dual personalities

October 9, 2011

Forbearance

by chuckofish

From today’s lectionary: Philippians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

This is actually one of my favorite scripture passages. Saint Paul at his best–giving heartfelt, succinct advice: pay attention to every word.

But I like the old Revised Standard Version of verse 5: “Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.” “Forbearance” is such a good word and one I can relate to a lot more than gentleness. It means: tolerance and restraint in the face of provocation. Gentleness and Forbearance just don’t mean the same thing.

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October 8, 2011

Haunted House of the week

by chuckofish

The Winchester House

Well if we’re going to get into the spirit of the season (pun intended), a good place to start is San Jose, California’s Winchester House, reputed to be the most haunted house in America. Now it’s big business but once it was just the happy home of a nutty old lady who was convinced that if she stopped adding on to the house, she would die. Here’s a quote from the web site which you can see

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October 8, 2011

Pumpkins

by chuckofish

Dual personalities circa 1973

It is officially pumpkin season here in the Midwest. There are piles of them outside Dierberg’s Market and the pumpkin patch is up at the neighborhood Methodist Church. I have unpacked my vintage 60’s Halloween candles.

Witches, ghosts, pumpkins…Can pilgrims be far behind?

5 Comments
October 7, 2011

…and in my kitchen…

by chuckofish

As you can see, I love my blue and white china as well! And so did our maternal grandmother…

I have some of that same Chinese export china in my dining room cabinet.


I wish I had a picture of our mother’s hutch…I’m sure with some digging around I can turn something up. Stay tuned for more blue and white china.

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October 7, 2011

In my kitchen…

by chuckofish

some of my favorite things

I guess you can tell that I like blue and white china. Most of this is Spode (the real thing, hand made in England, not the stuff they are currently making in China) from my mother-in-law (bless her!) plus an eclectic assortment of odds and ends that I just like including: an antique Japanese plate ( top shelf, center back); a Suzie Cooper creamer and sugar bowl set (top shelf, center); a ceramic seal (hard to see, top left), my sweet tiny loons, three cool pebbles, and china sherds I picked up in the garden or on the beach in England. As I was dusting these today I was reminded of what the artist Kandisky once wrote:

“Everything that is dead quivers. Not only the things of poetry, stars, moon, wood, flowers, but even a white trouser button glittering out of a puddle in the street…Everything has a secret soul which is silent more often than it speaks.”

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October 7, 2011

Friday’s movie pick

by chuckofish

This weekend I’m going to watch Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau and starring, in the role he was clearly born to play, Gerard Depardieu. As an extra added bonus, it also features the dreamy Vincent Perez as Christian. Le sigh. But my heart belongs to Gerard. I love this movie. Definitely 5 stars.

3 Comments
October 7, 2011

Mary and Newell

by chuckofish

Today would be our parents’ 61st Anniversary (10/7/1950). Zut Alors! How old does that make us?

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October 6, 2011

News alert

by chuckofish

According to The Wall Street Journal, Tomas Tranströmer beat out Bob Dylan for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Check out the Speakeasy story.

I am so bummed.

3 Comments
October 6, 2011

the beauty of decay

by chuckofish

I’ve always been drawn to ruins — whether that has anything to do with where I grew up, I leave to your imagination — but I think Mervyn Peake got it exactly right when he wrote in his magnificent Gormenghast trilogy:
“Titus sat down by the side of the road and frowned. He had been born and bred to the assumption that buildings were ancient by nature, and were and always had been in the process of crumbling away. The white dust lolling between the gaping bricks; the worm in the wood; the weed dislodging the stone; corrosion and mildew; the crumbling patina; the fading shades; the beauty of decay.”

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October 5, 2011

Famous movie cats

by chuckofish

abcNEWS.com has a list of the 5 Most Memorable Movie Cats and it’s pretty weak: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=13429213 (Why don’t they ask Mary before they put these things together?)

But, really, how could they leave out Thomasina!

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