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March 27, 2019

Another brown-eyed handsome man*

by chuckofish

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Yesterday was DN’s birthday and, although I remembered and, indeed, thought about him all day long, I failed to mention him in my blogpost. This week is rather fraught, ye unto brimming, with things to occupy my mind, so I’m sure he understood.

I am very grateful that DN is a part of our lives.

You what-what?

Besides being a loving partner to daughter #2, he talks with me about books and makes wonderful cocktails and drives me to the airport in ice storms. He appreciates symbolism in religious rites. He is not averse to visiting battlefields and other historic sites and can poke around in an antique store without getting impatient. He ordered three dozen tiki glasses (un-prompted) for the 200th birthday party for Herman Melville we are planning for this summer!

“He’s a keepah!”

The wee laddie has always agreed.

*Chuck Berry

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March 25, 2019

“Mary ate my donut.”*

by chuckofish

Another whirlwind weekend comes to an end, this one filled to the brim with the whirling dervishes known as the wee babes.

The boy dropped them off at 9:00 am on Saturday and I entertained them until daughter #1 returned from having her oil changed (and getting donuts). We read this book which I had bought at the Art Mart, having remembered it fondly from my own childhood many moons ago.

They loved it! That color wheel is the best. The wee babes knew all their colors and all the animals–oinka oinka–pictured inside. This book may be 60 years old, but it really holds up! (Back in print for the first time since it was published in 1959, “proudly reissued in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Little Golden Books!”)

Daughter #1 and I then bundled them into their double stroller and walked up to the little neighborhood park. They ran around like free range monkeys and climbed on the climbing structure and went down the slide many times. They also enjoyed picking up sticks and leaves and poking around. It doesn’t take much. We met some friendly dogs being walked and that was exciting too.

After we got home and ate lunch, the wee laddie could barely keep his eyes open–all that fresh air and running around you know–so we moved into the TV room, hoping some Veggie Tales would put them to sleep. This plan backfired as the new room, which is usually off-limits to them, renewed their strength and curiosity, and they were off to the races again. We had no luck getting them to nap, although the wee laddie finally crashed in the crib upstairs and slept like a log for a good long while. Miss Lottiebelle would not settle down, however, so we tried a variety of activities to no avail. She was pretty stressed out by a) the fact that her brother wasn’t around and b) she was upstairs in a mysterious new part of the house and c) her mommy was out of town. As a last resort, we got out a huge box of old Beanie Babies and went through them. By the time we roused her brother and things got back to normal, it was almost time for their daddy to pick them up, which he did around 3:30 pm.

After they left, daughter #1 and I indulged in a large glass of wine. (It was 5 o’clock somewhere.) The OM took us to dinner at Dewey’s (more wine) and when we came home and got in our jammies, we watched Tommy Boy (1995),

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Fat guy in a little coat…

which says a lot about the state of our minds, and went to bed at 9:00.

Sunday we got up and finished the last of the donuts and daughter #1 hit the road for mid-MO. I straightened up and did laundry etc. and moved all my plants to the Florida room. I cleaned it up and put out all the pillows. It is almost ready to have the girls over for an end-of-the-week drink! Believe me, I will need one.

I also tried to mentally prepare for the hell week that commences today. So many events this week.

But I can handle it. I am woman; hear me roar.

And this Instagram post (not actually posted) by the boy made me laugh: Screen Shot 2019-03-24 at 11.23.54 AM.png

Have a good week!

*Lottiebelle after her aunt ate the last bit of donut which had been sitting on a plate in the living room for 4 hours. Her tone was matter-of-fact but tinged with judgement.

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March 21, 2019

Raise the hallelujah

by chuckofish

Did you see the super moon last night?

It was pretty cool.

March’s full moon is sometimes called the “worm moon,” because according to folklore tradition, it occurs at a time when the frosty ground is melting and earthworms start to emerge. Noted.

Spring is here officially I guess. And that crazy amaryllis keeps on blooming…

I bought these at the grocery store. Nice, right?

I think so too.

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March 1, 2019

“Dear March, how are you?”*

by chuckofish

Well, we had a snow day yesterday–or make that an ‘ice’ day. We awoke to a thin sheeting of ice everywhere, so most schools were closed for the day.

I would have preferred not to close, but, oh well, c’est la vie. It snowed in the afternoon.

I had a very low-key day at home, puttering and reading, putting things away. I did a face mask.

I watched The Rains Came, which is one of the top-grossing films of 1939–you remember, I blogged about that last week.

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Tyrone Power as an Indian doctor, Myrna Loy and George Brent

It is hard to believe that Tyrone Power had two movies in the top five that year! Indeed, he was the second biggest box office draw in 1939–second only to Mickey Rooney! He has never been a favorite of mine, but to each his own. Anyway, the movie is quite a melodrama with a flood and a monsoon and an earthquake and the dam breaks and there’s a plague. Eye-roll.

And now it is Friday and the first day of March! Daughter #1 is driving home today. We have a few things planned.

She hasn’t seen the wee babes in weeks!

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That’s my girl!

Have a super-fun weekend!

*Emily Dickinson, ‘Dear March – Come in’

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February 12, 2019

“Like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery.”*

by chuckofish

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A Valentine picture from the past!

“You think you will never forget any of this, you will remember it always just the way it was. But you can’t remember it the way it was. To know it, you have to be living in the presence of it right as it is happening. It can return only by surprise. Speaking of these things tells you that there are no words for them that are equal to them or that can restore them to your mind. And so you have a life that you are living only now, now and now and now, gone before you can speak of it, and you must be thankful for living day by day, moment by moment, in this presence. But you have a life too that you remember. It stays with you. You have lived a life in the breath and pulse and living light of the present, and your memories of it, remember now, are of a different life in a different world and time. When you remember the past, you are not remembering it as it was. You are remembering it as it is. It is a vision or a dream, present with you in the present, alive with you in the only time you are alive.”

― Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter

*Wendell Berry

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January 16, 2019

Just saying

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2019-01-15 at 7.45.02 AM.png (Instragam @vegaslady42 who reposted it from somewhere else)

Meanwhile the amaryllis, given to us by my brother and his wife before Christmas, continues to grow. Hopefully it will bloom sometime in mid-February, just when we need it the most! The wee laddie was quite fascinated with it the other night and thus we have it staked now…as usual, he heeded his mother’s pleas for a “gentle touch!” only after some damage was already done. The Christmas cactus is also a favorite place for the wee babes to deposit their Playskool chicken and rooster…

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…which is quite brilliant if you ask me. Birds in the foliage, right? It is great to see them recognize things and make connections.

Lottie has been terrific at pointing out horses (“neigh!”) on fabric and in pictures for awhile. The first time she did this, it blew me away. She is one observant child.

Now she can find elephants everywhere.

She called the clock a “house” which I thought was brilliant as well.Our house is like a treasure hunt for them anyway. It is their job to “find” their toys that have been put away and drag them out. Books in particular.

They also like to move the little chairs around, because, you know, they can.

I have bought nothing new for them except the shopping cart, which, of course, the wee laddie thinks is a Sherman Tank. What was I thinking?

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Well, nothing is too precious in our house not to be “antiqued” further by the demonstrative hands of our two-year old, twenty-pound twin tornadoes.

The old manse can take it.

By the way, yesterday the wee babes had their final NICU follow-up appointment. According to daughter #3, the doctors were very pleased with how they both are doing. Both are basically caught up developmentally to their same-aged peers…and they told us not to expect this until they were 3! Love and attention go a long, long way.

Thanks be to God.

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January 14, 2019

“See, what you have to ask yourself is: what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?”

by chuckofish

Well, we did, indeed, have a little snow on Friday night.

I did a little shoveling, but the boy brought his snow blower over and did most of our driveway…

He made short work of what would have been a major effort/pain for me to do. I did some more shoveling on Sunday…by then the snow was heavy and icey. But it felt good to get out in the cold and do some physical work.

I spent the weekend reading M Train by Patti Smith, “an unforgettable odyssey of a legendary artist, told through the prism of the cafés and haunts she has worked in around the world. It is a book Patti Smith has described as ‘a roadmap to my life.’”

Like me, she is a person who sees signs and miracles in the world. She rescues objects and keeps talismans that are full of meaning for her.

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She wears vintage clothes and watches detective shows and visits cemeteries to pay homage to specific graves, usually of literary figures or artists. If I ever go to Tokyo I will, like Patti, want to have dinner at the restaurant Mifune. In other words, we are on the same page.

–Reading Ibsen?

–Yes, The Master Builder.

–Hmmmm, lovely play but fraught with symbolism.

–I hadn’t noticed, I said.

He stood before the fire for a moment then shook his head and left. Personally, I’m not much for symbolism. I never get it. Why can’t things be just as they are? I never thought to psychoanalyze Seymour Glass or sought to break down “Desolation Row.” I just wanted to get lost, become one with somewhere else, slip a wreath on a steeple top because I wished it. (M Train)

I also delved into Sam Anderson’s Boom Town, “The fantastical saga of Oklahoma City, its chaotic founding, its apocalyptic weather, its purloined basketball team, and the dream of becoming a world-class metropolis,” which DN gave me for Christmas, because he knows that OC is on my top-five list of places I want to visit. Isn’t it great to have a son-in-law who picks out books for me? I mean really.

The wee babes frolicked in the snow…

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…and they came over for Episcopal souffle on Sunday night. Can you believe how grown up they look?

Can you say, “chip and dip”?

And now it’s back to the rat race…have a good week!

Here is Patti Smith’s lovely elegy for her friend Sam Shepard.

*Graham Hess in Signs (2002)

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January 2, 2019

“Don’t kid yourself. These are the good old days.”*

by chuckofish

Well, after daughter #1 headed back to mid-MO, I set to work putting away Christmas decorations, which is a pretty big job and always kind of sad. However, it was good to say hello to some old friends.

By mid-afternoon, I had everything mostly under control. I was glad we had taken down the big tree on Sunday!

Today, like a lot of people, I am back at work. It was a very nice break, full of family and fun, but I am ready to start the new year.

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Instagram @desiringgod

Onward and upward.

*Nick Charles in The Thin Man (1934)

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December 17, 2018

“From our sins and fears release us, Let us find our rest in Thee.”*

by chuckofish

How could he have considered taking Monday off? Monday was the diving board poised over the rest of the week. One walked out on the board, reviewed the situation, planned one’s strategy, bounced a few times to get the feel of things, and then made a clean dive. Without Monday, one simply bombed into the water, belly first, and hoped for the best.

–Jan Karon, At Home in Mitford

My Monday will be a breeze compared to my weekend. Weekends are when we working girls get everything done that needs to be done at home. And at this time of year it is not just the usual laundry, food shopping and home projects that pile up.

The boy came over on Friday night after work and hauled the tree in from the garage, put it in the stand and strung the lights.

After he went home, I hung the ornaments on the tree. Voila, beautiful.

On Saturday I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped more presents. Even though my kids are all grown up and moved away, I still seem to get them the same amount of presents I always have–even if half of them are estate sale finds and used books! And now we have a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law! Wrapping presents is back-breaking work–literally. I mean it’s not chopping wood, but it feels like it later, you know?

I also went to the store twice, got my hair cut and gabbed on the phone with daughters # 1 and 2. After I finished putting up the Christmas decorations, I collapsed and watched Circus World (1962) with John Wayne and Claudia Cardinale and enjoyed it immensely.

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It features real acts from the Althof Circus, a very old family circus in Europe, which during WWII sheltered a number of Jewish refugees from the Nazis. (The owners were later honored for their work.) The acts which are highlighted are excellent and the clowns are genuinely funny, But they don’t overdue the circus acts. It has an engaging plot and so does not come off like a semi-documentary the way The Greatest Show on Earth (1951) does.

I went to church and then finished wrapping presents and cleaning the house. Phew. I was tired by the time we went over to the boy’s house to have dinner and see the wee babes who have been sick with RSV all week…

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but are much better now. Sweet babies.

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Now it is Monday and I have four busy days and then I’m off for Christmas! Hopefully I am finished with all the busy work and can focus on the the reason for the season!

*Charles Wesley, “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”

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December 14, 2018

I choose joy

by chuckofish

I am still getting Christmas decorations out and finding a place for them. Other things must be put away. Annie and Andy were quite accommodating.

This gang goes on the mantle.

But I am not so sure where this gang is going to go…

This weekend I will (hopefully) settle all these decorating issues.

These are issues I can deal with. Three years ago we were dealing with finding out the boy had cancer. Two years ago the twins were born at 27 weeks, 3 months premature, and their parents were camped out in the NICU. “Things happen,” as T.E. Lawrence said, “and we do our best to keep in the saddle.” We stayed in the saddle. We keep going.

Because there is always something to deal with. The ups and downs of business. The precarious-ness of jobs. They seem magnified at this time of year when we are so busy and so focused on the festivities of the season. What we really need to focus on, of course, is the fact that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten son of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

It is Advent, after all. We are waiting. Let’s take a deep breath (or two) and ponder these things in our heart.

Listen to some good music.

Read something uplifting.

“He knew that all was well, because he had done the best that he could, from day to day. He had been true to the light that had been given to him. He had looked for more. And if he had not found it, if a failure was all that came out of his life, doubtless that was the best that was possible. He had not seen the revelation of “life everlasting, incorruptible and immortal.” But he knew that even if he could live his earthly life over again, it could not be otherwise than it had been.”
― Henry van Dyke, The Story of the Other Wise Man

This weekend I am going to finish my Christmas shopping, wrap a boatload of presents, decorate the big tree, get my house ready for visitors, go to church, and choose to be joyful.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (I Timothy 1: 15-17)

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