Weekend | dual personalities

I stayed close to home all weekend, catching up on a lot of things. I brought a suitcase up from the basement so I could start thinking about what to bring on a trip the OM and I are taking next week to Colorado. It is a work-related conference for him so I will have a lot of time to relax and read.

Right now I am reading Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller, a mostly forgotten novel which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1934. It was a best-seller, second only to Anthony Adverse that year. I stumbled across it when reading a book of Conrad Richter’s writing journals (found in my bookcase overhaul) where he admires this book and thinks her depiction of simple country folk better and more real than his own. As you know, I am a great admirer of Conrad Richter, so I had to check it out.

The novel tells the story of Cean and Lonzo, a young couple “who begin their married lives two decades before the Civil War in a land where nature is hostile, the seasons dictate the law, and the days are punctuated by the hard work of the land.” The NY Times, reviewing it at the time, said, “It has a wonderful freshness about it; not simply the freshness of a new writer, but the freshness of a new world…. A wonderfully large and vital picture,” and they were correct. The characters are pioneers in rural Georgia, farming for a living. They own no slaves. This novel is about as far from Gone With the Wind as you can get and I much prefer it. There is no melodrama here, but real fully-developed characters written with depth and insight. Clearly the author had one big book inside her and she wrote it.

While I was cleaning up the house, I noticed an amusing thing.

Something is taking over my house! I ask you, what would June Cleaver do in this situation? Well, I am trying to go with the flow.

Sunday night the wee babes came over per usual with their parents. The wee laddie is on the mend from his eye surgery…

…and enjoyed his peanut butter and graham crackers–no tacos for him.

Little Lottiebelle is a babbling dynamo…

Well, we all went to bed early Sunday night in preparation for a very busy work week. We also got a call from my brother’s two adult children asking if they can stop in Thursday night on their way from California to Michigan. Sure thing. The bed ‘n breakfast is open for business. Just don’t trip over the vintage Little Tykes toys or slip on a Playskool figurine!

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July 23, 2018

“Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway”*

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2018-07-22 at 11.12.22 AM.png Our roadtrip adventure this weekend took us all the way to Marion, Illinois. We had planned to stop in Mt. Vernon, but we got sidetracked looking for various “antique malls” in various cornfields and lost our way a little bit.

Check out that cornfield!

Check out that crocheted tire cover!

Our antiquing was a total bust, but we had a hilarious time, not to mention a lovely lunch in Johnston City (pop. 3500) at Andreson’s Cafe.

Screen Shot 2018-07-22 at 11.18.11 AM.png This is the kind of place where the regulars hang out and when strangers from out of town walk in, they know it, and some nice old lady doesn’t hesitate to come and ask you from whence you hail. We had a nice lunch (and a piece of pie!) and I would recommend the cafe to anyone passing through Johnston City.

Aren’t I lucky to have two friends who agree that this is, indeed, a fun way to spend a Saturday?

I made up for my lack of luck on Saturday by striking gold at an estate sale on Sunday. The OM and I had to borrow the boy’s pickup truck to haul home the bookshelf I found just down the road in Webster Groves. This involved driving out to the boy’s store, taking his giant raptor-mobile and driving very carefully to the house where the estate sale was, loading up the truck, driving home, unloading the bookshelf in the garage, driving back to the store, and then–finally–going home in my own Mini.

The wee babes and their parents came over for our Sunday night barbecue. The boy carried the bookshelf from the garage to an upstairs bedroom. Now I will have the fun of rearranging a room and a lot of books.

I wish I had another day off to recover from my busy weekend, but it’s back to the salt mine today. Have a good one!

*Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson

6 Comments

July 20, 2018

Back in the saddle again (and a little Friday vent)

by chuckofish

Today on the Episcopal calendar of saints, four American women who were pioneers in the struggle for black emancipation and for women’s rights are honored: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman. The date chosen for commemorating them is the anniversary of the Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, July 19-20, 1848. These new additions are a result of the church’s work on the Lesser Feasts and Fasts revision, which includes an effort to increase the diversity of people held up as models. All very well and good.

My question is why choose Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who attempted to re-write the Bible as her own ‘Women’s Bible’–blasphemy to many–and Ms. Bloomer, who designed the pants that were named after her. Great.

Where is Susan B. Anthony? A Quaker by birth, she became over time more of a Unitarian, but she was no blasphemer. I would much rather recognize her today as a true saint than either Stanton or Bloomer. I would love to know what the thinking was behind these choices, but, then again, maybe I don’t want to know. My denomination disappoints me on a daily basis.

O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servants Elizabeth, Amelia, Sojourner, and Harriet. Give us vision and courage to stand against oppression and injustice and all that works against the glorious liberty to which you call all your children; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Anyway… it is Friday at last. I have a fun outing planned for Saturday with my BFFs. We’re driving to Mt. Vernon, IL to check out the antique malls there, which we noted as we drove south to Nashville, TN in June. We’re always on the lookout for new junk!

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I mean, wow, downtown Mt. Vernon sounds like an exciting place (a kitchen store!):

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(From the “Illinois: Are You Up For Amazing?” website)

Well, we’ll find out for ourselves on Saturday. I know Lottie can’t wait until she is old enough to go antiquing!

I wanna go too!

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

Also a toast and a happy anniversary to my DP and her DH! Twenty-nine years! We won’t watch Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf (1966) in your honor…

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…but maybe The Thin Man (1934) or one of its sequels…

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Have a good weekend!

3 Comments

July 13, 2018

Random thoughts for Friday

by chuckofish

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This picture of the Saint Louis Abbey here in town came up on my Instagram feed yesterday and I just have to say that this famous Gyo Obata-designed building may have been cutting edge when it was completed in 1962,

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but it still looks like a birthday cake. I’ve never been a fan of poured concrete I guess. The grounds of the Abbey are rather uninspiring, don’t you think?

Here’s a tour of the building.

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Cool 1964 Priory yearbook frontispiece with dead tree branch

I have to admit, the St. Louis Abbey is better than St. John’s Abbey Church in Collegeville, MN.

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Good Lord, what were they thinking?

In other news, today the Episcopal Church remembers Conrad Weiser–Witness to Peace and Reconciliation–with a feast day on its liturgical calendar. Weiser (November 2, 1696 – July 13, 1760) was a Pennsylvania Dutch pioneer, interpreter and diplomat between the Pennsylvania Colony and Native Americans.

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As a child, Conrad Weiser and his family were among thousands of Protestant refugees who left the German Palantine in 1709 for reasons of religious persecution. They traveled to England and then were sent to the New York colony. The Crown supported migration of immigrants to help settle the New York colony, the plan being that they would work off their passage in a form of indenture in camps devoted to producing ships’ stores, such as tar and other materials. Later they would be allowed to trade their work for land. It was not until 1723, however, that some 100 heads of families received land grants in the central Mohawk Valley.

[Side note: If you want to read a really good book about this dishonorable system, I recommend The Free Man by Conrad Richter.]

Weiser eventually moved to Pennsylvania where he became a key player in treaty negotiations, land purchases, and the formulation of Pennsylvania’s policies towards Native Americans. For many years, he helped to keep the powerful Iroquois allied with the British as opposed to the French. This important service contributed to the continued survival of the British colonies and the eventual victory of the British over the French in the French and Indian Wars.

Indeed, Weiser was one cool dude and a lay minister in the Lutheran Church. By the way, Weiser’s daughter Maria married Henry Muhlenberg, whom the Episcopal Church also honors with a feast day (October 7).

Almighty God, of your grace you gave Conrad Weiser the gift of diplomacy, the insight to understand two different cultures and interpret each to the other with clarity and honesty: As we strive to be faithful to our vocation to commend your kingdom, help us to proclaim the Gospel to the many cultures around us, that by your Holy Spirit we may be effective ambassadors for our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the same Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Meanwhile, as the temperatures soar here, the wee babes have been keeping cool flyover style.

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(By the way, those are bug repellent anklets. They are not on kiddie parole. What’ll they think of next?)

I was reminded that back in 1966 the All-Star game was held in the brand new Busch Stadium here in town. Unfortunately, the temperature that day topped out at 103!

Screen Shot 2018-07-12 at 11.45.34 AM.png Look at all the men in shirts and ties! I was going to Vacation Bible School at the time and remember my VBS teacher was George Guernsey and he was going to the game that afternoon. We were all jealous, but maybe we needn’t have been!

Well, I am sure glad the weekend is almost here. It’s going to be another hot one…

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…but since it has been an unusually busy week at the salt mine, I don’t care. I have no big plans.

What are you doing this weekend?

6 Comments

June 29, 2018

“Stick with me baby, I’m the guy that you came in with”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of one of my favorites: Frank Loesser (June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) who wrote, among a lot of other things, the lyrics and music to Guys and Dolls. Over his career, he won four Tonys, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and an Academy Award–all richly deserved.

Loesser, we are told, was one of those guys who, when four years old, could play any tune on the piano by ear (he never had a lesson). In WWII he joined the Air Force and wrote “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.” What a guy.

If I hadn’t just watched Guys and Dolls (1955) recently, I would watch it tonight in his honor. Instead I may watch Destry Rides Again (1939) in which Marlene Dietrich sings the Loesser classic “See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have.”

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Speaking of westerns, Loesser also wrote the classic “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle” as in “I’ve got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle/ as I go riding merrily along/And they sing, oh, ain’t you glad you’re single?/And that song ain’t so very far from wrong.” I have known the song forever, but never knew who wrote it!

So a toast to Frank Loesser tonight! The weekend is almost here. I have no big plans beyond getting ready for the 4th of July holiday when we have guests arriving. And hopefully those wee babes will toddle over on Sunday night.

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Plus: This is a good one from one of my favorite female (Episcopal) clergypersons.

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

–Ephesians 3:14–21

*”Luck Be a Lady Tonight” by Frank Loesser

2 Comments

June 25, 2018

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, and his mercy endures for ever.”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? After a raging thunderstorm of a Friday afternoon we had a lovely Saturday with temperatures in the 70s! I had a great visit with my old friend Harriet–such a treat!–and daughter #1 breezed into town as well.

We buzzed around town hitting a couple of estate sales where I rescued a needlepoint pillow (see strawberries) and got a few books and a floor lamp. We dropped in on the boy who was working at his store.

Screen Shot 2018-06-24 at 1.38.25 PM.png We had lunch and walked around our hometown. She got the oil changed in her car and bought some great chinoiserie fabric to recover a chair. Then the wee babes came over on Saturday night and we reconnected with them. It had been awhile!

The wee laddie said hello to the handles on the highboy.

Little Miss Lottie said hello to Aunt Susie and Uncle Nate (in abstentia)…

…and gave Aunt Susie a kiss

The wee laddie wears an eye patch for a few hours a day.

I have 11 teeth!

Busy walking the circuit

After daughter #1 left on Sunday afternoon to go back to mid-MO, I got some laundry and housework done and talked to daughter #2, who is on the home stretch to her oral defense of her PhD thesis. You go, girl! The summer is zooming by.

Now it is back to the salt mine. Have a good week!

*Psalm 107:1

4 Comments

June 22, 2018

“A man never gets so old, that he forgets how it was being a little boy.”*

by chuckofish

The wee babes and their parents are back in town after a fun-filled vacay in Florida where they visited their other grandparents. The boy went to DisneyWorld, which is the happy place of his wife and in-law family, for the first time. He even wore a special shirt during the 14-hour day-trip. When in Rome…

The boy deserves a party, but he has to work all weekend at his store, so we will not be able to get together as I had hoped for a belated Father’s Day celebration. Sigh. Well, we’ll bring him some Chik-fil-A for lunch as a treat.

Funnily enough, now that summer is officially here, the temperature is dropping and we are in for some rain. Well, that’s flyover weather for you!

Screen Shot 2018-06-21 at 12.19.17 PM Daughter #1 is coming home for the weekend for a little R&R (and to see the wee babes). Plus, my oldest BFF is in town so we are getting together this afternoon for Episcopal souffle and a good old gab-fest.

I have nothing to complain about. I mean, look at the great bookmark daughter #2 sent me after she and DN visited Appomattox!

Perfect! Have a great weekend!

*Ward Cleaver

7 Comments

June 18, 2018

“See! the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love”*

by chuckofish

It’s tiger lily time in flyover country. They are everywhere! I do love these heat-loving beauties. And, boy, this weekend was a hot one!

I went to three estate sales (no luck) and did a little shopping of the home-store variety. I went to church. Other than that, it was strictly inside for me this weekend: I yakked on the phone and worked on some inside projects. It warmed my heart that daughter #1 in Mid-MO went estate-saleing and was more successful than I.

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I finished reading The Bondwoman’s Narrative, a 19th century novel by Hannah Craft and possibly the first novel written by an African-American woman. (Daughter #2 had left it at home for me.) In 2013 Crafts’ identity was documented as Hannah Bond, an enslaved African-American woman on the plantation of John Wheeler and his wife Ellen in Murfreeboro, North Carolina. Bond served there as a lady’s maid to Ellen Wheeler, and escaped about 1857, settling finally in New Jersey. Here’s a review of this very interesting and well-written book by the great Hilary Mantel in the London Review of Books.

I should mention that yesterday, besides being Father’s Day, was also Bunker Hill Day, which commemorates the battle of Bunker Hill on June 17. It is also the birthday of our maternal grandfather, who was always known as Bunker because he was born on Bunker Hill Day in 1900.

Here’s an appropriate word from old Henry David Thoreau in honor of Bunker:

The fishermen sit by their damp fire of rotten pine wood, so wet and chilly that even smoke in their eyes is a kind of comfort. There they sit, ever and anon scanning their reels to see if any have fallen, and, if not catching many fish, still getting what they went for, though they may not be aware of it, i.e. a wilder experience than the town affords.

(December 26, 1856)

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Today is a busy day for me and I have to pick up the wee babes and their parents at the airport tonight at 9:00 pm–way past my bedtime!

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All in a day’s work.

Have a good one.

*Hymn 522, John Newton; the painting is by N.C. Wyeth, “Thoreau Fishing”

5 Comments

June 11, 2018

“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.”*

by chuckofish

I was feted this weekend (belatedly for my birthday back in April) with a trip to and a tour of Bellefontaine Cemetery on the northern edge of our fair city. As you know, I do like a historically-significant cemetery. Bellefontaine (pronounced “Belle-fountain” by the locals), established in 1849, when the Rural Cemetery Association purchased the former Hempstead family farm located five miles northwest of the city, is such a cemetery.

: A mini Gothic cathedral fit for a beer baron

A storm was brewing in the southwest and came crashing in as we finished the tour. We got a little wet running to our car, but that was preferable to spending one more minute with the tedious docent who had triggered me almost immediately with her irreverent, “amusing” stories of the famous/infamous residents of the cemetery. I hate the attitude that reduces everything in history to an anecdote for simple minds. Sorry for the rant. I love Bellefontaine cemetery, but clearly a self-guided tour is the way I should go in the future!

After our tour the plan was to go to the Crown Candy Kitchen for lunch.

Screen Shot 2018-06-10 at 9.19.58 AM.png I have never been to this local landmark, which like the cemetery is in a most disreputable and run-down part of town, and I was really looking forward to it. When we got there, however, there was a line of people waiting outside (under the awning) in the rain! We decided to pass and moved on to our favorite Cafe Osage in the CWE. The drive there was like something out of Escape from New York (1981)…

Screen Shot 2018-06-10 at 9.34.42 AM.png …but we got there and had a lovely lunch.

All in all, it was a terrific outing with my creative (and flexible) BFFs…there were even presents!

On Sunday the OM and I went out to breakfast with the wee babes and their parents, because they are headed to Florida today and didn’t want to come over for their usual Sunday night visit.

Joe Cool says 8:00 am is way early in the morning for socializing, dude

The rest of the weekend was spent puttering in the house and gabbing on the phone with my daughters. I also planted some more geraniums in pots and puttered around in my yard.

Unfortunately, it was too hot to linger on the patio and the Florida room is only habitable in the early morning or evening hours.

Don’t forget that today is the feast day of Barnabas on the Episcopal calendar of saints. I always liked old Barnabas.

Those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews. But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”

At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius. The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea; this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

(Acts 11:19-30;13:1-3)

Barnabas is a great role model for us all, although he did get fed up with Paul and bail on him. That happens; we are only human.

*Ben Quick in The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

4 Comments

June 8, 2018

Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing*

by chuckofish

Friday is here. I have a few fun things planned this weekend–a belated birthday adventure primary among them. The rest of the time I will spend recovering from the week and catching up on vacuuming etc.

I am also belated in reporting that June is Leslie Howard month on TCM, so check out the schedule every Monday night. Coming up on 6/11:

Screen Shot 2018-06-07 at 1.05.25 PM.png I will definitely watch Pygmalion (1938) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)!

Screen Shot 2018-06-07 at 1.12.11 PM.png I will also note that Sunday is Judy Garland’s birthday (b. 1922) so you might want to watch The Wizard of Oz (1939)…

Screen Shot 2018-06-07 at 7.18.42 PM.png …which really is one of the all-time great movies of all time. (It’s in my top 5!)

Side-note: I read an interesting essay by Salman Rushdie recently about The Wizard of Oz (the movie) and how he saw it when he was 10 years old and how it really got him started on his literary career. It was a good essay, but there was one thing about which I really disagreed with him. He said he never could stand Toto!

Screen Shot 2018-06-07 at 7.27.21 PM.png I think Toto is one of the great dogs in movie history and smarter than most of the people in the film. He saves the day over and over. I would like a dog like Toto. Unfortunately, most dogs are not actually that smart.

And, excuse me, is there a trampoline in Busch Stadium?

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How do they do that?

Have a good weekend!

*James Weldon Johnson

4 Comments

dual personalities

Category: Weekend

July 30, 2018

Weekend update

by chuckofish

July 23, 2018

“Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway”*

by chuckofish

July 20, 2018

Back in the saddle again (and a little Friday vent)

by chuckofish

July 13, 2018

Random thoughts for Friday

by chuckofish

June 29, 2018

“Stick with me baby, I’m the guy that you came in with”*

by chuckofish

June 25, 2018

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, and his mercy endures for ever.”*

by chuckofish

June 22, 2018

“A man never gets so old, that he forgets how it was being a little boy.”*

by chuckofish

June 18, 2018

“See! the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love”*

by chuckofish

June 11, 2018

“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.”*

by chuckofish

June 8, 2018

Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing*

by chuckofish