dual personalities

March 6, 2014

And the wind shall say

by chuckofish

11th century stained glass Jesus

11th century stained glass Jesus

From “Choruses from the Rock” by T.S. Eliot

The Word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
O miserable cities of designing men,
O wretched generation of enlightened men,
Betrayed in the mazes of your ingenuities,
Sold by the proceeds of your proper inventions:
I have given you hands which you turn from worship,
I have given you speech, for endless palaver, I have given you my Law, and you set up commissions,
I have given you lips, to express friendly sentiments,
I have given you hearts, for reciprocal distrust.
I have given you the power of choice, and you only alternate
Between futile speculation and unconsidered action.
Many are engaged in writing books and printing them,
Many desire to see their names in print,
Many read nothing but the race reports.
Much is your reading, but not the Word of GOD,
Much is your building, but not the House of GOD,
Will you build me a house of plaster, with corrugated roofing,
To be filled with a litter of Sunday newspapers?

And the wind shall say: “Here were decent godless people:
Their only monument the asphalt road
And a thousand lost golf balls.”

7 Comments
March 5, 2014

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.*

by chuckofish

Tulips from the grocery store brighten my day.

“All the absurd little meetings, decisions, inner skirmishes that go to make up our days. It all adds up to very little, and yet it all adds up to very much. Our days are full of nonsense, and yet not, because it is precisely into the nonsense of our days that God speaks to us words of great significance – not words that are written in the stars but words that are written into the raw stuff and nonsense of our days, which are not nonsense just because God speaks into the midst of them. And the words that he says, to each of us differently, are “Be brave…be merciful…feed my lambs…press on toward the goal.”

-Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark

Lent begins today on Ash Wednesday. There is a traditional Ash Wednesday service going on somewhere near you. At our church, we have two services today, but neither time works for me. So I think I’ll go to a Noon service near work. If I do, then I will wipe my forehead off. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s pretentious Ash Wednesday worshippers.

Bonus points for the Veep. No brownie points for the Veep.

When my children were younger and lived at home, I tried to make them aware of Lent. We watched our Lenten movies and discussed them. These efforts were a hit.

Once I put a lot of bible verses in a bowl on the dining room table. Each night one of the kids would pick one and read it. We would attempt to discuss it during dinner. My family was less comfortable with these efforts on my part. They seemed hokey I guess. I’m glad I tried. Perhaps something sunk in.

Once again I will endeavor to keep a “holy Lent”–not by denying myself things like chocolate or wine but by being more intentional about keeping the Great Commandment. You know, the one about loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

Good luck to me, right?

*Psalm 51, verse ll

1 Comment
March 4, 2014

Grace to you and peace

by chuckofish

murray

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.”

― Andrew Murray
(1828 – 1917) Murray was a South African writer, teacher, and Dutch Reformed minister.

Are you thinking about giving up something for Lent? Or taking something on? Are you eating pancakes tonight?

3 Comments
March 3, 2014

March comes in like a rockety ride

by chuckofish

A new month has commenced! March, the weather forecasters predicted, would come in like a lion.

From "Katy and the Big Snow" by Virginia Lee Burton

From “Katy and the Big Snow” by Virginia Lee Burton

They sure had everyone in a tizzy of expectation. Church was even called off yesterday! (The rector is in the holy land–is this what happens when the cat’s away?) In fact, most churches in the area canceled all services because of the expected 10″ of snow/sleet. Unheard of in the “olden” days! Can’t say that I wasn’t pleased to be able to stay in bed and read Olivier and Parrot by Peter Carey.

books

I also finished The Sweet-Shop Owner by Graham Swift, which was well-written and held my interest, but I can’t say I recommend it unless you are in the mood for a depressing story about post-WWII England.

But back to the weather and our snow-pocalypse that didn’t happen.

In fact, not much happened.

hoiuse4

But Spring will be here before we know it! You know this is true.

Here’s evidence:

mikemathenymeme

P.S. I did not watch the Oscars. I watched Serenity (2005) which was nominated for no Academy Awards (although 8 years later Chiwetel Ejiofor was nominated for Best Actor in 12 Years a Slave). However, it is a favorite of mine. I am a leaf on the wind…

9 Comments
March 1, 2014

The Good Wife?

by chuckofish

It’s time for another installment of family history. This one involves a collateral mystery/love story. You will recall that in 1918 our great uncle Guy Chamberlin transferred from the Cavalry to the exciting, new Tank Corp

much cooler than cavalry

much cooler than cavalry

and was promptly killed in the Argonne Forest just a month and a half before the Armistice.  I blogged about it here.

It was, of course, a terrible blow to the family, made more so by the fact that he was the youngest, and that unbeknownst to them he had gotten married  just weeks before he died.  According to family tradition, the young widow showed up in Vermont to meet her ‘new family’ and was promptly dismissed as a tacky, gold-digger, who had had the audacity to claim the poor boy’s pension. That seems straightforward enough, but is it true?

While looking into family history I went off on a tangent and found out more about his wife, Dorothy. She was originally from the Washington DC area and she went back there after the war. A couple of things stand out about post-war Dorothy that may not fit the gold-digger image. She was obviously proud of her marital status. In the 1920 census the twenty year old Dorothy  resolutely names herself Mrs. Guy R. Chamberlin. At the time, she was living in Rockville, MD with her sister and brother-in-law. The household included a servant, so it can’t have been too mean. What really stands out about Dorothy, however, are three additional facts. She served her country again briefly during WWII.

She never remarried, but instead bought a small farm in Maryland.

Found on Ebay (!). I've now bought this so it's okay to post.

Found on Ebay (!). I’ve now bought this so it’s okay to post. She’s identified on the back.

She was legit — hey, she and her cows made it into the Baltimore Sun. I think she looks nice — though she’s certainly no beauty (to be fair she is probably in her 40s in these pics).

Finally — and I think most telling — she is buried next to Guy in Arlington.

Dorothy D. tombstone    Guy R. tombstone

Is this a great love story? Probably not. All of the positives I just mentioned could also be interpreted in a negative way. Dorothy clearly understood the fact that Guy’s death allowed her to live independently and have the life of her own choosing. She must have known that to his family it looked as if she had gone to France to find a husband. After all, that was not uncommon. Perhaps it was guilt rather than love that made her stay true to him all those years. We’ll never know, but I prefer to give her the benefit of the doubt. She doesn’t LOOK like a gold-digger — she looks like the type of fun, down to earth girl that Guy might have liked. What do you think?

5 Comments
February 28, 2014

My baloney has a first name–it’s O-S-C-A-R

by chuckofish

oscars-2014-ellen-poster__140108193621-575x851

For the first time in probably close to 50 years, I am contemplating not watching the Academy Awards on Sunday night. Daughter #1 says I should at least watch the opening with Ellen Degeneres.

Maybe. I mean I get that it is on her network and I want to be supportive, but I am now officially in that grumpy demographic. Old.

Remember when it was a big deal to see who presented the awards? It might be your only chance to see Clint Eastwood or Steve McQueen or Audrey Hepburn or Paul Newman. But I don’t care about any of the actors and actresses nowadays. Remember when it was a big deal to see what Cher wore?  Now it is more about what everyone wears than anything else.

And there is no mystery. Everyone is over-exposed these days. And there are no surprises. We all know who is going to win.

Well, boo-hoo, time marches on.

I will be marching too–away from the TV.

Anyway, I thought I would share a clip from the good old days (1972) when Ben Johnson won the Best Supporting Actor Award. (Please note Richard Harris’ reaction when Ben wins.)

Ben was 53 years old when he won the award for The Last Picture Show. He was pretty cute all dressed up in a tuxedo. The story goes that Ben did not want the part, so Peter Bogdonavich, the director, asked John Ford to talk to him. He was finally convinced. He does more talking in his one big scene (a monologue) than in most of his previous movies combined. He was the real deal and a working actor right up to the time he died.

5 Comments
February 27, 2014

“All great and precious things are lonely.”*

by chuckofish

East of Sweden … John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men faced isolated calls for censorship in Turkey.

John Steinbeck, author, Nobel Prize winner and Episcopalian, was born on this day in 1902 in Salinas, California.

  A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals. He isn’t telling or teaching or ordering. Rather he seeks to establish a relationship of meaning, of feeling, of observing. We are lonesome animals. We spend all life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say—and to feel—

“Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought.”

So tonight I will lift my glass of wine in a toast to the memory of the great Steinbeck! Why don’t you join me?

*East of Eden

3 Comments
February 26, 2014

Some art for Wednesday: “Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems.”*

by chuckofish

Monday was the birthday of Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) whom readers of this blog know has always been one of my favorite artists. Like me, he came from a long line of New Englanders and so the landscapes he painted are both familiar and dear to me. Our mother was also a great admirer of Homer and we were introduced to his art at an early and impressionable age. What is not to like?

Here are a few of my favorites.

This poster hung on my dorm room wall in college. It can be seen on the bottom of this blog.

A print of this painting hung on my dorm room wall in college. It can be seen on the bottom of this blog.

My kind of guy

My kind of guy

The West Wind

The West Wind

Two Guides

Two Guides

This painting hangs in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA and I stared at it a lot in college.

This painting hangs in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA and I stared at it a lot in college.

Breezing Up

Breezing Up

Prisoners From the Front--I always loved this picture.

Prisoners From the Front–I always loved this picture.

I think they were going for that same look in this movie. (By the way, this is a terrible movie, but the stars did look great.)

Richard Harris and Charlton Heston in "Major Dundee" (1965)

Richard Harris and Charlton Heston in “Major Dundee” (1965)

A Visit From the Old Mistress, which mirrors the composition of the Prisoners From the Front painting

A Visit From the Old Mistress, which mirrors the composition of the Prisoners From the Front painting

For more pictures, here is a good slideshow from the National Gallery of Art.

homergallery_credits

* Good advice for artists (and others) from Winslow Homer

3 Comments
February 25, 2014

We could open up this suitcase full of sparks

by chuckofish

abe-simpson-wallpapers-9-1-s-307x512

I used to be “with it”. But  they changed what “it” was.  Now what I’m with isn’t “it” and what’s “it” seems weird and scary to me.”

–Grampa Simpson, From “Homerpalooza” (Season 7, Episode 24)

Sadly, I can relate to Grampa Simpson. Can you? I guess this is an inevitable part of aging. Not that I was ever too “with it” to begin with…but a lot of modern pop culture seems “weird and scary” to me. Hello, Kim Kardashian. And The Batchelor. I don’t get that either.

However, as readers of this blog know, I have a soft spot in my heart for Eminem. I try to keep an open mind. Occasionally I even go to a concert.

Such was the case last Sunday night when I ventured downtown to the Sheldon Concert Hall to see Josh Ritter.

sheldon

Mostly I bought the tickets to see his opening act Gregory Alan Isakov. My Old Man bailed on me at the last minute (he had a headache) and so the boy stepped up and went with me. He was a good concert date.

It was a sold out concert. Unfortunately, a lot of the audience arrived during Gregory Alan Isakov’s performance which was annoying. And rude. And the poor guy’s band was not with him. They had to leave in Chicago, he explained, and so he was on his own for the rest of the tour. It had been “super fun and scary” since then.

I kind of love him for saying “super fun”.

GAI

Gregory  epitomizes the introverted artist who must perform. And to stand up there without his band–zut alors! But I thought he was wonderful, performing his set of seven songs from numerous albums with humor and spirit.

Before his last song, he said, “I’ll leave you with a sad one, because that’s how I roll.”

Is he my kind of guy or what!

On the flip side was Josh Ritter who bounded onto the stage full of self-confidence and raring to go.

ritter

He put on quite a show, which I enjoyed very much. His fans, who filled the theater, were enthusiastic. Two middle-aged women to our left were down-right embarrassing–swaying and giggling like teenagers. (They also made several trips to the bar, which probably explains a lot of their behavior.) Please shoot me if I ever behave like this.

We opted to leave before the encores in order to avoid the parking lot mayhem and because it was a school night after all. But I was glad I had nudged myself out of my routine.

(My thanks to the boy who took these photos on his iPhone.)

7 Comments
February 24, 2014

At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses…*

by chuckofish

During Epiphany at my church we are using Eucharistic Prayer C, which is the one that includes all that jazz about “from the primal elements you brought forth the human race”, not to mention this fragile earth, “our island home.” One wonders if most of our clergy even believe this anymore. Well, I do and so I don’t really mind all this post-modern verbage, although it sounds like something Dr. McCoy would say and not Dr. Cranmer. C’est la vie.

It is appropriate to pray thusly, moreover, having just viewed Gravity, a movie with absolutely no spiritual dimension to it. It is all about science and apparently was not written by Episcopalians**.

gravity-poster

I like Sandra Bullock, but she is not believable as a medical doctor on a space station. What is a medical doctor doing walking in space and making technical changes to a space station anyway? It is difficult to imagine Sandra passing her basic training. Of course, none of the men hyperventilate when things go wrong. But when things go badly, she does not know what to do. Being a modern woman, she never even prays. She explains at one point that no one ever “taught her.” Oh please. You know what they say about no atheists in foxholes. There is no one to help her, but luckily an imaginary man comes to her aid and tells her what to do. Thank goodness.

There is a bit of backstory explaining that she is sad because her young daughter has died back on earth and we suppose this is why she is on a space station in the first place. She has no one on earth to keep her there. Why then she tries so hard to get back, I don’t know. Once I had managed to get back to the space station after the initial separation, I would, I think, be happy to make it my comfortable coffin and go to sleep. Especially if I had no one back on earth.

This movie made no sense to me. It was crazily implausible. Please. Why did I watch it?

Meanwhile back at church, I am still getting used to my new pew. The handicapped-accessible space which has displaced several of us caused my friend Mike and me once again to chuckle good-heartedly at our surroundings. Another man suggested Mike try the “other side” and he replied fervently, “Oh, good God, no!” He went on to say that this was the “Republican side” anyway, which really made me chuckle. As if there are enough Republicans in my church to make a “side”! I had never heard that one. He said that was what his father-in-law had always said.

The Olympics are over and I can’t say I care. Too many professionals and not enough American team spirit. I like the American ice dancing pair, the ones that looked like Owen Wilson and a Disney princess. They were exceptional. I enjoyed seeing Bode Miller ski again and win a bronze. I loved watching the Norwegian biathletes masochistically ski for miles at top speed and stop and shoot.

biathlon

What a great sport!

In other news, I worked in the yard on Saturday as the temperatures soared into the sixties. It was positively warm. I filled up three bags of leaves. (An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.)

IMGP0929

And the Christmas Amaryllis from my brother’s family continues to put on quite a show.

IMGP0930

It is getting cold again, but as we head into March, these over-the-top flowers seem to herald the coming of spring, don’t you think? Have a great week!

*BCP, p. 369

** Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron

6 Comments