Today is daughter #1’s birthday! Like everything else this year, our celebration will be low-key but determined. Plans are to clock out of work a little early, drive to STL, hook up with the wee babes and their parents and head to the Zoo. (Cross your fingers that it doesn’t rain on our parade.) Afterwards we’ll head home for toasted ravioli and cake and presents.
Can I come too? (We wish!)
Sounds like a good way to start the weekend to me! Welcome to my house…
After a long weekend, this work week is kind of doing me in. Katiebelle has been a little off with her sleeping (which is to say she’s been a totally normal baby — she just tends to spoil us with solid naps and nighttime sleep) and it makes for a cranky mom. Not leaving for work in the morning or coming home in the evening can be so brutal. On fun days it’s great (I get to play with a baby whenever I want!) but on cranky days, there’s just no transition from one challenge (Zoom fatigue) to the other (witching hour).
Wearing a dress made by her great grandmother Mary and bloomers from her Mamu
But enough of that. I have zero actual complaints. The precious babe continues to be precious. She is still working on all of her skills that will soon lead to rolling (we think). She seems to be growth spurting amidst all of this development (hence the fitful sleep, perhaps) and is now up to 14 lbs and 26 inches (by our own measurements, anyway). She is a little bit chunky in all the right places! (Is that the most embarrassing sentence a girl could ever have written about her?)
Here she is with one her favorite new toys, a bag that crinkles when you crush it:
Then again, who needs toys when you can stare at your own two hands?!
*”You Are My Sunshine,” a lullaby we sing before naps and bedtime, but which is totally not a happy song. How did I not realize this? Katie better not leave me, shatter all my dreams, etc…!
I’ve written about Magnolia Journal before–and what a welcome magazine it is among the increasingly vapid shelter magazines.
The most recent issue focuses on the “rhythm” theme. And while I enjoyed the usual soothing colors and clean interiors, I realized my favorite section, and the one I get the most out of, is the section that features stories from a variety of regular people about how the theme manifests in their life or how the disruption of this theme taught a valuable lesson.
It struck me that what we frequently miss from today’s “journalism” is the actual talking to people. Sometimes the absence of something isn’t tangible until you see it somewhere else, right?
This section in the Magnolia Journal tells the stories of individuals and is a reminder that we are individuals trying to get by together. We all have stories, and experiences, and pain, and anguish, and success, and triumph. We are not all the same. But sharing these stories illuminates how even in our differences, we can find a commonality among our similar pain or triumph. We can also learn about others–and come to understand how their backgrounds made them who they are today.
Sometimes, it seems like the art of showing not telling, something we learned way back in the day in English class, is a lost one. Also lost, putting oneself in another’s shoes, thinking before speaking, and getting to know someone before judging them.
Anyway, this struck me while reading the magazine this week and I hope you won’t judge me too harshly for making a generalized observation in a post about not doing this.
You don’t believe — I won’t attempt to make ye. You are asleep — I won’t attempt to wake ye. Sleep on, sleep on, while in your pleasant dreams Of reason you may drink of life’s clear streams Reason and Newton, they are quite two things, For so the swallow and the sparrow sings. Reason says ‘Miracle’, Newton says ‘Doubt’. Aye, that’s the way to make all Nature out: Doubt, doubt, and don’t believe without experiment. That is the very thing that Jesus meant When he said: ‘Only believe.’ Believe and try, Try, try, and never mind the reason why.
Well, I hope you had a good long weekend. Mine was lovely and I feel that I accomplished a little bit too. There’s nothing like a trip to the recycling center to lighten my step.
Today is the birthday of one of my heroes (and a non-relative) Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1828-1914). He is best known for his gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Following the Civil War, he served as Governor of Maine and the President of Bowdoin College.
We will toast him tonight. I am happy to say that I have been to Gettysburg and was able to cross that excursion off my bucket list several years ago. I hope I can cross something else off my bucket list this year, but chances are looking slim. Year’s end is quickly approaching, after all, and I am starting to think about Christmas. Amazing.
As always, we like to listen to Steve Earle’s fine song about Colonel Chamberlain and Little Round Top on his birthday. We’ll toast Steve too for managing to rhyme “Chamberlain”:
Happy Labor Day! I will be taking it easy today since the rest of my weekend was so busy. Daughter #1 and I did a lot of work in our basement, throwing away piles of stuff. Since we have new lights down there and can see what we’re doing, it’s been a lot easier to say the least.
We also had the wee babes over for a frolic and our first barbecue in a long, long time.
We FaceTimed with Miss Katiebelle and she modeled some new outfits.
And we supported our neighborhood Club Taco with take-out margaritas on our patio (when the wee babes were not over.)
A lot of fun, but I am recovering today! Here’s to a short work week and sunny days ahead.
My busy week started unusually well with an antique purchase and pick-up. A couple of weeks earlier, while attempting to avoid doing work, I chanced upon Facebook Marketplace and started looking at the ‘antique furniture’ on sale in my area. Most of it was junk, but imagine my surprise when I came across this desk on sale for practically nothing and only minutes away.
I resisted the temptation to buy it, but when I came across it again and the price had been reduced, I took it as a sign from God and contacted the sellers. They turned out to be a very sweet mother and daughter who live in a lovely, old, antique-filled house in a neighboring town. We had to rent a UHAUL van to transport the desk, because it is rather large and would never fit in the CRV. The ladies couldn’t tell me much about the piece since they had purchased it years earlier in a private deal similar to the one we were conducting.
Several features struck me right away: the lovely hardwood (Can anyone guess what kind? It’s heavy); the handmade dovetails; the bun feet and the Hepplewhite handles. Stylistically, the feet and handles do not seem to go together. As I suspected, the drawer pulls are not original but replaced ones that had a single, central screw. The feet, however, are original,
They are fitted, not by a metal screw but via a peg extension. They seemed quite unusual to me, so I got on the computer and did a little research.
Bun/ball feet are typically found on William and Mary furniture and not Hepplewhite, although style-mixing is not unheard of. I think the locks, which work (it came with a key) were updated in the same renovation that changed the handles. I believe that the finish is original and that the desk could date anywhere from the early 18th century to about 1830 (at the outside), but probably not later.. Does anyone have any style observations to make? I’m no expert and I’d love to find out more. It’s not about monetary value; it’s about preventing a beautiful piece of history from falling into the hands of barbarians who paint antique furniture.
The plan is to move my parents’ desk from its spot in the living room up into Tim’s room, and to put the new desk where the old one stood.
This will entail getting rid of the super heavy student carrel currently in Tim’s room. Since the new desk is several inches taller and wider than my parents’ desk, we’ll also need to raise the gold mirror a couple of inches. If that doesn’t look good, we’ll have to do some picture-shifting. Much as I love my parents’ desk, I don’t mind moving it. Its finish isn’t in great shape and it’s not an antique. Keep your fingers crossed that this all goes as planned. Otherwise, we’ll have to rearrange the furniture even more! By next week everything should be in place and I should have photos. In the meantime, have a great weekend and say a prayer for our aged backs as we heave these pieces up and down stairs and around corners!
A glorious three-day weekend is upon us. My office is officially closing at Noon today so it’s actually a three and a half day weekend! One more Zoom meeting to go and then I am free to putter around my house to my heart’s content. (Daughter #1 is driving home this weekend so I will do more than putter.)
Yesterday we had the electrician in our house all day fixing numerous things and (finally) installing a new ceiling fan in my ‘office.’ Hopefully nothing will break for awhile. Now we will have light in the basement again, so we have no excuses for getting back to work on all those boxes.
This week we watched a couple of old Charles Bronson movies: Breakheart Pass (1975) and Red Sun (1971). Breakheart Pass is a good western/mystery-on-a-train story written by Alistair Maclean and directed by Tom Gries. Red Sun is also a western with the added attraction of Toshiro Mifune as a samurai who joins forces with Bronson to retrieve a ceremonial Japanese sword.
Both movies offer lavish productions, good casts and excellent music. I enjoyed them. However, I can never watch a Charles Bronson movie without thinking of this:
Tomorrow is the birthday of Missouri native and legend Jesse James (1847-1882). Everyone knows that he and his brother Frank were American outlaws, bank and train robbers. Disenfranchised ex-Confederates, they wrecked havoc across the Midwest, gaining national fame and often popular sympathy. Jesse James has been portrayed in film by Tyrone Power, Roy Rogers, Rod Cameron, Audie Murphy, Clayton Moore, Robert Wagner, James Keach, Robert Duvall, Kris Kristofferson, Colin Farrell, and Brad Pitt, just to name a few. I tried to watch the Brad Pitt version of the Jesse James story, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) in preparation for this post, but it was unwatchable. I cut my losses halfway through. Like many 21st century films, it was more interested in the look and sound of the movie than the story or the characters. There was not one likable or interesting character. It was slow, it was boring. Worst of all, it was filmed in Canada and did not even look like Missouri.
There are many museums and sites devoted to Jesse James across the U.S. including several in his home state. The James farm in Kearney, MO is a house museum and historic site operated by Clay County. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. One can’t help but think his mother would be proud. I may have to add Kearney to my bucket list.
One of my favorite blogs, which I have read for years and whose author I admire, is ending (at least for the time being.) Times change and we roll with the punches and I applaud her decision to focus (without guilt) on her large and exuberant southern family. You go, girl!
I thought this piece from one of my favorites was very on point. “We have to decrease and defund our inner police so that Jesus can increase in us.” (Did you get the reference to John 3:30?) SO true!
Have a joy-filled weekend. Love where you are and who you’re with.
Happy 3-month birthday to Katiebelle! She is truly my pride and joy.
If you are in communication with me at all, you know that I have been talking about gripping and grasping for a week straight.
This toy also crinkles — mind blowing
Right around 12 weeks, Katie really began to grab on to rattles and other toys. Before that, she was a pro at tracking toys with her eyes. Now she is fully reaching, grasping, holding, waving — the works! We are beyond impressed.
Daddy on tummy-time duty while Mom is on work duty. Spoiler alert: I’m still watching the baby
Working from home with Katie has continued to go relatively well. All of her new exercise means she has been very worn out and taking some good naps. How lovely to have the privilege to focus on my thrilling work tasks for a couple hours at a time…
Well, for all of us just trying to make it through the work week, DN will try to keep these precious baby gifs coming!
Good Wednesday morning, readers. Though we are only two days in, this week has already been a doozy. Monday, I had to get up before the crack of dawn to head to Farmington, MO in St. Francois County. It was a rainy, dreary trip so unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures.
Farmington is a cute little city with some pretty old houses in the rolling hills of southeastern Missouri. There’s a town square with a limestone courthouse and some restaurants and coffeehouses. I had avocado toast for lunch! Like most of the places I get to visit for work, the people I met seemed to be happy and enjoying their lives.
As a bonus, I got to see this billboard on the drive:
What more does one need?
As with most weeks, I have also been working on my sewing. I downloaded a pattern from Etsy this weekend. There are five sizes–and I’ve made two.
The smaller one is very cute, if I do say so myself.
Today’s post title comes from Frasier–which I’ve been watching. It’s highly enjoyable and I frequently find myself wondering if my neighbors can hear me laughing out loud.
Well, I don’t have much of a deep message this week. I am looking forward to a long weekend as we enter the rapid descent into the end of the year.
Yesterday when I was working upstairs in my guest bedroom/office, I witnessed another amazing “tonic of wildness” event. A juvenile hawk of some kind was engaged in a spirited tussle with a squirrel.
Clearly the squirrel was messing with the hawk’s mind. He would hide under the Hosta and then dart out and up the tree. The hawk would fly around the tree and the squirrel would go back under the Hosta.
See the hawk on the left and the squirrel in the middle of the tree?
Hawks are not designed to fly around trees. The squirrel could have gotten away easily if it wanted, but it kept doing it and the hawk got more and more disoriented.
What’s happening?
Finally the hawk gave up and flew up in the tree. (I hope it didn’t have a vindictive parent.) I bet that squirrel was laughing it up big time with his buddies later.
All this happened in between Zoom calls. What a life.
In other news our powder room renovation was finally completed last week! We started it last year, but it was sidelined along with some other projects. Last week it was painted and the wallpaper went up. It looks great! I can’t take pictures in a bathroom, but this will give you an idea…
The wallpaper is Thibaut and it brings me joy! Elephants, camels, monkeys!
My old friend WWII Guy posted this quote on his Facebook page. We all know the line about an invincible summer from Albert Camus’ essay “Return to Tipasa,” but this enlarged quote seems to be a “fake” (misattributed) Camus quote:
“He said, ‘In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that in the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger—something better, pushing right back.’”
