dual personalities

Category: Weekend

September 6, 2019

A broken record

by chuckofish

I know I sound like a broken record, but it has been a hard week and I am glad it is Friday again!

If you are looking for something to celebrate this weekend, Sunday is the 53rd anniversary of the television debut of Star Trek in 1966. In “The Man Trap” episode, the crew visit an outpost to conduct medical exams on the residents, only to be attacked by a shapeshifting alien creature seeking to extract salt from their bodies.

Screen Shot 2019-09-05 at 8.29.36 PM.png

Well, I’m always ready to toast these guys.

“The Man Trap” placed first in its timeslot, with Nielsen ratings of 25.2 during the first half-hour; some 46.7 percent of all televisions in use at the time were tuned in to the episode. I was in the fifth grade and I remember watching with my older brother who was in the 10th grade. I’m sure we thought it was pretty hokey (because it was), but we kept tuning in, didn’t we?

Please note that there is a big celebration planned for Dolly Parton’s 50th Anniversary of being an Opry Member. There’s going to be a week-long celebration of Dolly’s “impact on music and the Opry,” all leading up to her 50th anniversary performance on the Opry stage on Saturday, October 12, 2019. Unfortunately, I will have to pass on this, but it sounds like a real good time to me!

I have been readings essays by E.B. White this week and he was a big one for noticing the little things…the changing of seasons and the goings on of the flora and fauna around him. It is a good reminder of the old lesson to pay attention. Summer is coming to an end here in flyover country, although the temperatures are still pretty balmy. It’s getting dark earlier, but still the cacophony of lawnmowers and weed-whackers fills the air on a constant basis. Whenever I lay my head down for one of my frequent naps, the sound of a lawnmower revving up is sure to follow. It never fails.

Have a good weekend! Celebrate something!

3 Comments
September 3, 2019

Par for the course

by chuckofish

As predicted, I had a very quiet long weekend. Daughter #1 got a lot done while she was here, but I spent the weekend reading and napping. No matter how much I nap, though, I never feel less fatigued. This is problematic and annoying, but par for the chemo course.

I re-read Rest and Be Thankful by Helen MacInnes, published in 1949, a novel which I found not to be dated, still relevant and very enjoyable. I started Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart (1956). We watched Hatari (1962) on two nights so we could maintain our 8:30 bedtime.

Screen Shot 2019-09-02 at 11.44.51 AM.png

You gotta love those baby elephants!

On Sunday night the boy brought the wee laddie over for a Labor Day barbecue. (Little Lottie was under the weather and stayed home with her mother.)

IMG_3114.JPG

IMG_3116.JPG

Best Book Ever

It is always fun/interesting to see one twin without the other. The wee laddie was well behaved and mellow, but we did have to have a lesson in not playing “catch” with the tator tots at the dinner table.

IMG_1791.jpeg

Daughter #1 headed back to Mid-MO on Monday morning and I continued with my reading/napping routine.

Can’t quite believe it’s September. I have a very busy week at work–here’s hoping I can get through it without too much ado. How is your week shaping up?

3 Comments
August 30, 2019

“Come a-shootin”*

by chuckofish

Well, a long weekend is upon us and I, for one, am looking forward to it. As usual, I won’t be doing much and that’s okay.

Last week I watched a couple of good westerns, which I had never seen (or at least don’t remember seeing). The Westerner is a 1940 American film directed by William Wyler and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan and Doris Davenport. Brennan won his third best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of Judge Roy Bean. Cooper plays a saddle tramp who tricks the judge out of hanging him and then tries to help the homesteaders.

Screen Shot 2019-08-29 at 3.49.58 PM.png

The script is good, the direction is great and it is a real pleasure to watch Gary Cooper ride around on the range. Back in the day, actors who appeared in westerns knew how to ride. (This is not the case in recent years and it is embarrassing to watch an actor try to maneuver a horse when he doesn’t know how.) Cooper grew up on a ranch in Wyoming and he he is truly one with the horse. Walter Brennan wasn’t so bad himself.

The other movie I watched, also about cattlemen vs. homesteaders, was Blood on the Moon (1948). Directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Mitchum, Walter Brennan and Robert Preston, it is kind of a western film noir, dark and mysterious.

Screen Shot 2019-08-29 at 4.05.06 PM.png

In a plot twist, the cattlemen are not even the bad guys.

Anyway, I liked both films, so if you are in the mood for a good western, you might try either of these lesser known ones.

I have to admit, I have also been watching Jim Gaffigan stand-up comedy specials, which are available on Amazon Prime.

Screen Shot 2019-08-29 at 4.49.41 PM.png

He is an American stand-up comedian raised in Indiana and he is hilarious and G-rated. Gaffigan’s style is largely observational, and his principal topics relate to laziness, eating and parenthood. He is not political. He makes me laugh.

Comfort is where you find it.

Daughter #1 is coming home for the long weekend and will keep me company as I don’t do much. Hopefully the wee babes will come over for a visit. What are you going to be up to this weekend?

*Judge Roy Bean in The Westerner

3 Comments
August 20, 2019

With a bit of a grin

by chuckofish

I was going to blog about our little trip on Saturday to Jeff City, but none of my pictures turned out very well. C’est la vie. I didn’t do much anyway–unwrapped a few boxes for daughter #1 in her very nice pre-war apartment, which I couldn’t help thinking, in her old neighborhood on the UWS, would be a million dollar apartment.

IMG_2978.JPGIMG_2977.JPG

Two bedrooms, a sunporch, a living room, a dining room, full kitchen. Zut alors! And she can literally walk across the street to work. Well, she will have fun arranging all her stuff, and hopefully I helped a little.

IMG_4016.JPG

I mostly reclined on the sofa, but I was exhausted when we returned home on Sunday.

Anyway, I will mention that today is the birthday of Edgar Guest (1881 – 1959) who, you may recall, was an American poet popular in the first half of the 20th century. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life and he became known as the People’s Poet. No one ever reads him any more, but you could do worse.

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
      But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
      Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
      On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
      That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
      At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
      And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
      Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
      That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
      There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
      The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
      Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
      That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

This poem had a bit of a revival in 2012 when Idris Elba read it at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards show. It was cool again.

We can always use a reminder to think positive and just do it, right?

4 Comments
August 16, 2019

So brave a palace

by chuckofish

IMG_1149.jpeg

Well, the wee babes went back to school this week. They were pretty excited about it.

As you can see, Lottiebelle is already co-leading the class…

IMG_1190.JPG

Tomorrow the OM and I are heading down to Jefferson City to hang out at daughter #1’s new apartment. (Check out the new video on the JC Visitor’s Bureau webpage–JC is a happening place.) I’m sure we won’t be much actual help unpacking stuff etc, but we can lend moral support and give advice.

Screen Shot 2019-08-15 at 5.03.26 PM.png

Yeah, that lamp looks swell over there….

I am looking forward to a change of scenery!

Today I start a new, once-a-week chemo routine and I am hoping it is a bit easier than the last rotation. On verra bien.

For us the winds do blow,
The earth doth rest, heaven move, and fountains flow.
     Nothing we see but means our good,
     As our delight or as our treasure:
The whole is either our cupboard of food,
          Or cabinet of pleasure.

          The stars have us to bed;
Night draws the curtain, which the sun withdraws;
     Music and light attend our head.
     All things unto our flesh are kind
In their descent and being; to our mind
          In their ascent and cause.

          Each thing is full of duty:
Waters united are our navigation;
     Distinguishèd, our habitation;
     Below, our drink; above, our meat;
Both are our cleanliness.
  Hath one such beauty?
          Then how are all things neat?

          More servants wait on Man
Than he'll take notice of:  in every path
     He treads down that which doth befriend him
     When sickness makes him pale and wan.
O mighty love!  Man is one world, and hath
          Another to attend him.

          Since then, my God, thou hast
So brave a palace built, O dwell in it
     That it may dwell with thee at last!
     Till then, afford us so much wit,
That, as the world serves us, we may serve thee,
          And both thy servants be.
--George Herbert, from "Man"
3 Comments
August 13, 2019

Small things

by chuckofish

IMG_1109.jpeg

I did not get to see the wee babes this weekend, but I did see pictures of their visit to the National Museum of Transportation where they seemed to have had a super fun time. This museum has come a long way since we used to visit it as children. They even have a little train you can ride on, like at the zoo.

IMG_1084.jpeg

I hope they saw the…

Screen Shot 2019-08-12 at 9.01.03 PM.png

…I can only imagine that the wee laddie would lose his mind over this treasure!

Meanwhile the OM and I had a quiet weekend at home. We only ventured out to take a drive through Lone Elk Park where we saw a raccoon family, a couple of wild turkeys and some buffalo taking a siesta. It was pretty chill there.

“Again I resume the long
lesson: how small a thing
can be pleasing, how little
in this hard world it takes
to satisfy the mind
and bring it to its rest.”
― Wendell Berry, Sabbaths 

It is Tuesday now. Put down your phone and look up. Enjoy the small things. None of them are on a computer screen.

1 Comment
August 2, 2019

“What ho, Tashtego!”

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2018-08-24 at 6.29.52 AM.png

Where did the week go? Daughter #2 and I went to work every day and got things done until about 1:00 and then went home and collapsed. This is my new normal. She made tasty dinners hoping I would eat them and I mostly did. We watched Lonesome Dove and Love With the Proper Stranger (1963).

Screen Shot 2019-07-31 at 9.38.23 PM.png

This movie was better than I remembered!

But we didn’t get much else done and that’s okay. DN arrives today while we are at chemo…

Screen Shot 2019-08-01 at 10.07.50 PM.png…and we will put him to work, busting up chifforobes etc. Daughter #1 rolls into town later this afternoon, and then we will all go into Melville party mode for the big day tomorrow.

Have a great weekend! Don’t forget to toast Herman Melville at least once!

PSA: Just a reminder that August is the month for TCM Summer Under the Stars, wherein each day of the month is devoted to a full 24 hours of films featuring a single outstanding actor or actress. Returning favorites include June Allyson, Fred Astaire, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Kirk Douglas, Irene Dunne, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda, Ava Gardner, Susan Hayward, Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, Red Skelton, Ann Sothern and James Stewart.

Check out the full schedule here and start setting your DVR.

And please say a little prayer for the wee laddie who is having another corrective surgery on his eye this morning. 🙏🙏🙏

IMG_9165.jpeg

 

 

3 Comments
July 26, 2019

“His heart is a feather. In all kinds of weather. He sings his cattle call.”*

by chuckofish

Did you know that tomorrow is the National Day of the Cowboy? Well, it is. And, of course, it is one of my favorite days.

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 6.59.04 PM.png

I will spend the weekend indulging in a favorite activity, i.e. watching cowboy movies…

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 7.04.14 PM.png

Howard Hawks’ Red River (1948)

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 7.12.59 PM.png

Chisum (1970)

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 8.24.58 PM.png

Lonesome Dove (1989)

“It’s a funny life,” Augustus said. “All these cattle and nine-tenths of the horses is stolen, and yet we was once respected lawmen. If we get to Montana we’ll have to go into politics. You’ll wind up governor if the dern place ever gets to be a state. And you’ll spend all your time passing laws against cattle thieves.” ― Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove 

Most westerns aren’t even really about cowboys, so you have to give it some thought.

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 9.04.22 PM.png

Junior Bonner (1972)

Life is a journey and it ain’t for sissies. It’s a hard struggle, and perhaps the cowboy personifies that struggle. Whatever. It works for me.

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 9.32.24 PM.png

*Tex Owens, “Cattle Call”

5 Comments
July 23, 2019

Let it rain, rain down on me*

by chuckofish

IMG-2578.JPG

I thought I was taller than you…

Well, your dual personalities had a lot of fun hanging out, not doing much, but just being together. And that’s what it’s all about, right?

My sister got to hang out with the wee babes, who are admittedly more fun than a barrel of monkeys…

IMG_0808.jpeg

Lottie go to the beach?

IMG_0813.jpeg

Come in the water, Wheeler! It feels great!

…and she went estate sale-ing with daughter #1 and to lunch at the Women’s Exchange, but the rest of the time, we were pretty mellow. And now I miss her. Sigh.

But things are bubbling over at work and daughter #2 arrives on Thursday, so dull  moments do not accrue.

“No stars gleam as brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky. No water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand. And no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs through adversity. Tested faith brings experience. You would never have believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials. And you would never have known God’s strength had His strength not been needed to carry you through.”
― Charles H. Spurgeon

Have a good Tuesday!

*Crowder

4 Comments
July 12, 2019

What’s playing at the Roxie?

by chuckofish

Happy Friday! It has been a long week back at work and I am looking forward to not doing a lot this weekend.

The wee babes are in Florida with their parents where the wee laddie will be sporting the latest in toddler fashion–a “tractor hat” which I knew would hit the sartorial sweet spot for the boy who loves all things tractor.

IMG_0355.jpegThey’ll be gone for a week. We’ll rest up in the meantime.IMG_0394.jpeg

IMG_0398.jpeg

I’ll be trying to get the house ready for a visit from my DP next week.

Maybe I’ll catch up on some more 1939 movies. Last week I watched Only Angels Have Wings (1939) which was very good. I have been on a bit of a Cary Grant kick recently…

Screen Shot 2019-07-11 at 7.08.04 PM.png

…and I’m thinking it may be time for Gunga Din (1939)…Tonight TCM is showing this lineup of 1939 movies:

Screen Shot 2019-07-11 at 7.11.56 PM.png

Anyway, however you slice it, the weekend is nearly here! Huzzah!

3 Comments