family | dual personalities

June 20, 2019

“I will not afflict you with complaining.”*

by chuckofish

Greetings from the land of the living. I am checking in while daughter #2 is busy in NYC. For several weeks after my surgery I was not reading much; it was difficult to focus.

I started slowly with poetry…

and moved on to old, familiar Kierkegaard and a wonderful new history by David McCullough…

Finally I made my way back to Moby-Dick and a recent biography of Melville. (Don’t you just love his face?)

I am not a STEMM person by any means, but genetics has always fascinated me, and this book is quite engaging and easy to read.

This is not to say that I spend all my time reading. Hardly. I wiled away many an hour in the first weeks of my recovery watching two seasons of sleep-inducing episodes of Murder She Wrote (better than any sleeping pill). When feeling more engaged, I have chuckled my way through several seasons of Corner Gas (2004-2009), a Canadian show about a small town in Saskatchewan where nothing much ever happens, which in my weakened state, I have found to be hilarious.

Screen Shot 2019-06-18 at 2.51.12 PM Sometimes, when I am feeling really productive, I work on a new needlepoint project while I watch the telly.

This old Victorian chair is remarkably well suited for sitting in and sewing by a sunny window. And how about that decoupaged side table I picked up at an antique mall a few months ago? How could I resist those tassels?

Chemotherapy commences tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes.

“An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea.” (M-D)

Meanwhile, what are you reading?

P.S. Here are a couple of pictures of the wee babes, because I know you have missed them, right?

*Lucy Backus Woodbridge, pioneer, quoted in The Pioneers by David McCullough

4 Comments

May 16, 2019

Jesus take the wheel*

by chuckofish

Well, I got some hard news last month. I have cancer and will have surgery tomorrow. We have been through this in my family quite recently with the boy and now it is my turn. I hope I can handle it all with as much grace and confidence as he did.

This article from the desiringGod.org website

was very helpful to me and Piper/Powlison even refer to a favorite prayer of mine–what we call in the Episcopal Church, Saint Patrick’s breastplate:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

In the meantime my DP will continue with the blog while I recover, ably supported by daughters #1 and #2 who have pledged to fill in along with DN. So keep checking in!

And keep me in your prayers please.

I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)

*Brett James / Gordon Sampson / Hillary Lindsey for Carrie Underwood

21 Comments

May 13, 2019

“Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice: him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell”*

by chuckofish

I had a lovely weekend, how about you?

Although Saturday was the coldest May 11 on record (!) here in our flyover city and it was pouring rain most of the day, daughter #1 and I had fun. We went to an auction…

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…and I rescued an early 19th century reverse painted mirror. We then went to a hipster restaurant for lunch (avocado toast, yum) in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

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Coincidentally (?) Gary and Don were playing there, along with Don’s daughter Stephanie, and the ambiance/music was great.

We went home and prepared for the wee babes to come over and celebrate Mother’s Day. Daughter #1 made Episcopal Souffle. Nothing fancy, but my favorite. We had a lovely time.

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On Sunday we went to church and and then the OM took us to Ted Drewes afterwards.

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It was nippy out so we ate in the car!

I gabbed on the phone with dear daughter #2 and with my siblings. A perfect weekend!

*William Keble, hymn 377 (Old 100th)

5 Comments

May 10, 2019

“Perhaps a frail memorial, but sincere, Not scorn’d in heav’n, though little notic’d here.”*

by chuckofish

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Let’s hear it for the weekend and for Mother’s Day!

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We are celebrating Mother’s Day on Saturday night with the wee babes (and their wonderful mother). Daughter #1 is in St. Louis for work today so she will stay in town and join us.

Have a good weekend and remember your mothers!

“Father Wolf looked on amazed. He had almost forgotten the days when he won Mother Wolf in fair fight from five other wolves, when she ran in the Pack and was not called The Demon for compliment’s sake. Shere Khan might have faced Father Wolf, but he could not stand up against Mother Wolf, for he knew that where he was she had all the advantage of the ground, and would fight to the death. So he backed out of the cave mouth growling…”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book

Paintings are (top to bottom) by James Whistler, Francis Coates Jones, Honore Daumier, Nguyen Thanh Binh, Mary Cassatt, Henry Moore, Norman Rockwell)

*William Cowper, “On the Receipt of My Mother’s Picture Out of Norfolk”

6 Comments

May 9, 2019

Inconvenience

by chuckofish

Yesterday daughter #1 flew around the state in the state plane on a small business tour and got driven around by the Highway Patrol.

She handled the stress admirably (and so did I). Meanwhile I got pulled over by the local police for having expired plates and found out that the DMV no longer sends reminder postcards. So now I have to hurry and get my car inspected and all that. Stress I do not need.

Modern problems.

“If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.”
― Robert Fulghum

Sigh.

2 Comments

May 6, 2019

Send us now into the world in peace

by chuckofish

Well, first this:

The dapper wee laddie had his fitting for the suit he will wear as the ring bearer at his aunt’s wedding in June. He seemed pleased with the look. I am not surprised, as his father always liked getting dressed up as well.

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He has always been at home in formal attire…

Screen Shot 2018-08-03 at 4.18.32 PM.png Anyway…my weekend was low key and fun.

The gabfest with my two old friends was wonderful but too short. I forgot to take a picture.

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(taken at an event I did not attend–love those flyover blonds!)

Daughter #1 arrived home in time to make margaritas at 5 pm. Then she played DJ and we listened to music. There is nothing I like better than to listen to favorite tunes chosen by someone else.

We went to church on Sunday morning and then she had to hurry back to mid-Mo as she was heading to KC bright and early on Monday morning. But first we sat on the patio at Club Taco under the blue, blue sky…

..and listened to our friends Gary and Don play some good, good music…

Good times…Meanwhile I am re-reading Moby-Dick and loving it. It is amazingly current and prescient.

This, shipmates, this is that other lesson; and woe to that pilot of the living God who slights it. Woe to him whom this world charms from Gospel duty! Woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when God has brewed them into a gale! Woe to him who seeks to please rather than appall! Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness! Woe to him who, in this world, courts not dishonor! Woe to him who would not be true, even though to be false were salvation! Yea, woe to him who, as the great Pilot Paul has it, while preaching to others is himself castaway! (“The Sermon”)

Look to yourself, Episcopal Church.

Have a good week!

3 Comments

May 3, 2019

“Yeah, well… sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand”*

by chuckofish

There is a lot going on this weekend, including the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 1.19.57 PM.png It is also the 50th anniversary of the National Churchill Museum in Fulton, MO and there is a whole weekend of activities planned.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 1.23.54 PM.png The St. Louis Fine Print, Rare Book & Paper Arts Fair is this weekend–always a favorite of mine.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 1.18.50 PM.png It is Cinco de Mayo. Time for a margarita!

And it is my 45th high school reunion.

I am getting together with my two best friends from back in the day for a gabfest, but other than that, I am playing it pretty cool.

Meanwhile the rivers are rising as rainfall continues to be higher than forecast.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 6.07.23 PM.png It has been raining all week and the forecast for the weekend is not great. So let’s all say a weather prayer…

Compassionate God, source of all comfort,
We pray for the people whose lives have been devastated by rain and flood.
Bring them comfort, we pray.
Protect the vulnerable.

Have mercy on all those working to rescue the stranded and to feed the hungry.
And may our response to their suffering be generous and bring you praise.
For we ask it in Jesus name,

Amen.

I hope we get to see these goofballs.

And this made me laugh…

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Have a good weekend–whatever you decide to do!

*Cool Hand Luke (Paul Newman) in Cool Hand Luke (1967)

6 Comments

April 29, 2019

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace”*

by chuckofish

Froggie went a courtin’…and I found him at an estate sale a few weeks ago. I planted some annuals this weekend. Hopefully they will fill in around him. I planted some geraniums in pots as well. The OM even got into the act…

We have had a lot of rain, which is great for the grass…but the violets love it as well…

…zut alors! They are considered a weed around here.

Anyway, everything is greening up nicely. I saw a big bumble bee doing his thing and the birds are building nests and the chipmunks are building tunnels.

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
⁸or the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
⁹Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:7-10)

We babysat for the wee babes and they went to bed like little lambs (?!) once we had wrestled them into their jammies (easier said than done). Then they came over for their usual visit on Sunday night and frolicked in our yard.

Be thou thyself, O Lord, we beseech thee, the shepherd of thy people; that we who are strengthened by thy risen presence may in our daily life walk with thee, and in humble trust seek to follow thee, as thou callest us by name and dost lead us out; for thy glory’s sake.

—The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: Services of Praise and Prayer for Occasional Use in Churches (New York: Oxford University Press, 1933)

*Isaiah 55:11

5 Comments

April 26, 2019

“Oh where are you going with your love-locks flowing/ On the west wind blowing along this valley track?”*

by chuckofish

It has been a busy week, the highlight of which was my visit to the wee babes’ preschool one morning for Grandparents’ Day. I went to chapel with them and to an activity (coloring) and a snack. I had to leave early to get to work, but they were in the good hands of their other grandparents. At two, life is just one activity after another and then you take a nap. Sounds pretty good, right?

After quite a few busy weekends in a row, I am going to take it real easy this weekend. I have no plans besides babysitting the wee babes on Saturday night. I am hoping the OM and I are capable of handling/wrangling them for two hours. We’ll see.

Since tomorrow marks the 137th anniversary of the death of the brilliant, but ultimately misguided, Sage of Concord, Ralph Waldo Emerson, I will be toasting him.

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When Emerson died of pneumonia in 1882, he was buried on “Author’s Ridge” in Concord’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery —a cemetery that was designed with Emerson’s Transcendentalist, nature-loving aesthetics in mind. In 1855, as a member of the Concord Cemetery Committee, Emerson gave the dedication at the opening of the cemetery, calling it a “garden of the living” that would be a peaceful place for both visitors and permanent residents. “Author’s Ridge” became a burial ground for many of those famous American authors who called Concord home—Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Emerson. Good company for sure.

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I should also note that tomorrow Christina Rossetti is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Anglican Church.

Somewhere or Other

Somewhere or other there must surely be

The face not seen, the voice not heard,

The heart that not yet—never yet—ah me!

Made answer to my word.

Somewhere or other, may be near or far;

Past land and sea, clean out of sight;

Beyond the wandering moon, beyond the star

That tracks her night by night.

Somewhere or other, may be far or near;

With just a wall, a hedge, between;

With just the last leaves of the dying year

Fallen on a turf grown green.

Join me in toasting her as well! And have a good weekend!

*from “Amor Mundi” by Christina Rossetti

4 Comments

April 24, 2019

“And it’s all in a day’s work”*

by chuckofish

My friend Carla posted this on Facebook yesterday and I have to share it because it made me laugh 😂.

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I mean really. They evacuated the street?

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I get it. Better safe than sorry, but you gotta love it. If it’s not giant raccoons, it’s the bomb squad, right, Carla?

Another friend sent me some beautiful pictures of his redbud trees (eastern redbud tree, Cercis canadensis), noting how their blooms originate from the branches.