“See, what you have to ask yourself is: what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?”
by chuckofish
Well, we did, indeed, have a little snow on Friday night.
I did a little shoveling, but the boy brought his snow blower over and did most of our driveway…
He made short work of what would have been a major effort/pain for me to do. I did some more shoveling on Sunday…by then the snow was heavy and icey. But it felt good to get out in the cold and do some physical work.
I spent the weekend reading M Train by Patti Smith, “an unforgettable odyssey of a legendary artist, told through the prism of the cafés and haunts she has worked in around the world. It is a book Patti Smith has described as ‘a roadmap to my life.’”
Like me, she is a person who sees signs and miracles in the world. She rescues objects and keeps talismans that are full of meaning for her.
She wears vintage clothes and watches detective shows and visits cemeteries to pay homage to specific graves, usually of literary figures or artists. If I ever go to Tokyo I will, like Patti, want to have dinner at the restaurant Mifune. In other words, we are on the same page.
–Reading Ibsen?
–Yes, The Master Builder.
–Hmmmm, lovely play but fraught with symbolism.
–I hadn’t noticed, I said.
He stood before the fire for a moment then shook his head and left. Personally, I’m not much for symbolism. I never get it. Why can’t things be just as they are? I never thought to psychoanalyze Seymour Glass or sought to break down “Desolation Row.” I just wanted to get lost, become one with somewhere else, slip a wreath on a steeple top because I wished it. (M Train)
I also delved into Sam Anderson’s Boom Town, “The fantastical saga of Oklahoma City, its chaotic founding, its apocalyptic weather, its purloined basketball team, and the dream of becoming a world-class metropolis,” which DN gave me for Christmas, because he knows that OC is on my top-five list of places I want to visit. Isn’t it great to have a son-in-law who picks out books for me? I mean really.
The wee babes frolicked in the snow…
…and they came over for Episcopal souffle on Sunday night. Can you believe how grown up they look?
Can you say, “chip and dip”?
And now it’s back to the rat race…have a good week!
Here is Patti Smith’s lovely elegy for her friend Sam Shepard.
*Graham Hess in Signs (2002)
As you know, yesterday was the feast of the Epiphany. We got to sing “We Three Kings” in church and the Gospel lesson was the story of the Three Wise Men. The rector preached on the question, “What is it that you are seeking?” It is an important question to ask yourself.
with meatloaf and ice cream cake.
Then we watched 
It is such a mish-mosh! Really, there is no reason to watch it other than the great song by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington which you can hear 
(His make-up is a little much, but supposedly they were trying to make him look like the character as he appeared in George Cruikshank’s illustrations in the first edition of the novel, which you could argue were anti-semitic in the first place. But, you know, Fagin is just a fictional character in a book, a villain, and not a stereotype of all Jews.)
They will appreciate the handmade Christmas ornaments daughter #1 made them in years to come.
They got presents
including some books, which they like a lot.
Meanwhile the Christmas decorations are going up everywhere around here. The Kirkwood Holiday Walk was held last Saturday! Daughter #1 and I took a walk around the neighborhood and saw a few Christmas trees lighted up in living rooms! Please. Let’s get through Thanksgiving first.
After they left, we managed to watch Murder on the Orient Express (1974) without passing out.
“It looks at the importance of human contact and the bond which can form even between enemies if lacking other contact.” It did not do well at the box office.
Hopefully we’ll get to see the wee babes!
But I had a fun weekend, nevertheless. The bluegrass concert on Friday night was great. We checked out all the new Christmas stuff at Home Goods. We watched one of our favorite movies, The Man Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995), in which Hugh Grant stars and actually plays a nice guy for a change.
On Sunday afternoon, after vacuuming and cleaning up, I went through my “keep out” closet where I stow all my presents (like Babe Paley, I shop for Christmas presents all year long) and made lists of what I have for Christmas and what I still need to do.
I’ll be ready…in the meantime, time marches on relentlessly and November is turning out to be a very busy month. First up, the OM and I are going to see “legendary bluegrass group Hot Rize” at the Sheldon tonight. Daughter #1 is driving in for it. Maybe the boy will join us.
By the way, we did watch Pony Express (1952) one night this week, but I have to confess I fell asleep. This has less to do with the quality of the film and more to do with my being an old lady who gets up too early every day to be able to watch TV at night. I must say I thought the cinematography (of the little I saw) was very good and the location shots in Kanab, Utah were impressive.
Maybe I’ll try again some time. On Halloween night we turned off the lights and proceeded to watch House of Wax (1953) with hometowner Vincent Price on TCM.
I fell asleep. Maybe I should stop pretending and just turn in at 7:30 pm.
dual personalities 