dual personalities

Tag: birthdays

December 18, 2024

For there is no friend like a sister*

by chuckofish

Today we toast my darling sister on her birthday. We have been together through thick and thin. Now we are both old retired ladies, trying to stay healthy and keep out of trouble.

I enjoy watching Katie and Ida as they navigate the rocky road of sisterhood. (And watching them watching Betty and Judy singing about “Sisters”!)

I pray that they will stay as devoted to each other as my sister and I, and though the miles may divide them, they will stay in close touch.

*“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.”

(“Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti; read the poem here.)

And I thought this post by Ann, wherein she links to another post on X, is excellent on the subject of keeping the Christmas feast in a wayward and dark world. Read the whole thing.

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September 16, 2024

Then sings my soul

by chuckofish

Busy, busy weekend! I am now a person who takes naps to survive exciting times.

I went to daughter #1’s first DAR chapter meeting as regent on Saturday morning. She handled it like a pro as I knew she would. (I have transferred to her chapter.)

Of course, I didn’t take a picture of the meeting after it started…c’est la vie. We had breakfast and then the meeting, followed by the program, which she presented: DAR 101. I learned a lot.

I was interested to learn that one early member of our chapter was Dr. Mary Walker, who served as a surgeon during the Civil War. Assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and later the 52nd Ohio Infantry, she was the first female surgeon in the US Army. She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. She was then sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, VA until released in a prisoner exchange. She is the only female to receive the Medal of Honor.

Pretty awesome. She tried to join the DAR in NYC, but they wouldn’t let her in because she wore pants. Yay, Cornelia Greene Chapter for being more open-minded.

Daughter #2 and DN arrived with the prairie girls around dinner time and we had toasted ravioli and daughter #1 opened some presents.

It was a full day.

On Sunday we got up bright and early and went to the early service at church and to Sunday School, then headed home and on to our favorite Wild Sun Winery to continue celebrating daughter #1’s birthday in our favorite style. We were joined by several of her friends (ages 3-96) as well as the boy and his family. A good time was had by all and the rain held off til it was time to go home.

Everyone conked out on the drive home…

Good times.

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September 12, 2024

“You make known to me the path of life”*

by chuckofish

We had quite a sunrise yesterday, due, they say, to the wildfires out west. (Photo from Fox2)

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning, and all that. But the sun shone all day and it warmed up considerably.

Daughter #1 took the day off for her birthday and we went to the Art Museum where we had not been for quite some time–probably since before Covid, as with so many things. It was fun to walk around without it being very crowded and look at all the good and bad art. When I was growing up we lived five minutes away and we went frequently with our Mother. It was free and we would sometimes go for an hour or so after church. We had our favorites to check out. That is still the way I like to go to the art museum–just to wander through and not look at every single painting, reading each description card. So we did that and then we sat outside at Taco Buddha back in daughter #1’s neighborhood and ate lunch. Lovely.

When I got home I worked a little on my article about Gratz Brown, the governor of Missouri after the Civil War. Here’s a fun fact: His granddaughter was Margaret Wise Brown who wrote Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny! Talk about your small world! File that one away in your Trivia File.

I also toasted all those brave Americans who died on September 11, 2001. In past years I have included this video about a fine young man who died in one of the towers helping others and I encourage you to watch it again. He was a lacrosse player and his initials were WRC. It wrecks me every time. Lest we forget.

*Psalm 16:11

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September 11, 2024

“Teach me, Lord, to number my days that I may get a heart of wisdom”*

by chuckofish

Today we celebrate the birthday of our firstborn, lovely daughter #1!

We will toast her today and through the weekend! What a blessing our adult children are to us!

Happy birthday, precious cupcake of love!

I will say that nothing makes a person realize how life speeds by more than one’s own children reaching their own age milestones. In this vein, I enjoyed this reminder that life is too brief to waste. “[A] heart of wisdom recognizes that while each day of mortal life is very brief, it is profoundly significant because its minutes and hours are priceless. Each brief day of mortal life counts, not just for an earthly life well-lived, but for eternity.”

And for all of us who stress about the current state of the world, let us take heart and read Psalm 2:

Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
    for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

* Psalm 90:12

5 Comments
August 6, 2024

One equal temper of heroic hearts

by chuckofish

Today we toast the great English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, born on this day in 1809. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria’s reign. A number of phrases from Tennyson’s work have become commonplace in the English language, including “Nature, red in tooth and claw” (which I use all the time), “‘Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all”, “Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die”, “My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure”, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, “Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers”, and “The old order changeth, yielding place to new”. He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

So let’s all read some Tennyson poems today!

(From Ulysses, read the poem here.)

And who can forget this classic?

Speaking of heroic hearts, aIthough I am not watching the Olympics and he is a professional, I was happy to hear that Scottie Scheffler won the Gold for men’s golf, coming from behind in a record-tying final round. He cried during the playing of our National Anthem.

“I would say first and foremost I’m proud of the country I’m from. I’m proud to be American. I got emotional the other night watching the gold medal ceremony for the women’s gymnastics. I take tremendous pride in coming over here and representing my country,” he said after his round.

Thank you, Scottie.

FYI it is also the birthday of Lucille Ball, Robert Mitchum, Ella Raines, and M. Night Shyamalan. So watch an old movie! And, as always, look out for bears!

4 Comments
June 3, 2024

Postcards from the Land o’ Lincoln

by chuckofish

Well, the whole family converged on Champaign County to celebrate sweet Katie’s 4th birthday. It was quite a gala event. It would have been nice if it hadn’t rained all day on Saturday, but we count it all joy and DN managed to grill!

The birthday girl was delighted with her presents and with her cousins who are more fun than a veritable barrel of monkeys.

We will all, no doubt, need a few days to recover.

We gave Katie the Little Tikes Cape Cottage Playhouse and she was quite taken with it. It will move outside but the kids were entertained in it for hours on a rainy Saturday afternoon after DN was kind enough to put it together. (And he did it without swearing once!)

Lottie drew a picture of the girls excluding the bud from the house–girls only! (Some things never change, do they?)

That didn’t last long.

We took very few pictures of any grown ups but we were all there. Quite a treat!

God bless America!

4 Comments
May 24, 2024

“Ain’t gonna go to hell for anybody”*

by chuckofish

Happy birthday, Bob Dylan! He turns 83 today. We love you and God loves you.

It is time to plan a visit to the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, OK…however, I guess I’ll wait until the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, which is still closed for construction, reopens. Then it will be Tulsa Time!

In case you need reminding, Sunday is John Wayne’s birthday. He would be 117. If you are in Fort Worth, be sure to sign up for…

I will be home streaming my own John Wayne film festival.

Nobody slams a door like John Wayne.

How will you be celebrating?

P.S. Saturday is the birthday of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I disagree with him about quite a few things, but I agree with this:

Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

–RWE, Collected Poems

Now there’s three aces!

*Bob Dylan

But I ain’t gonna go to hell for anybody
I ain’t gonna go to hell for anybody
I ain’t gonna go to hell for anybody
Not today, not tonight, not tomorrow, no never, no way!

3 Comments
May 14, 2024

I see the turning of the page

by chuckofish

Welcome to flyover land: cicadas on gone-by Iris. Yuck-o. When you walk outside the cicada din is like something out of a SciFi movie. And we haven’t even reached our peek. I was going to take a picture of our front porch, but it is too gross. Use your imagination. (Here’s a photo from Fox2.)

The Iris were insane this year, but I have to say, I like the plainer ones. Some of them verge on the vulgar:

They are the dancehall girls of flowers.

I am not ungrateful–for weeks we have all been enjoying a really beautiful spring where the grass is green and lush and the flowering trees lovely and fragrant. But there are downsides to May. Cicadas, flash flooding and tornadoes to name a few. But we count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds.

Indeed, we soldier on and enjoy the the upsides of May. It is a great month for birthdays! No one in my family has a May birthday, but lots of my favorite people do, including the Big Four: Bob Dylan (May 24), Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25), John Wayne (May 26), and Walt Whitman (May 31).

There are also these guys: Gary Cooper (May 7), Henry Fonda (May 16), James Stewart (May 20), Laurence Olivier (May 22), and Clint Eastwood (May 22).

So many reasons to throw a party! So plan accordingly.

After you’ve deadheaded all those iris blooms, take a break and watch an old movie, listen to an old song or read an old poem…

I love apocalyptic Bob.

4 Comments
April 23, 2024

Meditate on these things

by chuckofish

I received some good books for my birthday–I mean does my family know me or what?

I got some other nice things as well, including archival boxes to aid me in my quest to be organized. However, the twins quickly became bored with my presents as I opened my pile of goodies and returned to playing with Mr. Smith. But I will have no excuse for being bored for some time.

Just a reminder that yesterday was the 62nd Anniversary of the release of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). ​​​​​​​​​

In its review, The New York Times heralded Duke as a paragon of the Western genre, writing, “Mr. Wayne again proves, if it is necessary at this late date, that he can sit a horse well, shoot from the hip and throw a haymaker with the best of them.” Well, he could do a lot more than that and he did in this great film, which is a lot more than your everyday, run-of-the-mill western. But you know that. Anyway, if you are looking for something good to watch, I suggest Liberty Valance.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

–Philippians 4:8-9

4 Comments
April 19, 2024

Newer every day*

by chuckofish

TGIF. It has been a stressful week for this old retired lady. I have had a lot to do, on top of our ongoing street renovation stress.

So I am going to channel Katie’s vibe this weekend and chill as much as possible.

However, we do have a birthday to celebrate (mine) amidst other distractions.

I had my last bible study meeting of the “semester” yesterday–we finished part one (chapters 1-13) of Matthew. I really enjoy this group of old and young ladies who take their prayer work seriously and study very hard. We had a nice potluck salad lunch afterwards. Indeed, I feel very blessed to be in this group. I am grateful that God has been so patient with me over the years and that he has put me in this good place.

This is a wonderful story from the book God’s Smuggler about Christians communicating. I have heard of this book, but have not read it. I will soon.

And did you see that an elephant escaped from a circus in Butte, Montana this week and ran through town? The trainer managed to get her under control and there was no need for law enforcement intervention. I guess people in Montana take such things in stride.

So happy birthday to me and here’s to another trip around the sun!

*Emily Dickinson, “We turn not older with years, but newer every day.” (from a letter to a cousin, 1874

4 Comments