birthdays | dual personalities

On Saturday my girlfriends took me on a belated birthday adventure to the Shaw Nature Reserve in Grey Summit, which is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden. We walked around the Whitmire Wildflower Garden.

As you can see–absolutely beautiful!

From here we ventured to Washington, Missouri to have lunch at the Blue Duck Restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed a lovely lunch and a view of the Missouri River.

To top off the day we stopped at–where else–an antique mall. Just perfect. Thanks, ladies!

Old ladies attempting a selfie. Haha.

Inspired by our adventure, I worked in the yard on Sunday and planted some geraniums in pots. My mother always thought geraniums were a bit bourgeois, and perhaps they are. Nevertheless, I like them. Don’t you? They are so low-maintenance and generous.

I also went to the Annual St. Louis Fine Print, Rare Book & Paper Arts Fair, presented by the Mercantile Library up at UMSL on Friday evening. It was right up my alley. All the exhibitors had great stuff, but nothing that my budget could handle. I bought a few used books at the Mercantile Library table and was quite content.

And on Sunday the OM and I went to Ted Drewe’s. A good weekend. How was your’s?

Have a good Monday!

5 Comments

April 29, 2015

Festina lente

by chuckofish

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –

When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;

Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush

The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?

A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,

Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,

Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

“Spring” by Gerard Manley Hopkins

A friend at work brought this poem to my attention by stopping by my office and quoting, “What is all this juice and all this joy?” He was alluding to the beautiful spring day of course. We have certainly enjoyed an exceptionally beautiful spring with long strings of crisp, clear days in the high 60s. Carpe diem, I say–but I am glued to a desk. Sigh.

Anyway, it is also the birthday today of Sir Thomas Beecham (29 April 1879 – 8 March 1961) who, you will recall, was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras.

From the early 20th century until his death, Beecham was a major influence on the musical life of Britain and, according to the BBC, was Britain’s first international conductor. If you are like me and my dual personality, you were brought up on Sir Thomas Beecham’s recordings. True, some may have considered him low-brow for saying things like, “I would give the whole of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos for Massenet’s Manon, and would think I had vastly profited by the exchange.” But I can’t say I disagree with him.

I remember in particular an LP titled “Beecham Bon-Bons” which included popular favorites by Faure, Delius, Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams and the like.

I wiled away many an hour with Beecham’s music in the background. So a toast to Sir Thomas Beecham! And I think I’ll look him up on eBay and see what I can find.

Beecham’s grave in Surrey

By the way, the painting at the top of the page is by St. Louis artist Frank Nudercher (July 19, 1880 – October 7, 1959)–“Spring Landscape” in the St. Louis Mercantile Library collection. Nudercher is sometimes referred to as the “dean of St. Louis artists.” You can read about him here.

4 Comments

April 17, 2015

This and that

by chuckofish

TGIF. Boy, am I ready for the weekend! I plan to take it easy. How about you?

In the meantime here are a few end-of-the-week odds and ends.

1. I really want this house. I may have to buy my first lottery ticket.

2. The Ford Mustang was introduced to the public on this day (April 17) in 1964. It was named after the WWII P-51 Mustang fighter plane.

What a great car!

3. It is Thornton Wilder’s birthday today. I think I’ll eat some ice cream in his honor, because you know–“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it is on your plate.”

4. It is also William Holden’s birthday.

He was born in O’Fallon, Illinois–just over the river from here–in 1918. So I suggest we watch one of his movies in his honor. When I think about it, I realize that he really is one of my favorites, although I seldom give him credit for being so. He was also one of those men who kind of just got better with age. Unfortunately, he was also a terrible alcoholic and died ignominiously. But you know, he had a younger brother, Robert W. “Bobbie” Beedle, who was a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and was killed in action in 1944–maybe that had something to do with it.

Anyway, there are obviously lots of good William Holden movies to choose from. My favorites are: Born Yesterday (1950), Sabrina (1954), The Horse Soldiers (1959), and Paris When It Sizzles (1964)–but there are lots of other good ones. I’ll leave that up to you.

5. Going to Athens, GA? You won’t want to miss this!

Have a great weekend!

6 Comments

April 14, 2015

Happy birthday, Susiebelle!

by chuckofish

Today is daughter #2’s 25th birthday! Hurrah for a quarter century!

Since all the rest of us were gathered together this past weekend toasting her sister and her running accomplishments, I felt that she might be feeling a little left out.

But I’m sure she found something fun to do.

Even if she’s in the living room doing her ‘homework’, chances are she’s enjoying herself.

“But oh! shipmates! on the starboard hand of every woe, there is a sure delight; and higher the top of that delight, than the bottom of the woe is deep.” (HM, Moby-Dick)

So we’ll be toasting you tonight, belle! (No fancy cocktails like you’ll be drinking, but something–“We’ve got pinot!”) Wish we were all there with you!

3 Comments

March 27, 2015

“There’s nothing tragic about being fifty. Not unless you’re trying to be twenty-five.”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of Gloria Swanson (March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983).

I suggest we watch Sunset Boulevard (1950) in her honor. Gloria was 51 (!) when she made this movie about a has-been silent movie star. You know: “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”

Gloria is pretty great in it. She plays the part of Norma Desmond with great gusto to be sure. She was nominated for an Oscar, but lost out to Judy Holliday in her first movie–quelle ironic. Also nominated that year was Bette Davis–also chewing the scenery as a fading star in All About Eve. It’s funny how that works out sometimes.

Anyway, William Holden, a favorite of mine, is also in the film playing the part of a hack screenwriter who writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity. He was nominated too, along with Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson in supporting parts. Billy Wilder won for story & screenplay, but not for direction. The film won for art direction and for music. It lost the Best Picture prize to All About Eve.

Side note: The Third Man won that year for cinematography but nothing else. This was also the year The Furies–another favorite of mine–was nominated for cinematography. Quite a year for black and white movies! And whoever said they didn’t write good parts for women in mid-century America? All the aforementioned films had dynamite parts for middle-aged actresses.

So a toast to Gloria Swanson, actress and Episcopalian (although a lifelong Lutheran, she is buried at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side.)

Have a great weekend!

* Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard (1950)

6 Comments

January 27, 2015

Bull’s eye

by chuckofish

“When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a vague spot a little to the east of Kansas.

–John Updike

Today is the anniversary of John Updike’s death in 2009. So tonight I shall raise a glass to this acclaimed writer and fellow Episcopalian. How about you?

I went to see John Updike speak at my flyover university back in the nineties. I didn’t work there then, but I walked over from the church where I did work which was (and is) a few blocks away. Graham Chapel was packed and I was sitting pretty far in the back. He was unpretentious and generous. A good guy–I could tell.

2 Comments

January 20, 2015

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening

by chuckofish

Did you enjoy your long MLK weekend?

We celebrated (belatedly) the birthday of daughter #3

and I celebrated (belatedly) the birthday of an old friend with my pals.

The OM and I watched American Sniper

with Bradley Cooper and–this is the last thing I thought I would be saying–he was awesome. He really deserves the Oscar. This movie is really, really good. Clint Eastwood–and I am not a big fan of his directing–knocked one out of the ballpark. I also have to say kudos to Clint, who is eighty-four, for even being able to attempt this at his age. (I know a lot of guys in their eighties and it is hard to imagine any of them making a movie in the desert.)

Put this movie on your “to do” list!

According to Forbes, American Sniper blew past all reasonable predictions and crushed the January record books with a scorching $90.2 million Friday-to-Sunday and an estimated $105 million Friday-to-Monday debut frame. Well, no kidding. This is a movie with an actual (non-comic-book) HERO in it, with a plot, characters, action, tension–the whole nine yards. Of course, people are going to go see it. Duh. Wake up, Hollywood.

In between bouts of reading Middlemarch, I read a Louis L’Amour oater, Ride the Dark Trail, about one of the innumerable Sacketts. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I am also enjoying Middlemarch, which is full of passages like this:

“My mother is like old George the Third,” said the vicar, “she objects to metaphysics.”

“I object to what is wrong, Camden. I say, keep hold of a few plain truths, and make everything square with them. When I was young, Mr. Lydgate, there was never any question about right and wrong. We knew our catechism, and that was enough; we learned our creed and our duty. Every respectable Church person had the same opinions. But now, if you speak out of the Prayer-book itself, you are liable to be contradicted.”

It is a sure sign that I am really getting old, that I identify with the minor, comic characters, I suppose.

Oh, lordy, life is good, right?

7 Comments

January 19, 2015

Happy birthday, Mary, Dolly (and Buffy)

by chuckofish

Readers of this blog may recall that today is the birthday of our dear mother, who was born in 1926, of Dolly Parton, who was born in 1946, and of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who is a fictional character, but whose birthday on January 19th is well-documented.

Therefore it is the occasion of much revelry in this family.

Join us in toasting Mary, Dolly (and Buffy), won’t you? And lest you forget who wrote this song, here’s an appropriate song by Dolly to start your day.

3 Comments

December 18, 2014

Happy birthday, dear dual personality!

by chuckofish

Christmas c. 1985

I chose this photo because I thought my dual personality looks pretty*. But then I noticed how serious she looks. This girl wasn’t always so serious–even though she was a stressed-out graduate student at the time! (If I recall correctly, she wasn’t feeling well this Christmas. Soon, in fact, she would be down with pneumonia!) Maybe she hadn’t gotten what she wanted for her birthday. Or maybe it was that whole birthday/Christmas thing.

Perhaps her older sister was annoying her. Perhaps her darling one-year old niece was screaming in the background. Who knows?

Anyway, today is her birthday and we hope she is celebrating in style and that good food and wine and presents for pretty girls are involved.

Hopefully she is not cooking! As always I wish I could be with her!

“For there is no friend like a sister

In calm or stormy weather;

To cheer one on the tedious way,

To fetch one if one goes astray,

To lift one if one totters down,

To strengthen whilst one stands.”

–Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market

*Note that there is a shadow behind her head that makes her hair look much more bouffant than it actually was!

4 Comments

December 9, 2014

“There’s a certain Slant of light”*

by chuckofish

Today is Emily Dickinson’s birthday!

Emily lived her whole life (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) in Amherst, Massachusetts. She lived in this beautiful house, called by her family “The Homestead”.

She had a room of her own, and for Emily, this seems to have been enough. She also had her family and she did not lack for friends. She may have seemed “eccentric” to some, but plenty of people thought she was pretty cool. If she was mysterious back in her day, she is increasingly misunderstood now.

The Emily Dickinson Home, a National Historic Landmark, is located at 280 Main St. in Amherst, MA. Although I lived in the vicinity during my college years, I never visited the house. I saw it, but never went inside. The property, which is now owned by Amherst College, is a museum and is open to the public for guided tours March through December. It is definitely on my “to do/see” list.

So tonight let’s toast Emily and read a few of her poems. Here’s a good one for a winter afternoon:

There’s a certain Slant of light,

Winter Afternoons –

That oppresses, like the Heft

Of Cathedral Tunes –

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –

We can find no scar,

But internal difference –

Where the Meanings, are –

None may teach it – Any –

‘Tis the seal Despair –

An imperial affliction

Sent us of the Air –

When it comes, the Landscape listens –

Shadows – hold their breath –

When it goes, ’tis like the Distance

On the look of Death –

2 Comments

dual personalities

Tag: birthdays

May 4, 2015

Weekend adventures

by chuckofish

April 29, 2015

Festina lente

by chuckofish

April 17, 2015

This and that

by chuckofish

April 14, 2015

Happy birthday, Susiebelle!

by chuckofish

March 27, 2015

“There’s nothing tragic about being fifty. Not unless you’re trying to be twenty-five.”*

by chuckofish

January 27, 2015

Bull’s eye

by chuckofish

January 20, 2015

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening

by chuckofish

January 19, 2015

Happy birthday, Mary, Dolly (and Buffy)

by chuckofish

December 18, 2014

Happy birthday, dear dual personality!

by chuckofish

December 9, 2014

“There’s a certain Slant of light”*

by chuckofish