dual personalities

Tag: Friends

June 11, 2013

What’s in my bag?

by chuckofish

Over the past few weeks there have been a lot of blog posts out there attempting to answer that important question: What’s in your bag? This seems to be something that preoccupies a lot of women. Since a love of small leather goods runs in my family (my father was a big fan), I thought I would jump on the blog bandwagon and show you what’s in my purse!

This is my red Longchamp “Le Pliage” Medium Shoulder Tote. I also have the same tote in gunmetal gray and bright green. I am probably due for a new one right about now. Let me just say, it is the perfect purse. Plain, simple–and it holds just the right amount of stuff without getting too heavy. The shoulder straps are the right length and you can even sponge it off.

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This is what fits inside.

INSIDE

My Orla Kiely zip wallet.

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This cute Brooklyn zip pouch that daughter #1 gave me. It holds my checkbook and my small calendar and a couple of little blank books which daughter #2 gave me. You can never have too many of those you know.

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My Vera Bradley eyeglass cases. Daughter #1 gave me the elephant one a long time ago. She also gave me the elephant shopping bag from J. Crew which folds up in a little envelope. I pull it out at the grocery store and say, “I have my own bag!” when they ask, “Plastic or paper?” You are impressed with my green-ness, I know.

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A friend brought this cute zipper bag back from Mexico. It’s the perfect size for a cell phone.

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My needlepoint keychain which daughter #1 picked up when she interned at the TODAY show back in the day. Katie Couric got all sorts of freebies and this was one of them. The “I am an Episcopalian” medal is in case I am ever in a car wreck and someone wants to give me Last Rites. I remember reading how Eddie Rickenbacker was in a terrible plane crash and they brought a priest over to give him Last Rites and he yelled at him, all crushed and his eyeball hanging out, “I’m a damn Protestant! Get out!” Well, we just want to avoid any such confusion.

KEYRING

You may have observed a theme here, i.e. my daughters are always giving me nice things to put in my purse. Aren’t they wonderful? And the truth is, whenever I use one of these items throughout the day, I think of the lovely daughter who gave it to me.

I have a friend who used her mother’s old wallet for twenty years after she died. It was getting pretty beaten up as you can imagine, but she just couldn’t bring herself to part with it. Finally, she appeared with a new one and I asked her about it. She said she had been looking through some old things of her mothers and she found another wallet(!) which she then commenced to use. I know just how she feels. That is one of the reasons we are such good friends.

In conclusion: “Good order is the foundation of all things.”
–Edmund Burke (Reflections on the Revolution in France)

9 Comments
June 3, 2013

Long may you run

by chuckofish

It was quite a weekend. I took part in more socializing than in the first 5 months of the year combined.

A very dear friend and her husband were visiting from Virginia and we had dinner with them at a friend’s house with other members of our high school class–a mini reunion of sorts. There were tornado sirens and we turned on the TV during dinner to make sure we weren’t in the path of disaster. Luckily the tornadic activity passed by us to the north, but you can never be too sure. Unbenownst to us, there was a lot of local damage and power outages galore.

Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

On Saturday we went to my old man’s 40th high school reunion which was held at his bff’s house up on a bluff above the Mississippi River.

BFFs

BFFs

Such a view!

Such a view!

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river3

There was a pig roast (sorry, no pictures) and lots of nostalgic ’70s music. Hello, Neil Young.

Martin and Cap check out those newfangled phone devices.

Martin and Cap check out those newfangled phone devices.

The boys shot off a cannon and there were fireworks.

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On Sunday I went to church because I was reading the second lesson. It was one of those “as we have said before, so now I repeat…” exhortations that ol’ St. Paul is known for. Great stuff. My favorite to read. While we were passing the peace, the first lector said, “Good job,” to me. “As usual. We had the A-team today.” I chuckled, but I was pleased. I’ve never been on the A-team before. Boo yah.

I had brunch with my BFFs from Virginia and then went home to work in the yard a little before it rained. A lovely end to an exhausting but wonderful weekend.

#Oldfriends

#Oldfriends

Oh, this old world
Keeps spinning round
It’s a wonder tall trees
Ain’t layin’ down
There comes a time.

7 Comments
May 7, 2013

Now with gladness

by chuckofish

I read the second lesson in church on Sunday. It was a great passage from the Book of Revelation, the one that starts out “I saw no temple in the city, for the temple is the Lord God Almighty…”

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Here is paradise! The hymns reflected this nicely. We sang #620, “Jerusalem, My Happy Home” and #621, “Lights’ Abode, Celestial Salem”.

The sermon, no surprise, did not address the holy city, but was about “Friends”. The preacher vaguely connected this to the Gospel, but it was a stretch.

I can’t help wondering if some ministers do not want to talk about resurrection and heaven, because they do not really believe in it. It certainly makes them very uncomfortable. Partly I think this is because they enjoy their life here and now too much. They certainly don’t buy into the idea put forth so well in hymn #621:

Now with gladness, now with courage,
bear the burden on thee laid,
that hereafter these thy labors
may with endless gifts be paid,
and in everlasting glory
thou with brightness be arrayed.

But what did old Thomas á Kempis know? Or for that matter, the Victorian (J. M. Neale) who translated it?

Well, who am I to say? It just got me thinking, you know? And Lord knows I have to think about something during those long sermons about #friendship.

2 Comments
May 6, 2013

Swiftly fly the years

by chuckofish

As some of you know, I am a big fan of Fiddler on the Roof—ever since the boy played Tevye so masterfully in the eighth grade. Oy.

fiddler

Can I help it if that old chestnut “Sunrise/Sunset” frequently comes to mind?

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

Well, this was the case when I came across this photo on Facebook of glamorous twenty-somethings celebrating a birthday this weekend in NYC:

Two Marys, an Allan and a Jane

Two Marys, an Allan and a Jane

Talk about blossoming into sunflowers! Here are three of them a few years earlier (the youngest was not born yet):

Two Marys and an Allan circa 1987

Two Marys and an Allan circa 1987

C’mon, a mother is allowed to get a little misty-eyed now and then.

(I have blogged about “the Marys” before here). Oy.

5 Comments
March 15, 2013

Rock of ages

by chuckofish

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Yesterday I went to a “Service of Thanksgiving” for the life of the father of a friend of mine who died the day after his 95th birthday. The funeral was at the church we went to together when I was growing up. They stayed; we left. I have been a member of two churches since, but I am seriously considering going back. I like the plain windows that let the sunshine in and the total lack of iconography.

Anyway, this man had an amazing life. According to his obit in the paper, he was president of his senior class and “the lead in several high school musicals”. He graduated from college in 1939 (!) and then spent 5 years in the U.S. Army during WWII. He finished the war as a Major, having taken part in D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. He had a very successful career and served as the president of his country club and on the vestry of his church (where he was a member for over 60 years), as well as on multiple boards.

I knew him as a cheerful, kind man, who always knew my name. He was an authority figure who knew his duty. He took care of his family, was present, but not overly involved. His children were all devoted to him.

Best friends in third grade--1965--I was giggling in this picture as I usually was when in her company.

Best friends in third grade–1965–I was giggling in this picture as I usually was when in her company.

His wife, of course, did not work. She kept the home fires burning. Their house was impeccable and so was she. She still is!

Times have changed. It’s a different world. Maybe it’s better, maybe not. I can’t help wondering who is going to take the place of men like this. I knew lots of men like him back in the day. I miss them.

P.S. The funeral was your basic Episcopal memorial service (sans communion). Included were excellent scripture choices (KJV) and good hymns, although the organist charged through them like he was in a hurry. But oh well.

I sing a song of the saints of God,
Patient and brave and true,
Who toiled and fought and lived and died
For the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
And one was a shepherdess on the green;
They were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
And his love made them strong;
And they followed the right for Jesus’ sake
The whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
And one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
And there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
Why I shouldn’t be one too.

They lived not only in ages past,
There are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
Who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea;
For the saints of God are just folk like me,
And I mean to be one too.

5 Comments
December 31, 2012

With lots of love and happy wishes

by chuckofish

xmasdinner

Over the holidays I re-read Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, which I discovered over twenty years ago. It is really marvelous. Here she sums up what I believe to be the very true essence of a woman’s happiness:

“When you think of me you must think of me as one who is truly happy. It is true, I want a great many things I haven’t got, but I don’t want them enough to be discontented and not enjoy the many blessings that are mine. I have my home among the blue mountains, my healthy, well-formed children, my clean, honest husband, my kind gentle milk cows, my garden which I make myself. There are lots of chickens, turkeys and pigs which are my own special care. I have some slow old gentle horses and an old wagon. I can load up the kiddies and go where I please any time. I have the best, kindest neighbors and I have my dear absent friends. Do you wonder I am so happy? When I think of it all, I wonder how I can crowd all my joy into one short life.”

Times have not changed that much if you substitute a station wagon/mini van for the horse and wagon. And don’t kid yourself that she didn’t have a “job”. She worked harder than I ever have at my cushy flyover university. At the center of her happiness is love and the freedom to do what she wants.

I highly recommend this book as a good way to start the new year off on a positive note. It is available here.

3 Comments
December 6, 2012

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

by chuckofish

tomandchris

christom

This is a picture of handsome Tom and Chris which I put out every Christmas. A good memory of Christmas Past on 231. I must say the tree looks pretty sad! I guess my mother had given up on tree perfection by that point. I have no doubt that the tree was beautiful “in real life”. You know what I mean. I’m sure we oohed and ahhhed about the tree.

And how cute are these guys?

Pinecone elves from Martha Stewart

Pinecone elves from Martha Stewart

If I were the crafty type, I would be all over these.

But I’m just not anymore. This is more my speed: a candle in an old cup and saucer with fake berries. But it looks nice!

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I like decorating for Christmas with vintage photos of my family up close and personal with Santa.

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I am not big on pictures of my children everywhere throughout the house…except at Christmas. Then (for some reason) it’s appropriate.

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I used to send my children’s class pictures to my out-of-town friends. Once one of them sent them back to me in the form of Christmas ornaments, which I thought was awe-some.

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As you can see, I (try to) take things slowly in the month of December, taking out my decorations gradually. Still ahead? Trees!

So give us joyful, cheerful hearts to the glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

10 Comments
December 4, 2012

Flyover weekend II

by chuckofish

This past weekend my best Grace girlfriends and I headed out of town for our second annual flyover roadtrip.

diet coke 2

We stayed in the same log cabin Bed and Breakfast that we visited last year. We were greeted by some old friends.

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The honeysuckle was blooming…on December 1!

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The house was decorated for Christmas and looked lovely.

stairs

We spent Saturday afternoon investigating antique malls and shops in Washington, Missouri, a nice old river town. I never laid eyes on a true antique, but I saw lots of fun vintage items and piles of junk. But that is the expectation. I found a Christmas present for the boy and lots of other things I restrained myself from buying, like these guys:

reindeer2

That night we sat on the porch–it was 71-degrees–and enjoyed the sunset.

sunset

We played Scattergories and attempted to play cards, but that was so much work. In other words, we had to choose between playing cards or drinking wine. It was an easy choice for me.

scatter

On Sunday we had a wonderful breakfast

breakfast

and then went to Hermann, Missouri, another lively town on the Missouri River. We hit the Kristkindl Markt again and were as successful as last year.

sign

sleigh

It is the beginning of December and I am in good shape (spiritually and commercially) for Christmas. I will not have to go near a mall. I can now concentrate on awaiting the birth of our Lord and Savior in the season of Advent in a relatively calm state of mind. I hope this feeling lasts!

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Oh, come, our Dayspring from on high, And cheer us by your drawing nigh,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel!

8 Comments
October 25, 2012

A laurel and hardy handshake

by chuckofish

Earlier in the week my students surprised me with a party celebrating my 10 years at my flyover university. I was completely taken by surprise, which considering there were nearly 700 people keeping the secret, is pretty amazing. They gave me a lovely corsage, flowers and a very large cake (which quickly disappeared).

Thankfully I did not cry. But I was reminded of how grateful I am to have my job and how blessed I am to work with such wonderful and kind people. It is easy in this world to feel taken for granted and under appreciated, isn’t it? It is a good thing to tell people thank you and well done and I love you.

So your assignment today is to smile at your colleagues and your students and the checker in the grocery store. Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

6 Comments
October 1, 2012

A weekend adventure

by chuckofish

On Saturday three friends and I took a little road trip and crossed the Mighty Mississip into the Land of Lincoln and went to an art fair.

There were some very interesting booths–even a “mobile” vintage store. Quelle great idea, right?

There was everything from handmade baby shoes (cute!)

to holiday yard decorations made out of re-purposed pan lids. Even though I try to be green whenever possible, I passed these up. Great idea for you DIY-ers out there though!

It was a beautiful day for strolling around

and there were lots of exotic food choices. I chose the vegen rice bowl–yummy!

I collected lots of business cards from different artists, most of whom have Etsy shops to check out (at my leisure) later. Isn’t the variety of cool cards amazing?

Carla, our driver, had the super idea of going down the road to Eckert’s Farm in Belleville, home of pick-your-own apples. Becky, armed with her smart phone, navigated. Clearly lots of people had the same idea as there were hundreds of cars there on this beautiful Saturday and men directing traffic, but we got the Bomb Spot right by the door!

We did not pick apples, but we went to their huge country store and garden center. There were pumpkins galore

and apples by the bushel

and gooey butter cake!

I can’t believe I have lived (almost) my whole life here and never made it to Eckert’s before this Saturday. It’s always fun to do something new! What did you do this weekend?

8 Comments