dual personalities

Tag: Inside Llewyn Davis

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

by chuckofish

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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

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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)

“Grant us strength and courage…*

by chuckofish

Talk about dark and dreary–that was our weekend! But it was brightened a whole lot by my Saturday outing to historic Kimmswick for lunch with my good friends.

blueowl

We dined at the celebrated “Blue Owl” restaurant. Our food was yummy and the company, as always, hilarious. Carla, our intrepid social planner, drove as usual. It is great to be like a child on these outings and just follow along. I mean that. With all my heart.

The boy came over and burned a CD for me. It is the soundtrack to the movie Inside Llewyn Davis.

Yes, that’s Justin Timberlake singing. It is a wonderful CD and I highly recommend it. (Also highly recommended by daughter #1) How can you miss with T. Bone Burnett producing? Well, you can’t.

I have also been listening to the new CD Old Yellow Moon with Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.

harris-crowell-old-yellow-moon

I believe it just won a Grammy in the “Americana” field. What is this field, you ask? I had never heard of it, but it seems to be a category where old singers are put so they can still win Grammys. I am not trying to be harsh but, c’mon,  this is a straight on Country album. I think Steve Martin and Edie Brickell were nominated in this field too. Anyway, it is a good album and I especially like their cover of the Kris Kristofferson song “Chase the Feeling” which includes the classic line: “You got loaded again, Ain’t you handsome when you’re high.”

Speaking of music, I heard that my friend Andrew Hunt will be opening for none other than (be still my heart) Dwight Yoakam

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in Austin, TX soon. He will not be with his band  Johnny Appleseed, but some other guys. Boy, wouldn’t it be great to see that concert? Okay, Dwight may not be the heart-throb he once was, but neither am I.

Saturday night I watched The Commancheros (1961) with John Wayne and Stuart Whitman.

Stuart Whitman (who replaced James Garner, Charlton Heston and several others) and the Duke in that iconic faded red shirt, leather vest and kirchief.

Stuart Whitman (who replaced James Garner, Charlton Heston and several others) and the Duke in that iconic faded red shirt, leather vest and kerchief.

It is the last film directed by one of my favorites, Michael Curtiz (Casablanca and The Adventures of Robin Hood). He was very ill, dying as it turned out, during the filming of it and John Wayne stepped in and actually directed most of the movie. He took no credit for it, of course. Any film from this era of John Wayne westerns is always a winner in my book, especially when you have had it up to here (already) with X-Game sports at the Olympics.

At church on Sunday I was confronted with the fact that they have cut out a section of my pew (fifth row, epistle side) to accommodate oldsters with walkers. Carla had warned me about this, but still it was a bit jarring on Sunday morning. I had to find a new pew, and for oldsters like me, that is not easy! C’est la vie. I’ll live.

The boy and daughter #3 came over for dinner on Sunday night. I made Episcopal souffle, a nice salad and cut up a baguette for dinner. Perfect.

wrc

How was your weekend? Have a good week!

*…to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart”–BCP