Weekend | dual personalities

This article came as no surprise to me– Okay, “brown furniture” may be dead in our culture, which apparently has lost interest in its history. C’mon, I have been saying for years that real antiques go for a song at auction and that it is a sure bet you can find a nice dining room table and chairs for a $100 at an estate sale. But there are still plenty of people out there who care about their pasts and their family histories, who save “stuff” and refuse to purge everything, who don’t give a hoot about trends. Take heart and hold on. And take advantage of a buyer’s market, I say.

David Powlinson, with whom I had very recently become acquainted through his writing, died peacefully at his home in Pennsylvania on Friday, June 7, 2019, after suffering from pancreatic cancer. He was 69. Of course, there was no mention in the NYTimes–evangelicals (even Harvard-educated ones) are beneath notice–but I recommend you follow up with him and find out more.

You would think that being home with a lot of spare time on my hands, I might have watched some good new movies and/or television shows. Alas, I cannot report that that is the case. Even with Amazon Prime etc, it is kind of a wasteland out there. I am sticking to the tried and true “comfort” variety of entertainment and that is working for me.

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I am trying to read more, but am reverting to some old favorites.

“Go and be as the butterfly!”
Dooley grinned. “You’ve said that as long as I can remember. I’m not pulling up what it means.”
It was what God had said to him, a small-town clergyman, another lifetime a go, and what he had tried and was still trying to do.
“I think it means to go unfettered by cares, by the infernal bondage of the mortal. Go with a light heart, trusting God and giving thanks. Go and gather unto yourselves so you can pour out to others.”
He took a deep breath. “Go without looking back.”
― Jan Karon, To Be Where You Are

The boy is heading out to a bachelor party on the west coast today. I hope he has fun. I have enjoyed spending more time with him than usual over the past few weeks, as he frequently stops by to see me on his way to work and “coach” me a little.

Hopefully the wee babes will come over for a visit this weekend. They have been making the most of their summer…

hanging with their buds…

…and keeping cool. Hard to believe we are halfway through the year!

Enjoy your Friday and bon weekend!

6 Comments

May 13, 2019

“Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice: him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell”*

by chuckofish

I had a lovely weekend, how about you?

Although Saturday was the coldest May 11 on record (!) here in our flyover city and it was pouring rain most of the day, daughter #1 and I had fun. We went to an auction…

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…and I rescued an early 19th century reverse painted mirror. We then went to a hipster restaurant for lunch (avocado toast, yum) in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

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Coincidentally (?) Gary and Don were playing there, along with Don’s daughter Stephanie, and the ambiance/music was great.

We went home and prepared for the wee babes to come over and celebrate Mother’s Day. Daughter #1 made Episcopal Souffle. Nothing fancy, but my favorite. We had a lovely time.

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On Sunday we went to church and and then the OM took us to Ted Drewes afterwards.

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It was nippy out so we ate in the car!

I gabbed on the phone with dear daughter #2 and with my siblings. A perfect weekend!

*William Keble, hymn 377 (Old 100th)

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May 10, 2019

“Perhaps a frail memorial, but sincere, Not scorn’d in heav’n, though little notic’d here.”*

by chuckofish

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Let’s hear it for the weekend and for Mother’s Day!

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We are celebrating Mother’s Day on Saturday night with the wee babes (and their wonderful mother). Daughter #1 is in St. Louis for work today so she will stay in town and join us.

Have a good weekend and remember your mothers!

“Father Wolf looked on amazed. He had almost forgotten the days when he won Mother Wolf in fair fight from five other wolves, when she ran in the Pack and was not called The Demon for compliment’s sake. Shere Khan might have faced Father Wolf, but he could not stand up against Mother Wolf, for he knew that where he was she had all the advantage of the ground, and would fight to the death. So he backed out of the cave mouth growling…”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book

Paintings are (top to bottom) by James Whistler, Francis Coates Jones, Honore Daumier, Nguyen Thanh Binh, Mary Cassatt, Henry Moore, Norman Rockwell)

*William Cowper, “On the Receipt of My Mother’s Picture Out of Norfolk”

6 Comments

May 6, 2019

Send us now into the world in peace

by chuckofish

Well, first this:

The dapper wee laddie had his fitting for the suit he will wear as the ring bearer at his aunt’s wedding in June. He seemed pleased with the look. I am not surprised, as his father always liked getting dressed up as well.

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He has always been at home in formal attire…

Screen Shot 2018-08-03 at 4.18.32 PM.png Anyway…my weekend was low key and fun.

The gabfest with my two old friends was wonderful but too short. I forgot to take a picture.

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(taken at an event I did not attend–love those flyover blonds!)

Daughter #1 arrived home in time to make margaritas at 5 pm. Then she played DJ and we listened to music. There is nothing I like better than to listen to favorite tunes chosen by someone else.

We went to church on Sunday morning and then she had to hurry back to mid-Mo as she was heading to KC bright and early on Monday morning. But first we sat on the patio at Club Taco under the blue, blue sky…

..and listened to our friends Gary and Don play some good, good music…

Good times…Meanwhile I am re-reading Moby-Dick and loving it. It is amazingly current and prescient.

This, shipmates, this is that other lesson; and woe to that pilot of the living God who slights it. Woe to him whom this world charms from Gospel duty! Woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when God has brewed them into a gale! Woe to him who seeks to please rather than appall! Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness! Woe to him who, in this world, courts not dishonor! Woe to him who would not be true, even though to be false were salvation! Yea, woe to him who, as the great Pilot Paul has it, while preaching to others is himself castaway! (“The Sermon”)

Look to yourself, Episcopal Church.

Have a good week!

3 Comments

May 3, 2019

“Yeah, well… sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand”*

by chuckofish

There is a lot going on this weekend, including the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 1.19.57 PM.png It is also the 50th anniversary of the National Churchill Museum in Fulton, MO and there is a whole weekend of activities planned.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 1.23.54 PM.png The St. Louis Fine Print, Rare Book & Paper Arts Fair is this weekend–always a favorite of mine.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 1.18.50 PM.png It is Cinco de Mayo. Time for a margarita!

And it is my 45th high school reunion.

I am getting together with my two best friends from back in the day for a gabfest, but other than that, I am playing it pretty cool.

Meanwhile the rivers are rising as rainfall continues to be higher than forecast.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 6.07.23 PM.png It has been raining all week and the forecast for the weekend is not great. So let’s all say a weather prayer…

Compassionate God, source of all comfort,
We pray for the people whose lives have been devastated by rain and flood.
Bring them comfort, we pray.
Protect the vulnerable.

Have mercy on all those working to rescue the stranded and to feed the hungry.
And may our response to their suffering be generous and bring you praise.
For we ask it in Jesus name,

Amen.

I hope we get to see these goofballs.

And this made me laugh…

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Have a good weekend–whatever you decide to do!

*Cool Hand Luke (Paul Newman) in Cool Hand Luke (1967)

6 Comments

April 29, 2019

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace”*

by chuckofish

Froggie went a courtin’…and I found him at an estate sale a few weeks ago. I planted some annuals this weekend. Hopefully they will fill in around him. I planted some geraniums in pots as well. The OM even got into the act…

We have had a lot of rain, which is great for the grass…but the violets love it as well…

…zut alors! They are considered a weed around here.

Anyway, everything is greening up nicely. I saw a big bumble bee doing his thing and the birds are building nests and the chipmunks are building tunnels.

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
⁸or the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
⁹Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:7-10)

We babysat for the wee babes and they went to bed like little lambs (?!) once we had wrestled them into their jammies (easier said than done). Then they came over for their usual visit on Sunday night and frolicked in our yard.

Be thou thyself, O Lord, we beseech thee, the shepherd of thy people; that we who are strengthened by thy risen presence may in our daily life walk with thee, and in humble trust seek to follow thee, as thou callest us by name and dost lead us out; for thy glory’s sake.

—The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: Services of Praise and Prayer for Occasional Use in Churches (New York: Oxford University Press, 1933)

*Isaiah 55:11

5 Comments

April 26, 2019

“Oh where are you going with your love-locks flowing/ On the west wind blowing along this valley track?”*

by chuckofish

It has been a busy week, the highlight of which was my visit to the wee babes’ preschool one morning for Grandparents’ Day. I went to chapel with them and to an activity (coloring) and a snack. I had to leave early to get to work, but they were in the good hands of their other grandparents. At two, life is just one activity after another and then you take a nap. Sounds pretty good, right?

After quite a few busy weekends in a row, I am going to take it real easy this weekend. I have no plans besides babysitting the wee babes on Saturday night. I am hoping the OM and I are capable of handling/wrangling them for two hours. We’ll see.

Since tomorrow marks the 137th anniversary of the death of the brilliant, but ultimately misguided, Sage of Concord, Ralph Waldo Emerson, I will be toasting him.

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When Emerson died of pneumonia in 1882, he was buried on “Author’s Ridge” in Concord’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery —a cemetery that was designed with Emerson’s Transcendentalist, nature-loving aesthetics in mind. In 1855, as a member of the Concord Cemetery Committee, Emerson gave the dedication at the opening of the cemetery, calling it a “garden of the living” that would be a peaceful place for both visitors and permanent residents. “Author’s Ridge” became a burial ground for many of those famous American authors who called Concord home—Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Emerson. Good company for sure.

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I should also note that tomorrow Christina Rossetti is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Anglican Church.

Somewhere or Other

Somewhere or other there must surely be

The face not seen, the voice not heard,

The heart that not yet—never yet—ah me!

Made answer to my word.

Somewhere or other, may be near or far;

Past land and sea, clean out of sight;

Beyond the wandering moon, beyond the star

That tracks her night by night.

Somewhere or other, may be far or near;

With just a wall, a hedge, between;

With just the last leaves of the dying year

Fallen on a turf grown green.

Join me in toasting her as well! And have a good weekend!

*from “Amor Mundi” by Christina Rossetti

4 Comments

April 22, 2019

Hymns of praise then let us sing

by chuckofish

Did you have a good weekend? How was your Easter?

I had a lovely birthday…

and a perfect Easter…

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31

And the Blues advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs…Go Blues!

3 Comments

April 15, 2019

“Go back to your oar, Forty-One.”*

by chuckofish

On Sunday as I was leaving church, the rector asked how I was doing.

I said, “I’m busy and unfocused.”

He said, “Well, try to pull it together this week.”

Okay then. That is my plan.

But even the best-laid plans go oft awry. We went to see Ben Hur (1959) at the movie theater last night. It was in one of those small theaters where all the seats are big recliners, and I thought, “Oh no, I will fall asleep for sure! And the OM will fall asleep in 5 minutes!” But when the lights went down and the Miklós Rózsa music came on, we were all riveted.

I had virtually forgotten what seeing a movie at the movie theater was like! Movies–especially a spectacle like Ben Hur made in the Golden Age–were meant to be seen on a big screen! You can see everything–from the smallest detail of the incredible costumes…

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Those leopard-skin boots!

…to the facial expressions in the more intimate scenes…

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Everything packs a greater punch.

Unfortunately, the digital feed (?) was messed up and the movie was unwatchable after the intermission. Such a bummer! We were given ticket vouchers for another movie, but it was very disappointing, because it really was so great. The OM, the boy and daughter #1 all agreed that they would go again to see another classic movie on the big screen. If you get the chance, I highly recommend you do too.

And now it is back to the salt mines. Have a good week and try to focus!

*Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins)

3 Comments

April 9, 2019

“Order your soul. Reduce your wants.”*

by chuckofish

Daughter #2 buzzed into town for her birthday on Friday and we did all the things, starting with margaritas followed by a Bob Dylan sing-a-long.

We exchanged small gifts…

Daughter #1 with her dopplegänger…all she needs is little bangs!

…ate lunch out, sat on the patio and gabbed, drank Prosecco in the Florida room, barbecued, and celebrated her birthday with the wee babes…

…all the simple pleasures. Our one indulgence was getting mani-pedis. We deserved it after watching daughter #1 and the boy run in the Go! St. Louis half-marathon!

According to the Post Dispatch, marathon runners faced a hillier-than-expected course and warm temperatures. (Thousands participated, although you can’t really tell from my photos.) Well, we were very proud of our participants. We went to Schneidhorst’s for a big breakfast afterwards, but the boy took a shower and went to work at his store!