dual personalities

Stir it up

by chuckofish

O God our Father, let us find grace in thy sight so as to have grace to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear; and further grace not to receive thy grace in vain, nor to neglect it and fall from it, but to stir it up and grow in it, and to persevere in it unto the end of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Lancelot Andrewes

We have had rain, rain and more rain this week. June was the rainiest on record. I am not complaining, but I hope we see some sunshine this weekend. Here are some paintings by Oscar Edmund Berninghaus (2 October 1874 – 27 April 1952), who was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists, to help us imagine some drier, warmer air.

He is best known for his paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico and the American Southwest.

And furthermore, Oscar Berninghaus, you will recall, was born in in St. Louis, Missouri. His father ran a lithography business, which stimulated an interest in watercolor painting in Oscar. Reading about Berninghaus, I found out that at sixteen he quit school and took a job with Compton and Sons, a local lithography company.

This made me remember that I had heard about a fantastic new exhibit titled “A Walk in 1875 St. Louis” at the Missouri History Museum. One of the most amazing maps of a city ever created was Compton & Dry’s “Pictorial St. Louis,” drawn in 1875 and published in 1876.

plate 77

Using this incredibly detailed cartographic masterpiece as its backdrop, the Missouri History Museum developed a 6,000 square-foot exhibition that explores the collective life of 1875 St. Louis through photographs, artifacts, news, writings and first hand accounts of the day.

I guess I’ll see if the OM would like to check it out this weekend. A museum, after all, is a good place to go on a rainy day.

This is how my mind works.

Have a good weekend!

7 Comments

July 9, 2015

Fun facts to know and tell (and a poem)

by chuckofish

Today is the anniversary of the death of 12th U.S. President Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) who, you will recall, died in office. Millard Fillmore succeeded him as president.

“Old Rough and Ready” was born in Virginia to a prominent family of planters, a descendent as well of a signer of the Mayflower Compact. He was elected on the strength of his impressive military career. He was an Episcopalian.

He has a good face. Clearly those 19th century presidents were not overly vain–Taylor neither combed his hair or straightened his tie for this portrait.

I had forgotten that one of his daughters, Sarah Knox Taylor, was married briefly to Jefferson Davis, who later became President of the Confederate States. She was twenty-one when she died.

Taylor had five daughters and (finally) one son, Richard Scott Taylor (1826–1879), who was a Confederate General in the Civil War.

Zachary Taylor is buried in the family mausoleum in Louisville, Kentucky.

Eight presidents have died while in office. William Henry Harrison was the first–he had only been president for 31 days when he died of pneumonia in 1841.

Zachary Taylor was next in 1850 when he died of acute gastroentiritis.

Three assassinations followed: Lincoln (1865), Garfield (1881) and McKinley (1901).

Then Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack in 1923, followed by FDR with a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945. JFK was assassinated in 1963.

Well. Here’s a poem that seems appropriate.

When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.”

–Maya Angelou

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July 8, 2015

Mid-week reminder

by chuckofish

“A religious observance can be a wedding, a christening, a Memorial Day service, a bar mitzvah, or anything like that you might be apt to think of. There are lots of things going on at them. There are lots of things you can learn from them if you’re in a receptive state of mind. The word ‘observance’ itself suggests what is perhaps the most important thing about them.

A man and a woman are getting married. A child is being given a name. A war is being remembered and many deaths. A boy is coming of age.

It is life that is going on. It is always going on, and it is always precious. It is God that is going on. It is you who are there that is going on.

As Henry James advised writers, be one on whom nothing is lost.

OBSERVE!! There are few things as important, as religious, as that.”

–Frederick Buechner, The Faces of Jesus

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July 7, 2015

Note to self

by chuckofish

Today we are reminded again how tempus, indeed, fugits! TCM is celebrating the 100th anniversary of a company whose technology defined the look of movie color for decades. Technicolor™ was incorporated in 1915 by Herbert T. Kalmus, Daniel F. Comstock and W. Burton Wescott and offered the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952.

The 48-hour salute includes the greatest of all technicolor films, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which will be shown today at 4:30 p.m. and again on August 2 at 8 p.m. so set your DVR.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)–which I watched this past weekend–is on tomorrow night at 8 p.m.–don’t miss it! The color cinematography in this movie is fantastic. Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard (1963), a landmark of Italian cinema, is also on tomorrow at 3:30 a.m. Any movie with Claudia Cardinale is worth watching if you ask me.

We must also note that 600 years ago yesterday (July 6, 1415) Jan Hus was burned at the stake for heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. Hus was a Czech priest, philosopher, early Christian reformer and Master at Charles University in Prague. He dared to preach in Czech and tried to reform the Church by calling out the moral failings of clergy, bishops, and even the papacy from his pulpit. In 1999 Pope John Paul II expressed regret for his death. Well.

The monument in Konstanz, where reformer Jan Hus was executed (1862)

Hus is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church.

Faithful God, who didst give Jan Hus the courage to confess thy truth and recall thy Church to the image of Christ: Enable us, inspired by his example, to bear witness against corruption and never cease to pray for our enemies, that we may prove faithful followers of our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

On Sunday the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, conducted the baptism of Princess Charlotte at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham.

Pretty darn cute.

And FYI: the Archbishop of Canterbury has a blog. You go, Glenn Coco.

3 Comments

July 6, 2015

Our father’s God to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing

by chuckofish

Did you have a pleasant 4th of July? The boy and daughter #3 came over for dinner for All-American burgers and hot dogs. I did not attempt anything too advanced in the culinary category–unlike daughter #2 who did just that back in Maryland…

Ahem. After dinner we headed over to the high school to watch the local fireworks show held in the park.

It was clearly the place to be.

Note that the boy is wearing a patriotic red, white and blue ensemble, which has always been the way we roll on the 4th. After the fireworks display we headed home and the OM unearthed his personal fireworks cache in the basement and we indulged in some sparkler fun.

Good times.

On Sunday I fulfilled my lay reading duties–2 Corinthians 12:2-10. It was a great passage, where Paul talks about Satan tormenting him with a thorn in his flesh, and how he appealed to the Lord three times, that it would leave him, but “he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.'”

Good to remember. I wish I had the kind of memory that could pull out appropriate quotes when needed and on the spur of the moment, not an hour later when I am thinking about it.

Meanwhile the constant rain of last week dissipated and the weather for the three-day weekend was pretty darn glorious. I worked in the yard some, but the mosquitoes were also out in full force, so I spent quite a bit of quality time in the Florida room instead. I am re-reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and enjoying it immensely.

I always say–a book worth reading is a book worth re-reading and this is a perfect example. When I first read this book back in 1985 or ’86, I raced through it, because I wanted to know what would happen next. Now I am enjoying the writing and savoring the characters. It is a wise book full of truth. (I may have read it another time during the past 30 years as well, but who’s counting?) I heartily recommend you read or re-read this book. It certainly deserved the Pulitzer Prize it won.

So onward and upward–have a good week!

3 Comments

July 4, 2015

Happy Independence Day!

by chuckofish

And, of course, Happy Birthday to my dear brother, who I imagine will enjoy a day fishing followed by a view of the myriad firework displays that can be seen from his cottage on Lake St. Claire in Michigan.

Not my picture, but it is Lake St. Claire

Due to technical difficulties too complicated to enumerate here (it’s a long, sad story to do with a car crash, damaged electronics and a decidedly bruised energy level), I don’t have a witty post or great pics of the birthday boy to share. Fortunately, my dual personality captured the birthday party spirit in her post yesterday.

What I do have are a couple of family history tidbits to share. First off is my mother’s high school graduation picture. I found this yearbook on ancestry.com. I don’t know to whom it belonged, but my mother signed it! Cynthia Coghlin was one of her best friends as well.

It’s clearly a small world. In my internet wanderings, I also came across a wonderful syndicated newspaper article about police aviation, in which my grandfather, Arthur Newell Chamberlin, Jr. figures prominently.

Written in 1930 when domestic (non war related) aviation was in its infancy, the article details the new aviation traffic regulations. It refers to our grandfather, who formed New York City’s first aviation unit, as a “pioneer in air-lane traffic regulation” and describes his position thus:

It neglects to mention that he was a pilot in WWI, which is why he was involved in the police aviation thing in the first place. He was also a lawyer, having graduated from Georgetown law. Although he passed the Washington DC bar, he never practiced law. For some reason (probably the excitement), he always preferred newspaper work. In fact, he had been slated to become editor of the Burlington Free Press, when he got called up for duty in WWI. The aviation article quotes him further :

He also explains why the planes are not equipped with guns:

Here’s a close up of the lovely pic.

Well, the aviation unit was a great idea and it flourished for a few years, but when the Great Depression really got going, it meant budget cuts to the NYC police department and the unit was among the first to go. That spelled the end of my grandfather’s flying career.

Happy Independence Day to all of you! We’re going to spend ours quietly drinking tea and reading. I’m currently enjoying Sax Rohmer’s The Hand of Fu Manchu, first published in 1917. It’s not exactly highbrow literature, but it is really fun. Given my current intellectual potential, it’s just perfect.

2 Comments

July 3, 2015

I hear America singing*

by chuckofish

Chris party

Well, tomorrow is my big brother’s birthday. Here are some pictures of him celebrating his birthday in the olden days. Time was when he was usually off fishing somewhere. When he found himself in flyover country we would celebrate in fine fashion.

Last year my dual personality and our better halves visited our bro in Michigan. We couldn’t do it this year. I will miss them.

Our fourth of July at home will definitely be low-key. We’ll toast our forefathers and listen to some Sousa marches. Perhaps we will light some sparklers. Yes, it will be pretty lame.

But don’t feel too sorry for me. I plan to binge-watch John Ford’s cavalry trilogy: For Apache (1948 ), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).

You could do worse, but hardly much better.

And here’s good news: Shirley Temple is Star of the Month on TCM! Here’s a list of the movies they’re showing. Time to set your DVR.

Have a great weekend!

*The first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published in Brooklyn, New York on July 4, 1855.

4 Comments

July 2, 2015

“I just want to be your firecracker”*

by chuckofish

The OM used to belong to a fraternal organization that was responsible for putting on the annual flyover 4th of July parade here in town. He was involved for years in the float department and so our daughters were shanghaied into dressing up in embarrassing costumes and riding on the floats.

One year daughter #1 was Tinkerbell on the Peter Pan float.

In comparison, daughter #2 got away easy dressing up as a hillbilly gal. I have pictures**, but in typical fashion, I am unable to put my hands on them.

I never went to the parade. There is nothing I hate more than getting up in the pre-dawn hours to park God-knows-where to secure a place amidst a large crowd of strangers to watch a parade downtown.

Since it was the OM’s thing, I let him go with it and have father-daughter bonding time. (I did go down to the “den” with respective daughters to get them fitted in their costumes.)

Anyway, the point is, this year for the first time (in a long time) the parade will be televised. Back in the day, I would have really appreciated this.

This year I will be watching the parade in my pajamas. Mimosas, anyone?

*Ryan Adams

**This is not a conspiracy of not having pictures of the neglected 3rd child. Really. I searched high and low.

9 Comments

July 1, 2015

“It’s 80% script and 20% you get great actors. There’s nothing else to it.”*

by chuckofish

Today is film director William Wyler’s (July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) birthday.

Kirk-Douglas-visiting-Charlton-Heston-director-William-Wyler-and-Jack-Hawkins-on-the-set-of-Ben-Hur

Kirk Douglas clowning on the set of Ben Hur with Charleton Heston, Wyler and Jack Hawkins

Wyler, you will recall, is the most nominated director in Academy Awards history with 12 nominations. In addition to that, Wyler has the distinction of having won the Academy Award for Best Direction on three occasions, for his direction of Ben Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Mrs. Miniver. Only John Ford, who won four Oscars in this category, has won more.

Wyler also has the distinction of having directed more actors to Oscar-nominated performances than any other director in history: thirty-six. Out of these nominees, fourteen went on to win Oscars.

The list of his films is truly impressive. He made romantic comedies and religious epics and westerns and war movies and even a musical with Barbra Streisand!

My favorites are: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946),

Roman Holiday (1953),

The Big Country (1958),

Dead End (1937),

and, of course, Ben Hur (1959).

There are a lot of other great ones to choose from, but these are my favorites.

I will raise a glass to old William Wyler and watch The Big Country tonight. This film is marred, mostly by the presence of Carol Baker and the annoying character she plays, but I can overlook this, because Gregory Peck is at his most dreamy and he is ably supported by Charlton Heston at his smoldering best. And the music is great.

Which reminds me…of this. Sacrilegious, but funny. Can you spot the OM’s doppelganger (twice)?

*William Wyler

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June 30, 2015

“Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.” *

by chuckofish

The internet is full of tips. Here are some tips concerning how to keep that after-vacation glow (care of a friend of daughter #1.)

I will admit I have some shells on my desk at work.

And here’s something to cheer us all up.

Well, I got through the first day at work after a vacation, so today should be better, right? I’ll hang in there if you do.

*Pablo Neruda

4 Comments