parade watching while drinking a mimosa by myself and toasting my daughters who are celebrating elsewhere. Do mimosas go with donuts?
Later in the day the OM and I will travel over the river and through the woods to the boy’s house where daughter #3 is serving dinner,
after which we will indulge in our traditional Thanksgiving entertainment, watching that flyover favorite, Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1986).
So count your blessings today and every day and
Happy Thanksgiving!
dual personalities 