dual personalities

Category: gratitude

November 15, 2019

What’s playing at the Roxy?*

by chuckofish

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Oh boy. It’s Friday.

It’s been an exciting week in Missouri. We had a snow day and a meteorite fell to earth.

In the Episcopal Church we celebrated the lesser feast day of Charles Simeon (1759–1836) who was an English evangelical clergyman. This article by John Piper is interesting.

We all need help here. We are surrounded by, and are part of, a society of emotionally fragile quitters. The spirit of the age is too much in us. We need to spend time with the kind of people whose lives prove there is another way to live. Scripture says, be “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12). So I want to hold up for us the faith and patient endurance of Charles Simeon for our inspiration and imitation.

And Disney gave us fair warning…Screen Shot 2019-11-14 at 2.59.05 PM.png

Thanks, Disney.

And FYI today is America Recycles Day (ARD)! It is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products. My mother was a recycler. It just seemed logical to her. And her puritan soul did not like waste. I would have to agree. As you know, I buy a lot of recycled items–they’re called antiques! (Vintage is okay too…)

My weekend will be a quiet one and that is okay with me. I will catch up with my reading…

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…do some “desk work” and putter around…

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The usual.

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How about you?

*Guys and Dolls

5 Comments
November 5, 2019

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

by chuckofish

We thank thee, O God, for the saints of all ages; for those who in times of darkness kept the lamp of faith burning; for the great souls who saw visions of larger truths and dared to declare them; for the multitude of quiet and gracious souls whose presence has purified and sanctified the world; and for those known and loved by us, who have passed from this earthly fellowship into the fuller life with thee. Accept this our thanksgiving through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer, to whom be praise and dominion for ever.

–Kendall Harmon, A prayer for All Saints Day

So Halloween and All Saints Day have come and gone and we are on the downward slide to the end of the year! Zut alors, the year has sped by.

We had a lovely weekend visit from daughter #2 all the way from Maryland. She went with me to my weekly chemo session…

Screen Shot 2019-11-04 at 4.30.56 PM.png…and we managed to do some of our favorite things as well. Daughter #1 joined us from mid-MO and we went to estate sales…

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…and went out to lunch. We frolicked with the wee babes…

IMG_3774.jpegIMG_3769.jpegWe watched Spy (2015), which we still think is hilarious,

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and a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie starring Jodie Sweetin which was part of the Countdown to Christmas. (Yikes.)

Screen Shot 2019-11-04 at 4.39.23 PM.pngAnd daughter #2 made her famous macaroni and cheese. In addition, we gave each other foot spa treatments and sat around and talked and talked. And went to bed early.

Nothing better, am I right?

It was a good start to November which is a month when we like to consider how much we have to be thankful for, including these guys.

Enjoy your week!

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November 1, 2019

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.”*

by chuckofish

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We had a very quiet Halloween, as we usually do, but it was even more so since it was freezing cold here in flyover country. Literally freezing! There were snow flurries in the morning!

Luckily this had no impact on daughter #2 arriving on time from Maryland. 🙌🙌🙌 She arrived and then the wee babes dropped by after school to show us their Halloween costumes.

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They got to wear their costumes at school.

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They were the cutest little Triceratops ever. (Daughter #3 made the costumes. She has mad skills.)

Lest we forget, yesterday was also Reformation Day, when we celebrate Martin Luther’s nailing of his ninety-five theses to the church door on October 31, 1517, which provoked a debate that culminated finally in the Protestant Reformation.Screen Shot 2019-10-31 at 9.03.08 PM.png

Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

And now I will concentrate on the simple joy of having all my children home for the weekend. Everyone will be over on Saturday night for a little party and what is better than that? (Okay, we wish DN were here, but we will toast absent friends.)

*Psalm 150:6

 

 

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October 25, 2019

“Another fall, another turned page…”*

by chuckofish

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Less than a week of October left! Can you believe it?

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The fall goes by in such a rush…and then it is dark at 5:00 p.m. and it is winter. Sigh.

Daughter #1 had work to do in town so she is home for a long weekend. One of her meetings was at Anheuser Busch and she got to hang out with these guys…

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She’ll go with me to chemo today and on Saturday we’ll venture out to an estate sale or two and maybe…lunch! The boy is in New York for a wedding where he’ll get to wear a tux. I wish I could be there with him, but we do what we can do.

The wee babes have had a busy week at school and Lottie has worn a variety of hair bows.

IMG_3445.jpegIMG_3495.jpegEver the fashion plate.IMG_3492.jpeg

Teach us, O God, to trust your providence, ordered and sure; to accept your wisdom, unerring and true; and to rejoice in your love, unbounded and eternal; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

–Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Paintings are (top down) by Nikolai Matveevich Pozdneev, Vincent Van Gogh, Winslow Homer, Norman Rockwell.

*Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose

2 Comments
October 18, 2019

Hanging in there

by chuckofish

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“Love is not a big enough word.”

So the OM and I are celebrating our 39th anniversary today! I grant you that celebrating may be too strong a word for what we will actually be doing…

…but you know that I am always looking for a reason to toast or celebrate.  And 39 years is a long time!

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1970s College ID–good grief!

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He still has that shirt and it still fits…

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The parade did not pass us by…

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…and the soundtrack never changed…

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(Always with the free advertising…)

Thirty-nine years deserves champagne, but we will probably be hunkering down in front of the telly and watching a movie (sans champagne), per usual on a Friday night.

However, the list of movies that comes up when you google “wedding anniversary movies” is truly bizarre. I mean, really, Gone Girl (2014) is #1.

Shane (1953) is #22 on the list, I suppose because Joe and Marian Starrett celebrate their wedding anniversary on the 4th of July shortly before the denouement of the film.

Screen Shot 2019-10-17 at 11.43.04 AM.pngWell, I haven’t been able to come up with a list of my own…except that Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) comes to mind…

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…wherein Diane Keaton and Woody Allen play a married couple trying to solve a mystery involving a neighbor who may or may not have been murdered. I think it is hilarious but the OM despises Woody Allen. (And there is something vaguely familiar about Diane and Woody.)

Then there’s always Cary Grant and Irene Dunne or Rock Hudson and Doris Day or William Powell and Myrna Loy in a variety of films featuring them as married couples.

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Well, we’ll figure something out. Any suggestions?

Here’s to 39 years! And to a few more!

Have a good weekend!

7 Comments
October 15, 2019

Release one leaf at break of day

by chuckofish

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O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.
–Robert Frost

I love October; it is my favorite month. But I feel that it is rushing by and that I am not able to savor its beauty. No long walks or day trips to mid-MO wine country. Well, c’est la vie. We do what we can.

This past weekend daughter #1 came for a short visit and we did get out on Saturday to a good estate sale where we did rather well. She got a chair and I got a Christmas present for someone. We also went out to lunch. And we met the wee babes at the local farmer’s market to watch them frolic on hay bales and in the corn box.

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They also came over afterwards for pizza and more time with the dollhouse.

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We were certainly living our best lives.

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The painting is Autumn Branches by Jan Schmuckal (found on Etsy.com).

3 Comments
October 11, 2019

This and that

by chuckofish

Well, when you least expect it, you get a surprise. And the Cardinals really surprised me. They won the NLCS in a remarkable game 5, scoring 10 runs in the first inning and winning 13-1.

Screen Shot 2019-10-10 at 9.16.21 AM.pngScreen Shot 2019-10-10 at 9.08.54 AM.pngIn other news I went to the pumpkin patch at the local Methodist Church and met the wee babes there after school.

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We picked out some pumpkins and they ran around.

FullSizeRender-1.jpegFullSizeRender.jpegIMG_3007.jpegA good time was had by all! And we got pumpkins.

History Fun Fact for the day: During a visit to St. Louis on this day in 1910, Theodore Roosevelt flew with pilot Arch Hoxsey, becoming the first U.S. president to fly. The former president must have been a pretty fearless guy–to go up in a plane with a 26-year old pilot! (A few years earlier he had startled the country by diving beneath the waters of Long Island Sound in a submarine.)

Screen Shot 2019-10-10 at 2.38.32 PM.pngSadly, the pilot died a few months later while trying to set a new altitude record. The Wright brothers paid for his funeral.

Yesterday was the start of Dolly Parton Week at the Opry where they are celebrating Dolly’s 50th Opry Member Anniversary. This week-long celebration of her impact on music and the Opry leads up to her 50th anniversary performance on the Opry stage on Saturday. How I wish I could be there Saturday night! I’d also like to see that, yes, truly “every sequin tells a story” at “Dolly: My Opry Memories”, a special limited-time exhibit at the Opry House. I want to “go back in time with wardrobe pieces Dolly has worn on the Opry and Ryman stages over her Opry career!”

Screen Shot 2019-10-10 at 4.03.21 PM.pngDisappointing, indeed, but as usual, I’ll be hanging out at home having a quiet weekend. I  hope to at least make it to an estate sale that looks promising. Maybe I’ll watch a Dolly movie this weekend. Anyone for Steel Magnolias (1989)?

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or Rhinestone (1984)?

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Well, we’ll see.

 

Have a good weekend!

O Lord, heavenly Father, in whom is the fullness of light and wisdom: Enlighten our minds by thy Holy Spirit, and give us grace to receive thy Word with reverence and humility, without which no man can understand thy truth; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

–John Calvin (1509-1564)

4 Comments
October 8, 2019

We are creatures, we are creatures of love*

by chuckofish

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Over the weekend I put out some of my Halloween decorations…

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Yes, fall has officially arrived, pumpkins and all.

I watched three Charlton Heston movies in honor of Chuck’s birthday: The Mountain Men (1980), The Buccaneer (1958) and Arrowhead (1953). Of the three I can recommend The Buccaneer, which co-stars Yul Brynner as the pirate Jean Lafitte.

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Heston plays Andrew Jackson.

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Historically speaking, I have no doubt that it is rife with error, but I enjoyed it.

Besides these Heston histrionics, it was  a pretty quiet weekend. I puttered around and did some “desk work” and cleaned up my office.

The wee babes came over on Sunday night and the OM barbecued. Before they came over I had cleaned up daughter #2’s old LittleTikes dollhouse and put it out on our coffee table. Lottie ran in and exclaimed, “A dollhouse for Lottie!” The wee laddie was hot on her heels, though, and laid claim to the dollhouse as well. We had to assign the 2nd floor to Lottie and the first floor to the bud (to be used as a garage for his cars and trucks).

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Anyway, a good time was had by all.

Here are some bonus pictures of the wee babes on an outing with their parents to the Eckert’s Fun Farm in Millstadt, IL on Saturday. They had a a super fun time and picked/ate a lot of apples.

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Life is good. Enjoy your Tuesday!

*Talking Heads

3 Comments
October 4, 2019

Friday movie pick(s)

by chuckofish

Today we toast Charlton Heston (1923-2008), actor and Episcopalian, on his birthday. Since I was a child, I always liked Charlton, in everything from The Big Country (1958)

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to Secret of the Incas (1954)

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to 55 Days at Peking (1963)

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to Planet of the Apes (1968)…

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He never disappointed. And he made a lot of good movies besides Ben Hur.

Tonight I will watch one of them. Maybe two.

It is also the birthday of Frederick Remington (1861-1909), artist and Episcopalian, who would have enjoyed painting/sculpting Charlton Heston I think.

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Besides this I have no big plans for the weekend. Some puttering maybe, between naps. The weather has (finally) cooled off and I wish I could take a walk, but I’ll have to settle for sitting on the patio and maybe trimming some ivy.

I’m not complaining. It’s all good.

3 Comments
October 1, 2019

Walking along in the changing-time

by chuckofish

Last Sunday was the Pedal the Cause bicycle event which the boy participated in for the third year, riding 20 miles in the PTC Classic. It was very hot.

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I did not go this year, because there is a little too much walking involved, but I was thinking of him and proud of him per usual.

My weekend was quiet. Daughter #1 was home and accompanied me to my chemo treatment, along with the boy who comes with me every Friday. I am very grateful to have such support! We stopped at Chik-fil-a on the way home. Then the boy went to work and daughter #1 went to Ikea and I went to bed.

I read a lot of Longmire.

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I hung up a new wreath (from Etsy) because fall is here.

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I have always loved those “Chinese Lanterns,” don’t you? One of these days I’m gong to try growing my own.

News flash: not only is fall here, but it is October! Zut alors!

“When they turned off, it was still early in the pink and green fields. The fumes of morning, sweet and bitter, sprang up where they walked. The insects ticked softly, their strength in reserve; butterflies chopped the air, going to the east, and the birds flew carelessly and sang by fits.

They went down again and soon the smell of the river spread over the woods, cool and secret. Every step they took among the great walls of vines and among the passion-flowers started up a little life, a little flight.

‘We’re walking along in the changing-time,’ said Doc. ‘Any day now the change will come. It’s going to turn from hot to cold, and we can kill the hog that’s ripe and have fresh meat to eat. Come one of these nights and we can wander down here and tree a nice possum. Old Jack Frost will be pinching things up. Old Mr. Winter will be standing in the door. Hickory tree there will be yellow. Sweet-gum red, hickory yellow, dogwood red, sycamore yellow.’ He went along rapping the tree trunks with his knuckle. ‘Magnolia and live-oak never die. Remember that. Persimmons will all get fit to eat, and the nuts will be dropping like rain all through the woods here. And run, little quail, run, for we’ll be after you too.’

They went on and suddenly the woods opened upon light, and they had reached the river. Everyone stopped, but Doc talked on ahead as though nothing had happened. ‘Only today,’ he said, ‘today, in October sun, it’s all gold—sky and tree and water. Everything just before it changes looks to be made of gold.’

“The Wide Net”
― Eudora Welty

Have a golden week.

 

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