Well, did everyone watch the finale to Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu this week? Initially, I was disappointed with the season, but I rewatched it from the beginning ahead of Tuesday’s finale and found that my early review was off. It was enjoyable and had the same pep as the two prior seasons. But I want to talk about the sets.
Yes, Steve and Martin are a delight. As are all of the characters. But the eye candy that is the wallpaper on the show. Drool.
I’ll be honest, I couldn’t find pictures of the apartment I really wanted to highlight–Bunny’s chinoiserie dream house from Season 2. Oh well, the internet fails me again.
Anyway, if you haven’t watched it yet, you should. And if you have, which apartment is your favorite?
Today we celebrate the birthday of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)–here are 10 things you should know about him.
“Men have a great deal of pleasure in human knowledge, in studies of natural things; but this is nothing to that joy which arises from divine light shining into the soul. This spiritual light is the dawning of the light of glory in the heart. There is nothing so powerful as this to support persons in affliction, and to give the mind peace and brightness in this stormy and dark world. This knowledge will wean from the world, and raise the inclination to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of good, and to choose him for the only portion. This light, and this only, will bring the soul to a saving close with Christ. It conforms the heart to the gospel, mortifies its enmity and opposition against the scheme of salvation therein revealed: it causes the heart to embrace the joyful tidings, and entirely to adhere to, and acquiesce in the revelation of Christ as our Savior.” ― Jonathan Edwards
So live with all your might, never suffer the least motions of anger to irrational beings, tell the truth, do your duty willingly and cheerfully, and…
Well, here we are and it’s already October 4th. September zoomed by even faster than expected.
If you like corn mazes, here is a list of super-duper ones across the country. I was disappointed not to see our local Eckert’s Millstadt Farm on the list. Everyone knows it’s the best.
Signs of Halloween are everywhere, including in my own home.
Just the other day we were discussing the fact that now that daughter #1 is a homeowner and lives in a neighborhood where there will undoubtedly be many trick-or-treaters, she will have to spend a fortune on Halloween candy. The price of candy has sky-rocketed (along with everything else)! Luckily we never get any trick-or-treaters, so as usual, I just buy Halloween candy for myself.
Well, I’m trying to get into the swing of fall…
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
A few weeks ago, after I watched the movie 42 (2013), I started reading up a bit about Jackie Robinson and I came across the book The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn.
It was a bestseller when it was published in 1971. I bought a used copy online and started reading. It is really good! I was a big fan in the mid-sixties when I was a little girl, and although I am not a big baseball fan anymore, I have always contended that it is the best sport. This is because everyone, from little children to old ladies, can understand it. It is not an overly violent game and finesse wins over brute force. Indeed, it is a majestic and heroic game where one man stands up alone against nine players of the other team–sometimes in front of thousands of people.
You may recall that the famous 20th century poet Marianne Moore was a huge fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and wrote poems about them.
Anyway, Roger Kahn grew up in Brooklyn, a hop, skip and a jump from Ebbets Field where the Dodgers played. He lived and breathed the game. After college he went to work as a night copyboy at the New York Herald Tribune. His descriptions of growing up and of being a fledgling newspaper writer are funny, moving and detailed. I am really enjoying it.
As you know, our grandfather, ANC Jr., was a newspaperman who worked on the New York Times as well as the Herald Tribune, so this is especially interesting as a window into mid century journalism, which bears absolutely no similarity to today’s digital scribbling. These writers worked hard and took pride in their work. They were good writers.
So if you are so inclined, I highly recommend The Boys of Summer.
I should mention that Brooks Robinson, the Hall of Famer who played all 23 years of his professional baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles, died last week. He was my favorite non-Cardinal back in the day. He had class. Also Adam Wainwright retired last weekend after quite a career in St. Louis. He has class too. (And look at that wingspan.)
Unlike most, a ball player must confront two deaths. First, between the ages of thirty and forty he perishes as an athlete. Although he looks trim and feels vigorous and retains unusual coordination, the superlative reflexes, the major league reflexes, pass on. At a point when many of his classmates are newly confident and rising in other fields, he finds that he can no longer hit a very good fast ball or reach a grounder four strides to his right. At thirty-five he is is experiencing the truth of finality. As his major league career is ending, all things will end. However he sprang, he was always earthbound. Mortality embraces him. The golden age has passed in a moment. So will all things. So will all moments.
(Roger Kahn, The Boys of Summer)
In other news, bears are causing problems in of all places Japan! Indeed, the Japanese have deployed giant robot wolves to intimidate marauding bears. This is not science fiction.
How was your weekend? Mine was summer-y hot, but full of outdoor fun. We stayed cool in the shade watching the little bud run up and down the field in another victory for his first grade team. (Sorry, U. City.)
And Lottie lost a tooth!
After the game we celebrated Mr. Smith’s 1st birthday back at his house…
Lottie made him a birthday card–doesn’t this look just like Mr. Smith?
Mr. Smith got a lot of exercise playing catch in the back yard. Earlier in the day he and daughter #1 had walked up the street to see the U. City Homecoming parade. Field hockey girls never change.
On Sunday we heard a good sermon from a guest preacher. The church was full so the singing was especially robust. I cried as usual. Afterwards the boy and the twins came over for bagels. We sat outside and enjoyed the cooler temperature. Lottie and the bud ran around and quarreled and got very dirty playing on the driveway–good times.
Meanwhile Katie is ready for October with her new festive attire from her aunt Lauren:
I watched some of the Ryder Cup and one really good movie. Cinema Paradiso (1988) is one of my all-time favorite Italian movies (top five) and a favorite movie, period. (Just don’t watch the director’s cut.)
I always cry during the last 15 minutes–what movie lover doesn’t?
Speaking of movies, Charlton Heston is the star of the month on TCM, so be sure to check out the schedule on Wednesday nights!
And here’s Willie Nelson’s new bluegrass version of A Good Hearted Woman:
Happy Friday, readers! It has been awhile since I’ve posted–but most of my hijinks have made it on the blog anyway. I ventured to my old stomping grounds, Indiana, for several days for a photoshoot. I got to see some big trucks. And when I showed that picture of me in front of a giant a haul truck to the wee laddie, he shouted with excitement, “ARE YOU A CONSTRUCTION WORKER?!?” which made driving the rental Dodge Durango worth it.
I have to say, it did make me miss the cornfields of outstate MO. A little.
Then I visited sweet Susie and her family in Maryland. Don’t worry, I took very few pictures and none of me with my sister! But Susie did take this:
Katie and I share the bond of first children who no longer receive undivided attention. We had a lot of special time which we BOTH enjoyed. Also, I have quite a few lines in my face.
Mr. Smith was quite glad to see me when I returned both times and then took several days to recover from the trauma of being at the kennel. We’re back to normal now (fingers crossed). You should all get pumped because I am having a small get together to celebrate his first birthday this weekend. Hopefully, we’ll get a picture of him in a party hat. In the meantime, we’re just hanging out and keeping an eye out for those pesky squirrels.
Today we remember the great Herman Melville (1819-91) who died on this day. We recommend reading some Moby-Dick–just open the book and start reading. You can’t go wrong.
“It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s in the desert. “Speak, thou vast and venerable head,” muttered Ahab, “which, though ungarnished with a beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, and tell us the secret thing that is in thee. Of all divers, thou hast dived the deepest. That head upon which the upper sun now gleams, has moved amid this world’s foundations. Where unrecorded names and navies rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home. Thou hast been where bell or diver never went; hast slept by many a sailor’s side, where sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down. Thou saw’st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them. Thou saw’st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed- while swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. O head! thou has seen enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one syllable is thine!” (p.339)
It might also be time to watch Moby-Dick (1956) starring Gregory Peck as Ahab, since I forgot to watch it on August 1, Melville’s birthday.
A few weeks ago I watched 10 minutes of the William Hurt/Ethan Hawke version but baled because it had already veered from the book. Sorry, not going to waste my time.
Speaking of tyrants, this is a good reminder of when it is necessary to obey God (and defy tyrants).
And while we’re on the subject of the ocean, researchers have completed in-depth underwater archaeological surveys of some of the wreckage from the Battle of Midway in 1942. The wrecks are located more than 16,000 feet below the surface. Learn more here.
By the way, I’m not the only one defending Puritans. This author also accuses critics of “a stunning ignorance of their theology.”
Last night I watched the Amor Towles “Library Talk” sponsored by the Library Speakers Consortium. It was very interesting, as you can imagine. He has a new book coming out next year–huzzah! Here is a list of upcoming LSC events. And here is a picture of Mr. Smith watching Amor Towles:
“We live in a fallen world with decaying bodies in a crumbling culture that is increasingly turning away from absolute truth. As the world spirals farther and farther from perfection, the centrifugal force of sin pushes the edges and expands the boundaries of acceptability. And we feel the loss.” (Read the whole excellent article here.)
We see a lot of doom and gloom in the world and we worry about our grandchildren. We know that all the lost people striving for meaning in their lives will never find it looking inside themselves. The only balm in this world is Jesus, but to say so in mixed company is to invite raised eyebrows or even ridicule. C’est la vie. I am old enough that I don’t care. I will keep advising people to read the Bible (the whole thing) and to go to church. Find a good one where they follow God’s word and not their own feelings.
We are surrounded by blessings and beauty every day which we mostly don’t notice or appreciate. Be thankful and know to whom you are grateful. Jesus is coming back and in the meantime he promised that He is with us always, even to the end of the age.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
It is the last week of September…soon we will enter that long slide to Christmas which will zoom by in a flash. We have got to get organized!
Well, I am sticking to my routine and keeping up with my Bible reading plan. I also signed up for another free Hillsdale College course: “Supply-Side Economics and American Prosperity with Arthur Laffer.” I know you’re impressed, right? I passed the first quiz, so I am hopeful I can keep up. I have to do something to keep my brain cells from mutinying.
It is now that time of year when the Halloween displays pop up in people’s yards. It is quite a competition in my neck of the woods. The OM and I drove by one such yard display that looks like a pumpkin patch–do they really want people coming to their door hoping to buy a pumpkin? Because that’s what it looks like. I guess that growing “ginormous” pumpkins has become a thing as well. It takes a lot of effort.
This article reminded me of the bad experience we had at our Episcopal church years ago. “So, while no one denies that there are bad pastors, almost no one is discussing the fact that there are bad churches. Where are the documentaries and podcasts discussing pastor-destroying churches? There is precious little discussion about the fact that there is hardly a pastor out there who has not been wounded, slandered, bullied, or run off from a church by bad associate pastors and ungodly church members.” Amen to that.
Meanwhile everyone is sick in daughter #2’s family…
…but three-year old Katie is still on top of her game.
I watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) the other night on TCM. I had not seen it in a very long time. I am not a big fan of Frank Capra, but I have to say, this movie is good!
Jimmy Stewart is not too gangly and aw-shucks, but just right as the idealistic new senator and Jean Arthur does not whine, but takes charge as needed. It still resonates today with its message of governmental corruption–the swamp. The press comes off very badly. Its patriotic message needs to ring out anew–it should be required viewing for all fourth graders. And it’s a good lesson in basic civics, something about which most Americans are woefully ignorant.
By the way, daughter #1’s Mr. Smith was not named after the Mr. Smith who went to Washington, but the Mr. Smith who was a dog in The Awful Truth (1937).
Enjoy your Tuesday! Watch an old movie, learn something new, pet a nice dog.
How was your weekend? Mine was a quiet one. Daughter #1 was in Maryland visiting daughter #2. I picked her up at the airport on Saturday and we were both relieved that her flight back was uneventful and unaffected by the hurricane back east.
I watched a little SEC football–Alabama vs Ole Miss–so I would have a better grip on Matt Mitchell’s weekly SEC recap. He is so mean to Mizzou, but I love him anyway.
Can’t wait to see what he has to say this week!
We saw the boy and the twins at church and enjoyed an interesting adult ed class on AI (let us not forget that God is sovereign) as well as a good sermon by the seminary student who is our Youth Minister. It actually contained a little brimstone. I do like some brimstone in a sermon.
We went to the wee laddie’s soccer game later in the afternoon. His other grandparents were there, visiting from Florida–so he had quite the cheering section.
He is slowly but surely getting the idea of the game…
His team is still undefeated thanks to two players who look and play like fourth graders. God bless America.
dual personalities 