dual personalities

December 7, 2021

Walls of ivy

by chuckofish

As winter approaches and we bring out all the cold weather gear, I thought I’d insert a few pics from the Middlebury College 1946 Winter Carnival booklet I unearthed while cleaning out a drawer in the highboy.

Here are the chairmen of the carnival committees…Our mother is in the front row, second from the left.

Here is the Middlebury women’s ski team–our mother is the third from the left.

And here is an attempt at college humor…Our mother is the gal in the front.

She had that fur-lined coat for years afterward. I remember it well. I still have her ski parka with the Pico Peak lift ticket attached and her wooden skiis, which she hauled to Arizona, California, and finally St. Louis after she was married, although she never skiied again. Of course, I cannot bear to get rid of them.

I have the poster from the Winter Carnival, which she designed, hanging on the wall of our den.

Although her time in college wasn’t perfect, she was happy there like nowhere else. I suppose that’s why I keep all this stuff–I like to think of her happy like that.

RIP to Senator Bob Dole, a gallant soldier and a Christian gentleman. Into paradise may the angels lead thee and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.

And let us not forget that today is the 80th (the eightieth) anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor! You can watch/rent John Ford’s December 7th documentary (Best Documentary Oscar, 1944) here.

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard and hushed their raging at Thy word

tho walked’st on the foaming deep

And calm amidst its rage didst sleep.

Oh hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea

–William Whiting

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December 6, 2021

“Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled”

by chuckofish

The OM and I buzzed over to Jefferson City on Friday afternoon to see daughter #1 and partake of some small town Advent fun. We walked over to High Street which had been blocked off to traffic for some Christmas window display viewing. Everyone in town was there–just like in a Hallmark movie–without the romance! We then moseyed over to the Governor’s Mansion which was open for tours.

Then we walked home and watched…

The next day we drove to Boonville to tour the DAR Roslyn Heights house, built in 1895 in the Queen Anne style by Wilbur T. and Rhoda Stephens Johnson. It is currently the Missouri State Society Daughters of the American Revolution Headquarters and every December the different chapters decorate Christmas trees which are displayed throughout the house.

We stopped in New Franklin…

to view the DAR Santa Fe Trail Marker…

(…pink granite just like every building at my old flyover university.)

Then we headed over to Rocheport to have lunch at our favorite winery on the Missouri River.

That evening we strolled back to High Street to stake out space to watch the Jefferson City Christmas Parade. Once again, everyone in town was there.

It was an excellent parade with lots of high school bands and myriad floats and noisy trucks, but when the sun went down, it got much colder and we walked home. We watched another old favorite, The Muppet Christmas Carol (with Michael Caine!) which is a remarkably faithful re-telling of the Dickens story.

We got up early on Sunday morning so we could head back home and not miss church. I’m glad we made it because we heard an excellent sermon focusing on Luke 1: 26-38. Our senior pastor recommended we try starting each day with the prayer, “Behold I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to Your word.” This sounds like a good plan to me.

Also, there was a baptism and an impromptu singing of “Jesus Loves Me” by the congregation. Both Lottie and the wee Bud exclaimed, “I know that song!” and chimed in accordingly. After church we went to Panera because our cupboards at home were bare. While we waited for our food to be ready, I asked the twins what they had learned in Sunday School and Lottie, after a pause, replied, “Fruit…fruit of the spirit.” Her Dad asked, “And what are the fruits of the spirit?” To my surprise, she reeled off, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control!” We were impressed and she repeated this several times, each time ending with a drawn out seeelllfff-controoool.” (I figured out they learned a song about the fruits of the spirit.) Will wonders never cease?

Have fun this week! Watch a Christmas movie, visit a small town or an historic home decorated for Christmas, memorize the fruit of the spirit, and remember you don’t deserve any of this. It is all a gift–and knowing this is a pathway to joy.

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December 3, 2021

I’m going inside. The fresh air is getting into my lungs.

by chuckofish

We had a super fun Thanksgiving break thanks to a visit from our eldest son and the first real snow of the year. We went turkey-free for the first time, not because we have developed a sudden empathy for big, dumb birds, but because Covid has made us lazy and a little rebellious. We feasted on cheese, crackers, the DH’s delicious homemade sausage rolls, and a yummy selection of dried fruit and nuts that Tim and Abbie sent. I had invited a friend to join us for family-favorite beef stew the next evening, but the snow arrived and so she opted, quite sensibly, to stay home.

On Saturday afternoon, the snow having stopped, we ventured out to the camp to enjoy some bracing fresh air – at least until it “got into our lungs”. We found quite the winter wonderland.

Fortunately, James saved his aging parents by doing all the shoveling!

Now, we are gearing up for the end of the semester and the wild and woolly holidays. Maybe I’ll channel my inner Bertie Wooster and wear Christmas themed clothes that will inspire the DH to remark, “I assumed it had got into your wardrobe by mistake, or else that it has been placed there by your enemies.” In any case, I am in the mood to watch the adventures of Jeeves and Wooster, pretty much all of which are on YouTube. The title of this post comes from season 1, episode 3:

This weekend I plan to finish decorating the house for Christmas and preparing packages for mailing. Then it’s on to the last week of classes – yay! Have a grand weekend!

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December 2, 2021

“Here, there and elsewhere”*

by chuckofish

December is here and Advent with it. Katiebelle is playing with her new nativity set which was handmade by daughter #3. I have always contended (like my mother before me) that children should have their own creche and unbreakable nativity figurines to play with. When they are a little older, they can have their own little tree and their own ornaments. Start those collections early!

Paul Zahl is back with a roundup of good movies to watch on TCM in December. He is, as always, right on target and this made me laugh regarding The Bishop’s Wife: “Nathan’s novel is more detached than the film, and perhaps a little cynical concerning the long-term spiritual prospects of the bishop. But, hey, when it comes to most bishops, I’ve come to feel about the same way Nathan did. Wish I didn’t.”

If you have an hour to spare, this is a great conversation with Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr., filmed back in 1995, about a year before Ben died. Those two old-timers have some wonderful stories to tell from their movie-making days.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been catching up on Michael Caine movies and the other night I watched Alfie (1966). It was quite risqué for its day and the amoral womanizing of the anti-hero Alfie was considered rather scandalous even by swinging ’60s sophisticates. “Live for yourself, like I do” is Alfie’s motto. “I never want to hurt anybody,” he says, but, of course, he does. Ultimately, he hurts no one so much as himself.

I couldn’t help thinking as I watched the movie that what has obviously changed in our society in the 55 years since its debut is that today everyone (and specifically women) is encouraged to “live for yourself.” In fact, since the feminist “revolution,” woman feel free, even entitled, to act just like Alfie. Such bad behavior as Alfie demonstrates is no longer judged to be “wicked”–at least when women act that way. And the climactic abortion scene would be considered no big deal today. In the film, the seriousness of the event even shocks selfish Alfie into realizing that a perfect little life has been ended without its having had a say in the matter. Gosh, what old-fashioned thinking!

While I didn’t find this “comedy” to be very funny, I will say that the movie is a must-see as social commentary and Michael Caine is sensational. It was a break-through part indeed.

I also will note that I watched Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz (1979) which I had not seen since 1979. It seemed very dated–all those jazz hands.

Well, watching such movies is a good reminder of what Sinclair Ferguson says: “The mortification of sin is indeed vital. [John] Owen was right: if we are not killing sin, it will be killing us. His memorable one-liner comes as a shock to much modern Christianity: ‘Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts.'” I mean, sin literally kills the Bob Fosse character in All That Jazz–not that this thought is ever actually expressed overtly. But c’mon.

“God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.” — CS Lewis

Amen, brother.

*Billy Collins–read the poem here.

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December 1, 2021

“It’s what you give, not what you get.”

by chuckofish

Well, how is everyone? I have had a doozy of two days back at work, culminating with the arrival of the Capitol maintenance staff to clean the inside windows of my office (for the first time since I’ve worked here) and requiring me to vacate my office. I threw up my hands and finished the day working from home.

But! I have lots to update. So let’s get to it.

Much of my finest handiwork was on display for Thanksgiving. Including these lovely Peanuts napkins

and these darling Mommy & Me outfits (plus my skirt).

I put my Christmas Tree up last night–and had the joy of going through my vast ornament collection. I just love all of my needlepoint ornaments from years past. I can’t believe Winnie the Pooh is approaching 20 years old! Oldie Hawn, OMG. My collection of donut ornaments continues to grow (and this year I found a new french fry ornament that was a gift from last year).

Speaking of french fries, a commenter on the blog noted yesterday

and my immediate reaction was “because she is stuffing her face with crescent rolls??!” I know it isn’t for that reason (IS IT?!).

Anyway, it has been a very busy few weeks (with no end in sight). So, please enjoy the sweet musical stylings of Mandisa. This song is sure to get you feeling festive. Maybe next week, I’ll tell you my dream Hallmark Channel Christmas movie idea with Mandisa as the star. Also, be sure to check out the #12DaysofUCP on social media.

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November 30, 2021

Hidden lives

by chuckofish

My diet starts…

Well, it’s the last day of November and we are recovering from last week and preparing for the slide to Christmas. Back to reality. Back to a big pile of laundry and vacuuming. But also time to start wrapping Christmas presents and watching Christmas movies! Daughter #1 and I watched Miracle on 34th Street (1947) before she went back to JC. That always puts me in a festive mood.

I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer with the wee twins one night last week when the OM and I babysat while the young folk went out to dinner. Watching with almost 5-year olds gives one a fresh perspective.

This December I will once again be reading a chapter of Luke a day, starting on December 1 with chapter one. Simple, but a meaningful way to stay grounded amid all the commercialization and secularization in our culture.

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,  just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,  so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke 1:1-4

This is quite interesting.

These are some good post-Thanksgiving thoughts.

“Giving thanks is also a powerful act of defiance in a culture steeped in selfishness. Gratitude forces us to face the darkness and disarm the demons of discontentment and complaint.”

Also, on Sunday our pastor quoted this line from Middlemarch, which I have probably quoted before, but it bears repeating:

“..for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

Amen, come Lord Jesus.

6 Comments
November 29, 2021

Thankful postcards

by chuckofish

Our cup runneth over with thankfulness for a lovely week spent with family.

Katie hopped right into the fray and did remarkably well in the chaos that is our life. We had many uproarious frolics…

…and fun times playing with her Aunt…

(Twinsies)

and with her cousins…

Thanksgiving was lovely and low-key with everyone pitching in so no one had to slave in the kitchen.

We hosted a happy hour on Friday so our friends could come over and hang out with our visitors…

DN did the charcuterie board–shazam!
(The other dual personalities)

When daughter # 2 and DN and baby Katie left on Saturday morning at 4:30 am–they made it back to Maryland in 14 hours!–daughter #1 and I threw ourselves into decorating the house for Christmas to assuage our melancholy…

And finally on Sunday after church, we celebrated the boy’s birthday!

(Two brown-eyed handsome men)

What a week! Now everyone is headed back to the salt mines and I will start cleaning up!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host:

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Amen.

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November 23, 2021

Boyle says Boom!

by chuckofish

So daughter #2 and DN made it to town right on schedule and baby Katie made herself right at home.

Here she is wearing an old dress of her mommy’s. Can we say, owning it?

In the midst of the mayhem, daughter #1 and I even remembered to run over to the Optimists Christmas tree lot to buy a tree before they run out. (We won’t put it up until the 18th, but you gotta be prepared.)

Slam, bam, thank you ma’am, we were done and home in twenty minutes. We know how to roll these days.

Well, everyone’s busy this week and probably no one is reading the blog, but if you do, here are some funny moments from Brooklyn 99…

…and some inspiring words from John Piper.

“Evidently we are fair game for the devil when we don’t abound with thanksgiving. Unless the song of thanksgiving is being sung in our hearts the enemy outside will deceive his way into the city of our soul, and the enemy sympathizers within will make his job easy. So for the sake of your own safety, strive to fill your heart with thanksgiving! Guard yourselves with gratitude!”  (John Piper, sermon on Colossians 2  – “Guard Yourself With Gratitude”)

Happy Thanksgiving!

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November 22, 2021

Raise the song of harvest home

by chuckofish

Daughter #2 and petite famille left yesterday for Lexington and should arrive later today in our flyover city. We are beyond excited!

Meanwhile I have been readying the old manse for their arrival, stocking up on fruits and veggies for them, Pampers, etc. Daughter #1 arrived yesterday with a case of our house wine and handmade holiday outfits, so we are all set.

Earlier in the week, we heard the very sad news that our favorite local watering hole, Club Taco, was set to close on Sunday, so we dropped by for our last take-out margaritas. We tried so hard to support them through the pandemic, which threatened to close so many small businesses, but it turned out it wasn’t COVID that did them in. Their lease was not renewed. Heavy sigh.

Then we went home and settled in for a somewhat subdued happy hour of listening to music at home, culminating in a good ol’ Bob Dylan singalong.

And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul
From me to you
Tangled up in blue

In church on Sunday we were flying high with a full congregation and the choir back! Congregational singing was awesome. Add to that a solid sermon on the second half of Romans 6 (The wages of sin is death!) and it was all pretty great.

So although we mourn the demise of Club Taco, we are nevertheless off to a good start to our Thanksgiving week. Hope you all are too.

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November 19, 2021

Beyond cat videos…

by chuckofish

Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time searching the internet for cool animated maps in order to teach students how to read such things critically. In the process I came across some wonderful sites that I didn’t use but enjoyed exploring. This one maps winds, currents, and waves around the globe. If you click on the word ‘earth’ in the lower left, you can change the settings. If you’re in the mood to watch animals frolic, check out this Bear Cam; it’s great, and if you get tired of watching bears, you can switch to all sorts of different animals. If you are feeling brave, look at all flights, a site that tracks all the planes currently in the air. But be careful — the internet is a black hole that will suck you in. Before you know it, more of your precious time will be gone.

I’ve also been re-reading Alan Furst’s Kingdom of Shadows, an atmospheric tale set in 1938 Paris. Our hero, forty-four year old Hungarian aristocrat Nicholas Morath, starts running covert missions for his uncle who is a diplomat in the Hungarian embassy. Nerve-wracking adventures ensue. But this is no 007; the body count is low and there are no fistfights. Rather, there is suave and mysterious Morath, a veteran of WWI who is “doomed to live with a certain heaviness of soul, not despair, but the weight of pushing back against it.” I’m beginning to feel a little bit like that myself. Anyway, the book is full of nightclubs, trains and interesting characters that make the reader feel somehow present. Although the author has obviously done his homework, there is one glaring omission: the soccer World Cup that took place in Paris in 1938!

Even worse, Hungary lost to Italy in the final. Quelle missed opportunity! I guess Mr. Furst isn’t a soccer fan.

Thanksgiving is upon us! Son #1 is coming home for a few days so the old people will not be alone (which we truly appreciate!), but we have decided to forego the turkey and trimmings and go for feasty bits and pie. Then we’ll probably make stew on Black Friday and start putting up Christmas decorations over the weekend. Despite the state of the world, there is much to be grateful for this year: wonderful children who love their parents and each other (ditto for other relatives); good health; small joys like a hot meal, a warm bed, and good coffee; a walk in the great outdoors; good books, good music and old movies; a crackling fire, and elastic waists!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

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