Weekend | dual personalities

Well, it was a sunny weekend here in flyover country and there was a lot going on all over town. The OM and I opted for our local Greentree parade on Saturday, even though the wee babes were unable to join us.

The usual suspects were around except there were no floats from any of our local churches–no rockin’ Methodists, no one. I found that troubling.

After that I visited a few of my favorite antique malls and rescued a needlepoint pillow.

I finished reading Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, which my DP recommended so highly a few weeks ago. I recommend it as well–it was very good!

Most of us shell our days like peanuts. One in a thousand can look at the world with amazement. I don’t mean gawking at the Chrysler Building. I’m talking about the wing of a dragonfly. The tale of the shoeshine. Walking through an unsullied hour with an unsullied heart.

Next up on my reading list is Give a Man A Horse, written in 1938 by Charles J. Finger (1867–1941) who was a prolific writer who settled in Arkansas after an early life of travel and adventure. One of his many adventure books won the Newbery Prize for children’s literature. In addition to writing and publishing a magazine from his Fayetteville farm, Finger was employed from 1936 through 1938 as an editor of the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) guidebook, Arkansas: A Guide to the State.

Screen Shot 2018-09-16 at 1.26.06 PM.png I can’t remember where I ran across this long-forgotten writer, but he sounds like a fascinating fellow. I bought his book and now I’m going to read it.

The gospel lesson in church on Sunday was one of those difficult ones for preachers–especially Episcopal preachers–“Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels”…because it describes so many of them (and us), you know? Not many want to talk about sin these days. Thank goodness there are still some Presbyterians out there who do:

Screen Shot 2018-09-16 at 2.43.27 PM.png Sorry, if I sound a little grouchy–sometimes that’s the vibe. Thankfully, we went over to see the wee babes on Sunday night. Daughter #3 made tacos. My mood lightened.

Have a good week! Run, dvil, run!

*Mark 8:33

7 Comments

September 14, 2018

Can I get a witness?

by chuckofish

Another stressful week in the books. Phew. The month of September is zooming by, isn’t it?

This weekend our young friend Michael (the boy’s BFF and godfather to the wee laddie) is being ordained at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC.

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(with his godson last year)

We wish we could be there with his family to support him. He’s come a long way from those days in the junior choir…

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…and as a Sports Marketing major (!) at Indiana University. Now he’ll be savin’ souls in Babylon (aka New York state).

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May he exalt you, O Lord, in the midst of your people; offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to you; boldly proclaim the gospel of salvation; and rightly administer the sacraments of the New Covenant. Make him a faithful pastor, a patient teacher, and a wise councilor. Grant that in all things he may serve without reproach, so that your people may be strengthened and your Name glorified in all the world. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

In other news, I’m sure you heard that Gump’s is going out of business.

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A purveyor of luxury home furnishings and home décor, Gump’s was founded in 1861 in San Francisco, CA. There was only one Gump’s. It was a favorite of our mother and a favorite of mine. It makes me very sad to see it close. First Country Curtains, now Gump’s… what’s next? The Vermont Country Store? L.L. Bean?!

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Well, time marches on.

This weekend is the Greentree Parade in our flyover town. We hope the wee babes are able to join us as they did last year. We haven’t seen them in two weeks! Besides that I am hoping for a quiet, restorative weekend. How about you?

4 Comments

September 10, 2018

“For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert…”*

by chuckofish

It rained most of the weekend and I stayed in and recuperated from a hectic week and the flu. Indeed, I have no pictures of semi-exciting adventures and/or adorable wee babes since they stayed home and did the same. Instead I read the new Longmire book which arrived in the mail on Friday.

It did not disappoint.

I did get out of the house long enough to go to church on Sunday and it was nice to get back into the old routine. The OM and I went to Steak ‘N Shake for lunch afterwards. I picked up the house and did laundry. Since the temperature had fallen into the 70s I tried to do some yard work, but after 15 minutes I had strained my back, so I quit and retreated to Longmire.

We watched a good movie, which I found scrounging around on Amazon Prime, called Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005). Directed by Randall Miller, it stars Robert Carlyle and John Goodman and features a host of semi-has-been actors like Melissa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Sean Astin, Sonia Braga, Donnie Wahlberg, Ernie Hudson, etc., who were all excellent.

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I really liked it!

“Dance is a very powerful drug, if embraced judiciously; to reap its rewards, one must shoulder its challenges with intrepid countenance.” Frank Keene, a grieving baker in a near catatonic state, happens on a car accident. The loquacious and insightful victim, Steve Mills, is on his way to an appointment in Pasadena with a years-ago acquaintance; he asks Frank to go in his place. It’s a dance class. Frank goes, to find Steve’s friend. The story moves back and forth [between] Steve’s childhood, the scene of the accident, and the aftermath of Frank’s first Lindy hop. (IMDB)

It is rare these days to see a movie devoid of vulgarity, violence and political statements. It is just a good, uplifting story about real people. Give it a try–you’ll be glad you did!

*Isaiah 35:6

4 Comments

September 4, 2018

Postcards from a long weekend

by chuckofish

Daughter #1 breezed in on Friday night and stayed until Monday morning–such a treat! Per Friday’s blogpost, we watched The Odd Couple and enjoyed it thoroughly. Later in the weekend we watched McClintock! (1963) which I had not seen in forever, due to it usually only being available in terrible pirated form. But you can see it on Amazon Prime now in all its widescreen glory and it is worth it. One of the top-grossing films of 1963, it is John Wayne as John Wayne surrounded by familiar faces. Everyone has a lot of fun and there is a fight in a mud pit. Maureen O’Hara is on hand to be willful and stubborn and ultimately she gets spanked (as does Stephanie Powers on an earlier occasion) and everyone cheers.

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We also did some estate sale-ing…

Needlepoint rescue of the week

…and local shopping and had lunch at the Women’s Exchange. We searched the house for some lost counted cross-stitch pattern books and never found what we were looking for, but we unearthed a few gems. We also made a spontaneous trip to the STL Zoo to see the new-ish bear pits. It was probably not a great idea considering it was the Labor Day weekend, but we battled the crowds and found a place to park (a mile away) and visited said pits. Sorry, I don’t have a picture of the new Grizzly bears. They were large and scary, but not as scary as the polar bear who is huge…

We rode our beloved zoo train around…

and even took an obligatory selfie…which I will not share because it is truly heinous.

The wee babes and their parents came over on Sunday and even though they were sniffly and a bit under-the-weather, they ran us ragged.

Lottie loves this little chair…

…but the stairs are just the right size for sitting and thinking and taking a moment…

(I wasn’t kidding about the runny nose)

The OM stayed out of the fray per usual…

And we did have a dance party!

Dance Party!

After daughter #1 went home to COMO, I did laundry and picked up the house and caught up on the phone with daughter #2 and ordered my Christmas cards online. Don’t kid yourself–it’ll be here before we know it!

Today I am back at the salt mine for a busy and stressful week. I’m taking it one day at a time.

5 Comments

August 31, 2018

“Don’t point that finger at me unless you intend to use it.”*

by chuckofish

Woohoo, three-day weekend coming up!

I have no Big Plans but daughter #1 will be driving in from mid-MO.

We’ll barbecue, because…

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Maybe we’ll have a dance party…hopefully with the wee babes!

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No doubt we’ll watch a movie…

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Maybe we should watch a Neil Simon movie and toast him since he died this week at 91. The Odd Couple (1968) is always a solid choice and funnier than you remember.

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I can’t take it anymore, Felix, I’m cracking up. Everything you do irritates me. And when you’re not here, the things I know you’re gonna do when you come in irritate me. You leave me little notes on my pillow. Told you 158 times I can’t stand little notes on my pillow. “We’re all out of cornflakes. F.U.” Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Ungar!

Murder By Death (1976) is also quite funny–a satire of all those Agatha Christie-type mysteries featuring all the famous detectives you can think of. As I recall, David Niven and Maggie Smith steal the show as “Dick and Dora Charleston”.

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We can all relate to Truman Capote’s character, Lionel Twain, when he says:

You’ve tricked and fooled your readers for years. You’ve tortured us all with surprise endings that made no sense. You’ve introduced characters in the last five pages that were never in the book before. You’ve withheld clues and information that made it impossible for us to guess who did it. But now, the tables are turned. Millions of angry mystery readers are now getting their revenge. When the world learns I’ve outsmarted you, they’ll be selling your $1.95 books for twelve cents.

[Here’s an interesting article about Neil Simon and his influence on American society.]

Well, whatever you choose to do this long weekend, I hope you have a good one! Take a real break from your work and remember:

When we start being too impressed by the results of our work, we slowly come to the erroneous conviction that life is one large scoreboard where someone is listing the points to measure our worth. And before we are fully aware of it, we have sold our soul to the many grade-givers. That means we are not only in the world, but also of the world. Then we become what the world makes us. We are intelligent because someone gives us a high grade. We are helpful because someone says thanks. We are likable because someone likes us. And we are important because someone considers us indispensable. In short, we are worthwhile because we have successes. And the more we allow our accomplishments — the results of our actions — to become the criteria of our self-esteem, the more we are going to walk on our mental and spiritual toes, never sure if we will be able to live up to the expectations which we created by our last successes. In many people’s lives, there is a nearly diabolic chain in which their anxieties grow according to their successes. This dark power has driven many of the greatest artists into self-destruction.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life

*Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple

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August 27, 2018

“There’s so much to be grateful for, words are poor things.”*

by chuckofish

Monday again and daughter #2 and DN are heading home to Maryland. The long weekend rushed by as usual.

We had fun toasting our smart cookie with friends and family.

We also had fun visiting her wonderful wedding venue…

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and there was a whole lot of good instagramming going on…

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A good time was had by all (to say the least)! Everyone was home together. What could be better?

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who settest the solitary in families: We commend to thy continual care the homes in which thy people dwell. Put far from them, we beseech thee, every root of bitterness, the desire of vainglory, and the pride of life. Fill them with faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness. Knit together in constant affection those who, in holy wedlock, have been made one flesh. Turn the hearts of the parents to the children, and the hearts of the children to the parents; and so enkindle fervent charity among us all, that we may evermore be kindly affectioned one to another; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP)

*Marilynne Robinson, Home

5 Comments

August 24, 2018

Rolling into the weekend

by chuckofish

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Cheers to drinking lunchtime margaritas on the Amigo’s deck in August. Unheard of, but that’s what we did yesterday. We walked around the neighborhood and hung out with the wee babes and their parents for a little bit. Then we ate homemade mac ‘n cheese and watched The Big Sleep (1946) which DN had never seen.

Kind of a perfect day.

Daughter #2 and DN are driving down to Columbia (in the rain) to spend the day with daughter #1 today, so I am back at the salt mine. But it’s Friday and the weekend beckons…and we’re having a celebratory party for our new PhD on Saturday.

Have a good weekend!

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3 Comments

August 20, 2018

Come, holy Comforter

by chuckofish

…thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour:

thou, who almighty art, now rule in every heart,

and n’er from us depart,

Spirit of power

(Hymn #365)

I got a lot done at home this weekend. And you know, after such a busy week at work, it was nice to stay home and vacuum and put things away and gab on the phone. After church, I went to two estate sales (batting zero) and returned something at the mall.

We watched My Darling Clementine (1947) on Friday night

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(Henry Fonda was never better and is still the best Wyatt Earp in movies.)

and Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) on Saturday night.

Nobody says, “Dive! Dive!” better than Clark Gable.

I finished re-reading The Searchers by Alan Le May, poked around in the Memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman, and started Glass Houses by Louise Penny.

The wee babes came over for dinner Sunday night. We hadn’t seen them in over two weeks!

As you can see, they were both obsessed with this antique chair, and vied to sit in it all night. After two days in pre-school/daycare, they are reading fluently.

All’s well in the world.

6 Comments

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.

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

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!

4 Comments

August 13, 2018

Postcards from Colorado

by chuckofish

The OM and I had a wonderful time in Colorado at the beautiful Broadmoor Hotel. Granted there was a huge hail storm while we were there. You might have read about it or watched a video about it.

Screen Shot 2018-08-07 at 6.51.44 AM.png Pretty intense.

The view out our window before…

the view out our window after (note geraniums)…

Millions of dollars worth of roof damage

Flash flooding

It was the talk of the week, that’s for sure. We had fun nonetheless and visited the Garden of the Gods, Seven Falls and the art museum at Colorado College. We got lost going to the Airforce Academy and had to go back to the hotel and drink rosé on the patio, but c’est la vie.

Back in church on Sunday I read the first lesson from First Kings, but the second lesson was a better one from Ephesians, which we should all take to heart every day:

²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

²⁹Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 5 ¹Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (4:25-5:2)

The rector gave a good sermon on the gospel lesson (John 6:35, 41-51). Helen Feesh was back as the substitute organist, although she played the piano for some reason and the Voluntary was Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1!

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She brought her son with her, who was visiting. A professional baritone, he sang two great solos, which I enjoyed, especially Watchful’s Song from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Pilgrim’s Progress.

When I was leaving the rector made a joke about being glad to see me back before Labor Day, but he wasn’t being snarky. He understands why I don’t go in the summer and doesn’t hold it against me. So, all in all, it was a very pleasant experience, although I got a little misty-eyed when the congregation bid adieu to Brenda, our wonderful soloist/cantor, who is moving to Colorado with her family. Sunrise, sunset.

I’ll have a few more postcards tomorrow. Until then,

Whoopi-ty-aye-yay
I go my way
Back in the saddle again

3 Comments

dual personalities

Category: Weekend

September 17, 2018

“Get behind me, Satan!”*

by chuckofish

September 14, 2018

Can I get a witness?

by chuckofish

September 10, 2018

“For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert…”*

by chuckofish

September 4, 2018

Postcards from a long weekend

by chuckofish

August 31, 2018

“Don’t point that finger at me unless you intend to use it.”*

by chuckofish

August 27, 2018

“There’s so much to be grateful for, words are poor things.”*

by chuckofish

August 24, 2018

Rolling into the weekend

by chuckofish

August 20, 2018

Come, holy Comforter

by chuckofish

August 17, 2018

Can I get a witness?

by chuckofish

August 13, 2018

Postcards from Colorado

by chuckofish