family | dual personalities

August 10, 2015

“The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.”*

by chuckofish

This past week I have happily returned to my usual work-and-home routine. Over the weekend it was hot, so I puttered around the air-conditioned house a lot. I did get outside, but ever-careful not to overdo it, my endeavors were minimal.

I did find a few estate sale “treasures”, including a small bookshelf which I snapped up. Bookshelves are a priority in this household!

For now it is in the living room, but who knows where it will end up? As you can see from my dual personality’s post on Saturday, daughter #2 has quite a few of my finds in her apartment.

I received a Couroc tray as a wedding present, and ever since then I have loved those mid-century modern designs and have collected them when they turn up at estate sales. This cowboy tray is too perfect.

I also got a chair back from the upholsterer. He had had it for quite some time, so it was a pleasant surprise to ~~finally~~ get it back. It is now back in my office by the window.

Don’t you love that arrow fabric?

I watched several movies over the weekend. I rather enjoyed Mixed Nuts (1994), which frequently appears on worst-movies-of-all-time lists. I was curious to see this “disaster” directed by Nora Ephron, starring Steve Martin, Madeleine Kahn, Rita Wilson and featuring in early appearances Parker Posey, Jon Stewart, Adam Sandler, and Liev Shreiber in a Caitlyn Jenner part. It wasn’t terrible and I thought Madeleine Kahn was hilarious.

I have seen many, many movies that were much, much worse. Why does this movie receive such over-the-top criticism? Perhaps everyone’s expectations were too high.

I also watched El Dorado (1966) in honor of Robert Mitchum’s birthday and, of course, enjoyed it immensely. I especially enjoyed James Caan this time around. He hit it big a few years later in The Godfather, but I bet he never forgot that early outing with the Duke. You can tell all the actors are enjoying themselves in this one.

Also here’s a PSA: August is TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars’ month where they feature the movies of a different actor or actress every day. Be sure to check out their schedule. For instance, Tuesday, August 12 is Robert Mitchum and August 19 is John Wayne. You’ll want to set your DVR!

Over the weekend I group-texted with my daughters who were together in New York City this weekend, daughter #2 visiting daughter #1.

Anyway, it was almost like being there with them (and Nate who was off engaged in bachelor party doings for some friend most of the time)!

And P.S. have you noticed that these guys are doing Awesomely? Well, they are. Awesome.

PI-MLB-Cardinals-ON-009-040615.vadapt.620.high.0

Fox Sports

Have a great week!

*Samuel Beckett, “Murphy” (1938)

5 Comments

August 5, 2015

As time goes by

by chuckofish

June 1966

She had taken to wondering lately, during these swift-counted years, what had been done with all those wasted summer days; how could she have spent them so wantonly? I am foolish, she told herself early every summer, I am very foolish; I am grown up now and know the values of things. Nothing is ever really wasted, she believed sensibly, even one’s childhood, and then each year, one summer morning, the warm wind would come down the city street where she walked and she would be touched with the little cold thought: I have let more time go by.”

― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

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July 28, 2015

Note to self: carpe diem!

by chuckofish

Today is Beatrix Potter’s birthday!

The Mice at Work: Threading the Needle circa 1902 Helen Beatrix Potter 1866-1943

It is also the anniversary of the day that Thomas Cromwell, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was put to death in 1540. Cromwell was condemned to death without trial and beheaded on Tower Hill on the day of the King’s marriage to Catherine Howard. We will have to wait for Hilary Mantel’s third book in her Cromwell trilogy to learn all about this depressing turn of history…

In the meantime, have you heard that there is a new book of short stories and essays by Shirley Jackson coming out soon? Well, there is.

“For the first time, this collection showcases Shirley Jackson’s radically different modes of writing side by side. Together they show her to be a magnificent storyteller, a sharp, sly humorist, and a powerful feminist.” Please. Shirley Jackson never would have characterized herself as a “powerful feminist”–she was just a brilliant woman who managed to do what she wanted, supported by an appreciative husband. Sheesh.

I will probably check this book out as I am a big fan of Shirley Jackson. At least it is her children who have put this collection together and are presumably benefiting from it. I will not be buying Go Set a Watchman by poor old Harper Lee. I had a bad feeling about that one from the beginning. Someone’s making a boatload of money and it isn’t Harper Lee, who I have no doubt, never wanted this manuscript published.

Well, I am heading to a conference at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa today.

I broke my rule about never flying anywhere, where in order to get there, I have to change planes. It’s a long plane ride to Birmingham (via Tampa) and then a drive to Tuscaloosa. But carpe diem! Hopefully I will learn something new. And you gotta love a school with a raging elephant for its mascot!

Happy third anniversary to the boy and daughter #3 who tied the knot on this day in 2012. Seems like yesterday!

I won’t be back until very late on Thursday night, so I will probably be off the blogosphere grid for the rest of the week. Have a good one!

O God, our heavenly Father, whose glory fills the whole creation, and whose presence we find wherever we go: Preserve us as we travel; surround us with your loving care; protect us from every danger; and bring us in safety to our journey’s end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP)

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July 21, 2015

One thing I don’t worry about

by chuckofish

“Don’t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half the time you have to live already?”
“Yes, every once in a while.”
“Do you know that in about thirty- five more years we’ll be dead?”
“What the hell, Robert,” I said. “What the hell.”
“I’m serious.”
“It’s one thing I don’t worry about,” I said.
“You ought to.”
“I’ve had plenty to worry about one time or other. I’m through worrying.”
“Well, I want to go to South America.”
“Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn’t make any difference. I’ve tried all that. You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There’s nothing to that.”
“But you’ve never been to South America.”
“South America hell! If you went there the way you feel now it would be exactly the same. This is a good town. Why don’t you start living your life in Paris?”

Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961), American author and journalist, was born on this day 116 years ago in Oak Park, Illinois.

This flyover son sometimes reminds me of another midwestern fisherman.

Don’t you think?

I haven’t read any Hemingway for quite a while. Perhaps it is time to dust something off. Needless to say, it is definitely time to toast old Ernesto.

And did you read this? I think ABInBev should sue!

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July 20, 2015

“All goes onward and outward—nothing collapses”*

by chuckofish

We experienced some highs and lows this past weekend.

Mamu died last Friday. She was the boy’s grandmother-in-law.

I knew her a long time, since the boy was three years old in pre-school with her grand-daughter. I remember her clearly back then, because she frequently picked Lauren up from pre-school. She stood out among the other mothers in the carpool line. She drove a Jaguar then and was always dressed to the nines–usually in a cocktail suit and high heels, elegantly bejeweled, her blonde hair perfectly coiffed.

But she was no Joan Collins. She was friendly and thrilled to be the designated driver of her adorable three-year-old grand-daughter.

She and her husband were the most glamorous couple at our church. And probably the most devout. Indeed, there was a lot more to Mamu than her glittering facade let on. She was from Indiana, after all, and her people were solid folk.

I wish she had known my mother. Although very different in some ways, they shared a deep and abiding faith and I know they would have liked each other.

Anyway, I have no doubt that she is with Dick now, standing before the Throne.

Into paradise may the angels lead thee; and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.

2012 The boy on his wedding day with Mamu who loved him.

On the other side of things, the boy’s best man was in town and we had a mini celebration at church in honor of his going off to seminary next month.

The boy, the future minister and Weezer–still in the choir.

It was a very special occasion–his friends and family, everyone in his church family who have known him forever, surrounded him before the altar and there were prayers and some laying on of hands, etc.

Afterwards there was cake!

Godspeed, indeed, to Michael as he begins his studies at Yale. And Godspeed to dear Mamu on the next phase of her journey.

The circle of life.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

for the living of these days, for the living of these days.

–Harry Emerson Fosdick

*Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass #14

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July 17, 2015

For he’s a jolly good fellow 2015

by chuckofish

Not a mug shot

Well, the OM turns the Big 6-0 today. Booyah. He probably still has that seersucker suit (above) and it probably still fits him.

His daughters sent him cards.

Inside: And by stud I mean dork

and

As you may infer from the choice of cards, the OM is not a party dude, so we will have a quiet celebration. It will involve eating with the boy and daughter #3 in some restaurant where the OM can order a pork steak, a flyover delicacy (?). Hopefully there will be a margarita for me in the bargain.

There is…this consolation to the most way-worn traveler, upon the dustiest road, that the path his feet describe is so perfectly symbolical of human life,–now climbing the hills, now descending into the vales. From the summits he beholds the heavens and the horizon, from the vales he looks up to the heights again. He is treading his old lessons still, and though he may be very weary and travel-worn, it is yet sincere experience.

Henry David Thoreau, A Walk to Wachusett

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July 14, 2015

“I’m a thousand miles from nowhere Time don’t matter to me”*

by chuckofish

Our family has been in this country for nearly 400 years and the genealogy of some branches is quite well documented. We have some holes, however–especially those ancestors who pioneered west of the Alleghenies–and my dual personality and I are continually working on filling in those blanks.

The other day I was messing around on the internet and I found the location of my great-great-great-grandmother’s grave in Westport, MO. I found this by purposefully mis-spelling her husband’s name. Bingo.

SUSAN VOGEL BORN OCT. 1, 1819 DIED FEB. 24, 1853

Find a Grave photo

I also found this “marriage certificate”

which has three (!) spelling errors: Susan Prowers, Louis Vogel and the minister’s name, which is spelled Johnston Lykins. Louis Vogel was Susan’s second husband. She married him after her first husband, John Prowers, died in 1839. She already had two children under the age of two, John Wesley Prowers and Mary A. Prowers (my great-great-grandmother). She subsequently had three more children with Louis Vogel. Frequently all five children are listed on census lists and such under the name Vogel, but both Prowers children kept their father’s name and were proud of it.

Anyway, looking further, a whole new window opened. I found out that Susan’s maiden name was Matney and that her father William hailed from Washington County, Virginia. His father was born in Scotland.

William Matney married Sarah Yoachum from Jefferson County, Tennessee in 1809. (I always knew I had a claim to eastern Tennessee!) She was the daughter of Solomon Yoakum (Note spelling!) and Susannah Adams. Yoachum, by the way, can be spelled Yoakum, Yokum, Yocum, Yoakam, Joachim…zut alors!

They moved on to Arkansas, ultimately settling in Jackson County, MO where they had many children. This really puts a new spin on things. I had always thought that Susan and John Prowers moved together from Virginia to Westport, MO. Thus, when he died suddenly, he left her alone with two very small children. However, this does not seem to be the case. It would appear that she had parents and a large extended family.

Anyway, such break-throughs are very exciting to family historians. I plan to go and check out the Union Cemetery in KC soon.

*Dwight Yoakam–distant cousin

6 Comments

July 6, 2015

Our father’s God to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing

by chuckofish

Did you have a pleasant 4th of July? The boy and daughter #3 came over for dinner for All-American burgers and hot dogs. I did not attempt anything too advanced in the culinary category–unlike daughter #2 who did just that back in Maryland…

Ahem. After dinner we headed over to the high school to watch the local fireworks show held in the park.

It was clearly the place to be.

Note that the boy is wearing a patriotic red, white and blue ensemble, which has always been the way we roll on the 4th. After the fireworks display we headed home and the OM unearthed his personal fireworks cache in the basement and we indulged in some sparkler fun.

Good times.

On Sunday I fulfilled my lay reading duties–2 Corinthians 12:2-10. It was a great passage, where Paul talks about Satan tormenting him with a thorn in his flesh, and how he appealed to the Lord three times, that it would leave him, but “he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.'”

Good to remember. I wish I had the kind of memory that could pull out appropriate quotes when needed and on the spur of the moment, not an hour later when I am thinking about it.

Meanwhile the constant rain of last week dissipated and the weather for the three-day weekend was pretty darn glorious. I worked in the yard some, but the mosquitoes were also out in full force, so I spent quite a bit of quality time in the Florida room instead. I am re-reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and enjoying it immensely.

I always say–a book worth reading is a book worth re-reading and this is a perfect example. When I first read this book back in 1985 or ’86, I raced through it, because I wanted to know what would happen next. Now I am enjoying the writing and savoring the characters. It is a wise book full of truth. (I may have read it another time during the past 30 years as well, but who’s counting?) I heartily recommend you read or re-read this book. It certainly deserved the Pulitzer Prize it won.

So onward and upward–have a good week!

3 Comments

July 3, 2015

I hear America singing*

by chuckofish

Chris party

Well, tomorrow is my big brother’s birthday. Here are some pictures of him celebrating his birthday in the olden days. Time was when he was usually off fishing somewhere. When he found himself in flyover country we would celebrate in fine fashion.

Last year my dual personality and our better halves visited our bro in Michigan. We couldn’t do it this year. I will miss them.

Our fourth of July at home will definitely be low-key. We’ll toast our forefathers and listen to some Sousa marches. Perhaps we will light some sparklers. Yes, it will be pretty lame.

But don’t feel too sorry for me. I plan to binge-watch John Ford’s cavalry trilogy: For Apache (1948 ), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).

You could do worse, but hardly much better.

And here’s good news: Shirley Temple is Star of the Month on TCM! Here’s a list of the movies they’re showing. Time to set your DVR.

Have a great weekend!

*The first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published in Brooklyn, New York on July 4, 1855.

4 Comments

July 2, 2015

“I just want to be your firecracker”*

by chuckofish

The OM used to belong to a fraternal organization that was responsible for putting on the annual flyover 4th of July parade here in town. He was involved for years in the float department and so our daughters were shanghaied into dressing up in embarrassing costumes and riding on the floats.

One year daughter #1 was Tinkerbell on the Peter Pan float.

In comparison, daughter #2 got away easy dressing up as a hillbilly gal. I have pictures**, but in typical fashion, I am unable to put my hands on them.

I never went to the parade. There is nothing I hate more than getting up in the pre-dawn hours to park God-knows-where to secure a place amidst a large crowd of strangers to watch a parade downtown.

Since it was the OM’s thing, I let him go with it and have father-daughter bonding time. (I did go down to the “den” with respective daughters to get them fitted in their costumes.)

Anyway, the point is, this year for the first time (in a long time) the parade will be televised. Back in the day, I would have really appreciated this.

This year I will be watching the parade in my pajamas. Mimosas, anyone?

*Ryan Adams

**This is not a conspiracy of not having pictures of the neglected 3rd child. Really. I searched high and low.

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