babies | dual personalities

October 16, 2017

“Oh Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you…”*

by chuckofish

It was a stormy, gray Sunday and I contemplated staying in bed and reading Ivan Doig, but I was a good girl and got up and went to church. I was rewarded with great scripture readings and one of my favorite hymns. I mean, how great is Philippians 4:1-9:

Therefore, my brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

²I entreat Eu-o′dia and I entreat Syn′tyche to agree in the Lord. ³And I ask you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. ⁶Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.

There you have it.

Our final hymn was #624, Jerusalem the Golden, which always makes me cry. I was kind of a mess, mascara running all over, etc. Oh well. I am just a sentimental/crazy old lady who cries at hymns.

Most of my weekend was spent catching up on house maintenance and the like, which I do not mind. Life becomes a romance when you can learn to enjoy your everyday tasks and routines. Didn’t Oswald Chambers say something about that? (I think he was talking about our relationship with Christ, but it works here too.) Enjoy your home, I say, and part of that is taking care of it.

The OM and I babysat on Friday night while the boy and daughter #3 went out on the town…haha…they were home before 9 o’clock! The wee babes were great–a hand full–but great. I had forgotten what it is like to try to change a diaper on a boy-child who, when put on his back, immediately flips over. What a wrestling match ensues! Zut alors! I managed to get the little bud into his jammies, but I’m afraid they might have been backwards…C’est la vie. They were tuckered out but too wound up to go to bed, and when their parents arrived home, it was in the nick of time as Lottiebelle was having a meltdown and the OM’s patience was wearing thin. We headed home and I had a large glass of wine. They all came over for the last barbecue of the season on Sunday night.

In between I went to a work-related fundraiser–a “Hootenanny”–where a bunch of aging hippies and old communists plus President George H.W. Bush’s former Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service sang 1960s folk songs accompanied by a ukelele band. I’m telling you, truth is stranger than fiction. It was more fun than you would think and the story of my life.

Now it is Monday already and it’s back to the salt mine. Enjoy the day!

*Isaiah 25:1

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October 13, 2017

Fly sideways FRIYAY

by chuckofish

Just as I unpacked my turtlenecks and black tights, they are predicting broken records for heat this weekend! Good grief! No matter what people say about global warming, it has always been thus in flyover country.

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Que sera sera.

This weekend I plan to finish Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes which I started last weekend. It is a straight up detective novel which someone left in the giveaway basket at work. I am enjoying it. Next on the docket is This House of Sky by Ivan Doig, which came highly recommended by someone whose opinion I value.

I have a work event on Sunday afternoon that I have to attend, and after that, the boy and daughter # 3 will come over. Can’t wait to see the wee babes, especially Lottie who decided to stand up this week!

She has hitherto been reluctant to put her weight on her feet, but seems to have decided it is okay now. You go, Girl!

Her brother has been very encouraging.

BTW, on a historical/literary note, 138 years ago today Walt Whitman came to St. Louis to visit his brother, Thomas Jefferson Whitman, who was the city water commissioner. How about that? He liked the great river town, but wasn’t fond of the smog. In honor of his visit, and because it seems appropriate, here is a little bit of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry:

4

These and all else were to me the same as they are to you,

I loved well those cities, loved well the stately and rapid river,

The men and women I saw were all near to me,

Others the same—others who look back on me because I look’d forward to them,

(The time will come, though I stop here to-day and to-night.)

5

What is it then between us?

What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?

Whatever it is, it avails not—distance avails not, and place avails not,

I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine,

I too walk’d the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in the waters around it,

I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me,

In the day among crowds of people sometimes they came upon me,

In my walks home late at night or as I lay in my bed they came upon me,

I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution,

I too had receiv’d identity by my body,

That I was I knew was of my body, and what I should be I knew I should be of my body.

…

9

Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide!

Frolic on, crested and scallop-edg’d waves!

Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! drench with your splendor me, or the men and women generations after me!

Cross from shore to shore, countless crowds of passengers!

Stand up, tall masts of Mannahatta! stand up, beautiful hills of Brooklyn!

Throb, baffled and curious brain! throw out questions and answers!

Suspend here and everywhere, eternal float of solution!

Gaze, loving and thirsting eyes, in the house or street or public assembly!

Sound out, voices of young men! loudly and musically call me by my nighest name!

Live, old life! play the part that looks back on the actor or actress!

Play the old role, the role that is great or small according as one makes it!

Consider, you who peruse me, whether I may not in unknown ways be looking upon you;

Be firm, rail over the river, to support those who lean idly, yet haste with the hasting current;

Fly on, sea-birds! fly sideways, or wheel in large circles high in the air;

Receive the summer sky, you water, and faithfully hold it till all downcast eyes have time to take it from you!

Diverge, fine spokes of light, from the shape of my head, or any one’s head, in the sunlit water!

Come on, ships from the lower bay! pass up or down, white-sail’d schooners, sloops, lighters!

Flaunt away, flags of all nations! be duly lower’d at sunset!

Burn high your fires, foundry chimneys! cast black shadows at nightfall! cast red and yellow light over the tops of the houses!

Have a great weekend! Try to get out and look at a river and “people watch”. What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us? Not much, I think.

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September 22, 2017

Set me free

by chuckofish

Yesterday I went to the dentist first thing to have a crown replaced which felt like two hours of torture. Then I went to work and got a flu shot. Then I had two meetings in the afternoon and a small event at church after work. Some days, right?

Boy, am I ready for the weekend!

Daughter #1 is coming home later today to celebrate her birthday (belatedly).

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The wee babes will help us party like it’s 1999.

You know, maybe I’ll stay up ’til 10 o’clock and have a second glass of wine.

Meanwhile, the boy,

who is a cancer survivor, is riding in Pedal for the Cause, which raises money to provide funding for cancer research at Siteman Cancer Center and Siteman Kids at St. Louis Children’s Hospital through their annual cycling challenge.

Yes, it will be a busy weekend and a hot one.

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But it’s all good. Have a great day and a fun weekend!

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September 5, 2017

Burning down the house

by chuckofish

I spent my long weekend strolling through furniture stores and trying out sofas with daughter #1.

We didn’t buy anything, but we took notes. We also strolled through several antique malls. I bought a book.

I have been reading it and it is pretty darn good.

We went to a couple of happy hours and sat outside and on a roof deck, because the weather was beautiful. The wee babes came over with the boy and daughter #3 and we had a dance party where we introduced them (the wee babes) to the Talking Heads.

A whole lot of drooling going on…

We barbequed, of course, and the bud learned some table manners.

Little Lottiebelle impressed us with her mad skills.

All in all, it was a fabulous long weekend at the end of which I caught up with daughter #2 in a 2-hour marathon phone convo.

Back to the salt mines and a slower pace. Have a good Monday!

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September 1, 2017

A tisket, a tasket

by chuckofish

Daughter #1 is coming home for the long weekend, and for a moment last night I thought, “Oh, another trip to the airport!” And then I thought, “No! She’s driving home!” Yippee!

Earlier in the week daughter #2 got the online file of the pictures of her wedding from her photographer. She is plowing through them. What a job! It all seems like a long time ago, you know?

Screen Shot 2017-08-31 at 9.09.01 AM.png The wee babes were so much smaller!

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Two months later, little Lottiebelle seems so grown up!

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But will her daddy ever catch up on his sleep? Maybe he’ll get a chance this weekend! Of course, he’ll be chasing this little guy around…

In other news, today the Episcopal church remembers David Pendleton Oakerhater (also known as O-kuh-ha-tuh and Making Medicine), who was a Deacon and Missionary, on their calendar of lesser feasts and fasts. Oakerhater was an honored Cheyenne warrior who fought in the Indian Wars of the late nineteenth century.

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While a prisoner of war in St. Augustine, Florida, he was converted to Christ. After being released, he was baptized, taking the name David Pendleton in honor of his sponsors Sen. and Mrs. George Pendleton, and studied for holy orders in the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York.

(Side note: Senator Pendleton was the one who pushed a bill through Congress to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.) In 1881 Oakerhater was ordained deacon and returned to his tribe in the Indian Territory, accompanied by his mentor, the Rev. John Wicks. Oakerhater addressed his former comrades-in-arms, “…You remember when I led you out to war I went first and what I told you was true. Now, I have been away to the East and I have learned about another captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is my Leader. He goes first, and all He tells me is true. I come back to my people to tell you to go with me now on this new road, into a war that makes peace…”

Wicks retired in 1884 because of ill health, but Oakerhater continued, winning hundreds to Christ. His people called him “God”s Warrior” and “Peace Chief.” He established the Whirlwind School near Fay, Oklahoma, a landmark in the education of the Cheyenne. For nearly half a century David Pendleton Oakerhater was a tower of strength and a symbol of the new faith to his Native American brethren. He died in 1931.

O God of unsearchable wisdom and mercy, you chose a captive warrior, David Oakerhater, to be your servant, and sent him to be a missionary to his own people, and to execute the office of deacon among them: Liberate us, who commemorate him today, from bondage to self, and empower us for service to you and to the neighbors you have given us; through Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

You can read portions of the BCP in Cheyenne here.

Have a great long weekend!

4 Comments

August 25, 2017

“We meet upon the level and we part upon the square”*

by chuckofish

Friday at last! Huzzah!

As today is the birthday of one of our favorite Scotsmen–Sean Connery,

who is turning 87!–I think it is appropriate to watch (at least) one of his movies. I suggest The Man Who Would Be King (1975) TheManWhoWouldBeKing or Time Bandits (1981)or The Wind and the Lion (1975)

You could also watch the early Bond movies or The Hunt for Red October (1991) or others, but don’t watch The Untouchables (1987) which, coincidentally, I watched the other night. Sean Connery won his only Oscar for this movie, but it is really pretty bad. It boasts a handsome young Kevin Costner, but every time Kevin opens his mouth, I cringed. He may look a little like Gary Cooper, but he doesn’t sound like him! What a terrible voice. Anyway, even Robert de Niro as Al Capone can’t save this movie, which is just a lot of mobster violence and bad music.

On another note, the wee babes visited their dad at his store the other day while their Nonnie (other grandmother) had to be somewhere else.

They had fun in the stock room and were, of course, precious.

A few days later they were sitting up by themselves!

Brilliant!

I hope your weekend is brilliant too.

*Peachy Carnahan in The Man Who Would be King.

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August 18, 2017

A little Friday vent

by chuckofish

Is it Friday already?

Tonight the OM and I are loading up a rented truck with more stuff for daughter #1 and then driving it to Columbia tomorrow. Luckily the Mizzou freshmen moved in earlier in the week, so we are hoping we won’t run into too much traffic. When I checked to find out if this was the case (student arrival date) I found this:

Check out that Electronics section. I must say times have changed since I moved into my college dorm back during the Punic Wars.

I flew to Smith College from flyover country, so all I had were two duffel bags filled with clothes. I think I brought a clock

and maybe one of these–

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(I never used it.) I didn’t even have a typewriter* when I was in college. My roommate and I shared a landline phone with other girls on our floor. There was a broken television set in the living room of our house. I didn’t watch tv for four years!

When my mother was a student at Middlebury College in Vermont back in the 1940s, she took the train. She sent her laundry home in a laundry bag on the train (in the mail?) for her mother to do back home in Worcester, Mass. And her mother sent her laundry back. She probably didn’t have a clock.

Ten years ago when my children were in college, times had changed, and I have no doubt my kids got tired of hearing about it. They had personal computers. However, daughter #1 is quick to remind me that she didn’t have a cell phone until she was a sophomore in college. Deprived, she was, deprived.

But really. Why do people go to college? To watch DVDs? Play computer games? In my day, we read books and studied! We spent a lot of time in the library.

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On the weekend we might go to a party, but during the week we studied. That was just the way it was.

Well, I didn’t mean to rant, and I know I sound like an old lady, but a little deprivation might do some college students a lot of good. You know what I mean?

Anyway, I hope I will get to see the wee babes this weekend. I can tell from pictures that they are getting bigger and growing hair since I last saw them a week ago!

I wonder what college will be like in 2035? Maybe the twins won’t go to college. They’ll just be cowboys and ride the range…

Have a good weekend!

*A typewriter=one of these:

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July 20, 2017

“I tramp a perpetual journey.”*

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2017-07-19 at 1.51.34 PM.png The OM and I are heading off to NYC tomorrow to visit daughter #1 and then attend a wedding on Saturday on Long Island. I am looking forward to taking one more walk through Central Park.

Screen Shot 2017-07-19 at 1.24.07 PM.png A month from now daughter #1 will be back in the Show Me state and a hop, skip and a jump down the road in Columbia.

We can’t wait, can we?

*Walt Whitman

3 Comments

May 15, 2017

A bushel and a peck

by chuckofish

Just a sample of all the goodness that was my weekend. The daughters (and Nate) head home tonight, so I’ll have time for a longer post tomorrow…In the meantime, enjoy your Monday!

2 Comments

April 24, 2017

“Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”*

by chuckofish

The weather was pretty great this weekend–especially on Sunday–so I did a lot of yard work. Daughter #1 gave me a nifty kneeler/garden seat so I wanted to try it out and it was great–my aging back thanks her!

I also took a lot of breaks on the patio (my allergies were acting up) and watched the birds who were all very busy. I was definitely cramping the style of a Cardinal couple who seemed to be nest building in this bush.

Ah, the wonders of nature–you don’t have to look far–they’re right in your own backyard!

The wee babes came over for my birthday on Friday night and I got a lot of baby time, especially with the wee bud who was wearing tiny overalls.The OM got Lottie and she passed out. (Was it his thermo-nuclear death breath?)

And I got presents too!

One such present was Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) which my dual personality gave me. It is a film from New Zealand,

…and we enjoyed it very much when we watched it Saturday night. So if you are looking for something different (and PG rated), this is the film for you! It is funny and charming and shot entirely in beautiful New Zealand.

I also got a start on putting together the wedding invitations for daughter #2’s upcoming nuptials. (Hat tip to daughter #1 who called the Service Bureau to double check the correct order of rsvp card/direction card/reply envelope/invitation!)