dual personalities

Tag: family

March 24, 2014

Home again, home again

by chuckofish

I am home from my short, easy-breezy trip back east. I was smart this time and came home on Saturday so I had Sunday to de-compress and settle back into my world once again before heading to a jam-packed day at work on Monday. (And I also got a chance to clean up the house after the OM was alone for 4 days.)

Darling daughter #2 posted yesterday about my visit and she hit all the high points. We had a super fun time in and out of the City and in the suburban sprawl around it. We did what we love to do: estate-saled, looked at art, shopped at IKEA, went out to eat with her friends, drank wine, walked and talked.

Mmmm--diner food

Mmmm–diner food

But as a mother it is mostly wonderful to see where one’s beloved child lives and spends her time. Now I can picture where she is sitting when we talk on the phone. I know how she has arranged her things.

jewelry

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dog

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Her apartment is a block away from the picture-perfect U of Maryland sorority houses and also the Episcopal Church where my flyover friend Becky lived as a child when her father was the rector there.

church

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I saw her office in the English Department at school.

office

I guess only a mother (or parent) can understand how important all of this is. I feel the same way after visiting daughter #1 in NYC–relieved that she has made a home for herself and that she has nice friends and that she has carried something of her flyover home to her new abode.

Sigh.

'The Open Window' by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), The Phillips Collection

‘The Open Window’ by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), The Phillips Collection

And I have a magnet to remind me of my visit.

magnet

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March 19, 2014

See ya later, alligator

by chuckofish

UMD

I am heading to Maryland today to spend a few days with daughter # 2.

I will be off the radar for awhile. But I’ll be back soon.

ralph-waving-Simpsons-gif

7 Comments
March 17, 2014

Just as I am

by chuckofish

While organizing a whole mess of some old photos, I found this great one of my dual personality when she was on a dig in Jordan back in the 1980s. I think it was when she was getting a master’s in archaeology at Mizzou, before she went on to Yale, but if I am wrong she can set us straight. She was always much less timid than I, more like our mother. Being in the desert with a camel (and without a hairdryer) would not have fazed her much.

sarah and camel

Anyway, I spent my weekend per usual. I went to the book sale at the Unitarian Church, braving the Prius-filled parking lot in order to search through their treasure trove of books. Their thinking may be a little to the left of whoopee, but they are good readers.

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I went to three estate sales and got a few more books and then I came home and worked in the yard for awhile. It was a beautiful day–the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the daffodils were poking up.

Bed 1

By Sunday, the temperature had plummeted, the wind was howling and it was sleeting, but I forged on to church nevertheless. I sat with my good friend Marty. It always amuses me to remember that her son was the coolest guy in school forty years ago and wouldn’t have known me from Doris Day, but it is proof positive that all things come to those who wait, if not in a semi-skewed fashion. It is the skewed part that is the point.

God does have a sense of humor and so should we.

Write deeply upon our minds, O Lord God, the lesson of thy holy Word, that only the pure in heart can see thee. Leave us not in the bondage of any sinful inclination. May we neither deceive ourselves with the thought that we have no sin, nor acquiesce idly in aught of which our conscience accuses us. Strengthen us by thy Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of faith, and grant that no day may pass without its victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–C. J. Vaughan

Have a good Monday!

8 Comments
March 11, 2014

True that

by chuckofish

wrc flowers

“I would far rather have two or three lilies of the valley gathered for me by a person I like, than the most expensive bouquet that could be bought!”

― Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters

5 Comments
March 10, 2014

Don’t tell me the lights are shining any place but there*

by chuckofish

Did you have a pleasant weekend?

Earlier in the week my dual personality sent me a couple of old books that were right up my alley,

2books

so I had those to peruse. I also picked up a pillow that I had left to be finished at the Sign of the Arrow.

pillow

If you recall, I bought it at an estate sale. I thought it was Edinburgh Castle, but a friend told me he thought it was Strasbourg. Well, hats off to Allan’s eagle eye, because when I separated it from its tacky polyester backing and took it apart, it said “Strasbourg” on the original canvas. The ladies at the Sign of the Arrow were impressed with the design and workmanship and it turned out really well, don’t you agree?

On Sunday afternoon, the OM had the bright idea to go down to the Riverfront to see the new Stan Musial bridge.

Bridge2

Here is the OM taking a picture of the bridge in front of one of the ubiquitous “cakes” that are found throughout the city and county celebrating the 250th birthday of our flyover city.

rpc bridge

Standing four-feet-tall, each two-tier ornamental birthday cake has been decorated by local artists and marks a location of note in our region. Two hundred and fifty locations were chosen. We ran into two quite by accident on our adventures downtown.

Since we were in the vicinity, we had to go to Ted Drewes.

teddrewes

And there was a cake!

photo cake

I think these cakes are kind of silly, but if it amuses people, who am I to quibble?

Meanwhile the amaryllis is going by having put on quite show.

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Have a nice week!

“Meet Me in St. Louis” by Andrew B. Sterling

8 Comments
March 5, 2014

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.*

by chuckofish

Tulips from the grocery store brighten my day.

“All the absurd little meetings, decisions, inner skirmishes that go to make up our days. It all adds up to very little, and yet it all adds up to very much. Our days are full of nonsense, and yet not, because it is precisely into the nonsense of our days that God speaks to us words of great significance – not words that are written in the stars but words that are written into the raw stuff and nonsense of our days, which are not nonsense just because God speaks into the midst of them. And the words that he says, to each of us differently, are “Be brave…be merciful…feed my lambs…press on toward the goal.”

-Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark

Lent begins today on Ash Wednesday. There is a traditional Ash Wednesday service going on somewhere near you. At our church, we have two services today, but neither time works for me. So I think I’ll go to a Noon service near work. If I do, then I will wipe my forehead off. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s pretentious Ash Wednesday worshippers.

Bonus points for the Veep. No brownie points for the Veep.

When my children were younger and lived at home, I tried to make them aware of Lent. We watched our Lenten movies and discussed them. These efforts were a hit.

Once I put a lot of bible verses in a bowl on the dining room table. Each night one of the kids would pick one and read it. We would attempt to discuss it during dinner. My family was less comfortable with these efforts on my part. They seemed hokey I guess. I’m glad I tried. Perhaps something sunk in.

Once again I will endeavor to keep a “holy Lent”–not by denying myself things like chocolate or wine but by being more intentional about keeping the Great Commandment. You know, the one about loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

Good luck to me, right?

*Psalm 51, verse ll

1 Comment
February 25, 2014

We could open up this suitcase full of sparks

by chuckofish

abe-simpson-wallpapers-9-1-s-307x512

I used to be “with it”. But  they changed what “it” was.  Now what I’m with isn’t “it” and what’s “it” seems weird and scary to me.”

–Grampa Simpson, From “Homerpalooza” (Season 7, Episode 24)

Sadly, I can relate to Grampa Simpson. Can you? I guess this is an inevitable part of aging. Not that I was ever too “with it” to begin with…but a lot of modern pop culture seems “weird and scary” to me. Hello, Kim Kardashian. And The Batchelor. I don’t get that either.

However, as readers of this blog know, I have a soft spot in my heart for Eminem. I try to keep an open mind. Occasionally I even go to a concert.

Such was the case last Sunday night when I ventured downtown to the Sheldon Concert Hall to see Josh Ritter.

sheldon

Mostly I bought the tickets to see his opening act Gregory Alan Isakov. My Old Man bailed on me at the last minute (he had a headache) and so the boy stepped up and went with me. He was a good concert date.

It was a sold out concert. Unfortunately, a lot of the audience arrived during Gregory Alan Isakov’s performance which was annoying. And rude. And the poor guy’s band was not with him. They had to leave in Chicago, he explained, and so he was on his own for the rest of the tour. It had been “super fun and scary” since then.

I kind of love him for saying “super fun”.

GAI

Gregory  epitomizes the introverted artist who must perform. And to stand up there without his band–zut alors! But I thought he was wonderful, performing his set of seven songs from numerous albums with humor and spirit.

Before his last song, he said, “I’ll leave you with a sad one, because that’s how I roll.”

Is he my kind of guy or what!

On the flip side was Josh Ritter who bounded onto the stage full of self-confidence and raring to go.

ritter

He put on quite a show, which I enjoyed very much. His fans, who filled the theater, were enthusiastic. Two middle-aged women to our left were down-right embarrassing–swaying and giggling like teenagers. (They also made several trips to the bar, which probably explains a lot of their behavior.) Please shoot me if I ever behave like this.

We opted to leave before the encores in order to avoid the parking lot mayhem and because it was a school night after all. But I was glad I had nudged myself out of my routine.

(My thanks to the boy who took these photos on his iPhone.)

7 Comments
February 17, 2014

There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little, perhaps not a word*

by chuckofish

valentines-day-calvin-hobbes-style-31400-1265919147-13

How was your weekend? Did you have a nice Valentine’s Day?

I asked my valentine for a new shower head and my husband went out and bought one for me. I was pleased. He had to buy a special wrench as well (par for the course) but he installed it with a minimum of cursing.

Later in the weekend I found a box with old cards in it. Some were Valentines. This one from the Green Tiger Press

valentinecard

was sent to my one-year-old daughter #1 by her aunt, my dual personality, who was a first year doctoral student living in a dorm at Yale at the time.  She wrote a long note inside. Here is a wee bit of that note:

Well, sweetie-poops, I have to make this short because I need to mail it and then take a nap. My neighbors kept me awake last night with their talking and I had to get up really early to do my Hittite and Akkadian, so I am tired. Otherwise, I’m doing okay and working hard and eating right and learning French and thinking about you all the time!

Isn’t that a riot? It was fun to go through all the cards and read what my friends wrote back in the day when our children were tiny and we were young and lighthearted.

I saw Inside Llewyn Davis. I really liked it. I thought Oscar Isaac was excellent. I had been listening to the soundtrack all week and so I was well prepared for the music to be great. But the film is more than just the music. And I liked the marmalade cat a lot. It made me want another Cat. But I am allergic, so that won’t happen. Sigh. Of course, the movie wasn’t nominated for Best Picture and Oscar got no Oscar nod. Typical.

coencat

I went to a couple of estate sales, but didn’t get anything except a few odd books.

books

I have been reading Missouri Bittersweet by MacKinlay Kantor and it is wonderful. I had no idea Kantor, whom I have always admired as a novelist, was such a fan of my flyover state. He and his wife revisited many small towns and counties in order to write this book and there is a lot of interesting stuff about the fascinating people who have lived in this state, such as Jesse James, Mark Twain and Daniel Boone, and also the regular people who still do.  It was published in 1969.

I was the Intercessor at church Sunday morning. In the Prayers of the People we always pray for the diocese of Lui in the Sudan and some of those African names can be a challenging mouthful, but I managed to stumble over “Albert”. Sometimes my brain just freezes. But afterwards the associate rector complimented me on my reading of the names on the prayer request list. I gather I kept the pace up nicely. Well, compliments are always appreciated.

And the amaryllis finally bloomed!

amaryllis

Amaryllis1_SP90

It seemed like it took forever and they still haven’t quite burst forth completely.  Our patience has been tested! They are indeed a welcome sight in the midst of our arctic winter–as are all our green friends which I move around the house to sunny spots.

A sunny window at home

A sunny window at home

Have a good week!

* from “A Glimpse” by Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892)

4 Comments
February 14, 2014

And life barrels on like a runaway train*

by chuckofish

HughB

Sunday is the birthday of Eugene Hugh Beaumont (February 16, 1909 – May 14, 1982) who you will recall was an American actor and television director. He was also an ordained Methodist minister. Hugh Beaumont is best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver on one of my favorite TV series, Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963) which I watched for years after school when it was in syndication.

Ward was not perfect. He made mistakes and he tried too hard sometimes and he lost his patience with his sons when they didn’t act as he thought they should. But he loved them and he could laugh at himself. Ward was a role model, and I have to say, it was very comforting to watch that syndicated show after school every day.

It has been suggested that Hugh Beaumont felt that he had been type-cast as Ward Cleaver and that his career suffered. Maybe it did. But I hope he knew that besides entertaining generations of people, he probably touched a lot of kids out there whose parents were not perfect and whose family was not as “functional” as the Cleavers. He touched me. I still cannot watch the above clip without getting a little misty-eyed.

Rest in peace, Hugh.

And here’s hoping you all have a nice Valentine’s Day and that someone gives you a nice card like the one above.

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P.S. FYI One of the writers for the show was Joss Whedon’s grandfather. This does not surprise me in the least.

*Ben Folds

8 Comments
February 7, 2014

All that is gold does not glitter*

by chuckofish

So last night was the first night of televised Olympic coverage. Did you watch?

sochi-2014-logo-4

Traditionally I have always enjoyed the Winter Olympics–all that skiing and those other Nordic events remind me of my mother who was such an enthusiastic winter athlete in her youth.

I remember the Lillehammer, Norway Olympics in 1994 most fondly. The Norwegians were great hosts. My kids were old enough to be interested then and that was around the time when the boy got into speed skating.

speedskating

He was pretty good and, had we decided to send him to live in Colorado so that he could skate year-round, who knows, maybe he would have gone to the Olympics with Apolo Ohno. But that was never our style. And I could never picture him with those huge thighs.

Anyway,  I can’t say I’m too excited about Sochi, a beach venue located on the Black Sea near the border between Georgia/Abkhazia and Russia.

As you recall, Sochi was established as a “fashionable resort” area under Joseph Stalin, who had his favorite “dacha” built in the city. (Fashionable resort in conjunction with communism seems like an oxymoron, don’t you think?) But, hey, Stalin’s study, complete with a wax statue of the leader, is now open to the public. Oh boy. I can just picture the NBC color coverage of this. No thanks. 

However, chances are I will find myself glued to the telly anyway for the next two weeks. I will probably get a lot of needlepoint done. And maybe I’ll sort through those giant piles of magazines.

Bottom line: I like to root for the home team. Go, U.S.A.!

Team U.S.A., opening ceremony, 2010 Olympics

Team U.S.A., opening ceremony, 2010 Olympics

* J.R.R. Tolkien

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