Episcopal Church | dual personalities

Tout va bien

by chuckofish

So look at this:J. Crew put my mantra on a t-shirt. Once again I am hipper than I supposed.

And guess what? It’s Friday!

I am, as usual, looking forward to my weekend. I have no glamorous plans beyond finishing this book

which is not bad–Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling, knows her characters and the dialogue is quite good. The action moves right along. A couple of people at work recommended it and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

I will also continue to scrape wallpaper glue off the walls of an upstairs bathroom.

Don’t worry–I won’t be home all weekend. I plan to go to an Evensong service where the boy’s childhood friend (and Best Man) is preaching. The RSCM (Royal School of Church Music) choir camp will perform. All my children attended this camp at some point, the boy for the longest duration. He even went to one in North Carolina. Anyway, that should be fun, if not super-fun.

The weather the last few days has been unbelievably beautiful–cool and not humid–and so unusual for this neck of the woods in July. I am extremely grateful. It is the kind of weather that makes you glad to be alive.

Take a deep breath and say, “Smell the pine in your nostrils!”

Okay I’ll explain. My best friend in the third grade Nancy went on a family vacation out west and she wrote me riotously funny letters. In one she described how her mother was continually saying, “Smell the pine in your nostrils!” Somehow this vivid picture stayed with me through the years and I used to say it to my children when they were growing up. We would giggle. Perhaps they will say it to their children.

Anyway, tout va bien! Have a great weekend.

8 Comments

July 21, 2014

We are climbing Jacob’s Ladder

by chuckofish

Lovebirds circa 1988

Since my dual personality already posted about her silver anniversary and the wonderful wedding in England that started it all, I will refrain from doing so. My pictures from the big event are pretty much the same.

I will limit myself to this one of daughter #1 (almost 5) and the boy (2 1/2).

The boy, as previously noted, was coming down with chicken pox, but he was enough on the ball to be quite taken with the wedding. It was in the fall, after all, that he came home one day from pre-school and announced that he “had decided.” “Decided what?” I gamely asked. “I’ve decided to marry Lauren B.”

And, reader, he did. Just about twenty-three years later, he did–and in July as well!

I don’t think he would have been contemplating wedlock if he had not attended this great wedding in England. You just never know what your younguns are thinking.

What a bud.

Anyway, how was your weekend? I estate-saled, ran errands, tore wallpaper off the walls of an upstairs bathroom (you gotta have a project), attended church, and planted a rose bush.

As I noted on Friday, I planned to watch Road to Perdition, but I could not find my copy! Can you believe it? Curses again. Instead I watched The Naked Jungle (1954) with Charlton Heston, Eleanor Parker and William Conrad with a really bad French (?) accent.

You remember–it’s the one about the plantation in South America that is in the path of a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants! It was clearly shot on a soundstage, but it is better than it sounds. Charlton is always worth watching.

On Saturday night I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

I am not a fan of Wes Anderson–he is highly over-rated, if you ask me–so my expectations were low. I enjoyed it, however, mostly because I am a minor fan of Ralph Fiennes. He is wonderful (who knew he could be funny?) and elevates the material. There are the usual cameo appearances by Wes’s hipster friends (Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Ed Norton, Bob Balaban, etc.) and inappropriate (and an inordinate) use of the F-word, but it is worth watching for Ralph and his sidekick played by the very funny teenager Tony Revolori.

I was a reader once again at church (substituting for vacationing lay readers) and I read the story of Jacob’s dream of the angels ascending and descending the ladder (Genesis 28:10-19a). I also read Romans 8:12-25, which includes “you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear” and also “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.” Good stuff.

Here is a terrific rendition of the old negro spiritual “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder” sung by a Dutch men’s chorus. (I love that they pronounce Jacob as “Yacob.”) We don’t hear this one much anymore–probably because of the refrain: “Soldiers of the cross.” Listen to the whole thing–it’ll rev your engines to start the week off right!

If you love Him, why not serve Him?

(Here are all the words.)

10 Comments

July 16, 2014

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

Once again I found myself casting about for something to read over the weekend. I picked Susan Cheever’s memoir of her father John Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) from the bookshelf. I received it as a Christmas present in 1984.

So I have been reading Home Before Dark again and enjoying it very much. Old John Cheever, the “influential twentieth century fiction writer affectionately known as ‘the Chekhov of the suburbs,'” is such a familiar type of dude to me–the waspy, literate Yankee gentleman who is also a terrible alcoholic.

I mean look at him in his shetland sweater. He was even a practicing Episcopalian who said grace before every meal! So familiar. Like my own pater, he made to age 70, but just barely.

It’s true that this “brilliant chronicler of American suburbia” led a tortured double life filled with sexual guilt, self-loathing and immense quantities of booze. Unfortunately his bad behavior went way beyond drinking too much. But I really think Susan Cheever could have stopped after writing her first memoir. Did she need to write another? Cheever’s son Ben has edited a collection of his letters. And they sold his journals in an auction. He has been turned inside out. Does anyone deserve this?

Anyway, I bought a used copy of The Stories of John Cheever and I will re-acquaint myself with his writing, which is what we should remember old Cheever for, right? I will resist reading Blake Baily’s 700-page Cheever: A Life which chronicles every sordid detail and secret of his life. Enough already.

An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless he sees the bright plumage of the bird called courage–Cardinalis virginius, in this case–and oh how his heart leapt.

–John Cheever, Oh What a Paradise it Seems

3 Comments

July 14, 2014

“To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”*

by chuckofish

I had a busy week that flew by and then a quiet weekend filled with my usual musings and meanderings.

I read the second lesson on Sunday–one of Paul’s attempts at logically explaining the unexplainable in Romans 8. How I do love him. The associate rector praised my reading as I left the sanctuary after the service and when I demurred, he clasped my hand and said, “Oh, no, no. You are a superstar! When you read you give the words meaning…” I blush to remember. But I must say I was pleased. No one else calls me a superstar!

On the way out I caught up with a man who I have been trying to get in touch with and asked him if he would take part in a course we are offering this fall at our flyover institute. He is the former head of a global architectural firm based in our flyover city. He said yes. I was on a roll!

I decided to go back to an estate sale I had gone to on Saturday to see if a few things were still there. They were not, but I bought three art books for a dollar each. Score.

On the flora and fauna front, my hibiscus, which I planted from seeds (harvested from a friend’s garden) last year, has bloomed!

See the bee hard at work in there?

It really is the little things that make us happy, right? Someone saying “good job!” or someone saying “Yes!” or a flower blooming.

I hope this week is full of more positive reinforcement. We musn’t forget to hand out those positive vibes when we are in a position to do so. Say “Yes!” at least once this week.

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”

–Walt Whitman

10 Comments

June 30, 2014

And that’s my opinion from the blue, blue sky

by chuckofish

At church last week we were exhorted to “Bring your smartphones, tablets, laptops, cameras… any electronic communications device…” to church yesterday as we joined a nationwide effort to “make the Good News go viral.”

O gee. No thanks. Call me old-fashioned, but I wanted no part of this:

Use your smartphone, tablet or other electronic devices to share comments, prayers or pictures on your favorite social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
Use #Episcopal and #GraceKirkwood.
Text questions or comments to Fr. Todd during the service.
Post a selfie with people around you during the time of the Peace, in the Narthex, during coffee hour, etc.
(please ask permission before taking anyone’s picture).
Use #Episcopal and #GraceKirkwood.
Keep an eye on the monitor next to the pulpit to see what other people are posting (yes, there will be a TV in the sanctuary — just for today!).
Come to our Sunday Forum at 9 a.m. in LaVielle Conference Room (all ages welcome).

I suppose this was supposed to appeal to young people, motivating them to come back to the new hipster Episcopal Church. See, we are with it! We’re still where it’s at, man.

The rector takes a selfie

Passing the peace

Yes, a picture speaks 1000 words. (These were on Facebook.) Now all doubt has been erased concerning whether or not we are all huge nerds at Grace.

Anyway, I stayed home. Because–zut alors!– I think church should be a haven away from cell phones and monitors.

That was what I didn’t do this weekend. As for what I did do–it was the usual: estate sale-ing, house cleaning, yard work, a little shopping, reading, and movie watching. I watched The Magnificent Seven (as I said I would) and Blackthorn, as my dual personality suggested. I am proud to say, I figured out how to turn on the subtitles (on Netflix). Go me.

I also watched Murder My Sweet (1944), which is the best film version of a Raymond Chandler novel (Farewell, My Lovely). Dick Powell is, in my estimation, better than Humphrey Bogart. I know that’s sacrilegious to some, but it’s what I think.

Wasn’t it swell of the boy to drop it by for me? It is a really good movie, full of wonderful Chandler lines like “I caught the blackjack right behind my ear. A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived in. It had no bottom. I felt pretty good – like an amputated leg.”

I also had a big work event on Saturday which went very well. Now I have two work days and then the OM and I are heading up to Michigan to celebrate the 4th of July and my brother’s birthday with my siblings and their better halves. Go team.

8 Comments

June 23, 2014

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee*

by chuckofish

I was a reader this Sunday and the first lesson was a great one from Jeremiah.

O LORD, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering “Terror all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” All my close friends are watching for me to stumble.”Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take revenge on him.” But the LORD is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail…Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he delivered the life of the needy from the hands of the evildoers. (Jeremiah 20:7-13)

Anyone who thinks the scripture does not speak to us today, think again. At least, it spoke to me.

The assisting priest who gave the sermon did not, of course, refer to the first lesson or to the second, which I also read, but preached on the Gospel. Jesus tells us “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.” He says, don’t be afraid to take up the cross and follow.

But we are timid aren’t we? Especially in our current culture which delights in ridiculing believers. Perhaps I am especially aware of this working at a university. I know it is somewhat easier living in flyover country, but still. I do take heart knowing that old Jeremiah, writing over twenty-five centuries ago, encountered the same troubles.

Anyway, it was good to get up and read those words, even if I was preaching to the choir.

We were at church on Friday night as well–for a fundraiser for the Episcopal City Mission, an old and worthy outreach program to the juveniles in detention in our fair city.

We went for dinner and then wandered outside to see the activities for children, in particular the petting zoo.

Even the OM got into the act.

I went to a couple of good estate sales on Saturday. I bought a great chair which I’m sure will find its way into one of my kid’s homes. For now it is sitting in my “office”.

I went to a house that through some detective work on my part–I am getting really good at figuring out who lives in the houses I visit–I discovered was the former home of an Episcopal priest, and indeed, the late dean of the Episcopal cathedral here in town. Bingo! I got some good books and a framed picture of a holy land landscape.

We had a couple of nice thunder storms. It rained, but that only made it muggier here. It is summer at last in the midwest. Sigh.

How was your weekend?

*Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) hymn #707

5 Comments

June 16, 2014

Kickin’ up dust

by chuckofish

So did anyone watch The Horse Soldiers over the weekend? I did and it was as excellent as I remembered.

I also watched a bad Woody Allen movie and caught up with Longmire, finishing season two. Longmire is the A&E show that takes place in Wyoming (but is mostly filmed in New Mexico) about a 21st century sheriff (named Walt Longmire) in a small town and his deputies and Native American friends and enemies. It is pretty good and I like everyone in it. Season three has just started.

Some of you will remember Bailey Chase (far right) from Buffy, season four. How could you forget him?

On Saturday I went to the annual book sale at the Ethical Society, which I have blogged about before. It is such a good sale! I bought two bags of books! What is wrong with me? One of the volunteers brought me a cart from the kitchen to pull around with me, so I wouldn’t have to carry them around. This was nice, but I could tell he wanted to engage me in a conversation, and I wanted none of that. It is bad enough having to overhear/listen to those Prius-driving ethical humanists while they engage in conversation with themselves. Oy.

Just a sample of my $23 purchase–but you can never have too many copies of Leaves of Grass, right?

I also went to a used bookstore where I cashed in a gift certificate a friend gave me for my birthday. I had never been to this store and I have to admit that it always looked vaguely sinister to me from the outside–but I was wrong. They had a lot of good books for sale besides science fiction. And the proprietor did not look (too much) like this guy:

I will definitely go back! You really can’t judge a book (store) by its cover! Haha.

On Sunday I was back at church for Trinity Sunday. The Old Testament lesson was the creation story from the Book of Genesis–the whole story–Genesis 1:1-2:4–which is a long reading, but, boy, is it good. Luckily it was Shirley from the Lay Reader A-Team who read it. High fives all around. If you were not in church on Sunday, I suggest you go read it on your own. Brilliant.

Hope you fathers had a nice day. The OM took several naps.

In honor of Father’s Day, here is a picture from an article in the old Globe Democrat circa 1965 of our pater doing what he loved best–playing war games in our dining room back in the day.

and surveying his vast collection of painted soldiers.

Good times. You can see that the collecting gene prevails in the family. Have a good week!

9 Comments

June 9, 2014

So bye, bye, Miss American Pie

by chuckofish

[At Pentecost Peter] intendeth to prove…that the Church can be repaired by no other means, saving only by the giving of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, forasmuch as they did all hope that the restoring drew near, he accuseth them of sluggishness, because they do not once think upon the way and means thereof. And when the prophet saith, “I will pour out,” it is, without all question, that he meant by this word to note the great abundance of the Spirit….when God will briefly promise salvation to his people, he affirmeth that he will give them his Spirit. Hereupon it followeth that we can obtain no good things until we have the Spirit given us.

–John Calvin, Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles

Sunday was Pentecost, but I stayed home and got busy cleaning. It is how I deal with the feeling that comes over me when one of my children leaves again.

Daughter #2 left for Chicago on Saturday and is there now. Then in a few days she will head back to Maryland for the summer. She has a long drive ahead but she is in good company, so it will be fun.

Aforementioned Good Company

Meanwhile I keep busy dusting, vacuuming etc. It works for me. Onward and upward.

I also worked in the yard.

FYI: the pumpkin plants appear to be thriving, although only time will tell.

Also I have lots of good books to read

and good movies to watch, such as this one, which I watched Sunday night.

This guy always cheers me up.

And now I am back at work with lots of catching up to do! Have a good week!

4 Comments

May 19, 2014

“Things happen and we do our best to keep in the saddle.”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was relatively quiet and low-key. No socializing, no trips downtown, no eating out. Just a lot of puttering about in the house and garden. The weather was lovely–cool and sunny.

The OM and I attempted to go to the boy’s play-off game, but we went to the wrong school. We drove around the Priory campus wondering where everyone was. It never occurred to our befuddled minds that it was, indeed, a HOME game. We surrendered and went home. C’est la vie.

I contemplated staying in bed and reading on Sunday morning, but I went to church because I remembered that I had given the altar flowers in memory of my parents and my friend Irene. They were very nice.

The church does not list, thank you…but I guess I do.

One of the readers was a scion of what we used to call a “socially-prominent” flyover family–does anyone say that anymore?–who makes a practice of wearing old baggy blue jeans to church. Furthermore, he looks like he has been wearing the same pair all week while driving his tractor around the south forty. I suppose we should be happy he tucks his shirt in. He has the flowing locks and facial hair of someone who would have fit right in with Bedford Forrest at Shiloh. I don’t know why this always bothers me, but it does. I mean, c’mon.

Besides the regular sermon, there was a children’s sermon given by our choir director to a group of younguns who scampered up to the chancel to sit on the floor and listen attentively. At the end he led them in song and they were adorable and quite amusing. They cheered me up. There is one little girl who can answer every question posed and belts out every hymn like a mini Martha Raye. If this child doesn’t grow up to be something special, I’ll eat my hat.

In the afternoon I read outside–a most unusual and lovely pastime.

In conclusion I should note that seventy-nine years ago, at the age of 46, T.E. Lawrence, better known as “Lawrence of Arabia”, was fatally injured in an accident on his motorcycle in Dorset. Six days later (on May 19) he died.

Lawrence on his Brough Superior SS100

He was buried in Dorset. There is a memorial in the very old Anglo-Saxon Church of St. Martin

and a memorial bust in the crypt of St.Paul’s Cathedral.

I will leave it to my dual personality, who has read a lot more than I about T.E. and has visited his resting place, to write about him sometime, but I thought we should take note of his passing.

He was a gallant soldier and a Christian gentleman and more than worthy of a toast to that effect tonight.

*T.E.L. I had this quote on my senior page. It could be my mantra.

3 Comments

May 12, 2014

“There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas.”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was a busy one.

We went downtown. The sky threatened, but nothing much happened.

The Shocktop–mobile was down on Clark Street with a beer tap in the trunk and lots of girls in hotpants throwing bar towels up to us on the balcony. (I got one. Thanks.)

You could see into Busch Stadium from our vantage point, but the Cardinals were away Friday night.

Happily my friend in Atlanta sent me this from Wednesday night’s game:

Saturday afternoon I went to cheer on the Hounds in the boy’s lacrosse game to no avail. They lost, but it was a lovely day to sit on folding chairs and enjoy the breeze. The OM ate a hotdog, a hamburger and a brat. I got sunburned in awkward places. Good times.

Coach Compton restrains himself

Sunday I went to church where I substituted for both lectors and got a high-five from Jim, the assisting priest. I also heard that the boy’s best man and best friend (finally) got the green light from the Bishop of New York to become an Episcopal Priest. The number of hoops our denomination makes a person jump through is truly astonishing. Now he will start applying to divinity schools and continue to wait for another year to get the ball rolling. So hats off to Michael and cheers to a fine young man.

And as the weekend drew to a close, we went to the boy’s house where he and daughter #3 prepared a delicious Mother’s Day bar-be-que dinner for us, her parents and her lovely grandmother.

What a great weekend!

*Well, there ain’t, but there is a country song: “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”…

There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas
Creation’s most unique and precious pearls
And heaven help us always to remember
That the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

7 Comments

dual personalities

Tag: Episcopal Church

July 25, 2014

Tout va bien

by chuckofish

July 21, 2014

We are climbing Jacob’s Ladder

by chuckofish

July 16, 2014

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

July 14, 2014

“To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”*

by chuckofish

June 23, 2014

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee*

by chuckofish

June 16, 2014

Kickin’ up dust

by chuckofish

June 9, 2014

So bye, bye, Miss American Pie

by chuckofish

May 19, 2014

“Things happen and we do our best to keep in the saddle.”*

by chuckofish

May 12, 2014

“There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas.”*

by chuckofish