Weekend | dual personalities

April 5, 2019

“Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness”*

by chuckofish

Another busy week (almost) in the books. Phew.

And I have exciting plans for the weekend! Today daughter #2 is flying home for a long weekend! Huzzah! We will celebrate her birthday and also cheer on daughter #1 and the boy as they race in the Go! St. Louis half-marathon on Sunday.

I will also note that daughter #1, who always takes a Xanax before getting on a plane, and had always sworn she would never ever fly on a small craft, flew in a little plane (sans Xanax) with her boss to a work event in Springfield the other day.

Yay! She did it! (I guess this is jet-setting, mid-MO style.)

Knowledge is the encourager, knowledge that takes fear out of the heart, knowledge and use, which is knowledge in practice. They can conquer who believe they can. It is he who has done the deed once who does not shrink from attempting it again. It is the groom who knows the jumping horse well who can safely ride him.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Courage”

But don’t forget the bottom line: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13, for Pete’s sake)

Have a good weekend! And I couldn’t resist this…

What can happen to an Old-Fashioned?

Isaiah 41:10

7 Comments

April 1, 2019

“Run the straight race through God’s good grace”*

by chuckofish

It rained most of Saturday; our front yard is a pond again. But daughter #1 drove in to town on Saturday morning to go to an event that night, so we went out in the rain to a really good estate sale where we made out like bandits, limited only by the size of my car and our puritanical sense of restraint.

She got a really nice chair and a lamp and I got a mirror…

and a vintage waste basket. It was one of those houses where an Episcopalian has lived for 50 years and it all looks and feels extremely familiar to me right down to the books and records, collections, art and furniture.

Daughter #1 went home to mid-MO on Sunday morning, having led her trivia team to victory (First Place!) at the Mercy Hospital NICU trivia night fundraiser, along with the boy and daughter #3 and some of their friends. I stayed home and watched Move Over, Darling (1963) with Doris Day, which went along nicely with my self-comforting plans.

The wee babes and their parents came over for Sunday night dinner. The OM tried out his new barbecue, which he had spent all weekend putting together.

The burgers and hotdogs turned out nicely!

And the Florida room is open for business!

Another busy week commences and a new month! As usual, I’m taking it one day at a time.

*John Samuel Bewley Monsell (1811-1875)

Fight the good fight with all thy might!

Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right;

Lay hold on life, and it shall be

Thy joy and crown eternally.

Run the straight race through God’s good grace,

Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face;

Life with its way before us lies,

Christ is the path, and Christ the prize.

Cast care aside, lean on thy Guide;

His boundless mercy will provide;

Trust, and thy trusting soul shall prove

Christ is its life, and Christ its love.

Faint not nor fear, His arms are near,

He changeth not, and thou art dear;

Only believe, and thou shalt see

That Christ is all in all to thee.

4 Comments

March 29, 2019

“In the long run, you hit only what you aim for.”*

by chuckofish

Well, my hard week is almost over, but next week doesn’t look much better.😩

C’est la vie.

I plan to have a restorative weekend. We all have our personal self-comforting techniques and I will utilize all of mine. Screen Shot 2019-03-28 at 5.37.41 PM.png

T.G.I.F. Enjoy your weekend.

*Henry David Thoreau

3 Comments

March 25, 2019

“Mary ate my donut.”*

by chuckofish

Another whirlwind weekend comes to an end, this one filled to the brim with the whirling dervishes known as the wee babes.

The boy dropped them off at 9:00 am on Saturday and I entertained them until daughter #1 returned from having her oil changed (and getting donuts). We read this book which I had bought at the Art Mart, having remembered it fondly from my own childhood many moons ago.

They loved it! That color wheel is the best. The wee babes knew all their colors and all the animals–oinka oinka–pictured inside. This book may be 60 years old, but it really holds up! (Back in print for the first time since it was published in 1959, “proudly reissued in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Little Golden Books!”)

Daughter #1 and I then bundled them into their double stroller and walked up to the little neighborhood park. They ran around like free range monkeys and climbed on the climbing structure and went down the slide many times. They also enjoyed picking up sticks and leaves and poking around. It doesn’t take much. We met some friendly dogs being walked and that was exciting too.

After we got home and ate lunch, the wee laddie could barely keep his eyes open–all that fresh air and running around you know–so we moved into the TV room, hoping some Veggie Tales would put them to sleep. This plan backfired as the new room, which is usually off-limits to them, renewed their strength and curiosity, and they were off to the races again. We had no luck getting them to nap, although the wee laddie finally crashed in the crib upstairs and slept like a log for a good long while. Miss Lottiebelle would not settle down, however, so we tried a variety of activities to no avail. She was pretty stressed out by a) the fact that her brother wasn’t around and b) she was upstairs in a mysterious new part of the house and c) her mommy was out of town. As a last resort, we got out a huge box of old Beanie Babies and went through them. By the time we roused her brother and things got back to normal, it was almost time for their daddy to pick them up, which he did around 3:30 pm.

After they left, daughter #1 and I indulged in a large glass of wine. (It was 5 o’clock somewhere.) The OM took us to dinner at Dewey’s (more wine) and when we came home and got in our jammies, we watched Tommy Boy (1995),

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Fat guy in a little coat…

which says a lot about the state of our minds, and went to bed at 9:00.

Sunday we got up and finished the last of the donuts and daughter #1 hit the road for mid-MO. I straightened up and did laundry etc. and moved all my plants to the Florida room. I cleaned it up and put out all the pillows. It is almost ready to have the girls over for an end-of-the-week drink! Believe me, I will need one.

I also tried to mentally prepare for the hell week that commences today. So many events this week.

But I can handle it. I am woman; hear me roar.

And this Instagram post (not actually posted) by the boy made me laugh: Screen Shot 2019-03-24 at 11.23.54 AM.png

Have a good week!

*Lottiebelle after her aunt ate the last bit of donut which had been sitting on a plate in the living room for 4 hours. Her tone was matter-of-fact but tinged with judgement.

5 Comments

March 22, 2019

“A man oughta do what he thinks is best.”*

by chuckofish

Daughter #1 is driving home today so that she can assist me in babysitting the wee babes tomorrow–an all day assignment. Daughter #3 is in Nashville celebrating her sister’s bachelorette weekend and the boy will be at his store. We’ll survive, but it won’t be easy!

As far as movie picks for the weekend, I have to go with birthday boys William Shatner and Louis L’Amour.

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Think of the possibilities!

We could watch The Brothers Karamazov (1958)…

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…or Hondo (1953)…

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…or a Star Trek marathon…

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…or any number of Sackett movies…

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As for me, I’ll toast Billy Collins, who also celebrates a birthday today.

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“The Chairs That No One Sits In”

You see them on porches and on lawns

down by the lakeside,

usually arranged in pairs implying a couple

who might sit there and look out

at the water or the big shade trees.

The trouble is you never see anyone

sitting in these forlorn chairs

though at one time it must have seemed

a good place to stop and do nothing for a while.

Sometimes there is a little table

between the chairs where no one

is resting a glass or placing a book facedown.

It might be none of my business,

but it might be a good idea one day

for everyone who placed those vacant chairs

on a veranda or a dock to sit down in them

for the sake of remembering

whatever it was they thought deserved

to be viewed from two chairs

side by side with a table in between.

The clouds are high and massive that day.

The woman looks up from her book.

The man takes a sip of his drink.

Then there is nothing but the sound of their looking,

the lapping of lake water, and a call of one bird

then another, cries of joy or warning—

it passes the time to wonder which.

Interesting side-note: Jonathan Edwards, the great 18th century minister and philosopher, who died on this date in 1758, is remembered today on the Lutheran Calendar of Saints. He is not included on the calendar of the Episcopal Church. Quite an oversight on our part, I must say.

Have a great weekend. Do what you think is best.

*Hondo Lane

3 Comments

March 18, 2019

My joy and crown

by chuckofish

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

Songs of praises, songs of praises,

I will ever give to thee,

I will ever give to thee.

(William Williams, 1717-1791, hymn #690)

How was your weekend? I guess it was St. Patrick’s Day, but we did nothing to mark it except indulge in an Errol Flynn marathon on Saturday night and watch The Quiet Man (1952) on Sunday night. Good choices. Hear, hear.

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On Saturday the OM and I also indulged in our first trip of the season to Ted Drewes. Considering my recent accident, I felt I deserved it.

Look at that blue sky!

I was the reader of both lessons in church on Sunday–both good ones: Genesis 15:1-12; 17-18 and Philippians 3:17–4:1. I especially love reading from the letters of St. Paul, because I get to say things out loud that I could never say in real life.

¹⁸For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. 4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

After church I convinced the OM to go down to the Link Auction House with me for a preview of the next auction. A nice day for a drive and all that. We stopped at an estate sale at one of the huge houses on Kingsbury Place on the way home. Then it was time to go home and get ready for a visit from the wee babes.

When they first arrived little Lottiebelle was sound asleep and could not be awakened for quite awhile (no nap that day.)

The wee laddie amused himself with intellectual pursuits.

Sleeping beauty roused herself eventually…

…and we had a gay old time.

And now another busy, stressful week unfolds. Guide me, O thou great Redeemer,
Pilgrim through this barren land.

4 Comments

March 12, 2019

“When you pass through the waters”*

by chuckofish

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I love this picture from the 1canoe2 Instagram feed. It is so mid-Missouri! We are moving into severe weather season now, so, although we like our thunderstorms, we pray for no tornadoes! The news of the tornadoes in Alabama last week fills us with dread.

“They all stood unwilling on the sandbar, holding to the net. In the eastern sky were the familiar castles and the round towers to which they were used, gray, pink, and blue, growing darker and filling with thunder. Lightning flickered in the sun along their thick walls. But in the west the sun shone with such a violence that in an illumination like a long-prolonged glare of lightning the heavens looked black and white; all color left the world, the goldenness of everything was like a memory, and only heat, a kind of glamor and oppression, lay on their heads. The thick heavy trees on the other side of the river were brushed with mile-long streaks of silver, and a wind touched each man on the forehead. At the same time there was a long roll of thunder that began behind them, came up and down mountains and valleys of air, passed over their heads, and left them listening still. With a small, near noise a mockingbird followed it, the little white bars of its body flashing over the willow trees.

‘We are here for a storm now,’ Virgil said.

“The Wide Net” ― Eudora Welty

Take care.

*Isaiah 43:2

2 Comments

March 11, 2019

Such as do stand

by chuckofish

Sunday was the first Sunday in Lent so we read The Great Litany–Rite I, which I love. It is sure to knock some sense into us, right? One can only hope.

The readings were excellent…

“The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. ¹¹The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” ¹²For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. ¹³For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:8b–13)

…later in the chapter Paul makes it clear that “…faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” Context is everything.

The Gospel was Jesus being tempted by Satan. The rector’s sermon was the usual hodge-podge of quotes and stories, but he did make his point that we are not helpless against temptation. I don’t think he mentioned the word sin, but c’est l’église aujourd’hui.

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Besides going to church, I went to several estate sales, but didn’t find much. Just this little sterling picture frame…

I went to Target as well, and it was jammed. I got out of there pretty darn fast. Then I straightened my house and puttered around. The usual.

The OM and I watched a couple of movies including McQ (1974) with John Wayne, a fish out of water playing a police detective on a personal mission in Seattle. I enjoyed it a lot even though the Duke folding himself into a Firebird is more like James Garner in The Rockford Files than Steve McQueen in Bullitt. He looked pretty uncomfortable.

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We also watched Get Carter (1971) with Michael Caine as a London gangster, who is trying to figure out who killed his brother in his hometown in the north of England. It is very gritty and violent and there is quite a bit of unsavory sex. If your idea of the English is purely based on watching Downton Abbey and reading Jane Austen books, this movie will cure you of that delusion forever.

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Guy Ritchie must have been influenced by this film, because it reminded me of all his movies. Anyway, I have to say I liked it, especially Michael Caine as the sociopath with a glimmer of character. He never looked handsomer.

Watching these two movies back to back reminded me of the fact that Michael Caine visited John Wayne many times in the hospital when he was dying in 1979. Caine would walk him up and down the hall and talk to him. They liked each other.

The wee babes came over for dinner with the boy on Sunday night. The wee laddie has glasses now to help fix his eye which still wanders a bit.

Now all the kids in preschool will want them.

We had a lot of fun watching the squirrels cavort in the front yard. Better than television!

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And now a new and busy week dawns. I’ll take it one day at a time.

6 Comments

March 8, 2019

Call it sad, call it funny But it’s better than even money…*

by chuckofish

So what’s on the docket for this weekend?

I don’t have much on the docket and that is okay with me. It’s going to warm up around here (which is good) but it will probably rain (bummer). Estate sale-ing in the rain = no fun.

Last weekend when daughter #1 was home we watched Oklahoma! (1955) on a whim and I really enjoyed it. Gordon MacRae was super cute…

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…and there was a lot of good singing and dancing in it. Maybe I was just in the mood…

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…but it was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps I will continue down that musical trail…

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I also have plenty to keep me busy reading.

And maybe I’ll get some hair-styling advice from little Lottiebelle.

Have fun this weekend! Make good choices.

*Frank Loesser, “Guys and Dolls”

5 Comments

March 4, 2019

“Don’t cross the river if you can’t swim the tide”*

by chuckofish

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I can relate.

I had a busy weekend. The OM and I went to dinner with our old friends on Friday night. We had lots of fun, but, of course, we were home by 9:00 pm.

On Saturday daughter #1 and I went to a couple of estate sales. One was in an old friends’ wonderful home, but it was so packed with people that we hardly could look around. There were literally thousands of books, but we couldn’t really look. It was very frustrating.

I rescued a counted cross stitch sampler…

…and daughter #1 got a great basket full of sewing projects and patterns. We would have gone back on Sunday but it snowed all Sunday morning so we stayed in.

I went out and shoveled.

The wee babes came over on Saturday night with daughter #3. The boy was working so he missed out on veggie burgers and tots.

Lottiebelle arranges the ladies around the Party kitchen for a tea party.

The wee laddie (with a mouthful of Gardetto’s) wrecks havoc. [Impossible to catch him in focus.]

Meanwhile the amaryllis continues to put on quite a show. As the wee babes say, “BIG flowers!”

And now it is Monday and it’s three degrees! Have a good week.

*America, “Don’t Cross the River”–a song that really got Lottiebelle shakin’ her bootie.

8 Comments

Category: Weekend

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