dual personalities

Tag: family

July 3, 2023

The sheep of His pasture*

by chuckofish

It’s pretty quiet around here since the boy and his family are in Hilton Head for the week.

Before they left early Saturday morning, daughter #3 brought the wee twins over after soccer camp on Friday to have lunch and hang out with Mr. Smith.

Daughter #1 has a new chuck-it throwing toy which is great and wears Mr. Smith out with fetching.

Five stars for sure! The best part is you don’t have to pick up the slobbery ball with your hand. Of course, getting Mr. Smith to release the ball is an ongoing issue.

We had some wild weather over the weekend with a lot of downed trees and detritus everywhere.

Unfortunately, people were actually killed this time around in crushed cars and houses.

(Photos from KMOV4)

In church on Sunday we heard more from the prophet Hosea. His message, as our pastor put it, is “harrowing and brutal”–but maybe we need that.

“Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,
For you have played the harlot against your God.” (Hosea 9:1)

Food for thought.

Tomorrow, of course, is the 4th of July and we send happy birthday wishes to my older brother. He was always a hit with the ladies.

The little girl in the picture was a neighbor of whom my mother was particularly fond. (Her name was Katie.) Anyway, here’s hoping he does something fun tomorrow.

And here’s a song–the boy introduced me to this rendition:

*”Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” (Psalm 100:3)

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June 27, 2023

“Young as she is, the stuff/ Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy”*

by chuckofish

Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of my mother’s death.

As a child I was happiest sitting on her lap–only in this picture she has just taken my fingers out of my mouth to pose for a family portrait. Also my father has just yelled at my brother to quit horsing around and the moment is frought with emotion. Isn’t that always the way. Families.

We do the best we can.

It is good to remember that the fate of our children does not lie with us (nor the fate of our parents) but with Our Father in heaven.

We do the best we can.

I am grateful to have had my mother for 32 years.

Looking for something to read? Here’s a list of eight examples of “gentle parenting in classic literature”.

And bonus: American Pie explained.

*Richard Wilbur (read the whole poem here.)

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June 26, 2023

Postcards from the weekend

by chuckofish

Did you have a good weekend? Mine was fairly quiet, the highlight being going to church with the wee twins at 8:30 a.m. so they could attend the children’s worship service and then going to daughter #1’s house for bagels afterwards.

Mr. Smith was living his best life, frolicking in the backyard with the twins…

…and everyone signed Lottie’s cast.

Meanwhile back in Maryland, Katiebelle started swimming lessons…

…and Idabelle watched the passing parade with vim and vigor.

I watched some PGA golf and read another D.E. Stevenson book. I went to an estate sale in a house that had once belonged to a family I went to church with growing up and whose daughters went to my school. It had since turned into Grey Gardens and was a wreck. Kind of Quite creepy. But daughter #1 got a book and her usual discount from Lamar.

I also watched Father Goose (1964), Cary Grant’s second-to-last movie. You remember–it’s about a guy during WWII who is forced to work as an airplane spotter on a remote Pacific island and then is saddled with a prim teacher and seven little girls to look after. It won an Oscar for best screenplay written directly for the screen.

It is nice to see Cary playing against type, scruffy and annoyed. I remember my mother took my little sister and me to see it when it was originally released, probably because she thought we would enjoy the little girl element and she got to see Cary Grant. I liked it then and I enjoyed it the other night. It is a good example of the kind of movie Hollywood was very good at making in the 1960s but cannot make now to save their lives.

June is almost gone–enjoy the last week!

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June 21, 2023

Where is Goldbug?

by chuckofish

On Monday Lottie’s parents took her to the orthopedist to have her cast put on, so they dropped the wee laddie off at my house. We had so much fun together. We read Richard Scarry books, taking turns reading.

We went upstairs (usually off-limits) to search for more Richard Scarry books in his Dad’s old room. Then he asked if he could go in my room because that’s where the mini trampoline is as well as my practically-an-antique stationery bike.

He showed me how he could do jumping jacks on the trampoline (40!) and he did 20 push-ups on the floor, demonstrating what they learned in gym at school. I said I did not think I could do jumping jacks on the trampoline and he said, “That’s because you’re an old girl and my grandma.”

He jumped several times from the trampoline to the bed, landing on his knees, and I prayed, “Oh Lord, please don’t let him fall and break his arm!”

Then we watched YouTube videos of Matchbox cars and action figures. Fascinating!

After viewing these educational and thrilling videos, we ate lunch. I suggested a toasted cheese sandwich, but he said he preferred Easy Mac. Luckily I had some, which we made together. I had a tuna sandwich. He asked me if I like tuna, which is a fish. I said, yes, I do. We said grace and chatted about Vacation Bible School, which he admitted to enjoying, especially when the boys beat the girls at games.

After lunch he asked to get the old Legos out and we got two bins which are kept in the Florida room, discovering that the room had flooded during the torrential rains of the day before. Pappy was in the yard with the man who was turning on the sprinklers. He grumbled and went back to the basement where he had been hiding all morning.

We were playing with the Legos, looking for heads to put on all the headless men, when his parents arrived, all in a rush to go say goodbye to her sister who was leaving to go back to Texas. I heard the laddie say to his Dad as they crossed the lawn that he didn’t want to leave, “that he could stay here forever.”

I didn’t get any of the things done which I had planned to do that day, but who cares. I think I won an Oscar for Best Mamu.

4 Comments
June 12, 2023

Arise my soul, arise

by chuckofish

We had a quiet weekend. The twins came over with their dad on Saturday after their swimming lesson and they ran around wrecking some havoc. We ate bagels before they left to go to a birthday party. I watched our local auction house online auction, but didn’t make any rescues. When I suggested to the OM that we might go to dinner at the Cracker Barrel, he literally leapt out of his chair and was in the car before I could powder my nose.

We enjoyed our homestyle meals and were home by 6:00 pm. Such oldsters. I noticed later on Not the Bee that there has been some controversy surrounding Cracker Barrel and a boycott because they are too woke. That might explain why there were so few people there! (Note the empty tables above.)

In church the sermon was about Hosea as we have been delving into this book for the last month or so. Interestingly, Anne wrote about it too. “Just to recap, in case you haven’t cracked open ye olde holy scriptures recently, (paging Rick Warren…and basically everyone), Israel, upon settling into the Land that the Lord her God had given her, decided that worshiping the gods of the people who lived there was at least as interesting as offering sacrifices and praise to the Lord. It’s not that they didn’t “worship” God, it’s just that on the way home from the place God put his Name, it was expedient and sensible to also stop at various other shrines and sacrifice a child or two along with pouring libations on the ground and depositing other kinds of offerings in the nooks and crannies of their inheritance. The all-or-nothing nature of Temple worship didn’t really suit the people whom the Lord had called out from all the nations around, to worship him alone.” God just wants your steadfast love. Is that too much to ask?

After church I helped decorate for VBS. And, thank you Jesus, I now have a teenage helper assigned to me so I do not have to go it totally alone with the 4/5th grade girls this week. 🙌🙌🙌

I thought this was very interesting, especially considering my post last week about outlawing insult. Now Monty Python is in trouble (again)…Forty-four years later we’re certainly not allowed to laugh at this nonsense because it has become the truth:

I mean who would have guessed how spot on the Pythons were back in the day!

And just in time for VBS, Matt Mitchell has a new video about…VBS!

P.S. Look at the wee pup and how his training is going: Sit, boy!

Good, dog!

3 Comments
June 5, 2023

It is hotter than the devil’s hootchie-cootchie out here

by chuckofish

Yes, it is full-on summer here in flyover country–hot and humid–and you better not walk barefoot on your asphalt driveway, that’s for sure. Heavy sigh. Well, we had a nice long spring and it was great while it lasted.

We kept a low profile this weekend, but Katie turned three in style back in Maryland.

She celebrated appropriately. (She is wearing her favorite vintage nightie, which my mother made for daughter #1/Aunt Mary about 36 years ago.)

Aunt Mary made her a tote bag with Pete the Cat fabric she found at Joann’s!

She immediately filled it up with books–a girl after our own hearts. Love the matching bow!

And, of course, there was cake!

I stayed after church on Sunday to go to a meeting for VBS volunteers–because, yes, I am once again doing my part, even after I said never again last year. This year I am on my own with 14 4th/5th graders! Am I crazy? Yes, yes I am. I will never be able to remember their names, much less keep track of them. I am praying for a teenage helper to step up to the plate.

I got a new t-shirt, since I threw mine away last year thinking I would never need it again. Well, I have a week to psych myself up for this. Please pray for me.

Enjoy your Monday!

4 Comments
May 29, 2023

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?*

by chuckofish

Ah, three-day weekends are nice. Everyone is more relaxed. We are on the summer schedule at church now, which means that although there are still two morning services, there is no children’s chapel at the 11:00 o’clock. I missed that memo somehow and we brought the twins to the 11 o’clock. The wee bud teared up at the offertory hymn at the prospect of staying with us through the whole service, so Pappy took him out to the fellowship hall to hang out. (He was not the only parent/grandparent to do so.) But Lottie stayed with me and did a very good job of curbing her depravity and listening/keeping quiet during the 40-minute Presbyterian sermon. She went up with me to get communion (although she did not take communion.) She had a lot of questions. Is that blood? I said I’d explain later.

We had the whole gang over for a Memorial Day bbq and driveway sittin’ on Sunday evening. Daughter #1’s friends Liz and Brenton came too, plus their two-year old twins. And Mr. Smith, of course.

Start ’em early!

As usual, we missed Katie and Ida and their parents, but they had fun too!

Enjoy your Monday off!

*Hosea 6:4 (wherein God gets exasperated like the rest of us parents)–press on.

P.S. The boy took all the pictures–thank you!

3 Comments
May 25, 2023

This splendid woman

by chuckofish

Recently I acquired a small battered book entitled “First Baptist Church Centennial Celebration–in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the church in Las Animas, Colorado 1874-1974”.

It includes a history of the church. Our great-great-grandmother is prominently featured.

She was, indeed, a founding member, trustee, superintendent of the Sunday School, and the organist. Her husband, John S. Hough, was not a member; he was a Quaker and remained so his entire life. My great-grandmother Anna Hough was a member; she was 10-years old in 1874. Her two older sisters, Ida and Susie, would have been members too, but they died in 1875 and 1876 and were not included, therefore, in the list of charter members.

The history goes on to tell us:

The original building was an adobe structure built on land owned by John Prowers. The bell on this church was known to be one of the first bells ever to ring in the Arkansas Valley.

I love that the “two little girls” Anna Hough and her cousin Katie raised the money to buy the bell. Gee, girls were empowered even back in the 19th century!

In other news, we will toast Ralph Waldo Emerson today on his 220th birthday (1803):

The world rolls round,—mistrust it not,—
Befalls again what once befell;
All things return, both sphere and mote,
And I shall hear my bluebird’s note,
And dream the dream of Auburn-dell.

Read the entire poem here.

And it’s time to start thinking about what movie(s) you will watch on Friday to celebrate John Wayne’s 116th birthday (1907)! Also keep in mind when making your selection that there may be multiple viewings of John Wayne movies over the upcoming Memorial Day three day-weekend! If you are in Fort Worth, go to the The John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards, TX for lots of special events!

You never know who you might run into.

And news flash, there was a bear sighting in Festus, Missouri, 35 miles south of us on Tuesday. It was a big bear! It was hit and killed by a car on I-55 later that night. Can you imagine hitting a bear while driving your car? Zut alors! We are going to have to be on the lookout when we go to our favorite winery!

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May 15, 2023

While we walk the pilgrim way

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was very low-key and nice. I went to a few estate sales on Saturday and picked up a a couple of books and daughter #1 got a very nice vintage wastebasket. This makes us happy.

The OM and I went to church on Sunday and afterwards we went to daughter #1’s new house where she had brunch ready.

Very nice indeed–and, of course, there were mimosas. The Joanna Gaines bacon biscuits were magnifique!

Daughter #2 had even sent a bag of Compton Lady treats ahead for me. All in all, a lovely day.

And the OM was able to reunite with his special friend.

We sat out on her front porch and finished the Prosecco and had a lovely afternoon. I gather that daughter #3 wanted her petite famille to work in the yard with her so they did that, following a trip to Home Depot. I have not seen any “after” pictures.

Meanwhile DN stood in line with all the other dads in town to get donuts…

I have no doubt that Mommy enjoyed them and had a lovely day!

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see:

All I have needed thy hand hath provided—

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord! Unto me!

—Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923

3 Comments
May 11, 2023

“Remember your mothers, especially those who spoke to you the word of God”*

by chuckofish

Well, Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend. There are lots of lists on Instagram and around the blogosphere recommending presents to give your Mom. They are almost always pretty banal–although have you seen this?

Zut alors, what will they think of next?

I know I am difficult to buy a present for. I have everything I need–“the sun and the rain and the apple seed”–and when I see a $10 chair I want, I buy it. Daughter #1 brings me flowers every Sunday, so I do not need more. The boy comes to hang out every Tuesday morning. Sometimes we go out to lunch. He does not need to take me out to lunch. Daughter #2 is in (almost) constant contact with me and we fit in hour-long phone chats as we can.

My cup already runneth over.

So the wee twins will be spending (the entire) day lavishing their own sweet mother with attention and that is as it should be. Grandmothers-in-law need to step aside. The OM and I are going over to daughter #1’s house for brunch after church. I will bring her flowers (if I remember)!

I will be thinking of my own mother who has been gone now 35 years.

I will never stop missing my mother. Sometimes I think of all the stupid things I said in her presence and how she hardly ever argued with me. When occasionally she did contradict me, I knew it was important, and I never forgot those times. It has taken me all these years to sort everything out and I think she would be in agreement with me mostly. And I know she would be proud of me and of my children. She would love them so much.

So by all means, don’t forget your mother this Sunday or any Sunday.

Here is Charles Spurgeon’s tribute to his godly mother.

“My mother said to me, one day, “Ah, Charles! I often prayed the Lord to make you a Christian, but I never asked that you might become a Baptist.” I could not resist the temptation to reply, “Ah, mother! the Lord has answered your prayer with His usual bounty, and given you exceeding abundantly above what you asked or thought.”

Here’s some good motherly advice from Garden & Gun. “Mom taught me how to use the pronouns “I” and “me” correctly. I try not to flaunt it.” —Jere B.

And here’s a good list of films featuring wonderful mothers. Personally, I think it might be time to watch How Green Was My Valley (1941) directed by John Ford, with Sara Allgood as the Welsh mother.

Have a good day!

P.S.

*Charles Spurgeon

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