dual personalities

Category: gratitude

July 17, 2019

Ride, boldly, ride*

by chuckofish

My dear DP is here now in flyover country to spend some time with me. It’s not like we are having “super fun” exactly, but we are having quality one-on-one time like we haven’t had in years and years. That is a great blessing.

She is also giving some respite to the OM who has been forced by our present circumstances to shoulder more than his usual burden of responsibilities. [Plus, in the last few weeks the air conditioning went out, the garage door needed adjusting and now the dryer vent has come undone for the umpteenth time and we have had to call in the auxiliary troops again.] C’est la vie. He reminds me sometimes of Arthur Hunnicutt trudging off to get Croton Oil or gunpowder or soap in El Dorado (1967) for the beleaguered gang in the sheriff’s office.

Screen Shot 2019-07-15 at 11.52.04 AM.png

But he’s been great and I am grateful. And today is the OM’s birthday! I’m afraid it got a little lost in the shuffle, although daughter #1 sent him a card…

IMG_3999.JPG

…and then daughter #2 sent him the same card! There will be no big party to celebrate, but maybe we’ll watch Bullitt (1968) and get Chik-fil-A. I could maybe go for that too.

Screen Shot 2019-07-15 at 3.01.24 PM.png

The wee babes don’t get back into town until tonight, and they are coming over tomorrow 🎉🎉, so perhaps there will be cake and a few presents. It’s always a party when they come over!

In the meantime, here are some pics from their visit to Sarasota.

IMG_0492.jpegIMG_0498.jpegIMG_0446.jpegIMG_0523.jpegIMG_0540.jpegIMG_0682.jpeg

Aren’t they getting so grown up?

L’Chaim to the OM tonight!

*Edgar Allan Poe

3 Comments
July 5, 2019

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave

by chuckofish

I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July and are enjoying a day off today. The wee babes came over and ran us ragged.Screen Shot 2019-07-05 at 6.08.20 AM.pngIMG_0002.jpegWe went through our repertoire pretty fast and had to bring out the big guns, i.e. our vintage copy of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, which is the wee laddie’s absolute favorite.IMG_0273.jpegWe also brought out the Big Box of Beanie Babies and, boy, was that ever popular. We went through it identifying each and every Beanie Baby. They have amazing recall. Then the wee babes enjoyed getting in and out of the box themselves. IMG_0254.jpegThey also had fun running wild in our yard. The energy of these wee babes is impressive.IMG_0243.jpegBy the time it was time to watch fireworks, they were finally pretty done in, so they went home and we collapsed.

Today daughter #1 and I will be taking it easy. Second round of chemo…and then home again, home again jiggety jig.

Also, note that every Friday in July TCM will show an all-day marathon of movies from the “Golden Year 1939”. Today’s movies are:

Screen Shot 2019-07-05 at 6.14.26 AM.png

3 Comments
July 3, 2019

“I haven’t lost my temper in 40 years”*

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2019-06-27 at 2.01.32 PM.png

Tomorrow is the 4th of July–let’s whoop it up some!

In the morning TCM is playing some great John Wayne movies…

Screen Shot 2019-07-02 at 1.05.29 PM.png

…and that night they’re showing some appropriate musicals…

Screen Shot 2019-07-02 at 8.14.38 PM.pngSet that DVR!

We will probably be taking it pretty easy here in our flyover neighborhood. We won’t be attending Fair St. Louis or anything big like that. (We’ll watch the parade on TV.) But the OM will fire up the barbecue and the wee babes will come over for awhile. (They have new outfits.)

IMG_0205.JPGIMG_0206.JPG

We’ll dig out the sparklers and bang some pots and pans. Maybe we’ll play some patriotic music…

Screen Shot 2019-07-02 at 8.11.48 PM.png

And let’s all say a prayer:

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Independence Day, BCP)

There are a lot of movies with 4th of July scenes, but lists almost always forget the classic finale of McClintock! (1963) wherein John Wayne spanks Maureen O’Hara and everyone cheers. Here’s another great scene featuring our quintessential American hero.

Have a good one. Make good choices.

*John Wayne in McClintock! (1963)

2 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…

Screen Shot 2019-05-12 at 9.07.20 AM.png

…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.

Screen Shot 2019-05-12 at 9.05.40 AM.png

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.

EE72824DBDD3494CBF2FE69EF7EC0C3E.jpg

IMG_1475.JPG

Screen Shot 2019-05-12 at 9.04.43 AM.png

IMG_1493.JPGOn Sunday we went to church and and then the OM took us to Ted Drewes afterwards.

Screen Shot 2019-05-12 at 3.57.11 PM.png

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

Screen Shot 2019-05-09 at 11.16.22 AM.png

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

Screen Shot 2019-05-09 at 11.28.05 AM.pngScreen Shot 2019-05-09 at 11.20.16 AM.pngScreen Shot 2019-05-09 at 11.31.43 AM.pngScreen Shot 2019-05-09 at 11.34.17 AM.pngScreen Shot 2019-05-09 at 11.36.58 AM.pngScreen Shot 2019-05-09 at 11.40.01 AM.png

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!

img_2995.jpg

“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 8, 2019

Counting every blessing

by chuckofish

We have a had an extremely wet winter and spring. Yes, the trees have been beautiful and the grass is lush, but the flooding has been bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeYBKYOkGxo&feature=player_embedded

The eye shall look, the ear shall hark

To the hills, the doings in the hills,

And rivers mating in the dark

With tokens from the hills.

Now what is weak will surely go,

And what is strong must prove it so—

Stand fast in the lowlands, lowlands,

Lowlands under the hills!

(Rudyard Kipling, from the poem “The Floods”)

There is more on the way.

If this puts you in the mood to watch a disaster movie, here’s quite an exhaustive list of choices including a few about floods. I have seen Noah (2014) starring Russell Crowe and it is a pretty terrible movie. It seems odd to me that, considering it is based on the biblical story of Noah and the Ark, there is nary a mention of God in the whole thing. I think I would rather watch The Bible: In the Beginning (1966) which includes the Noah story from Genesis. You remember, John Huston plays Noah.

Screen Shot 2019-05-07 at 3.26.46 PM.pngHe also directed the film and narrates it. Yes, it is one of those elaborate star-studded Hollywood efforts and is  produced by Dino De Laurentiis, but its screenwriter Christopher Fry sticks fairly close to the original. I always thought that Peter O’Toole makes a good angel.

Screen Shot 2019-05-07 at 3.18.50 PM

As I recall, it is overly long and a tad boring at times, but I may have to check it out…

Meanwhile, we will hope and pray that the cresting rivers here in Missouri and our surrounding states do not wreak too much havoc with our neighbors and their lives.

2 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

Unknown-1.jpeg

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.

Screen Shot 2019-04-25 at 1.09.28 PM.png

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.

Screen Shot 2019-04-25 at 11.17.05 AM.png

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 17, 2019

Building tabernacles, just like Peter

by chuckofish

I thought this post by a fellow Episcopalian regarding the fire at Notre Dame was really on point. Read the whole thing.

Screen Shot 2019-04-16 at 3.23.10 PM.png

“We want to build our devotion and then we love what we have built: but faith is not a building. St. Peter was vetoed when he tried to build those tabernacles, but he helped build a place for Grace to the world that fully lives after he is long dead. What 2,000 years has built will still be there tomorrow after every devastation because we did not make it: God did.”

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.” (Julian of Norwich)

2 Comments
April 12, 2019

Hallowed be thy name

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2019-04-11 at 3.41.24 PM.png

We are almost to Holy Week! I have been terribly remiss and unfocused in my Lenten endeavors (or lack thereof.)

Screen Shot 2019-04-11 at 3.44.46 PM.png

Palm Sunday is this Sunday! I am not the narrator this year in our reading of the Passion Narrative. 😭 No, I am back in the bit player ranks–a “priest”. 😭 C’est la vie.

But on the bright side, Sunday night we have tickets to see Ben Hur (1959) on the Big Screen, which should be awesome.

Screen Shot 2019-04-11 at 3.45.48 PM.png

Let’s toast that and a return to focusing on what’s important.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

(Robert Robinson 1757)

2 Comments