Our beautiful weather continues, although they say it is going to heat up again by the end of the week. I will endeavor to live in the moment and enjoy it.
This made me LOL:
This is an interesting article about an unexpected encounter with an American Patriot. “I was intrigued to see a solitary grave with a military headstone out in the middle of nowhere. There were no houses or businesses anywhere in sight. It was a very rural area without any nearby tourist attractions…Not a place where I expected to see a veterans’ cemetery or even a solitary grave.”
The twins are coming over to my house tonight while their parents go to some parent-teacher thing at school. I am planning to make them suggest we watch The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (1963), also known as Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. I loved that movie when I was their age and especially the song.
You remember the story of Dr. Syn, a country vicar who leads a rebel band against the King’s naval press gangs in the 18th century. Dr. Syn conceals his secret identity behind a sackcloth mask, and carries on activities a la Scarlet Pimpernel from his parish base. The twins may be too jaded to enjoy it, but I hope not.
How was your weekend? Mine was lovely. The weather was perfect. The sky was blue. I enjoyed great conversation, good fellowship at my mini-retreat in a beautiful setting…
I watched a good movie with daughter #1–in fact, my favorite Woody Allen movie (besides Annie Hall)–Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). There is no bad language, no sex–just middle aged neurotics trying to solve a murder! I love the end where Woody is so relieved to find his wife (Diane Keaton) bound and gagged, but okay–he is so relieved and happy! It is like Cary Grant and Irene Dunne!
And you have to love Diane in a turtleneck, a blouse, a tweed jacket, and a belt!
Meanwhile we are back on our fall schedule of going to the 8:30 a.m. service at church, followed by Sunday School, and then on to a soccer game at 12:15. The boy and I went to the class on “The Power of Story in the Works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien” taught by our favorite college professor with a ponytail. It was very good. Also, our Associate Pastor is back from sabbatical and he gave a really good sermon on Philippians 1: 1-11.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace,[d] both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
And BTW I heartily agree with this article by Albert Mohler Jr.: “I try to be appropriately respectful of all elected officials, but Sen. Kaine uttered one of the most profoundly wrong, dangerous, and downright stupid comments a member of the Senate might articulate.” Who are these ignorant people?
Last night my Church Community Group started up again after its summer recess, so I am back to doing homework! We are continuing to read this book…
…which we began last spring. I think I would rather read an actual book by Tim Keller, but this is okay. We got some good conversation going.
Next week my Women’s Bible Study starts back up. We are continuing with the study of Exodus (19-40) by Jen Wilken. So more homework! It’s a good thing my shredding project is almost finis. And in case you are wondering, somehow I have kept up with my daily Bible reading! I just read 2 Corinthians 4–I highly recommend it.
Tomorrow I am going to a ladies’ lakeside mini-retreat at Innsbrook about an hour out of town. I am looking forward to this fellowship time with my church friends.
Here’s a fascinating look at the “secular liturgy” that is Goodnight Moon. This book is still a favorite of my younger grandchildren, but it cannot be denied that its author, Margaret Wise Brown, was a real mess and lost soul. (You may recall that she was the granddaughter of early Missouri governor Gratz Brown, about whom I wrote a while ago.) Her famous book reflects her lostness. I have to admit, I always thought the book was a little odd. “Instead of appealing to a God who holds all things together in his ordered creation, the liturgy of Goodnight Moon simply observes the randomness of an inexplicable universe: Goodnight nobody. Goodnight mush.“
This is much better:
O LET the Earth bless the Lord: * yea, let it praise him, and magnify him for ever. O ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever. O all ye Green Things upon the earth, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever. O ye Wells, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever. O ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever. O ye Whales, and all that move in the waters, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever. O all ye Fowls of the air, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever. O all ye Beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever. O ye Children of Men, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.
Today is the birthday of Syd Hoff (September 4, 1912 – May 12, 2004)–American cartoonist and children’s book author. Hoff was known for his cartoons in The New Yorker depicting tenements and lower-middle class life in the city. He was a Communist, although he was never blacklisted.
Today is also the anniversary of the day American actress Irene Dunne died in 1990. She was nominated five times for a Best Actress Oscar, but never won. She was no Communist, but a lifelong Republican. She starred with Skippy, the Wire Fox Terrier, in several movies, including The Awful Truth (1937) which features Skippy as Mr. Smith, after whom you-know-who was named.
So a toast to Syd Hoff, Irene Dunne and Skippy…watch an Irene Dunne movie, pet a nice dog, laugh at a cartoon!
The Madcaps are grieving the death of one of their beloved Pugs. They are so right about “working” through it. Personally, I have been wearing out the shredder every day, since the OM never threw out a piece of paper in his life. Slowly but surely I am making progress. Bringing some measure of order to the chaos is bringing me joy.
This is a really good article about God’s mercies “even to your old age”.
“The manna in the wilderness was given one day at a time. There was no storing up. God wants us to depend on him every single day. We do not receive today the strength to bear tomorrow’s burdens. We are given mercy and strength to match the needs of today.”
What a great analogy from Exodus!
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Today is Victory over Japan Day, the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in WWII, bringing an end to the war. The formal signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender took place on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, and at that time President Truman declared September 2 to be the official V-J Day.
General Douglas MacArthur signing the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of th e Allied Powers. Generals Wainwright and Percival, both former prisoners of the Japanese, stand behind him.
Missouri was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after the US state of Missouri. The ship was authorized by Congress in 1938. The ship was launched on 29 January 1944 before a crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 spectators. At the launching ceremony, the ship was christened by Margaret Truman, the ship sponsor and daughter of Harry S. Truman, then one of the senators from the ship’s namesake state.
USS Missouri underway in August 1944.
Missouri earned three battle stars for World War II service, five for Korean War service and a further three for Gulf War service.
How was your holiday weekend? Mine was delightful. We sat outside and enjoyed the lovely flyover weather and good company.
On Saturday we went to an estate sale where daughter #1 scored a Lane cedar chest for a very reasonable price. Then we went to Meijers in Champaign, which actually blew our minds. So big, so clean. There were even tropical fish.
But then, it doesn’t take much to please us.
We went to church on Sunday at daughter #2’s church in Urbana and heard a good sermon on Genesis 38–God works through what is sinful and shameful to accomplish his glorious redemptive purpose.
And Mr. Smith was a good boy.
I never took a picture of our hosts, but c’est la vie. Mea culpa. Everything was wonderful.
“Lord, help me to glorify Thee; I am poor, help me to trust Thee; I am weak, help me to lean on Thee; I am foolish, help me to learn of Thee.” (Charles Spurgeon – 1834-1892)
Daughter #1, Mr. Smith and I are off to the Prairie this morning. Hopefully the traffic will not be too bad on this Labor Day weekend. Prayers for travel mercies are much appreciated!
Ready to hit the road!
Happy Labor Day–the day I salute the men who do the work that women do not want–the men who pick up your trash, and fix the roads, who are plumbers and electricians, who mine the coal and fix our cars and fight the wars and protect the streets. The ones who stop on the highway and pull people out of burning cars. I thank you.
“I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.” ― Thomas A. Edison
Come, labor on. Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain while all around us waves the golden grain? And to each servant does the Master say, “Go work today.”
And today I am packing a bag to travel up to see the prairie girls and DN tomorrow. Here’s a poem by William Cullen Bryant to get us all in the mood…”The Prairies”:
These are the gardens of the Desert, these
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,
For which the speech of England has no name—
The Prairies. I behold them for the first,
And my heart swells, while the dilated sight
Takes in the encircling vastness. Lo! they stretch,
In airy undulations, far away,
As if the ocean, in his gentlest swell,
Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed,
And motionless forever. —Motionless?—
No—they are all unchained again. The clouds
Sweep over with their shadows, and, beneath,
The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eye;
Dark hollows seem to glide along and chase
The sunny ridges. Breezes of the South!
Who toss the golden and the flame-like flowers,
And pass the prairie-hawk that, poised on high,
Flaps his broad wings, yet moves not—ye have played
I forgot to mention that Sunday was the birthday of Jorge Luis Borges, the great Argentine essayist, poet and translator. As you know, he is a favorite of mine.
I will toast him tonight and read some poetry.
I watched a good movie the other night, one recommended by my DP several years ago. The Professorand the Madman (2019) is the true story of professor James Murray, who in 1879 became director of an Oxford University Press project, The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, and the man who became his friend and colleague, W.C. Minor, an American doctor who submitted more than 10,000 entries while he was confined at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Crowthorne after being found not guilty of murder due to insanity.
Mel Gibson plays the Professor and Sean Penn is the Madman. They are both excellent.
This is not a film that would appeal to a large audience, but I liked it. Despite the fact that it takes place in large part in an insane asylum and a university, it is full of interesting, intelligent and kindly people. The only real cruelty is perpetrated by well-meaning doctors trying to advance medical understanding. There is even a Christian message.
I also re-watched Seven Days in Utopia (2011) starring Robert Duval and Lucas Black, two more favorites of mine. It tells the story of Luke Chisholm, a young professional golfer, who, after melting down during a tournament and shooting 80 in the final round, crashes his car into a fence and finds himself stuck in Utopia, Texas while his car is repaired. He meets retired golfer Johnny Crawford and learns from him how to move on with his life and career. It also has a Christian message.
This movie is actually rated G!
I am currently re-reading Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. It is a great book, so beautifully written.
“Under his buckskin riding-coat he wore a black vest and the cravat and collar of a churchman. A young priest, at his devotions; and a priest in a thousand, one knew at a glance. His bowed head was not that of an ordinary man,—it was built for the seat of a fine intelligence. His brow was open, generous, reflective, his features handsome and somewhat severe. There was a singular elegance about the hands below the fringed cuffs of the buckskin jacket. Everything showed him to be a man of gentle birth—brave, sensitive, courteous. His manners, even when he was alone in the desert, were distinguished. He had a kind of courtesy toward himself, toward his beasts, toward the juniper tree before which he knelt, and the God whom he was addressing.”
So read a poem, watch a good movie, re-read a favorite book, and praise God from whom all blessings flow.
