dual personalities

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Things and the reason of things

by chuckofish

Whoever you are! motion and reflection are especially for you,
The divine ship sails the divine sea for you.

Whoever you are! you are he or she for whom the earth is solid and liquid,
You are he or she for whom the sun and moon hang in the sky,
For none more than you are the present and the past,
For none more than you is immortality.

Each man to himself and each woman to herself, is the word of the past and present, and the true word of immortality,
No one can acquire for another–not one,
Not one can grow for another–not one.

The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him,
The teaching is to the teacher, and comes back most to him,
The murder is to the murderer, and comes back most to him,
The theft is to the thief, and comes back most to him,
The love is to the lover, and comes back most to him,
The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him–it cannot fail,
The oration is to the orator, the acting is to the actor and actress not to the audience,
And no man understands any greatness or goodness but his own, or the indication of his own.

–Walt Whitman, A Song of the Rolling Earth

And in other news: my friend Gary’s band Sun Volt was featured in the Wall Street Journal the other day. You can read the article here.

via Wall Street Journal

via Wall Street Journal

Gary is the cool dude on the far left.

Bread of Heaven

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? I went home a little early on Friday and got right in my pajamas and hunkered down, as I had been fighting off some version of this winter’s flu for a few days. I went to bed and didn’t wake up ’til almost 10 o’clock the next morning which is four hours later than usual. I stayed in bed most of the day reading Willa Cather, only rousing myself to talk to loved ones on the phone.

But the next day was Sunday and I was scheduled to be a lay reader, so I got up, endeavored to make myself presentable and went to church. I read the second lesson which turned out to be some excellent fire and brimstone from Saint Paul to the Corinthians warning about sexual immorality etc.: “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.” Oh, how I do love him. And I say that without irony.

We also sang “Bread of Heaven”, one of my favorite hymns, which always conjures up images of the Reverend Jones in The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain

7053-5729

stabbing the tires of the surveyor’s car while muttering the refrain of this hymn. The words, indeed, are all quite evocative:

When I tread the verge of Jordan
Bid my anxious fears subside
Death of death, and hell’s destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan’s side

I left church renewed and with a light heart and feeling that a reward to myself was overdo. So I went to my neighborhood Dunkin’ Donuts:

DD

for a cup of:

cup of jo

and this crispy goodness:

photo

Life is good. But lest we forget: “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” (I Cor. 10:13) Have a great week!

North Country Fellowship

by chuckofish

I’m a little late posting today but I have a good excuse. This morning I had to take the Session records down to Evans Mills, NY to meet with other Presbyterian clerks (and/or assistant clerks) of the Session and get the books approved. This yearly event is surprisingly painless. You exchange books so that no one is reviewing his own and then you sit there and check them against a long list of requirements. That part didn’t take more than an hour, but the drive was an hour each way — hence the delay.

We met at a one-room church in a small village called Evans Mills near Watertown.

Evans Mills

What makes this church particularly intriguing is that it is both the First Presbyterian Church-LeRay and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church-Evans Mills. Apparently they joined forces back in the early 70s and have been going strong together ever since. As one who was raised Episcopalian but has lately turned Presbyterian I was kind of tickled by the combination. I’d never come across anything like that before.

Though the village was as nondescript and uninspiring as the landscape in the area, which is flat, featureless farmland, I was pleasantly reminded that in all of these places kind, thoughtful people live, work, and worship. They are dedicated to making good things happen for their communities and, yes, all of them are above 45 (most above 55). So let’s hear it for overlooked people everywhere, who are diligently serving the Lord. And cheers to Evans Mills Episcoterian Presbypalians!

Evans mills sign

Okay, as Saturday adventures go, it doesn’t stack up to the city sister’s gallivanting, but it infinitely better than this,

DSC00096

which is how I get to spend the rest of the weekend. What fun things are you up to?

I love you, baby, can I have some more

by chuckofish

I think I’ve mentioned that I listen to CDs in my car. I know. Quelle old-fashioned. I don’t have an iPod. I haven’t downloaded much music to my laptop. Sorry. This old dog can only learn so many new tricks at a time.

So I have been wearing out The Lumineers and need something new. Or something old. I rifled through my box of “burns”–i.e. burned CDs, which my children have made for me over the years.

mwc cd

Daughters #1 and #2 obliged me many, many times, burning mixes of my favorites as well as mixes with songs “I might like”.

susie

The boy made some “themed” classics, especially the famous “Kleenex” mixes which included songs and music guaranteed to make his mother weep. These ranged from selections by Patrick Park to Boyz II Men and lots of other stuff in between.

wrc cd

I know that mixes take a lot of effort. But let it never be said that I do not appreciate that effort. I do. Deeply. Thanks, guys. Now, how about burning me a new mix?

While the nearer waters roll

by chuckofish

Remember_John_Wesley,_Wroot

On this day in 1784 Charles Wesley chartered the Methodist Church in America. He believed he could not wait any longer for the Bishop of London to ordain someone for the American Methodists, who were without the sacraments after the American War of Independence. The Church of England had been disestablished in the United States and had not yet appointed a United States bishop for what would become the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. In a bold move Wesley ordained Thomas Coke by the laying on of hands although Coke was already a priest in the Church of England. Wesley appointed him to be superintendent of Methodists in the United States.

In a side note, Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT (founded in 1831) was the first institution of higher education to be named after John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. About 20 unrelated colleges and universities were subsequently named after Wesley. Several members of our family attended Wesleyan in the 19th century, including the brothers of our great-grandfather William Carnahan. He was thought too sickly to go to college and was sent instead to Colorado for his health.

william carnahan

He doesn’t look too fragile to me. Anyway, he met our great-grandmother Anna Barnsley Hough in Lake City.

annahough

Several years later they were married in Las Animas, Colorado, moving to Chicago thereafter. Their youngest child was our maternal grandmother.

None of them were Methodists, although you will remember that Anna’s uncle, the Colorado cattle baron, was named…John Wesley Prowers.

This is how my brain works.

A cheerful heart

by chuckofish

stan-laurel-jeff11_angelod

A while ago I posted about the positive effects of a good cry. Well today we’ll consider the importance of being cheerful.

Every day I get an email from the Anglican monks of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist. Yesterday’s message from Br. Mark Brown was about “Hilarity”. You can read the whole thing here.

“Perhaps we could think of cheerfulness,” he writes, “a gentle good cheer, as a spiritual practice, or, at least, as a spiritual good—as a way of being compassionate to those we live with (as Paul’s words suggest). A way of bringing the light of Christ, the gracious light of Christ into the lives of others. Cheerfulness can’t be an all day/every day thing. But if we’re between the storms of life and in a comparatively neutral zone, we might be more intentional about returning to a kind of emotional baseline of gentle good cheer. Rather than merely neutral, perhaps a baseline of gentle good cheer.”

I like to think of cheerfulness as a spiritual practice. One of the affirmative laws of the Boy Scouts, as you know, is “A scout is cheerful”–in fact he “smiles and whistles”. As we also know, practice makes perfect. Sometimes that means smiling when we don’t feel like it. This sign in my kitchen reminds all who enter to do so.

smile

The writer of the Book of Proverbs says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine”, which is so true. We all know people whose cheerfulness is contagious and makes proximity to them a definite benefit. Likewise a smile from a stranger can greatly improve your day. So go ahead and smile! Think of it as your Lenten spiritual practice and do it intentionally!

If you are having a hard time smiling, it is a good spiritual practice to watch a funny movie. But why is it that I have a harder time thinking of movies that make me laugh than ones that make me cry? Anyway, here are some funny ones: Ball of Fire (1941), Best in Show (2000), Ghostbusters (1984), Heaven Can Wait (1978), The Producers (1968), The Pink Panther (1963), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Annie Hall (1977), A Run for Your Money (1949), The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain (1995). What have I forgotten?

And if all else fails, try this:

Hooray for Hollywood?

by chuckofish

Not.

The Oscars were more about the dresses and the ‘messy up-dos’ than the actual movies.

The host was obviously picked for being irreverent and vulgar, but the audience, which prides itself on being liberal and edgy, seemed shocked when he was just that. Clearly Seth MacFarlane knew this might happen and he and his writers even worked the joke into his opening monologue with William Shatner as Captain Kirk telecommuting from the future to warn MacFarlane that he was about to ruin the Oscars and be branded the worst Oscar host ever.

But none of it was funny really, and it all fell flat. All those self-satisfied celebrity “actors” wanted to do was pat themselves on the back. Politics is taboo. All that’s left is: Kiss kiss, you look wonderful! It was a big PC muddle. And the awards (no surprises) were all over the proverbial map. Something for everyone and no one stood out. Do you remember anything anyone said?

I think daughter #1 and friends look every bit as "sophisticated'' as many of the Hollywood wannabees, don't you?

I think daughter #1 and friends look every bit as “sophisticated” as many of the Hollywood wannabees, don’t you?

I’ll just say what everyone is thinking: Why can’t Billy Crystal just do the Oscars forever–like Bob Hope used to do? And remember Johnny Carson? Back when the Academy Award Show had some class.

(Click on this gif) Sorry. No class.

Sorry. No class.

I was glad that Ang Lee won for Best Director and Daniel Day-Lewis deserved his Oscar. But I wish I had those 4 hours back. I could have scrubbed the shower. Or watched Sunset Boulevard.

"I'm ready for my close-uo, Mr. DeMille!"

“I’m ready for my close-uo, Mr. DeMille!”

The highlight for me was “drunk-texting” with daughter #1 and daughter #2–although I was drinking ginger ale and no one was actually drunk.

image

We had fun, although perhaps if we had indeed been drunk, it would have seemed funnier. But it was a school night after all.

Okay, I just have to say one more thing. Renee Zellweger, whom I have always despised, looked liked she rolled out of bed to drive carpool and mistakenly threw on a shiny gold dress.

(via Huffpost.com)

(via Huffpost.com)

They even screwed up the In Memoriam section by padding it with marketing executives. Well, onward and upward.

Eastward in Eden

by chuckofish

Snow Sharks Cartoon

After our snowy end of the week, it seemed like a good idea to visit the wonderful Missouri Botanical Garden and check out the annual orchid show. Lots of people had the same idea, of course.

white orchids

purple orchids

yellow orchids

little orchids

All manner and kind of orchid was arranged for our viewing pleasure, but it was very crowded with people taking pictures with their cell phones. Have you noticed that people do not seem to enjoy things in the moment any more? We walked over to the Climatron and saw more hot house flowers arranged with helpful signs.

climatron sign

climatronsign2

There was plenty of neat-slash-weird stuff.

giantpod

Even Chihuly glass sculptures, which always seem to me to pale in the presence of the real thing. Who needs these geegaws, I ask?

cihuly

Grilled cheese and tomato soup topped off our visit, plus a stop in the Garden Shop to purchase a succulent for my terrarium.

terra

I also rescued a plant from the sale table, because, as you know, that is what I do.

“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.”
― John Calvin

“Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don’t have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?”

― Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Saturday reflection

by chuckofish

As this was an unpleasantly frenzied week and I am not someone who manages frenzy with graceful ease, I am rewarding myself for getting through it by enjoying some beautiful things and reminding myself how much I have to be grateful for — with a little help from Rupert Brooke.

White plates and cups, clean-gleaming,
Ringed with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust;

blue and white china

Wet roofs, beneath the lamp-light; the strong crust
Of friendly bread; and many-tasting food;
Rainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood;
And radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers;
And flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours,
Dreaming of moths that drink them under the moon;

Found this pic somewhere years ago -- alas, I can't give a credit

Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon
Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss
Of blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is
Shining and free; blue-massing clouds…

mull

The benison of hot water; furs to touch;
The good smell of old clothes; and other such–
The comfortable smell of friendly fingers,
Hair’s fragrance, and the musty reek that lingers
About dead leaves and last year’s ferns. . . .

fall-desktop-wallpaper

Poor Rupert never had the chance to have children so he left them out, but really, what is better than happy children (suitably armed, of course)?

the boys

Come to think of it, there are a lot of things that I love and that make me happy. This post may have to continue tomorrow. In the meantime, what do you love?

[a note about the pictures: I got the top one on pinterest; I downloaded the bluebell wood picture ages ago and unfortunately have no source; and the fall wood is from here via google search. The rest are mine]

Things happen

by chuckofish

One of the best things about being the Boss Lady is that I get to call a snow day every once in awhile. Well, yesterday was one of those days. It wasn’t Snowmageddon, but for our flyover state it was significant white stuff.

We started with sleet in the morning.

sleet

And continued as snow throughout the day.

SNOW

I hunkered down with my little home version of a potbelly stove:

potbelly stove

I read more of The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather and munched on Valentine’s candy.

Cather

I watched Stagecoach on TCM.

claire-with-john-wayne
Ringo: I used to be a good cowhand. But things happen.
Dallas: Yes. Things happen.

What a great movie! What a great day!

Unfortunately, although I called a snow day for our students today, I have to go in myself. C’est la vie!