dual personalities

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July 25, 2015

Empty thy head of wind

by chuckofish

Recently, I found myself returning to the Shahnameh or Persian Book of Kings. As cool epics go, it’s right up there. It has magnificent kings, conniving bad guys, great heroes, and lots and lots of tragedy. Most famous are the stories involving the greatest hero, Rostam (aka Rustum), especially the one in which he defeats his opponent in combat only to discover that he has killed his own son. You may know Mathew Arnold’s version of the tragic story of Rostam and Sohrab. Back in high school, I put this passage in my quote book:

So, on the bloody sand, Sohrab lay dead;
And the great Rustum drew his horseman’s cloak
Down o’er his face, and sate by his dead son.
As those black granite pillars, once high-rear’d
By Jemshid in Persepolis, to bear
His house, now ‘mid their broken flights of steps
Lie prone, enormous, down the mountain side–
So in the sand lay Rustum by his son.

But it was not Rostam that drew me to the Shahnameh this time; rather, I was trying to track down another passage:

Empty thy head of wind, for none is born of his mother save to die. Wert thou a rampart of well-wrought iron, the rotation of the heavens would break thee nonetheless, and thou shouldst disappear.

It turns out to be part of the story of “Zohhak and the Snakes,” which comes early in the first book. Zohhak was a regular guy until the evil demon Ahriman got his hooks into him. After Zohhak killed his own father to become king, Ahriman cooked a wonderful meal for him. When Zohhak asked what he wanted as a reward, Ahriman wanted only to kiss the king’s shoulders. Zohhak readily agreed, but was surprised when two nasty serpents sprang up from the spots Ahriman had kissed.

Zahhak and the snakes

To make matters worse, it turned out that Zohhak had to feed the snakes human brains every day or they would eat him. Naturally, Zohhak responded by killing people and feeding the snakes. Bad king! Apparently all this gave him indigestion and one night he had a bad dream. When he asked his advisers to interpret it, one of them responded with my quote. It didn’t seem to have much effect though, and Zohhak continued to be nasty until a hero, Feridoun, finally defeated him. Here is the hero sneaking up on Zohhak. I’m not sure where the snakes are.

Zahhak

Rather than kill Zohhak outright, Feridoun nailed him to a rock high on Mount Damavand, where he would suffer enternally.

Zahhak on damavand

Then Feridoun ruled as a great king and all of Persia was happy and prosperous.

Feyredoun court

I’ve always liked Persian painting. The colors are lovely and jewel-like. They remind me of medieval illuminated manuscripts, though with obvious differences.

The moral of the story? Don’t talk to demons or let them cook for you and never, never kill the king, your father.

When you get the chance, take a look at the Shahnameh and its lovely illustrations. They have much to offer.

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

 

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July 18, 2015

“Oh, ’tis not my qualities they object to! ‘Tis my lack of vice.” *

by chuckofish

Recent unwelcome contact with a fuel tanker having left me feeling somewhat delicate (not to mention bruised), I naturally turned to comfort literature and movies to restore my optimistic view of life. Shirley Temple provided the perfect antidote on the movie side. On my dual personality’s advice, I bought “Little Miss Marker” and, boy, did it deliver. Shirley is amazing in that movie.

Shirley temple littl miss markerI also really liked all the supporting cast, especially Adolphe Menjou. Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, do!

As for reading, I returned to one of my mother’s old favorites, Georgette Heyer, author of a vast number of intelligent, well-researched Regency romances and mysteries. Born in England in 1902, Ms. Heyer began writing to amuse her younger brother and eventually became a hugely successful author, though of course the critics ignored her almost completely.

gheyer

She, herself, harbored few illusions about her career: “I think myself I ought to be shot for writing such nonsense…. But it’s unquestionably good escapist literature and I think I should rather like it if I were sitting in an air-raid shelter or recovering from flu.”  Yes, indeed. Her books are witty, informative, and wonderfully devoid of sex, violence, and serious drama. Hence, you see, perfect for those of us who need an escape from modern life. The book I’ve been enjoying, Devil’s Cub, made me laugh out loud several times. Surely, any mother could relate to this:

“You will like her,” he persisted. “Egad, she’s after your own heart, maman! She shot me in the arm.”
“Voyons, do you think that is what I like?”

Then there are witty dialogues like this:

“M’sieur, I am as a slave to my wife.” He kissed the tips of his fingers. “I am as the dirt beneath her feet.” He clasped his hands. “I must bestow on her all that she desires, or die!”

“Pray make use of my sword, ” invited his Grace. “It is in the corner behind you.”

Her books are civilized, historically accurate, and full of delightful characters, who have actual depth. Take, for example, this descriptions: “A certain cynicism, born of the life she has led; a streak of strange wisdom; the wistfulness behind the gaiety; sometimes fear; and nearly always the memory of loneliness that hurts the soul.”  No need to feel ashamed of reading Ms. Heyer. Many of her books are still in print. I highly recommend her.  Some of her books are available on CD and they are very diverting on long car trips!

Have a witty, civilized weekend!

*Georgette Heyer, Powder and Patch  — I think it would make a good epitaph for Mitt Romney 🙂

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July 17, 2015

For he’s a jolly good fellow 2015

by chuckofish

paul muggin

Not a mug shot

Well, the OM turns the Big 6-0 today. Booyah. He probably still has that seersucker suit (above) and it probably still fits him.

His daughters sent him cards.

Inside: And by stud I mean dork

Inside: And by stud I mean dork

and

dad card 2

As you may infer from the choice of cards, the OM is not a party dude, so we will have a quiet celebration. It will involve eating with the boy and daughter #3 in some restaurant where the OM can order a pork steak, a flyover delicacy (?). Hopefully there will be a margarita for me in the bargain.

There is…this consolation to the most way-worn traveler, upon the dustiest road, that the path his feet describe is so perfectly symbolical of human life,–now climbing the hills, now descending into the vales. From the summits he beholds the heavens and the horizon, from the vales he looks up to the heights again. He is treading his old lessons still, and though he may be very weary and travel-worn, it is yet sincere experience.

Henry David Thoreau, A Walk to Wachusett

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July 16, 2015

“Le biologiste passe, la grenouille reste.”*

by chuckofish

Hans Hoffmann, Frog

Hans Hoffmann, Frog

Do you know the difference between a toad and a frog?

According to my Old Farmer’s Almanac calendar, a toad has a wide body, short hind legs for low-to-the-ground hopping, and a bumpy, dry skin. It lives on dry land.

E.H. Shepard, "Mr. Toad"-- The Wind in the Willows

E.H. Shepard, “Mr. Toad”– The Wind in the Willows

A frog has a narrow body, long hind legs adapted for leaping and swimming, and a smooth or slimy skin. It lives near water.

set_kermit_the_frog_425So you learned something new today–or at least were reminded of something. Something scientific. That’s about as scientific as I get.

* “The biologist passes, the frog remains.” (Jean Rostand)

 

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July 15, 2015

Till hill and valley gaily, gaily ring

by chuckofish

Back on July 2 I failed to note that “three prophetic witnesses” were recognized with a feast day on the Episcopal calendar. They are Walter Rauschenbusch, Washington Gladden and Jacob Riis.

Washington Gladden (February 11, 1836 – July 2, 1918) you will recall, was a Congregational minister and early leader in the Social Gospel movement, whose ministry “was dedicated to the realization of the Kingdom of God in this world. Gladden was the acting religious editor of the New York Independent, in which he exposed corruption in the New York political system. Gladden was the first American clergyman to approve of and support labor unions. In his capacity as Vice President of the American Missionary Association, he traveled to Atlanta where he met W.E.B. Dubois and he became an early opponent of segregation.” (Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music)

WashingtonGladden

He was also a graduate of Williams College, class of 1859.

gladden_w

While at Williams, Gladden wrote its alma mater song, “The Mountains.”

“I had been wishing that I might write a song which could be sung at some of our exhibitions,” wrote Gladden in his memoirs, “and one winter morning, walking down Bee Hill, the lilt of the chorus of “The Mountains” came to me. I had a little music-paper in my room in the village, and on my arrival I wrote down the notes. Then I cast about for words to fit them, and the refrain ‘The Mountains, the Mountains!’ suggested itself. I wrote the melody of the stanza next and fitted the verses to it. . . . That it would . . . become the accepted College Song, I could not, of course, have imagined.”

The Mountains

O, proudly rise the monarchs of our mountain land,
With their kingly forest robes, to the sky,
Where Alma Mater dwelleth with her chosen band,
And the peaceful river floweth gently by.

CHORUS
The mountains! the mountains! we greet them with a song,
Whose echoes rebounding their woodland heights along,
Shall mingle with anthems that winds and fountains sing.
Till hill and valley gaily, gaily ring.

Beneath their peaceful shadows may old Williams stand,
Till suns and mountains nevermore shall be,
The glory and the honor of our mountain land,
And the dwelling of the gallant and the free.

I have fond memories of singing this rousing song while a student there in the mid-1970s. Check it out:

Have a great Wednesday!

3 Comments
July 14, 2015

“I’m a thousand miles from nowhere Time don’t matter to me”*

by chuckofish

Our family has been in this country for nearly 400 years and the genealogy of some branches is quite well documented. We have some holes, however–especially those ancestors who pioneered west of the Alleghenies–and my dual personality and I are continually working on filling in those blanks.

The other day I was messing around on the internet and I found the location of my great-great-great-grandmother’s grave in Westport, MO. I found this by purposefully mis-spelling her husband’s name. Bingo.

79942957_132054734317

SUSAN VOGEL BORN OCT. 1, 1819 DIED FEB. 24, 1853

susan vogel

Find a Grave photo

I also found this “marriage certificate”

marriage cert

which has three (!) spelling errors: Susan Prowers, Louis Vogel and the minister’s name, which is spelled Johnston Lykins. Louis Vogel was Susan’s second husband. She married him after her first husband, John Prowers, died in 1839. She already had two children under the age of two, John Wesley Prowers and Mary A. Prowers (my great-great-grandmother). She subsequently had three more children with Louis Vogel. Frequently all five children are listed on census lists and such under the name Vogel, but both Prowers children kept their father’s name and were proud of it.

Anyway, looking further, a whole new window opened. I found out that Susan’s maiden name was Matney and that her father William hailed from Washington County, Virginia. His father was born in Scotland.

William Matney married Sarah Yoachum from Jefferson County, Tennessee in 1809. (I always knew I had a claim to eastern Tennessee!) She was the daughter of Solomon Yoakum (Note spelling!) and Susannah Adams. Yoachum, by the way, can be spelled Yoakum, Yokum, Yocum, Yoakam, Joachim…zut alors!

They moved on to Arkansas, ultimately settling in Jackson County, MO where they had many children. This really puts a new spin on things. I had always thought that Susan and John Prowers moved together from Virginia to Westport, MO. Thus, when he died suddenly, he left her alone with two very small children. However, this does not seem to be the case. It would appear that she had parents and a large extended family.

Anyway, such break-throughs are very exciting to family historians. I plan to go and check out the Union Cemetery in KC soon.

*Dwight Yoakam–distant cousin

6 Comments
July 12, 2015

“I hate a man that talks rude. I won’t tolerate it.”*

by chuckofish

It was hot and humid here this weekend–normal for flyover country–but we managed to get out and about nevertheless.

I went to an estate sale and visited my favorite “antique” mall. I didn’t find anything except a copy of the “Charleston Receipts” cookbook by the Junior League of Charleston, 1950. Can’t wait to try some Huguenot Torte! I also received a package from Furbish–a gift to myself to remind me of my lovely time in Florida.

IMG_1262

On Sunday the OM accompanied me to the Missouri History Museum

635688644315172666-1-outside-of-hist-museum

where we viewed the “A Walk in 1875 St. Louis” exhibit.

walk in 1875 st louis NEW

I enjoyed it, although it was a bit cartoon-y, as many (if not most) museum exhibits seem to be these days. They cater to what they imagine the public will enjoy/understand. All very well and good, but we were in and out of there in half an hour. We stopped at the gift shop to buy a cool map of St. Louis in the good old days and then headed over to one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe Osage, in the Central West End.

9493f010-56ef-11df-9977-001cc4c03286.image

My phone battery was about to give out, so I couldn’t take a picture of my yummo “breakfast wrap”, but you can take my word for it, it was delish. The OM had never been there, and although he thought the neighborhood was sketch-tastic, he enjoyed his lunch. He felt like such a hipster.

I continued to read Lonesome Dove and am far past the point where I am already depressed that the book will end and I will have to say goodbye to Call and McCrae. I have mentioned before that they are both favorite fictional characters of mine, right up there with Philip Marlowe and Holden Caulfield. But the thing is, there are so many great characters in this book: from Wilbarger, the cattleman and Yale graduate, to the wild girl Janey and all the cowboys. I will miss them all. Now that’s a great book.

I remember trying to get my mother to read it back in 1987 and she didn’t. Go now, and read it!

Happy Monday!

*Captain Call, Lonesome Dove

2 Comments
July 11, 2015

Let’s do Lunch

by chuckofish

Did you know that when it’s 8:52 pm in my little North Country town, the light is the same as when it’s noon on Pluto?  On Pluto, you would have your lunch in a sort of eerie twilight and this is what it would look like:

Calviin

This is also what our new car, Calvin, looks like. He’s a Honda CRV. The name seemed to capture his spirit, which I take to be a cross between the gravitas of John Calvin and the playful wit of Calvin and Hobbes. Alas, Maureen met a bad end, sandwiched between a fuel tanker and the car that rear-ended her into it. Maureen was a great car and saved our lives. We are fine, but decided that the wise choice would be to go for a bigger replacement. And I do feel safer. I really like the color, too.

Aside from the car purchase and the discovery of the odd astronomical tidbit, we mostly took it easy this week, nursing our bumps and bruises and drinking copious amounts of tea. I also watched Shirley Temple in “Curly Top”  — Shirley is just the ticket after a near-death experience.  Seriously, watch her sing “Animal Crackers in my Soup”.

In other news, we had a visit from our local arborist, who brought light to our little yard and made it possible to mow the lawn without getting smacked in the head by low-lying branches.

backyard

Maybe now the squirrels will have a harder time getting onto our roof where they run around in army boots and sound like an alien invasion (probably from Pluto).

Ah, it’s the small things in life… take time to appreciate them and don’t take anything for granted.

Have a great weekend!

2 Comments
July 7, 2015

Note to self

by chuckofish

Today we are reminded again how tempus, indeed, fugits! TCM is celebrating the 100th anniversary of a company whose technology defined the look of movie color for decades. Technicolor™ was incorporated in 1915 by Herbert T. Kalmus, Daniel F. Comstock and W. Burton Wescott and offered the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952.

The 48-hour salute includes the greatest of all technicolor films, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which will be shown today at 4:30 p.m. and again on August 2 at 8 p.m. so set your DVR.

800

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)–which I watched this past weekend–is on tomorrow night at 8 p.m.–don’t miss it! The color cinematography in this movie is fantastic. Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard (1963), a landmark of Italian cinema, is also on tomorrow at 3:30 a.m. Any movie with Claudia Cardinale is worth watching if you ask me.

We must also note that 600 years ago yesterday (July 6, 1415) Jan Hus was burned at the stake for heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. Hus was a Czech priest, philosopher, early Christian reformer and Master at Charles University in Prague. He dared to preach in Czech and tried to reform the Church by calling out the moral failings of clergy, bishops, and even the papacy from his pulpit. In 1999 Pope John Paul II expressed regret for his death. Well.

The monument in Konstanz, where reformer Jan Hus was executed (1862)

The monument in Konstanz, where reformer Jan Hus was executed (1862)

Hus is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church.

Faithful God, who didst give Jan Hus the courage to confess thy truth and recall thy Church to the image of Christ: Enable us, inspired by his example, to bear witness against corruption and never cease to pray for our enemies, that we may prove faithful followers of our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

On Sunday the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, conducted the baptism of Princess Charlotte at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham.

Baptism

Pretty darn cute.

And FYI: the Archbishop of Canterbury has a blog. You go, Glenn Coco.

3 Comments
July 4, 2015

Happy Independence Day!

by chuckofish

And, of course, Happy Birthday to my dear brother, who I imagine will enjoy a day fishing followed by a view of the myriad firework displays that can be seen from his cottage on Lake St. Claire in Michigan.

Not my picture, but it is Lake St. Claire

Not my picture, but it is Lake St. Claire

Due to technical difficulties too complicated to enumerate here (it’s a long, sad story to do with a car crash, damaged electronics and a decidedly bruised energy level), I don’t have a witty post or great pics of the birthday boy to share. Fortunately, my dual personality captured the birthday party spirit in her post yesterday.

What I do have are a couple of family history tidbits to share. First off is my mother’s high school graduation picture. I found this yearbook on ancestry.com. I don’t know to whom it belonged, but my mother signed it! Cynthia Coghlin was one of her best friends as well.

mother's year book

It’s clearly a small world. In my internet wanderings, I also came across a wonderful syndicated newspaper article about police aviation, in which my grandfather, Arthur Newell Chamberlin, Jr. figures prominently.

Miami_Daily_News_Record_Wed__May_7__1930_Written in 1930 when domestic (non war related) aviation was in its infancy, the article details the new aviation traffic regulations. It refers to our grandfather, who formed New York City’s first aviation unit, as a “pioneer in air-lane traffic regulation” and describes his position thus:

ANC quote 1It neglects to mention that he was a pilot in WWI, which is why he was involved in the police aviation thing in the first place. He was also a lawyer, having graduated from Georgetown law. Although he passed the Washington DC bar, he never practiced law. For some reason (probably the excitement), he always preferred newspaper work. In fact, he had been slated to become editor of the Burlington Free Press, when he got called up for duty in WWI.  The aviation article quotes him further :

anc quoteHe also explains why the planes are not equipped with guns:

ANC quote3Here’s a close up of the lovely pic.

ANC 2Well, the aviation unit was a great idea and it flourished for a few years, but when the Great Depression really got going, it meant budget cuts to the NYC police department and the unit was among the first to go. That spelled the end of my grandfather’s flying career.

Happy Independence Day to all of you! We’re going to spend ours quietly drinking tea and reading. I’m currently enjoying Sax Rohmer’s The Hand of Fu Manchu, first published in 1917. It’s not exactly highbrow literature, but it is really fun. Given my current intellectual potential, it’s just perfect.

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