dual personalities

10,000 Reasons

by chuckofish

The sun comes up
It’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass
And whatever lies before me
Let me be singing
When the evening comes

As you know, I listen to Christian radio in the morning as I drive to work. (Stop rolling your eyes). It keeps me focused and positive, especially during this freakazoid election cycle.

Anyway, listening to Matt Redman’s song “10,00 Reasons,” based on Psalm 103, reminded me of how important it is to remember all the reasons to praise the Lord. It may not always seem like there are 10,000 (or even 10) reasons to praise the Lord, but there are.

You might want to make a list. Here is a start: 1. Frederick Buechner turned 90 in July!

2. You have a thousand books on your shelves at home to read.

3. You could barbeque tonight if you so desired.

4. There are still people in the world who make exquisite things like this.

5. GIFs like this make me laugh:

6. Good things are coming.

7. The geraniums are still going strong.

8. The Bible is online and you can look up scripture at will and in your choice of translation.

Over the weekend (another blessing) I’ll be working on my list. How about you?

Bless the Lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I’ll worship Your Holy name

Have a good weekend!

(The painting at the top is by Karen Mathison Schmidt via Pinterest.)

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August 11, 2016

Throwback Thursday

by chuckofish

Mary CC.jpeg

This picture of our mother circa 1930 at “The Farm” in New Hampshire should bring a smile to your face.

And we could all use that, right?

“I wish I could leave you certain of the images in my mind, because they are so beautiful that I hate to think they will be extinguished when I am. Well, but again, this life has its own mortal loveliness. And memory is not strictly mortal in its nature, either. It is a strange thing, after all, to be able to return to a moment, when it can hardly be said to have any reality at all, even in its passing. A moment is such a slight thing. I mean, that its abiding is a most gracious reprieve.”

―Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

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August 10, 2016

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

My scholarly dual personality is too modest to tell you that her book has just been published!

It was six years in the making, but now it is out!

Gregory Urwin of the University of Oklahoma Press writes:

I am pleased to announce the release of Volume 55 in the Campaigns and Commanders Series that I edit for the University of Oklahoma Press — The Campaigns of Sargon II: King of Assyria, 721-705 B.C. by Sarah C. Melville.

If you think you know the Assyrians from fleeting references in the Old Testament, think again. Melville has plunged deep into the sources, which are more extensive than most of us would think. She mastered Akkaidian, the language of the Assyrians, so she could read the clay, gold, silver, copper, lead, and lapis lazuli tablets on which these people recorded their history, along with inscriptions on freestanding steles, natural rock formations, walls, doors, thresholds, and bull colossi of palaces. She also deciphered palace reliefs, consulted archaeological studies, and reviewed the documentation left by the Assyrians’ enemies.

The result is a history that depicts the Assyrians as a much more complex race of warriors. They could be cruel in war, but they devised much more sophisticated means to hold their empire together than beheading defeated warriors and sending conquered peoples into exile. I found the brand of geo-politics that Sargon II practiced to be surprisingly modern.

At a time when ISIS fanatics are attempting to obliterate the pre-Muslim history of the Middle East and south Asia, the appearance of Sarah Melville’s book could not be more timely. Impeccable research and a lively writing style makes this the definitive look at the Assyrian way of war.

It is with no little pride that I see this volume take its place in my series. Part of that pride rests on the fact that Sarah is also the first woman historian to publish with Campaigns Commanders. It was about high time that happened…

So get your copy of The Campaigns of Sargon II today! I have mine and I look forward to finding out all about Sargon II.

On the fiction side of things, I finished the Grantchester book this weekend and also re-read Olive Kitteridge, the wonderful novel by Elizabeth Strout. If you have not read this great book, I highly recommend it.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

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August 9, 2016

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks

by chuckofish

Last night we went to the see the Cardinals play. It was seriously the most boring game ever.

We left at the end of the 7th inning. When we got home we learned that the Cards came back in the 9th and won 5-4! So typical. Oh we of little faith.

Now the younguns are heading back to Maryland. Sad face. 😦

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August 8, 2016

“Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”

by chuckofish

Greetings from the lazy ol’ Big Muddy River. I am enjoying daughter #2’s visit with Nate, as we go full speed ahead on wedding plans for July 2017.

Zut alors!

There is much to do, grasshopper.

*Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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August 6, 2016

Hats off to Yul!

by chuckofish

Last night son #2 and I treated ourselves to a Yul Brynner movie called “Escape from Zahrain”. In this fictional ‘Arab’ country, Ahmed (Sal Mineo) helps rebel leader, Sharif (Yul), escape from a prison truck. In the process, they are joined by Jack Warden and another convict. During their subsequent flight, they hijack an ambulance, complete with a pretty nurse (Madlyn Rhue). The rest of the movie amounts to a chase across the desert and one of Sal’s better death scenes. We enjoyed our viewing experience immensely, especially since Yul wore this unique headgear throughout the entire film.

Let’s take a closer look:

What…what is this hoodie-hat-shirt?

We were not sure of its purpose, but it got us thinking about all the other head coverings that Yul endured over the years. Take this fluffy white sheepskin confection from Taras Bulba.

Seriously. Only Yul could pull this outfit off and look proud to wear it!

or this alluring Egyptian Nemes headdress.

So sexy.

Sometimes he got to wear something more conventional like a navy captain’s cap

I like that turtleneck, don’t you?

or a cowboy hat.

Despite the headgear Yul sometimes sported, you have to admit that he was at his perfect best when his bald pate shined free, preferably with accompanying bare chest. Like this,

or this.

One thing’s for sure. No matter what exotic B-movie part he played, he always played it straight and gave it his all. Here’s to Yul Brynner, a consummate professional and awesome manly man. They sure don’t make ’em like you anymore!

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August 5, 2016

“Why do stars fall down from the sky Every time you walk by?”*

by chuckofish

Daughter #2 and Nate arrive today for a long weekend of celebrating in flyover country. We even have tickets to the Cardinals game on Monday night! It’s my flyover university’s first ever Night at the Ballpark–should be very interesting.

I hope Fred Bird makes an appearance and that he dances with our chancellor! I mean, how great would that be?

The weather isn’t even going to be that bad.

Meanwhile my friend Gary has finished stripping the wallpaper off the front hall, stairway and upstairs hall and painting it all. It looks fantastic. He even hung up my pictures so the OM would not have to engage in a battle of hammering to do so.

I will also note that Saturday is the birthday of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), Poet Laureate of Great Britain. You might spend some time this weekend brushing up on your Tennyson poetry. It is pretty great. Here’s a section of “Ulysses” to get you started:

I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’

Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades

For ever and forever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!

As tho’ to breathe were life! Life piled on life

Were all too little, and of one to me

Little remains: but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,

A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself,

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

Go ahead: follow knowledge like a sinking star! Shine in use! Use it or lose it! Have a good weekend!

*The Carpenters, “Close to You”

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August 4, 2016

Scots Wha Hae*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of Harry Lauder (August 4, 1870 – February 26, 1950)–famous Scottish music hall performer.

Lauder was, at one time, the highest-paid performer in the world, making the equivalent of £12,700 a night plus expenses. During the First World War Lauder promoted recruitment into the services and starred in many concerts for troops at home and on the western front. His entertainment activities were made ever the more poignant by the death in action of his only son at the end of 1916.

Our pater was a big fan of Harry Lauder and I recall him listening attentively to his scratchy 78 records, losing himself in a sentimental and, no doubt, alcohol-inspired fog. Frequently we would run from the room.

Anyway, here is Harry with Danny Kaye!

And here he is with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

And here’s Robin Williams dressed like the good Scotsman he was. (He bears a certain resemblance to Sir Harry, don’t you think?)

Since we’re on a roll, here are some other great Scots in suitable attire.

Cheers to Sean Connery, Ewan McGregor, Gerard Butler, and the boy (in a kilt at his 8th grade graduation)! and to…

Roamin’ in the gloamin’ on the bonnie banks o’ Clyde.

Roamin’ in the gloamin’ wae my lassie by my side.

When the sun has gone to rest, That’s the time we love the best.

O, it’s lovely roamin’ in the gloamin!

*The title of a poem by Robert Burns

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August 3, 2016

“Art is long and life is short, and success is very far off.”*

by chuckofish

The last word is not said, — probably shall never be said. Are not our lives too short for that full utterance which through all our stammerings is of course our only and abiding intention? I have given up expecting those last words, whose ring, if they could only be pronounced, would shake both heaven and earth. There is never time to say our last word — the last word of our love, of our desire, faith, remorse, submissions, revolt. The heaven and the earth must not be shaken, I suppose — at least, not by us who know so many truths about either. My last words about Jim shall be few. I affirm he had achieved greatness; but the thing would be dwarfed in the telling, or rather in the hearing. Frankly, it is not my words that I mistrust but your minds. I could be eloquent were I not afraid you fellows had starved your imaginations to feed your bodies. I do not mean to be offensive; it is respectable to have no illusions — and safe — and profitable — and dull. Yet you, too, in your time must have known the intensity of life, that light of glamour created in the shock of trifles, as amazing as the glow of sparks struck from a cold stone — and as short-lived, alas! (Lord Jim)

Ninety-two years ago today Joseph Conrad died. Although it is fashionable to call him a racist these days, I have always liked Conrad’s books. Also, some good movies have been made based on them. One film I especially like is Swept From the Sea (1997) based on the short story “Amy Foster”.

It stars Rachel Weisz, Ian McKellen, the always appealing Vincent Perez, and the windswept coast of England. The story is emblematic of the author’s lonely life as an exile, so probably a good choice to watch tonight (or at least add to the list you are keeping of movies to watch at a later date.)

*Joseph Conrad, The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’

The picture at the top of the page is the anchor-shaped Conrad monument at Gdynia, on Poland’s Baltic Seacoast.

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August 2, 2016

“The days of wine and roses”*

by chuckofish

This made me laugh.

Well, it is AUGUST! We are on the downward slide of the year.

On TCM it is Summer Under the Stars month and every day the schedule features the movies of one star. Today, for instance, they are showcasing the films of Lucille Ball. So check it out and set your DVR accordingly. Personally, I am looking forward to August 27 when it is James Garner day.

In other news, today is the birthday of Ernest Dowson (2 August 1867 – 23 February 1900), English poet.

He is famous for the phrases, “days of wine and roses” and “gone with the wind” and “faithful to thee in my fashion”. Here’s his poem Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae:

Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine
There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed
Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine;
And I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat,
Night-long within mine arms in love and sleep she lay;
Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
When I awoke and found the dawn was gray:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng,
Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, all the time, because the dance was long:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

I cried for madder music and for stronger wine,
But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire,
Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! the night is thine;
And I am desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, hungry for the lips of my desire:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

If you prefer, you can listen to Richard Burton reciting it:

Poor Ernest led a sad life (see above photo). Both his parents committed suicide and he died at age 32. After Dowson’s death, Oscar Wilde wrote: “Poor wounded wonderful fellow that he was, a tragic reproduction of all tragic poetry, like a symbol, or a scene. I hope bay leaves will be laid on his tomb and rue and myrtle too for he knew what love was.” Oh brother.

On that note, try to enjoy your Tuesday.

*Ernest Dowson, from “Vitae Summa Brevis” (1896)

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