dual personalities

Tag: family

June 1, 2026

I said a prayer from the banks of the river

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty quiet and it was off-and-on rainy but c’est la vie. I did make it to my local electronics recycling event where I dropped off an old microwave and a printer. I felt such a sense of accomplishment! I stopped at the grocery store on the way back and made it home before 8:30 a.m.!

Later in the day I took a trip down to Ted Drewes (in the rain) for some frozen custard. Quelle treat! (I deserved it!)

As usual, I went to church with the boy and the twins, who are out of school and fourth graders now. We heard a good sermon on the end of the book of Joshua (Joshua 24: 1-33).

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

There is nothing you can do to save yourself. Only God can do that. So put away the foreign gods, and serve the Lord. Excellent exegesis by our pastor and we sang good hymns including “It Is Well With My Soul”. Adult Sunday School is one big class on prayer in the fellowship hall for the next six weeks. It was so good! It is based on Tim Keller’s book Prayer, which I have and will now re-read. As a recovering Episcopalian, this is all so life-changing. Everything makes me want to cry.

In the afternoon daughter #1 and I went to Lottie’s dance recital which was, as always, very special.

Another highlight of my weekend was daughter #2 sending me a video of 3-year old Ida singing her rendition of Jamie MacDonald’s song “Left It In the River”, while accompanying herself on the xylophone. Here’s Jamie singing Ida’s new favorite song:

Glorify God and enjoy Him forever!

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May 18, 2026

Tune my heart to sing thy grace*

by chuckofish

Good weekend! How about you? I had to recover some from my windy drive back from the prairie in the speedwagon, but I did. I can report that the prairie is greening up nicely. On Saturday, even in the rain, daughter #1 and I ventured to an estate sale and did pretty well, finding something for daughter #2. We had lunch at the Village Bar and then we went to the dollar store and our favorite Presbyterian re-sale shop where we picked up some DVDs for $1.50. Score! Then we wandered around our local antique mall for awhile–always a fun thing to do. The simple pleasures.

That night I watched We Are Marshall (2006), the DVD of which I had bought earlier in the day. It is the true story of the aftermath of the plane crash in 1970 that killed the entire Marshall University football team, the coaching staff and a lot of fans. Matthew McConaughey is excellent as the new coach, as are all the actors, and the directing by McG is impressive. I cried through the whole movie. I love a good sports movie, don’t you? I remember watching it with the OM when it first came out. He played football in high school (All ABC League!) and that was important to him. Some of those relationships impacted his whole life. When he died and the email went out to his classmates, almost the entire subsequent thread was about football.

I really liked it and I recommend it.

I went to church on Sunday, sang some favorite hymns, heard a good sermon on Joshua 13:8-14; 22:1-6,10-34, and saw the assistant Pastor’s new baby, Asa, who is two weeks old. The Kindergartners also received their Bibles–always a highlight. I went to the bud’s last lacrosse game of the season. It was very hot!

Yes, it’s all-of-a-sudden summer in my neck of the woods!

And I guess you have to be pretty old to get this one:

Enjoy your Monday!

*Robert Robinson, 1758

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May 15, 2026

I lift my eyes

by chuckofish

I’m heading home from the prairie today. I had a super fun time with daughter #2 and her sweet family. We didn’t take many pics (and none where I didn’t look 100 years old) so sorry about that.

We hung up some pictures…

(The two Marys) and…

the American poets over Wes’s crib!

And we went to Costco…and picked up Katie at school three times…

I watched music videos on my phone with Ida and we sang along to our faves.

Best days or my worst
If I’m last or if I’m first
Sunshine or rain
The sky might fall but You remain

If the whole world’s in your hands Lord
And mercy’s always new
Then why would I be anxious
When it’s all just the same to you

Just the usual stuff. It was a beautiful week in flyover country.

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May 12, 2026

Morning by morning new mercies I see

by chuckofish

Another beautiful day in flyover land–perfect for running errands, which I did in preparation for hitting the road today. Yes, I am heading again to the prairie! Pray for smooth travels in the speedwagon, good weather and good health to everyone involved!

I also went over to my friend Eleanor’s house yesterday to watch a movie on her bigscreen TV (she has a new, even bigger TV now). We watched Hamnet (2025). I had low expectations for the movie and it was, in reality, much worse than imagined. Dark, unremittingly dreary. Hardly anyone smiles during the entire movie. I knew it would be very earthy–yes, we get to watch Agnes give birth three times in 16th century England where everyone is portrayed as unclean and disheveled. There is lots of screaming and groaning then and then again when her children are older and have bubonic plague. I guess this is what passes for great acting these days. But it is a one-note movie. The pace never changes. It asks the question, did Shakespeare write Hamlet as a way to process his grief over his son Hamnet’s death? The answer would be yes, but the movie never presents Will Shakespeare as a person remotely capable of doing so.

“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel! in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor Woman neither; though by your smiling you seem to say so…” (Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2)

And, of course, there is no spiritual element in the movie. Agnes is basically a pagan woman of the wood. Please.

If I had been watching it at home, I would have turned it off, but, alas, I could not.

In the meantime, I could really relate to this article by a Garden & Gun editor about hints for traveling with your boomer Mom. On a trip to Ireland, the author and her mother even took a side trip to Cong after watching The Quiet Man. If they are “unhinged” then so are we.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

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May 11, 2026

Dwellers all in time and space

by chuckofish

Quelle busy weekend? How about you?

Friday I went out to lunch with some old work friends and then went to Mudd’s Grove to pick up some stuff. I went to Lowe’s and bought some Petunias which I planted in pots. In the late afternoon daughter #1 and I drove out to the boy’s house for a BBQ with the fam. Mmmm, smashburgers! More socializing than I usually do in a whole week!

On Saturday morning I got up and went to our last DAR meeting until the fall. It was also daughter #1’s last meeting as Regent! We also installed new officers–I’m the chapter Chaplain now–and gave out awards to deserving students from Ritenour and Jennings High Schools and to the mayor of Kirkwood. A couple of veterans were also recognized. It was a big morning. Daughter #1 and I headed to our favorite winery afterwards to celebrate.

As I have said before, this is a favorite spring/summer activity: it was lovely to sit in the beautiful sunshine in Hillsboro, MO and listen to live music and drink wine. It was hopping, so we were glad we brought our back-up folding chairs, portable table and picnic blanket. We have learned to be prepared!

On Sunday I went to church with the boy and the twins. The middle-school-aged son of our music director played Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Op. 15: I. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen as the prelude to worship:

It was a treat even the twins appreciated! Our pastor continued his sermon series on Joshua (20-21) and we sang good hymns. I went to a good adult ed class on evangelism. The boy and the twins went home to spend the day with their sweet mother and I went to brunch with daughter #1.

And daughter #2 was feted by her family…

My cup runneth over.

Angels, help us to adore Him,
Ye behold Him face to face;
Sun and moon, bow down before Him;
Dwellers all in time and space,
Praise Him, praise Him, alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace.

    –Henry F. Lyte, 1834

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    May 8, 2026

    Safely through another week

    by chuckofish

    It’s Friday again–can you believe it? I have a busy day ahead of me with multiple things to do. The weekend will be pretty busy as well. Unfortunately it is supposed to rain, but we had a lovely, cool week, so I can’t really complain.

    Don’t forget that Sunday is Mother’s Day! If you are lucky enough to still have a mother, give her a call or take her out to lunch after church. If you don’t, think about your mother and all that you owe her. Even if she wasn’t a paragon of maternal virtue, she gave you life. And remember all those women–sisters, wives, aunts, old ladies who sit in your pew and wonder where you are when you’re not there–who have helped and nurtured and supported you through the years.

    In the meantime here are some good things to read…

    This is a helpful essay about raising children to be “reality respecters”: “If we believe God made the world and our children, we’ll teach them that the only way to be in touch with reality is to look at the world the way God looks at it. As a believing parent, I have a duty to teach my children to question whether their feelings fit the way things are.”

    This is interesting: At the recent World Architecture Festival—an annual international gathering of leading figures where prestigious prizes are awarded—the biggest prize of all was awarded to a church. But what a hideous structure! “It looks like a prison chapel designed by Screwtape to cause all who enter in to abandon hope. I do believe it would make Soviet atheist architects proud. Most of all, here is what a church should look like if Christ never rose from the dead.” It’s almost as ugly as this.

    And here’s a poem by John Newton, “Saturday Evening”.

    Safely through another week,
    God has brought us on our way;
    Let us now a blessing seek,
    On th’ approaching Sabbath-day:
    Day of all the week the best,
    Emblem of eternal rest.

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    May 5, 2026

     Fast and Furious

    by chuckofish

    Today we toast William George Beers (May 5, 1841 – December 26, 1900) who was a Canadian dentist who founded Canada’s first dental journal and served as the founding dean of the Dental College of the Province of Quebec. In addition, he is referred to as the “father of modern lacrosse” for his work establishing the first set of playing rules for the game.

    In 1860, Beers began to codify the first written rules of the modern game. Prior to this, all rules of the game needed to be decided prior to each game. Some of the rules established by Beers were the size of, and the use of a rubber lacrosse ball, that the lacrosse stick could be any length, but the pocket needed to be flat in the absence of a ball, length of the field to 200 yards (180 m), size of the goal and goal crease, twelve members of a team on the field at a time, and the length of a match to first to reach five goals, or lead by three. In the process of standardizing the game, Beers removed the spiritual and ritual components present in its predecessor, the First Nations game of baggataway, and was unapologetic in its appropriation: “Just as we claim as Canadian the rivers and lakes and land once owned exclusively by Indians, so we now claim their field game as the national field game of our dominion”.

    Did you know that field lacrosse was a medal sport in the 1904 and the 1908 Summer Olympics? It will be again in 2028! This time around the appropriation of lacrosse from the Native Americans will no doubt have to be recognized by some sort of “game acknowledgement”, but c’est la vie.

    (Ball Players by George Catlin)

    Recently an ADT tech came to my house to update my alarm system and he noticed this photo on my wall. He asked if it was my son and if he played lacrosse. I said, yes, it was, and he said that he played lacrosse and we had a nice conversation about the sport. He had learned to play at Matthews-Dickey Boys Club in the city and then played at Lutheran North. Character-building, I tell ya! It’s a small world.

    Praise the Lord.

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    May 4, 2026

    There, but for the Grace of God, go we

    by chuckofish

    How was your weekend? Our flyover weather was gloriously beautiful, but my weekend was pretty quiet. I finished reading The Little Ark by Jan de Hartog and I was genuinely moved by it, especially the way the Dutch people step up to help in a catastrophe…

    On Saturday I got up and went to Trader Joe’s to buy flowers for Sunday. The flower corner was mobbed–mostly with teenage girls. Is it prom season or something? I could hardly fight my way through to see the flowers and I just grabbed some blue hydrangeas, some lilies and a little baby’s breath and hightailed it out of there. I went to church and arranged them and I think they looked pretty.

    While I waited around for the Women’s Spring Luncheon at 11:00, I stapled some handouts for the young ladies organizing the event. We had soup and salad and breadsticks and my friend Mary Beth gave the talk on spiritual gifts. Afterwards I went to an estate sale at a nice house, but I didn’t find anything to buy/rescue. C’est la vie.

    Meanwhile daughter#1 kept me in the prairie loop!

    On Sunday, I went to church with the boy and the twins where we sang two of Lottie’s favorite hymns, including Ida’s favorite:

    We sang with vigor!

    The sermon was on Joshua 14:1-19:51 which covered a lot of territory, but it was excellent. Then I went to adult ed and then to the grocery store to pick up my staples (egg salad, bread, Chex Mix, and carrot sticks). Then on to the bud’s lacrosse game. He took some face-offs!

    After catching up with the boy and daughter #3 I was off to the kennel to pick up Mr. Smith! We came home and collapsed and waited for daughter #1 to return.

    She is home now and picked up Mr. Smith. We had a glass of wine in the Florida Room. All is well–today I have nothing on my agenda but some “desk work”.

    P.S. We have a member of our church who is a neurosurgeon and he also plays the violin. On Sunday, as the prelude to our Call to Worship he played Elgar’s “Nimrod” of the Enigma Variations. It is pretty great, and always worth a listen:

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    April 29, 2026

    No matter how hopeless, no matter how far*

    by chuckofish

    The other night I watched Man of La Mancha (1972) on TCM for want of anything else to watch. A film adaption of the hit Broadway musical, it is not a great movie. However, while I watched, I remembered going to the Cinerama Theater to see it with my mother and sister. I was a junior in high school. We were big Peter O’Toole fans at the time and we enjoyed it. My mother reacted very emotionally to it, weeping at the end when Cervantes goes up the prison stairs with the loyal Sancho to meet the Inquisition tribunal.

    When the movie was over, after pulling ourselves together, we did something I don’t ever remember doing before or since–we went to Famous-Barr and bought the movie soundtrack on the way home! We listened to that record so much I practically knew it by heart. Peter O’Toole was (sadly) dubbed in his singing scenes, but the record included several short scenes which included his dialog. “I shall impersonate a man!” That dialog came back to me so clearly watching the movie!

    The lyrics to “The Impossible Dream” may seem corny to some now, but they weren’t then. It is still a pretty great song.

    I forgot to mention that Monday was the birthday of cousin Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85).

    Yes, Grant was not cut out for politics–too humble, too honest, too trusting. I do love USG. Let’s all take a moment.

    Also, I somehow missed that they recently filmed Antiques Roadshow at Grant’s Farm here in town. The first episode of three at Grant’s Farm aired on Monday. You can watch it here.

    And this made me laugh:

    *The Impossible Dream

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    April 20, 2026

    A perfect weekend

    by chuckofish

    How was your weekend? Mine was, as anticipated, super special. The prairie fam rolled into town on Friday and DN barbecued hamburgers. It was great to have the house filled to the brim and chaotic.

    We had so much fun at my birthday luncheon on Saturday!

    My cup runneth over.

    I made it to church on Sunday morning and so did the boy and the twins. We heard a good sermon on Joshua 10:40-43, 11:16-23–for the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel!–and sang good hymns. In the afternoon daughter #1 and I drove to our favorite winery in Hillsboro and drank wine in the beautiful sunshine and listened to live music–our favorite ’70s playlist. Is there anything better than that? The answer is not much.

    Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

    –I Chronicles 16:34

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