Today is my sister/dual personality’s birthday! We wish her many happy returns of the day!
It was interesting spending 10 days with my prairie granddaughters and watching the interplay between them. Like my sister and me, they are about two and half years apart. It made me a little sad seeing how the older sometimes treats/manipulates the younger, knowing that I’m pretty sure I did the same thing. The younger is so sweet and is always trying to please her sister and mimic her. It is no surprise that she sometimes gets very frustrated. Well, siblings are one of our greatest blessings, but they also teach us the ways of the sin-sick world. We learn to cope. My older brother said plenty of mean things to me and it helped me develop a thick skin. Our siblings keep our pride in check.
I’m grateful my sister and I grew up to be close. I wish we could celebrate together! But I will be with her in spirit. And the spirit is always:
Well, Baby Wes is finally here! 9 lb 3 oz, 22.5 inches long at around 8:45 pm yesterday. (The twins may be a little disappointed that they won’t get to share a birthday…BTW Happy 9th Birthday, WRC and Lottie!) We are all very happy and relieved. Precious daughter #2 is okay too!
Let me just say, however, that I am about crafted out. I have made so many Santas and elves and gingerbread men and reindeer, not to mention reindeer headbands, that I am becoming cross-eyed. But all in a good cause.
Filling time, we also watched Little Miss Broadway (1938) starring Shirley Temple and George Murphy and a cast of stellar supporting character actors…
…and also Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)–they watched the whole thing!
We enjoyed both movies and I recommend them for younger viewers!
The girls and I are going to the hospital this morning to see Mommy and the new baby. Thanks be to God.
God our Father, maker of all that is living, we praise you for the wonder and joy of creation. We thank you for the life of this child, for a safe delivery, and for the privilege of parenthood. Accept our thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Well, I certainly underestimated the weather gurus and their forecasts of snow on Saturday. We got 5 inches more or less and I was stuck at home. I’m not complaining–I like a snowy day in my cozy home. Luckily daughter #1 helped me on Friday to bring up my Christmas ornaments from the basement. She also helped me put together my new King of Christmas artificial tree. It popped right into place and since the tree is equipped with all the latest technology, the lights automatically connect through the pole, easy peasy. I love a real tree, but in my dotage I feel no guilt about this newest acquisition. The boy had to come over like three times last year to help me, so now I can be reasonably self-sufficient as per my decorating. The tree even came with special gloves to wear for fluffing.
Pre-fluffed…not bad!
Daughter #1 also helped me get the mantel set up…
Friday night I had unwrapped all my tree ornaments, so on Saturday I put them on the tree (post fluffing).
I am pleased.
Since I finished reading Shane, I watched the movie. It is one of those rare examples of a movie that is far better than the book. The book is good, but the movie is great, a classic, the original that everyone copies. The screenplay by A.B. Guthrie is sophisticated and complex, although telling a seemingly simple story; the direction by George Stevens is brilliant. The actors are all at the top of their game, and in the case of Alan Ladd, he was never better. By the climactic fight between Shane and Joe Starrett where the horses are going crazy and Marian is screaming, I was in tears. And then, the build-up to the final shoot-out–wow. You could certainly write a thesis on this movie and the way it builds tension etc. The best scenes are not even in the book. And when I was writing the blogpost about film scenes in the rain–how did I forget Shane?
(There are so many spoilers in this trailer!)
Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent! We started a new sermon series on the first chapters of Luke. We also had a baptism, our pastor’s (adorable) baby son. Our adult ed class was on the beginning of Matthew–led by a seminary professor and excellent. Did I mention that we sang good Advent hymns?
After church we went back to my house where daughters #1 and #3 met us to celebrate the boy’s birthday. I made his favorite meal–tortellini, French bread and salad and we had cake.
Good, good times. An eventful 4-day weekend!
Have a good week! Take some time to pause and reflect, to remember how gracious our God has been, His unexpected provision and answered prayers, and His steady faithfulness woven through every ordinary day.
*Charles Wesley, 1744
Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art; dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.
Today is the boy’s birthday! He was born on the day after Thanksgiving 39 years ago. Since it is Black Friday, he will be working all day on his birthday, but we will celebrate on Sunday. He deserves a party!
I hope your Thanksgiving was a good day. We had a lovely feast at the boy’s house with all the fixins.
And we watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) for, like, the 38th time.
Today we remember and toast the great Phil Hartman, comedian, actor, screenwriter and graphic designer, who was born on this day in 1948. Did you know that before he was a TV personality, he designed album covers–including this favorite from my youth.
He was a voice actor extraordinaire:
as well as a sketch comedy star…
We miss him. SNL and The Simpsons have never been the same without him.
On another sad note, Italian actress Claudia Cardinale died yesterday at age 87. I always loved her, especially in Circus World (1964) and The Professionals (1966).
Her delivery of the line, “Go to hell” in the latter film was classic. She was also great in Fellini’s 8 1/2 (1963), Visconti’s The Leopard (1963), The PinkPanther (1963) and as the woman caught in sin in Jesus of Nazareth (1977).
Riposi in pace, bella.
In other news, I love stuff like this: here’s a list of questions that evolutionists need to be able to answer if they want to remain plausible.
And here’s the story of the “watchmaker who forgave her enemies”: the wonderful Corrie Ten Boom. It’s always a good reminder!
She shares it with Mungo Park (1771-1806), O. Henry (1862-1910), D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), Bear Bryant (1913-1983), Tom Landry (1924-2000), Earl Holliman (1928-2024), Harry Connick Jr. (b. 1967), Ludacris (b. 1977), and a host of other people whose birthdays will never be quite the same since the events in 2001.
Later today we are going to our favorite local hang-out for Happy Hour. And tomorrow we are going to the boy’s house for a bar-b-que. Too bad we can’t have a donut (“wif yots of sprinkles!”) with the Prairie Girls.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (3 John 1:4)
I don’t like to get political on the blog, but I have to say something about the political assassination of Charlie Kirk yesterday at a campus event in Utah, because it really upset me. Here was a young man–31 years old–who was totally committed to civil discourse. He believed in the power of free speech and debate. He would answer any question and talk to everyone.
But he was so successful in his use of the Socratic method that the opposition couldn’t win in a debate with him.
They hated Charlie because he was so effective at what he did. So they murdered him. They’re trying to scare us into not attending events and speaking out. This is biblical level evil.
Pray for his wife and two children. Pray hard for our country. Charlie was a Christian, so we know he is in a better place…
As we have previously noted many times, May is an amazing month for birthdays what with Henry Fonda, James Stewart, John Wayne, Bob Dylan, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman–just to name a few. One could have a party every day!
Tomorrow is Bob Dylan’s 84th birthday. He is still touring and still recording–what a guy. We will be sure to toast him and listen to all our favorites.
And it is already the Memorial Day weekend! We have had to change a lot of plans this spring and this weekend we will be laying low, celebrating and honoring the men and women who gave their lives while serving in the US military in our own way by watching movies, including our favorite war movie, They WereExpendable (1945).
Daughter #2 and famille made it to town in the driving rain on Saturday morning and then it was party central for the rest of the weekend. What fun! We didn’t get to do any driveway sittin’ or drive the miniature raptor, but the good times still rolled. We celebrated our birthdays…
We had lots of primo cousin time…The twins set a good example in church on Sunday and the prairie girls did great.
We went to the boy’s new house after church and had a fabulous time plus a gourmet lunch served up by daughter #3.
Is that a chocolate Westie?!!
An indoor Easter egg hunt was a big hit!
(Katie’s great-grandmother–after whom she is named–made this English smocked dress, which I wore c. 1964.)
It was a super fun weekend and I am super tired! It will take me a few days to recover!
I did watch the second half of Ben Hur on Sunday night–the perfect end to a perfect weekend.
Bonus: The ensemble at church sang this on Good Friday. I cried.
Well, the sun–thankfully–came out yesterday, but it was still quite cold. I had a lot of desk work to do, so I stayed inside mostly, only venturing out to mail a card. (Am I becoming my father?)
Today we celebrate the birthdays of two good writers–Elizabeth Bacon Custer in 1842 and Glendon Swarthout in 1918. Libby Custer was the wife of George Armstrong Custer. Left nearly destitute in the aftermath of her husband’s death, she became an outspoken advocate for his legacy through her popular books and lectures. She is largely responsible for his posthumous fame.
She never remarried and died in 1933, four days short of her 91st birthday.
“As the sun broke through the mist a mirage appeared, which took up about half of the line of cavalry, and thenceforth for a little distance it marched, equally plain to the sight on the earth and in the sky. The future of the heroic band, whose days were even then numbered, seemed to be revealed, and already there seemed a premonition in the supernatural translation as their forms were reflected from the opaque mist of the early dawn.”
–Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer
Like Libby Custer, Glendon Swarthout was born and raised in Michigan. After serving in WWII, he went back to school, earning his PhD in Victorian literature, all the while teaching in college and writing short stories. He was paid $2500 in 1955 for one of these stories, “A Horse for Mrs. Custer”, which was made into a movie starring Randolph Scott, 7th Calvary (1956). The day after he finished his last doctoral examination, he started writing a novel called They Came To Cordura about Gen. Pershing’s 1916 expedition to capture Pancho Villa. The book was quickly sold to Random House and then to Columbia Pictures in 1958, becoming a major motion picture starring Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth.
Gary Cooper and Swarthout during filming
He wrote more best-selling novels, some of which were also made into good movies. As usual, though, the books are better than the movies.
So we’ll toast Libby Custer and Glendon Swarthout tonight and maybe we’ll watch They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with Olivia De Havilland as Mrs. Custer or They Came to Cordura (1956) or The Shootist (1976) starring John Wayne.
And it might be time to dust off Bless the Beasts and the Children and read it!
I will also note that recently our local rag (the Webster-Kirkwood Times) ran a story about the increase in recent coyote sightings in our neck of the woods. You will recall that I saw a coyote in my yard a few weeks ago and noted it. The experts attribute this to the huge cicada emergence last spring, which resulted in plentiful food resources and high survival rates for coyotes and other species. Well, my goodness, you don’t say? What I really want to know is who are the busybodies who report such things and to whom do they report them? I mean, if I saw a bear, I might call the police, but a coyote? That must be Karen, I guess.
Well, here we are in February. Yesterday we broke a record from back in the 1880s–reaching the temperature of 76 degrees! I made my usual Monday trip to the grocery store and swung by the P.O. It is a soggy mess out there, but I am not complaining.
Today we toast the wonderful writer MacKinlay Kantor, who was born on this day in 1904 in Webster City, Iowa. He wrote a lot of short stories for popular and pulp magazines before publishing his first historical novel, Long Remember, in 1934. Kantor was a war correspondent with the British RAF during WWII and also served as a gunner in the U.S. Air Force. After his service he became a screenwriter in Hollywood. His verse novel about three American servicemen returning to civilian life, Glory for Me, was adapted for the screen, becoming the Academy Award-winning film The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Andersonville, based on the notorious Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in Georgia where nearly 13,000 Union soldiers died, in 1955. I would re-read it, but I’m not sure I can handle such total depravity right now.
Anyway, I have been an admirer of Kantor for a long, long time and I recommend his books (and movies made from his books).
At the moment I am reading another historical novel by another American writer who wrote short stories for magazines while working in a hardware store in his hometown of Bloomington, IL. Harold Sinclair also wrote a few well-received novels, but The Horse Soldiers was his only bestseller. I have my father’s old signed copy from 1955 and I am enjoying it. Of course, the movie version starring John Wayne and William Holden is a favorite of mine. Here’s a picture of the author with John Wayne and the director John Ford.
We also toast country singer Clint Black, who was born on this day in 1962. He was born in New Jersey, but grew up in Katy, Texas. We always think of him as the secret twin of George W. Bush.
Quite the resemblance, don’t you think?
Speaking of twinsies, the prairie girls are enjoying the warmer weather too…
dual personalities 