dual personalities

Category: Weekend

February 25, 2019

In the land of Goshen

by chuckofish

The OT lesson in church on Sunday was about Joseph (a hero of mine) revealing himself to his brothers.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’  …And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him. (Genesis 45:3-11, 15)

It is the climax of a wonderful lesson about trusting God when bad things happen. Of course, the rector did not mention it, but preached on the Gospel–which is appropriate, no doubt, but I wish he had at least mentioned it and how great it is. I wish I had been the reader–so much drama!

Speaking of drama, we had a very windy weekend here in flyover country. Saturday night the wind whistled and roared around our house (66 miles an hour!) and even set off the burglar alarm at 1:30 in the morning! The sun came out on Sunday, and although it was still quite windy, it was a beautiful day.

On Saturday, after I struck out at a couple of estate sales, the OM and I ventured down to the Eugene Field House to hear Harry Weber talk about his art and the process of making it.

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It was a fascinating talk by an engaging old fellow, who had many a story to tell about his life sculpting bronze statues of the rich and famous and of the more obscure subjects, including several in Nacogdoches, Texas. Locally, we love the one he sculpted for the Mississippi Riverfront, “The Captains’ Return,” which is submerged by flood waters regularly.

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We went to Steak ‘N Shake afterwards.

In other news, I discovered that one of my Christmas cacti is blooming again in a spare bedroom!

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Also the Christmas amaryllis has really gone to town–5 blooms so far.

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And did you hear that director Stanley Donen died? He directed On the Town and Singin’ in the Rain, with Gene Kelly, plus Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Pajama Game, Indiscreet, and Charade. He had a light touch that others could never replicate. He never got an Academy Award nomination (typical), but he did get a special Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.

Watch one of his movies! You’ll be glad you did.

And, of course, what would a weekend be without a visit from those wee babes? I found some more old toys in the basement and they were thrilled…

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Life is good.

5 Comments
February 22, 2019

Sometimes I just guess

by chuckofish

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Ah, the weekend approacheth. Thank goodness. Hopefully nobody will ask me any questions. I get enough of that during the week.

I have a few plans, but it will be another quiet weekend, probably with a good amount of time spent on my blue sofa (see yesterday’s post.)

I have a bunch of books to read.

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Depending on the weather, I may venture out to a couple of estate sales.

Plus, there is an event at the Field House on Saturday afternoon…

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…and those wee babes will be coming over.

 

Also, don’t forget that the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church remembers Eric Liddell, Protestant missionary to China and Olympic gold medalist, with a feast day today.

God whose strength bears us up as on mighty wings: We rejoice in remembering thy athlete and missionary, Eric Liddell, to whom thou didst bestow courage and resolution in contest and in captivity; and we pray that we also may run with endurance the race that is set before us and persevere in patient witness, until we wear that crown of victory won for us by Jesus our Savior; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Have a great weekend!

4 Comments
February 18, 2019

Holding firm to the good news of salvation

by chuckofish

I came home early Friday afternoon because it was snowing and because I didn’t feel great. I went to bed and took a nap as the snow came down. I took it easy for the most of the weekend and watched several movies.

I watched Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda.

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In my opinion, Henry Fonda was never better than when directed by John Ford, who managed to pull something out of Fonda that no one else got. He was terrific as young Mr. Lincoln. Why wasn’t he Oscar nominated? Well, this was 1939, remember, and so there was a LOT of competition.

I watched Titanic–the 1953 version starring Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyk. I really like this movie.

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It has a clever plot centering on a runaway wife and her snob of a husband on the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic. The minor characters are all well-played. The selfish, elitist jerk rises to the occasion and dies a hero in very believable circumstances. I loved Clifton Webb in this. Barbara Stanwyk turns in her usual polished performance. (You can always count on her, given good material.) Robert Wagner plays a 20-year old Purdue tennis player. In the scenes leading up to the ship hitting the iceberg, Wagner and his college friends are singing college fight songs in the bar. Guess which one they are singing at the moment of impact? Yard By Yard–the Williams College fight song! File that one away for trivia night.

I have never seen the 1998 blockbuster version of the Titanic story and I probably never will. I prefer this more modest, but nevertheless impactful, black and white version which won the Oscar for best original screenplay. It is a good story–climaxing with all those gentlemen on the deck of the sinking ship singing Nearer My God to Thee as their wives and children row away. You can’t beat that.

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If that wasn’t drama enough, I also watched The Vikings (1958) with Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine as fighting norsemen.

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Produced by Kirk himself, because he had wanted to play a viking since childhood, it is a technicolor spectacle of pagan manhood–rape, wreckage and ruin. There is a lot of violence in this movie–men are torn apart by wolves, staked and eaten by crabs, have their hands cut off and their eyes plucked out by hawks–but it is all done with lusty viking enthusiasm. Kirk gives it 110% as usual and (spoiler alert) dies with sword in hand. I have to say I enjoyed it, although Tony Curtis in hot pants is really no match for one-eyed Kirk and not all that believable/convincing as an Odin-worshipping warrior.

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But I chose to suspend belief for the sake of enjoyment. The best part of the movie was the titles:

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Very well done.

So from the sublime to the somewhat ridiculous, that was my weekend!

(By the way, I did drag myself to church on Sunday so that I could read the second lesson. It was a good one from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.)

Huzzah.

And the wee babes came over for dinner. They are more fun than a barrel of monkeys and just as exhausting.

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“On Wednesdays we wear pink!”

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Now we’re off to the races again…the rat race! If you have the day off (I do not)–enjoy! Have a good week!

5 Comments
February 11, 2019

“Lookin’ out my back door”*

by chuckofish

Doo doo doo…How was your weekend? Mine was quite pleasant, despite some bad weather. Sometimes bad weather causes us to slow down and settle in at home for some quiet time, and that is not a bad thing.

I took daughter #1 to the airport early on Saturday morning and she headed off to the east coast.

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She and daughter #2 and DN had so much fun, but I wasn’t jealous or anything.

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Indeed, the OM and I had our own good time at the Elegant Italian Dinner–so good, in fact, that we all forgot to take any pictures. Just one:

IMG_4755.jpegThe wee babes, despite being tired and a bit cranky when they arrived, took right to the nursery and had a fine time playing and eating pizza with the other kids.

I read a lot of A Light in August by William Faulkner. Besides learning some new words (morganatic: “relating to or denoting a marriage in which neither the spouse of lower rank, nor any children, have any claim to the possessions or title of the spouse of higher rank”), I can see how this book published in 1932, added several stereotypes to our culture, evidenced profusely in other people’s books and movies ever after.

I worked on organizing our CDs and DVDs.  I hemmed some pants.

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I cleaned and puttered and tidied.

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All in all, not an unproductive weekend.

I must also add my high fives for our she-ro Dolly Parton, who was honored as 2019 MusiCares Person Of The Year. The eight-time Grammy winner is the first artist from “the Nashville music community” (please) to be honored at the annual Grammy Week gala benefiting music people in need. Well, it’s about time those snobs did so, I’d say.

Have a great week!

*John Fogerty

4 Comments
February 8, 2019

“Like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream.”*

by chuckofish

Another week almost in the books…it was long, rainy and filled with the usual ups and downs, swings and misses, and bombshell drops at work.

I am always cheered by the photos the boy takes and texts of the wee babes at their preschool. I love this one of Lottie and her friend Mattie embracing/greeting each other. Screen Shot 2019-02-04 at 11.27.55 AM.pngIMG_4599.jpegIMG_4591.jpeg

The last two are of a color matching game they were playing at school. Remarkable children!

This weekend I have more plans on my social calendar than usual. Later today daughter #1 is driving here from Mid-MO and then I will drive her to the airport in the morning. She is going to a conference in Washington D.C. and will also spend a night with daughter #2 and DN in Maryland. They are going to have way too much fun.

Saturday night is the Elegant Italian Dinner at church, a much-anticipated annual event where we eat lasagna and salad by candlelight and hope that nobody knocks the bar over (like last year). The boy and daughter #3 are attending with us this year while the wee babes enjoy pizza in the nursery. We are delighted that they are going with us.

Since today is the birthday of James Dean (1931-1955), I suggest watching one of his three movies this weekend: Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955) or Giant (1956). I will probably opt for Rebel Without a Cause. Because, hello.

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It is also the birthday of another of my faves, William Tecumseh Sherman.

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So I will toast him tonight.

William Tecumseh Sherman, excerpt from a personal letter
I confess, without shame, I am sick
and tired of fighting—its glory is
all moonshine; even success
the most brilliant is over dead
and mangled bodies, with the
anguish and lamentations of distant
families, appealing to me for sons,
husbands and fathers; tis only those
who have never heard a shot,
never heard the shriek and groans
of the wounded and lacerated that cry
aloud for more blood, more vengeance,
more desolation
–Johnny Noiπ

Have a great weekend, travel safely and make good choices.

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Be still my heart.

And, hey, Ted Drewes opens for its 90th season on February 12!

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@explorestlouis

*Del Griffith in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

4 Comments
February 4, 2019

“Faith, hope, and love abide”*

by chuckofish

We had such a balmy weekend! My friends and I went to the MO Botanical Garden after church to see the Orchid Show and afterwards we sat on a bench outside for some time soaking up the sun. It was 67-degrees! After freezing all week, it felt great. People were very happy to be outdoors, I think, and complete strangers (and a child) engaged us in conversation. It was kind of amazing.

And the orchids were very dramatic.

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The wee babes had a big weekend. They went to see Disney on Ice…

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and had a play date and they came over to our house. Yikes Amighty. I am tired just thinking about it. We had fun reading books…

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We did not watch the Super Bowl. I hear that the Rams lost. Well. Big Deal. I could use another day to catch up, but it’s back to the salt mine! Have a good week.

*I Cor. 13:13

3 Comments
February 1, 2019

“Shakespeare was not meant for taverns… nor for tavern louts.”*

by chuckofish

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What a week–besides being impressively busy at work, it was freezing cold! Schools were closed all over the place (and with good reason) but we soldiered on and stayed open. I donned my old wool sweaters and dealt with hat-hair.

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Thankfully temps are warming up and it promises to be quite balmy over the weekend. I can’t wait.

Since today is the birthday of John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), the obvious choice for movie viewing this weekend is any number of his stellar films.

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By most accounts, he was kind of a real S.O.B., but that notwithstanding, he was the greatest of all films directors. (Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa agree with me.)

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So what shall it be?

Stagecoach (1939)

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

They Were Expendable (1945)

My Darling Clementine (1946)

Fort Apache (1948)

3 Godfathers (1948)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Wagon Master (1950)

Rio Grande (1950)

The Quiet Man (1952)

Mr. Roberts (1955)

The Searchers (1956)

The Horse Soldiers (1959)

Sergeant Rutledge (1960)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

How the West Was Won (1962)

Mighty impressive. I am  leaning toward How Green Was My Valley.

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What do you think?

 

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Choose joy this weekend, and by that I mean, watch a good movie!

*Granville Thordyke in My Darling Clementine.

5 Comments
January 28, 2019

“Strive for the greater gifts”*

by chuckofish

My weekend did not turn out as planned due to my ungainly fall outside an estate sale on Saturday morning. I was okay, just shaken up a bit, but I went home and stayed home.  I was grateful not to have broken anything, but falling makes one feel old and clumsy. It wasn’t even ice that tripped me up, but an uneven brick walk. C’est la vie.

At home I iced my knee, and worked in my office. I also got out my copy of Eudora Welty’s Collected Stories and read several, including “A Worn Path,” which was referenced in a story I linked to in a post last week.

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Old Eudora is so good and I encourage you to revisit her oeuvre.

The OM and I watched Scottish movies: Dear Frankie, Whisky Galore! and Tunes of Glory. As it turned out, Brigadoon (1954) was on TCM, but I only saw the last 20 minutes. (That was enough.)

I went to the annual meeting at church–

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and stayed for the cake after church. (Those are cupcakes surrounding the cake–not a terribly appetizing display.)

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Then I went home and wrote some notes and mailed some photos to my daughters. (I still believe in snail mail.)

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A 90+ year-old lady at work frequently exhorts me to have copies of photos printed and not just keep everything on my phone. Periodically I do that and I bring them in to show her. She is right, of course.

The wee babes and their parents came over per usual for Sunday night tacos.

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And Lottie found all the bunnies (Dedham pottery)–so many bunnies!

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Back to the salt mine today, limping but ready to go.

*I Cor. 12:31

7 Comments
January 21, 2019

“Cheerful in God, arise and shine…

by chuckofish

…while rays divine stream all around.”*

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Daughter #1 found a few pictures on her phone from Christmas that I had not seen and I had to share this one. Those little faces–especially the little guy in the bow tie on the left– are sure to make you smile, right?

How was your weekend? We had fun celebrating other people’s birthdays.

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We drank Prosecco and listened to show tunes on the record player. We are such hipsters.

We unearthed some more toys in the basement and cleaned them up.

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I put the blocks away for a later date. I’m not sure the wee laddie is quite ready for them and we do not need to provide him with more missiles than he already has.

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I read a lot in this book which I bought for a dollar at an estate sale a few weeks ago.

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It is a children’s book from 1944, which tells the history of the world between the years 1809 to 1865, cleverly intertwining the stories. It is a book about people: Simon Bolivar, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Benito Jaurez, Daniel Boone, Li Hung Chang, Buffalo Bill…which is the way I like history taught. I have enjoyed it a lot, especially the bits about Ulysses S. Grant.

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Anyway, if you ever run across this book at an estate sale or used bookstore, pick it up! pick it up!

It snowed some more (but not on the day predicted). We thought we had dodged it, but no. Why do we ever listen to the meteorologists? Everyone still came over for dinner on Sunday night and we had tortellini.

IMG_3844.JPGWe had way too much fun.

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And today is a day off!

*Philip Doddridge, hymn #543

4 Comments
January 18, 2019

“My only regret in life is that I didn’t drink enough champagne.”*

by chuckofish

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It’s finally Friday! It was a long, busy week at my flyover Institute and I am really ready for the three-day weekend. Daughter #1 is driving in to town from mid-MO, if she can figure out when to do so in between the weird weather they are forecasting for the weekend.

We will celebrate our mother’s/grandmother’s birthday (along with Dolly Parton’s and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s) on Saturday–this calls for champagne–and, of course, Martin Luther King’s birthday on Monday.

Tonight we will toast Daniel Webster (1782-1852),

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along with Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), Cary Grant (1904-1986), Danny Kaye (1911-1987), and Kevin Costner (b. 1955)–all born on January 18. Just think of the movie viewing possibilities!

Screen Shot 2019-01-17 at 10.26.56 AM.pngScreen Shot 2019-01-17 at 10.38.25 AM.pngPersonally I am leaning toward a Cary Grant marathon, which could include any of these favorites: Gunga Din (1939), The Awful Truth (1937), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Houseboat (1958), North By Northwest (1959), Charade (1963), or Father Goose (1964) or The Bishop’s Wife (1947) if you missed it at Christmas.

Screen Shot 2019-01-17 at 10.24.00 AM.pngIt might also be time to revisit Silverado (1985)–completely derivative, but entertaining nonetheless.

Screen Shot 2019-01-17 at 10.15.57 AM.pngWe should also mention that today on the Episcopal Church calendar is the feast day of Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), Protestant missionary in India, who was the real deal. She opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur. She served in India for fifty-five years without furlough and authored many books about the missionary work there. Her most notable work was with girls and young women, some of whom were saved from customs that amounted to forced prostitution. You can read about her here. Why don’t they make a movie about this remarkable woman?

Lots of choices to make this weekend–make good ones!

And stay safe in the winter weather.

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*John Maynard Keynes

9 Comments