dual personalities

Tag: family

November 3, 2025

Straining toward the goal

by chuckofish

How was your weekend?

My Halloween was pretty quiet, per usual. Mr. Smith came over and kept an eye on things…

…while daughter #1 and I had “dips for dinner”…

Of course, Mr. Smith got dressed up…

(That’s peanut butter around his mouth–bribery to get him into his costume! It took two of us and he went full terrier on us.)

On Saturday I got up early and went to Trader Joe’s to buy flowers and then to church to arrange them for Sunday.

I went to an estate sale and to Hobby Lobby and helped move some stuff into daughter #1’s car. Then I took it easy for the rest of the day. I watched Westward the Women (1951) which is a really fine movie about a wagon train full of women going to California in 1851. It is very well directed by William Wellman and conveys realistically what these female pioneers went through without preaching a modern agenda. I wept through much of it.

On Sunday I went to church and heard a rousing sermon on Philippians 3:12-16. We sang good hymns and heard from missionaries in Portugal. After Sunday School we went to the Sunny Street Cafe for brunch and I heard about the twins’ Halloween in their new neighborhood which looked like super fun.

Later in the day I went to a DAR tea for the State Regent at Mudd’s Grove, the headquarters of the Kirkwood Historical Society. So I got to wear two nametags. (HaHa)

It was a full weekend!

Plus this:

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

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October 27, 2025

The Spirit and the gifts are ours

by chuckofish

Well, I had an easy trip up and back to outstate-Illinois in my Mini Countryman, which is a speed demon on the windy prairie highway and zooms across the cornfields like the Autobahn. I do love my car.

If I ever want to fly
Mulholland Drive
I am alive

Hollywood is under me
I’m Martin Sheen
I’m Steve McQueen
I’m Jimmy Dean

DN went to his conference and I helped daughter #2, who is in the large basketball phase of her pregnancy, with the prairie girls. We went to Home Depot to buy paint for a bathroom update …

…they were into it. It was a whole scene.

Back home, I got up on Sunday and met the boy and the twins at church. I had missed the week before when I was in Virginia so it seemed like forever (two weeks)–how nice to be back! Our pastor gave a really good sermon on Philippians 3:1-11 (and even made an unusual, but appropriate, reference to Mike Wazowski, which made the bud perk right up.) Where does our confidence come from? The righteousness of God that depends on faith!

As Reformation Day approaches (October 31), we sang “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, plus a selection of 19th century and 21st century hymns, plus a mighty solo rendition of the Fernando Ortega hymn, “Give Me Jesus”–perfect.

It was a gloomy and rainy Sunday afternoon, so I opted to stay home and not go to the bud’s soccer game(s). As Mamu I am allowed to do that.

Have a good week! Here’s a poem:

And maybe it was a bar tune,
Maybe not, but there we were, hunched
over too-small desks in History 101,
all ninety-five freshmen humming—
by need not desire—every note, every verse
of Luther’s best-loved hymn, Our helper He…
the right man on our side as we scribbled,
hands almost numb, the body they may kill –
his theology of lyrics, our theology –
from age to age the same for the final question
the spirit and the gifts are ours of the final exam,
and we would win the battle, our hearts pumping
with belief, our throats thumping with crescendo:
one little word would never fell us.

–Marjorie Maddox, “A Mighty Fortress”

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October 23, 2025

Barking through the moonlight

by chuckofish

Well, I went to the dentist yesterday for my semi-annual cleaning. This is always somewhat stressful as one always expects the worst. But as usual I got an A+ for my dental hygiene, and I left feeling good about myself. ⭐ 🙌 I also felt very mellow as the music which had been playing in the background during my visit was all late sixties hits–“House of the Rising Sun”, “Mellow Yellow”, “Daydream Believer”, “I’ve Got You, Babe”, and even “Like a Rolling Stone”. I do not expect to be jamming to Bob Dylan at the dentist, and I’m not complaining. But, yes, a bit surreal.

I finished My Beloved by Jan Karon and thoroughly enjoyed it. It may not be Middlemarch (another study of provincial life), but these days I could not handle that. I am quite satisfied with Jan Karon.

In other news, the boy came over and gassed up my car, so I am ready to head to the prairie today for a few days with daughter #2 and the prairie girls. It has been very blustery of late 💨💨 so let’s hope I don’t blow off the highway.

And here’s a poem about dogs by Billy Collins:

The neighbors’ dog will not stop barking.
He is barking at the fence, barking at nothing,
barking at the mosquitos settling on his fur.
He is barking through the moonlight,
barking at distant sirens,
barking at squirrels he can’t see.

(“Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House”)

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October 13, 2025

La-dee-da, la-dee-da

by chuckofish

How was your weekend?

It was a beautiful weekend here in flyover country–a little warm for October, but I’m not complaining. It was perfect for sitting outside at the winery, which daughter #1 and I did after our DAR meeting in the morning. The meeting was pleasant also–I do so love talking SEC football with a Crimson Tide fan, which I did while eating breakfast.

Anyway, we enjoyed the musical entertainment at the winery–a guy singing the 1970s playlist, which must be what boomers who go to wineries want to hear. And I’m okay with that.

At church we heard a good sermon on Philippians 2:12-18:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Work it out.

Rein it in.

Offer it up.

The communion hymn was Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me, which gets me every time. Once again I asked myself, why do I wear mascara to church?

We also sang this classic from 1787, but with the traditional American tune, which I really like:

After church, since there was no adult ed, we went to the Sunny Street Cafe for brunch. The twins are very grown up now and well behaved, although once they have scarfed down their pancakes and/or French toast, they are not ones to linger over a second cup of coffee and more conversation. C’est la vie.

I was sad to hear that Diane Keaton has died. She was a favorite of mine. She had some class–a rare thing in Hollywood. She liked turtlenecks, she eschewed plastic surgery, and like Woody Allen said, “She prefer[ed] to look old.” Apparently no one knew she was ailing. She died privately and with no hoopla. Guess it’s time to dig out Annie Hall (1977). La-dee-da, la-dee-da.

Have a good week! Be faithful and fruitful!

4 Comments
October 10, 2025

It’s Friday again–can you believe it?

by chuckofish

I just want to say that I am so happy that my 2 1/2 year-old granddaughter sounds just like her old lady Mamu:

I mean is that great or what?

Have a good weekend! Sit outside if you can, go to an estate sale, toast absent friends, pet a nice dog…

…eat a donut…

…and praise God from whom all blessings flow.

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October 7, 2025

Don’t fence me in

by chuckofish

Today marks the 75th anniversary of my parents’ wedding at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Savannah, Georgia in 1950.

Time like an ever-rolling stream and all that.

In other news, The Church of England announced Friday that the Right Reverend and Right Honorable Dame Sarah Mullally has been named the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury–as Albert Mohler says, “A liberal nurse to lead a dying church?” Ugh. As Mohler says, “My own life has been so enriched by the Anglican tradition, and my soul has been fed by towering figures such as John Owen and Bishop Charles Ryle. I hold dear the memory and examples set by towering Reformation martyrs such as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Bishop Nicholas Ridley, and Bishop Hugh Latimer. I learned much from J. I. Packer and John Stott and a host of others, living and dead. I am thankful for such good work done by so many for so long. I pray for them. I cherish Anglican music, though I hear it far more commonly in my library than in my church. I grieve for my Anglican friends.”

Well, as Anne says, “Yes, for sure, go to church, but be awfully careful which one. It’s kind of a jungle out there. But for sure, only by being incorporated as a living stone into the same building with the stone that the builders rejected, which is the chief cornerstone, can you be really happy and have the life you really need and desire.”

On a happier note…

And here’s a treat: Bob Dylan sings one of my favorite Cole Porter songs.

4 Comments
October 6, 2025

My heart is filled with thankfulness

by chuckofish

Yes, that season is upon us–even the boy has a giant skeleton in his front yard. (He inherited it from his in-laws.) Well, to each his own.

Anyway, I had a nice weekend. Pizza night at the boy’s house. A couple of estate sales. A trip to Hobby Lobby. Mr. Smith and daughter #1 came over Saturday night for Chick-fil-a and a movie.

We watched The Man Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain (1995)–a favorite of ours from the good ol’ Harvey Weinstein Miramax days. It is a perfect movie–the kind they don’t know how to make anymore.

Highly recommended!

Sunday I went to church as usual and heard a good sermon on Philippians 2:5-11. We had our final Sunday School class on the Power of Story in the Works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I wish it were not over! I brought the twins new notebooks from the dollar store for them to draw/take notes/journal in. They were very pleased. After church we went to the bud’s soccer game which was very pleasant, even if it was a little on the warm side. We will be freezing soon enough.

After the game I went home and took it easy.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again.
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness,
And clothed me with His light,
And wrote His law of righteousness
With power upon my heart.

For every day I have on earth
Is given by the King.
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow Him.

4 Comments
October 2, 2025

Forget not

by chuckofish

Even as the giant decorative skeletons crop up around town, I am reminded that I better get going on my Christmas shopping! Also we have multiple birthdays coming up in November/December/January, and have I mentioned, a new baby due in early December! Yes, daughter #2 is expecting baby #3. We are all pretty excited about it. The end of the year is always busy, but it will be even more so this year.

Meanwhile I am busy with my continuing home organization projects, bible study homework and the next edition of the Historical Review. My wonderful 89-year old co-editor stepped in for me over the summer, but I am back and have the reins in hand.

This is an interesting article about how “with poignant wisdom and gentle wit, Charles M. Schulz reinvented the form and introduced the nation to Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy and so many more indelible characters.”

This is good advice: Forget Not His Faithfulness–“Telling and retelling our stories of God’s faithfulness guards our hearts against forgetfulness, and hearing those stories is one of the ways God builds faith in little hearts.”

And here are a couple of photos I found in my archaeological dig in the basement:

BSA Boundary Waters canoe trip circa 2000. It nearly killed the OM but he did it (and so did the boy)!

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October 1, 2025

Another turned page

by chuckofish

It’s October! Zut alors! Last year at this time I was in beautiful Monument Valley with the OM and daughter #1.

Guess I’ll watch The Searchers (1956) this week…

Well, we must “live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” Who said that? Yes, of course, it was Thoreau in “Walden, or, Life in the Woods”.

Earlier in September, we were told by the Missouri Department of Conservation to be “bear aware” when hiking in the woods. So just as a reminder, here is where bears have been sighted in Missouri since 2020:

Yikes! Take care with those bird feeders and barbecues!

Here are Nine Hymn Lyrics You’ve Probably Misunderstood. We sing all these hymns in church. The author suggests that “something that was written 500 years ago can be confusing to a modern audience,” and maybe that is so. If so, “you can learn to sing these words with renewed faith as you come to better understand what they mean!”

And here’s a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke about Autumn:


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September 29, 2025

Come, ye weary, heavy laden

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? We had blue skies overhead, but it did get kind of toasty watching the bud play soccer on Sunday afternoon!

On Saturday morning daughter #1 and I ventured to Saint Charles across the Missouri River to a DAR cemetery marker ceremony. The SAR Color Guard was there in full regalia to lend support and authenticity to the event. Much appreciated, guys. (Sometimes I do think we live in Mayberry.)

In case you have forgotten, the Battle of Fort San Carlos, was fought on May 26, 1780, between British-allied Indians and defenders of the Franco-Spanish village of St. Louis (Louisiana Territory) during the American Revolutionary War. The garrison, a motley assortment of regulars and militiamen led by Upper Louisiana’s lieutenant governor, Captain Fernando de Leyba, suffered a small number of casualties. A few of the veterans of that battle were buried in Saint Charles. Their graves were later moved to the Saint Charles Borromeo Cemetery in Saint Charles and that is where the marker was dedicated. Lest we forget.

Afterwards we went to old town St. Charles and walked up and down Main Street visiting some “vintique” stores, and ate lunch on the patio of Llewellyn’s Pub, which was delightful.

Meanwhile, I was glad to see that the twins were practicing their BB gun marksmanship in their backyard.

On Sunday I went to church and heard a good sermon on Philippians 1:27-2:4: “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents.”

We sang “Come Ye Sinners” and I wept from start to finish. The choir was back and in fine fettle and sang “Land of Pure Delight”. Lovely.

And now the inimitable Voddie Baucham has entered into eternity (last Thursday) at the age of 56. It is a lot to process.

Voddie was an American pastor, author and educator. He served nine years as Dean of Theology from 2015 to 2024 at African Christian University in Zambia. Rest in peace, brother.

Well, we go on. Read some history, pet a nice dog. Come to Jesus.

3 Comments