dual personalities

Category: gratitude

October 29, 2018

Postcards from the weekend

by chuckofish

What a joy to have two daughters home for the weekend! The sun shone all weekend. We did all the things.

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Margaritas at Amigos

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Muny Mochas at Ted Drewes

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Wee babes getting ready for Boo at the Zoo

IMG_1466.jpegIMG_1464.jpegSo much fun AND we even went to church! My BFF Carla gave the Stewardship talk and it was an amazing testimony about church community. I was reminded that no matter how irritated I may become with my denomination, it is important to have a church home.

Screen Shot 2018-10-29 at 6.50.08 AM.pngI am taking daughter #2 to the airport this morning and then it’s back to the salt mine and my usual routine. Have a good week!

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September 24, 2018

Listen to your life

by chuckofish

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Well, we had a joyful weekend, how about you? We celebrated daughter #1’s belated birthday as planned.

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References to donuts abounded.

We also went to a couple of estate sales, but were unsuccessful. We returned something at J. Crew and resisted buying these gold leggings for Miss Lottie.

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Daughter #1 hung a picture up for me.

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Try as I may, I have never been able to drive a nail into a wall. Luckily my children are all handier than I am.

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The weather was glorious all weekend, so we opted to take a walk through the nearby Powder Valley conservation area instead of going to church.IMG_4291.JPGIMG_4293.JPG

After daughter # 1 headed back to mid-MO, I gabbed on the phone with daughter #2 and caught up on my household chores and the OM gassed up my car. An excellent weekend, don’t you agree?

Now we are off to the races at work–a very busy week ahead. We’ll take it one day at a time.

“Listen to your life. Listen to what happens to you because it is through what happens to you that God speaks… It’s in language that’s not always easy to decipher, but it’s there, powerfully, memorably, unforgettably.”

–Frederick Buechner

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August 29, 2018

How I spent my summer

by chuckofish

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Can it be true? Are we really in the last week of August, the home stretch of summer? Say it ain’t so! Well, I can really relate to Sally, can’t you?

I read some good books (but no Tolstoy) and, although I watched no game shows, I watched a lot of old movies.

PpT1TDw.gifI went to quite a few estate sales.

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We finished our kitchen “update,” but did not make much progress in our basement clean-up. (This project moves to the fall list.)

We went to one baseball game.

We barbecued quite a few times and watched the wee babes get bigger.

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We enjoyed visits from two nephews, one niece, one BFF, two darling daughters, and DN.

I voted in the primary.

I took 5 days of vacation and got out of town, but the rest of the time, I was working! Contrary to popular belief, we do not slow down in the summer.

Pretty lame maybe, but pretty great too, if you ask me.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. (Philippians 4:1)

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August 23, 2018

“Would you like to swing on a star/Carry moonbeams home in a jar”*

by chuckofish

Today daughter #2 and DN arrive from Maryland so we can continue the fêting that began last week.

Screen Shot 2018-08-22 at 10.17.42 AM.pngIt will be a quick visit but they will have ample time to see the wee babes on multiple occasions…even though the babes are now in pre-school/daycare and carry tiny backpacks…

Screen Shot 2018-08-22 at 9.22.54 AM.pngScreen Shot 2018-08-22 at 9.22.42 AM.pngThey are also driving down to Columbia, MO to see daughter #1 and check out the scene in a flyover college town.

I anticipate super fun.

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

*Johnny Burke / Jimmy Van Heusen

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August 17, 2018

Can I get a witness?

by chuckofish

Quelle busy week! But I survived for the most part. In addition to our big technology fail at work and daughter #2’s big academic success, we had a new floor installed in the kitchen/hall/powder room at home.

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It looks great! This weekend will be spent putting the kitchen back together and getting ready for much-anticipated visitors next Thursday.

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Life is good.

“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Amen.  Enjoy your Friday; have a great weekend!

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August 3, 2018

“Live thy Life, Young and old, Like yon oak, Bright in spring, Living gold”*

by chuckofish

It has been a very busy week–at work and at play! If going to the baseball game on a work night wasn’t unusual enough, last night my brother’s son and daughter stopped in overnight on their way from San Diego to Michigan. (He’s moving his stuff home before moving to Istanbul to teach at Boğaziçi University, also known as Bosphorus University.) The boy brought his family over and the OM barbecued. The cousins got a full dose of the wee babes.

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The wee laddie emptied the box and then climbed in. So. Much. Fun.

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I fit in a box, Mommy!

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Look at me. My head fits in a box!

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2018 08 02_3244.jpgNormally I would collapse after such a week, but I have to get ready to head out on Sunday morning (bright and early) to fly to Colorado. Zut alors! I am not complaining. I am blessed to be busy doing things that I love with friends and family.

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Have a great weekend! I probably won’t be blogging next week, but maybe my DP will, which would be lovely.

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

PSA: August is Summer Under the Stars time at TCM–you know when they highlight a different star every day. Here’s the schedule.

*Alfred, Lord Tennyson

10 Comments
July 2, 2018

“Gave it my best and then I left it alone”*

by chuckofish

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The tiger lilies are still blooming at home

How was your weekend? Mine was quite delightful, especially since daughter #1 was in town unexpectedly. She had to be in St. Louis for work on Friday so she stayed over Friday night.  On Saturday we estate-saled, lunched out at our favorite lunch place (and my mother’s favorite), the Women’s Exchange, went to the Sign of the Arrow (needlepoint store) and generally did our old-lady thing. It was great. It was too darn hot to do anything outside, so we stayed inside and went through some stuff in the basement, looking for other stuff in the basement, which we never found.

That evening we got the OM to take us out to dinner at our local Mexican restaurant at the old-lady hour of 5:00 pm–the place to our surprise was hoppin’! I guess everyone in town wanted a margarita! In the evening we chilled and listened to 1990s country music.

In the morning, daughter #1 headed back to mid-MO bright and early and I set about doing what I had planned to do, i.e. clean the house, do laundry and change sheets in preparation for visitors during the week.

Daughter #2 called and told me all about her weekend with my friend Harriet in Norfolk, Virginia. She had so much fun visiting in March that she went back with DN!

Screen Shot 2018-07-01 at 10.28.45 AM.pngSunday was the first anniversary of her marriage to DN. We reminisced a little and were grateful that it wasn’t as hot last year as it is this year!

Screen Shot 2017-07-29 at 8.54.30 AM.pngThe wee babes came over on Sunday night and messed up a lot of what I had put right during the day. But, truly, life is too short to care about that.

Screen Shot 2018-07-01 at 9.51.22 PM.pngThey weren’t terribly interested in the like-new, handmade Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls I bought at an estate sale on Saturday.

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But that’s okay too.

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Lottie liked her cherry hat and would have worn it all night if the wee laddie hadn’t insisted on trying it on. (He took it right off.) We go with the flow.

So remember, it’s a great day to be alive…Have a good one!

*Travis Tritt

6 Comments
June 25, 2018

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, and his mercy endures for ever.”*

by chuckofish

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How was your weekend? After a raging thunderstorm of a Friday afternoon we had a lovely Saturday with temperatures in the 70s! I had a great visit with my old friend Harriet–such a treat!–and daughter #1 breezed into town as well.

We buzzed around town hitting a couple of estate sales where I rescued a needlepoint pillow (see strawberries) and got a few books and a floor lamp. We dropped in on the boy who was working at his store.

Screen Shot 2018-06-24 at 1.38.25 PM.pngWe had lunch and walked around our hometown. She got the oil changed in her car and bought some great chinoiserie fabric to recover a chair. Then the wee babes came over on Saturday night and we reconnected with them. It had been awhile!

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The wee laddie said hello to the handles on the highboy.

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Little Miss Lottie said hello to Aunt Susie and Uncle Nate (in abstentia)…

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…and gave Aunt Susie a kiss

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The wee laddie wears an eye patch for a few hours a day.

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I have 11 teeth!

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Busy walking the circuit

After daughter #1 left on Sunday afternoon to go back to mid-MO, I got some laundry and housework done and talked to daughter #2, who is on the home stretch to her oral defense of her PhD thesis. You go, girl! The summer is zooming by.

Now it is back to the salt mine. Have a good week!

*Psalm 107:1

4 Comments
May 11, 2018

Little feet along the floor

by chuckofish

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Daughter #2 asked me to find a vintage mother/daughter photo for her to post on Mother’s Day. I told her I would look. There are really very few and I’m sure the above example was not really what she had in mind.

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The other choices weren’t a whole lot better.

Oh well. It was sweet of her to ask.

Mother’s Day will be the highlight and raison d’être of the weekend. Daughter #1 is coming home and we will get together with the boy and his wee family for a barbecue on Saturday. Then on Sunday I’ll take the OM and daughter #1 to my faculty club for brunch/mimosas after church.

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

And to all the young mothers out there I say: don’t waste a minute complaining about being tired or bored or too busy. It all goes by in a flash and “there isn’t always someone who wants you singing to him or nibbling his ear or brushing his cheek with a dandelion blossom. Somebody who knows when you’re being silly, and laughs and laughs.” (Marilynne Robinson, Lila) Sooner than you can believe it, you’re a grandma and they’re giving you the side-eye, not so sure who this crazy lady is.

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So enjoy your kids. There is nothing like that feeling of being the most important person in the world to someone. It doesn’t last. They are God’s gift to you for a little while.

Have a great weekend. Call your mother!

 

5 Comments
May 4, 2018

“Ah, but I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now.”*

by chuckofish

Do you have one of those friends who is always sending you jokes and strange pictures of nature from the internet? Well, I do too. Here is something he sent me that Will Rogers

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allegedly said about growing older …

1.   Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it. 

2.  The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

3.   Some people try to turn back their odometers.  Not me.  I want people to know ‘why’ I look this way.  I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren’t paved.

4.  When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, think of algebra …

5.   You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

6.   I don’t know how I got over the hill without getting to the top. 

7.   One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it’s such a nice change from being young.

8.   One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.

9.   Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable and relaxed.

10. Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft.  Today it’s called golf.

He makes some good points I think. Food for thought anyway.

This weekend I am going to go with “comfortable and relaxed.” I may go to an auction or I may stick to estate sales. I may clean the garage. Also, lest I forget, Pottery Barn is delivering a new sofa for our den on Saturday, so that will generate/necessitate some activity in that room. I do not buy “new” furniture very often, so comme c’est excitant!

Tonight is the preview party for the Print Fair at the Mercantile Library here in town.

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Old books, prints, wine, a silent auction–my kind of fun. On the other hand, the OM’s 45th high school reunion is this weekend, but I am begging off. I prefer to be comfortable and relaxed at home. Of course we’re never too chill to see the wee babes and their parents!

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And is there anything better than a picture of these two guys together?

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I think not. (Thanks to the @johnwayneofficial Instagram page.)

Have a good weekend!

*Bob Dylan, “My Back Pages”

4 Comments