dual personalities

Tag: Lonesome Dove

February 20, 2026

Tell Woodrow, come a runnin’

by chuckofish

I finished watching Lonesome Dove (1989) and it was so good (and so sad)! I highly recommend watching it again. It is six hours well spent.

Also, the scene where Pea Eye is dehydrated and exhausted crossing the plains to get back to Captain Call and he hallucinates that the dead Deets comes to guide him to Captain Call reminded me, of course, of the scene in 3 Godfathers where John Wayne is at the end of his tether carrying the baby across the desert and the vision of Harry Carey, Jr. and Pedro Armendáriz comes to encourage him to go on. Lots of good movie references for the initiated.

And it was a fitting tribute to ol’ Robert Duvall.

So have a good weekend! I will be attending our Missions dinner at church tonight. I will be sitting at a table with I don’t know who, but I am okay with that.

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February 15, 2022

“Here’s to the sunny slopes of long ago”*

by chuckofish

Daughter #2 drove home for the weekend, so we had fun doing what we normally do: happy hour on Friday followed by the CD shuffle at home, estate sales and lunch out on Saturday, church on Sunday followed by brunch with the boy and his family. We also celebrated Valentine’s Day on Sunday as did daughter #2 (see yesterday’s post) by having a little party after church, complete with favors. However, no one took any pictures, so I have nothing to show for my efforts. Tant pis. You’ll just have to take my word for it that the table looked pretty and the wee twins did not throw their presents aside in disgust.

I was pleased to receive a new puzzle and also a special mat on which to put it together.

(This Peanuts puzzle is harder than it looks!)

The OM and I watched Bullitt (1968) which has become our traditional Valentine movie of choice, because it is a movie we both can love for obvious reasons. I remember when my parents went to see it at the movies back in the day. They enjoyed it as well, especially as it was shot in San Francisco, a favorite town of our father.

Last week we watched Lonesome Dove (1989)–old-fashioned style, one part each night over a four night period, the way it was originally intended to be viewed. I enjoyed it as always–Augustus McCrae and Captain Call are two of my favorite characters in fiction. The book, of course, is even better. It is full of interesting characters, all fully realized. There are no stereotypes, no cardboard cutouts. And there is no political agenda.

Well, a good dose of Gus and Woodrow is good for the soul. You might want to dust off the DVD or the book. I recommend both.

Fun fact: Robert Duvall is in both Bullitt and Lonesome Dove. Also, he went to college across the river in Elsah, Illinois. I had a friend (who has passed away) at my flyover institute who went to The Principia with him and was best friends with “Bobby’s” younger brother. He had quite a few good stories.

If you haven’t already read this article, maybe you should.

And, you know, this was really special. “His motives are still unknown but the administration believes it was some kind of a lapse in sanity,” she said.

And let us not forget this:

Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

–I Cor. 1:26-31

*Augustus McCrae

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September 25, 2018

Ride boldly ride

by chuckofish

Today we toast Oliver Loving (December 4, 1812 – September 25, 1867) who was an American rancher and pioneer of the cattle drive. Together with Charles Goodnight, he developed the Goodnight-Loving Trail.

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He was mortally wounded by Indians while on a cattle drive and died 151 years ago today. You may recall that Larry McMurtry borrowed his manner of death and the fact that Goodnight transported his body back to Texas for his character Augustus McCrae in Lonesome Dove.

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Loving County, Texas, the second least-populace county in the United States in population, is named in his honor.

You can read more about the trail here.

Well, it may be time to dig out Lonesome Dove, the mini series.

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“Here’s to the sunny slopes of long ago.”

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July 6, 2015

Our father’s God to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing

by chuckofish

Did you have a pleasant 4th of July? The boy and daughter #3 came over for dinner for All-American burgers and hot dogs. I did not attempt anything too advanced in the culinary category–unlike daughter #2 who did just that back in Maryland…

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Ahem. After dinner we headed over to the high school to watch the local fireworks show held in the park.

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It was clearly the place to be.

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Note that the boy is wearing a patriotic red, white and blue ensemble, which has always been the way we roll on the 4th. After the fireworks display we headed home and the OM unearthed his personal fireworks cache in the basement and we indulged in some sparkler fun.

IMG_1260Good times.

On Sunday I fulfilled my lay reading duties–2 Corinthians 12:2-10. It was a great passage, where Paul talks about Satan tormenting him with a thorn in his flesh, and how he appealed to the Lord three times, that it would leave him, but “he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.'”

Good to remember. I wish I had the kind of memory that could pull out appropriate quotes when needed and on the spur of the moment, not an hour later when I am thinking about it.

Meanwhile the constant rain of last week dissipated and the weather for the three-day weekend was pretty darn glorious. I worked in the yard some, but the mosquitoes were also out in full force, so I spent quite a bit of quality time in the Florida room instead. I am re-reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and enjoying it immensely.

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I always say–a book worth reading is a book worth re-reading and this is a perfect example. When I first read this book back in 1985 or ’86, I raced through it, because I wanted to know what would happen next. Now I am enjoying the writing and savoring the characters. It is a wise book full of truth. (I may have read it another time  during the past 30 years as well, but who’s counting?) I heartily recommend you read or re-read this book. It certainly deserved the Pulitzer Prize it won.

So onward and upward–have a good week!

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February 5, 2013

“Here’s to the sunny slopes of long ago.”

by chuckofish

It snowed in our flyover town over the weekend!

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As an antidote to the cold winter weather (and because I had no real interest in the Super Bowl), I watched Lonesome Dove (1989) on Netflix Watch Instantly on Sunday and Monday nights. I had not seen it in a very long time. I read the book about two retired Texas Rangers who decide to take a herd of cattle on a 3,000-mile trek north to Montana in 1876 when it came out in paperback back in 1988 and loved it. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985. (Various sequels and prequels by Larry McMurtry are, in my humble opinion, unequal to the original, due to their being way over the top in grossness and violence. But the original LD got it just right.)

The miniseries I associate with the year after my mother died when solace in any form was welcome and hard-to-come-by.

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Gus McCrae and Captain Call were a balm to me–at least for the four days in February 1989  the series aired. Gus was even a bit of a philosopher, handing out good advice right and left, such as this:

Lorie darlin’, life in San Francisco, you see, is still just life. If you want any one thing too badly, it’s likely to turn out to be a disappointment. The only healthy way to live life is to learn to like all the little everyday things, like a sip of good whiskey in the evening, a soft bed, a glass of buttermilk, or a feisty gentleman like myself.

Thank you, Gus and Woodrow. And thank you, Pea and Dish and Deets and Newt and July and Roscoe and Lorena and all the rest. It was nice to see you again.

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