quotes | dual personalities

December 5, 2016

Look toward the east, O Jerusalem*

by chuckofish

Call him a stick-in-the-mud, a dinosaur, a fusty throwback, but indeed, jumping into the fray the day after Halloween was akin to hitting, and holding, high C for a couple of months, while a bit of patience saved Christmas for Christmas morning and kept the holy day fresh and new.

I re-read Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon over the weekend and enjoyed it thoroughly. Although I agree with Father Tim about getting ahead of ourselves in regards to the Christmas season, we did go ahead as usual and buy our trees. They’re not up yet–they’re in the garage for now. I’ll try to get the little one up in the dining room this week, but I’m not going to stress about it. At least I don’t have a bad cat to deal with like the boy does.

In between getting organized for Christmas, doing laundry and sundry household tasks, and going to a baby shower for daughter #3,

I watched Donovan’s Reef (1963)–a film which the New York Times described at the time as “sheer contrivance effected in hearty, fun-loving, truly infectious style.” I would agree with that assessment whole-heartedly.

It takes place at Christmas and includes an amusing Polynesian Christmas pageant, so I count it as a Christmas movie.

Directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Lee Marvin, it is heavy-handed in the Irish humor department, but if you’re in the right mood, it can really hit the spot. (Shot in Hawaii, the scenery is beautiful as well.) I was in the mood.

I also went to our Advent Service of Lessons and Carols on Sunday night at church. I read lesson five, from Baruch:

Look toward the east, O Jerusalem, and see the joy that is coming to you from God…

We sang quite a few of my favorite Advent hymns and the choir sang and the bell choir played. Then I went home and ate chili, which the OM had made, and we watched Gregory Peck as King David in the technicolor extravaganza David and Bathsheba (1951).

Despite GP’s awesome presence, it was pretty bad and not surprisingly, as it is based on one of the Bible’s more sordid stories.

So back to Christmas movies already.

*Baruch 4:36

7 Comments

December 2, 2016

Father of minutes, Father of days*

by chuckofish

Well, the weekend is upon us. Sigh. I intend to check out our Grace Church Holiday Sale, go to a baby shower for daughter #3, and attend our Advent Lessons and Carols service. Maybe I will convince the OM to go with me to buy our Christmas trees…

In between the aforementioned fun activities, I plan to start watching Christmas movies. You know:

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

or maybe Edward Scissorhands (1990)

There are so many to choose from! Meanwhile, maybe I’ll get started on those Christmas cards!

BTW, don’t forget to set your DVR this month, because TCM is, of course, showing a lot of Christmas classics! Here’s the schedule.

And this Instagram made me laugh:

Enjoy your weekend!

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December 1, 2016

Lighten up

by chuckofish

“I hear that in many places something has happened to Christmas; that it is changing from a time of merriment and carefree gaiety to a holiday which is filled with tedium; that many people dread the day and the obligation to give Christmas presents is a nightmare to weary, bored souls; that the children of enlightened parents no longer believe in Santa Claus; that all in all, the effort to be happy and have pleasure makes many honest hearts grow dark with despair instead of beaming with good will and cheerfulness.”

–Julia Peterkin, “A Plantation Christmas,” 1934

Today is the first day of December. Let’s try not to get all stressed out.

Remember that Jesus is the reason for the season–not some unattainable perfection of decorating or entertaining. Relax. Pay attention. Have fun.

And listen to this:

I feel better. Don’t you?

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November 30, 2016

Faithful soldiers and servants

by chuckofish

Blessed Lord, who wast tempted in all things like as we are, have mercy upon our frailty. Out of weakness give us strength; grant to us thy fear, that we may fear thee only; support us in time of temptation; embolden us in time of danger; help us to do thy work with good courage, and to continue thy faithful soldiers and servants unto our life’s end.

–Brooke Foss Westcott, British bishop, biblical scholar and theologian, serving as Bishop of Durham from 1890 until his death in 1901

These woodcuts are by Frances Hammell Gearhart (b. 1869-1958), California artist known for her color woodcuts of the Sierras, the Pacific Coast, and the area around Big Bear Lake. Aren’t they wonderful?

4 Comments

November 21, 2016

“Not having any potatoes to give you, I am now going to stake you to some very valuable advice…”*

by chuckofish

I had a long week at work and a very busy Friday and Friday night, so I took it easy this weekend.

I read broadly from this collection of Damon Runyon stories,

and enjoyed it very much if I do not say so myself. Old Runyon has a voice like no other, and the stories, which sometimes involve murder and revenge and heartbreak, are always diverting and stress-reducing in their politically-incorrect way.

I recommend it highly.

Otherwise, I puttered around the house, cleaning and straightening.

And the Christmas cactus is blooming!

All will be well.

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

–Colossians 1:11

And by the way, next Sunday is Advent I! Can you believe it? Enjoy the short work week!

*The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown by Damon Runyon

5 Comments

November 17, 2016

Thanks—joyful thanks!

by chuckofish

Here we are halfway through November and Thanksgiving is a week from today! Let’s get serious about having thankful thoughts! Here’s some Walt Whitman to help with that.

Thanks in old age—thanks ere I go,

For health, the midday sun, the impalpable air—for life, mere
life,

For precious ever-lingering memories, (of you my mother dear
—you, father—you, brothers, sisters, friends,)

For all my days—not those of peace alone—the days of war the
same,

For gentle words, caresses, gifts from foreign lands,

For shelter, wine and meat—for sweet appreciation,

(You distant, dim unknown—or young or old—countless, un-
specified, readers belov’d,

We never met, and ne’er shall meet—and yet our souls embrace,
long, close and long;)

For beings, groups, love, deeds, words, books—for colors, forms,

For all the brave strong men—devoted, hardy men—who’ve for-
ward sprung in freedom’s help, all years, all lands,

For braver, stronger, more devoted men—(a special laurel ere I
go, to life’s war’s chosen ones,

The cannoneers of song and thought—the great artillerists—the
foremost leaders, captains of the soul:)

As soldier from an ended war return’d—As traveler out of
myriads, to the long procession retrospective,

Thanks—joyful thanks!—a soldier’s, traveler’s thanks.

–Walt Whitman, 1888-89

The paintings are by John McCartin, Patrick William Adam, Bruce Yardley, and Mark O’Neill. Pretty pictures always help, right?

3 Comments

November 14, 2016

“And the love of God is broader Than the measure of our mind”*

by chuckofish

This was a busy weekend pour moi. I went to the rummage sale at the Episcopal Church I attended growing up. I went to a funeral at Grace, to see “Steel Magnolias” performed by the local theatre guild, and back to church on Sunday.

The boy accompanied me to the funeral because it was for a member of the church choir and he knew him from back in his choir days. (It is sometimes necessary to remind the young the importance of attending funerals. I remind myself as well.) It was sad because the deceased was relatively young (with one son still in college) but it was a lovely Rite I service and the members of two church choirs sang.

We went out to dinner after the funeral, and then the OM and I went to the theatre. You will recall that “Steel Magnolias” is a play about six southern women and it takes place in a beauty parlor in Chinquapin, Louisiana in the 1980s.

Our friend was playing Ouiser, the “Shirley MacLaine part.”

As Ouiser says at one point: “I do not see plays, because I can nap at home for free…” I tend to agree, but I am a good friend.

I was a reader at church on Sunday. I read St. Paul and got to say: “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” And what is doing right? Well, Paul says, Do your work quietly and earn your own living.

I talked to my DP and she told me about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1ENm3nxTlg

Amen, brother.

*Maurice Bevan (1921-2006)

4 Comments

November 3, 2016

Variations on a theme

by chuckofish

Photo courtesy of the Missouri Dept. of Conservation

“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.”

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

We’ve quoted Bonhoeffer before on the subject of thankfulness, but can we ever say it often enough? Probably not. It is so central to our well-being.

November is a good month to take a look at the things for which we are thankful, so I plan to do that.

Meanwhile, here’s a poem by W.S. Merwin:

Thank you my life long afternoon
late in this spring that has no age
my window above the river
for the woman you led me to
when it was time at last the words
coming to me out of mid-air
that carried me through the clear day
and come even now to find me
for old friends and echoes of them
those mistakes only I could make
homesickness that guides the plovers
from somewhere they had loved before
they knew they loved it to somewhere
they had loved before they saw it
thank you good body hand and eye
and the places and moments known
only to me revisiting
once more complete just as they are
and the morning stars I have seen

And I am thankful for the flyover view.

“Grumbling and gratitude are, for the child of God, in conflict. Be grateful and you won’t grumble. Grumble and you won’t be grateful.”
―Billy Graham

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November 2, 2016

“We could be confidantes. Confiding confidentially.”*

by chuckofish

It is November, but it doesn’t feel like it, that’s for sure!

I mean really.

We had a quiet Halloween. No one knocked at our door. I watched the Halloween episode of Angel, season 5–“Life of the Party”–the one where Lorne works around the clock to throw the ultimate Halloween party at Wolfram & Hart, but problems arise when he has his sleep removed. Then I watched two more episodes for the heck of it. Not a bad way to spend Halloween.

I guess it is time to put away my festive (and very vintage) Halloween candles.

I should note that today is the birthday of the great American pioneer Daniel Boone (1734-1820)

who…

Of all men, saving Sylla, the man-slayer,
Who passes for in life and death most lucky
Of the great names which in our faces stare,
The General Boon, back-woodsman of Kentucky,
Was happiest amongst mortals any where;
For killing nothing but a bear or buck, he
Enjoyed the lonely vigorous, harmless days
Of his old age in wilds of deepest maze.

Lord Byron wrote those lines in Don Juan, Canto 8. Old Dan’l was a pretty famous guy! Anyway, I will remind you that Boone spent those latter days in my flyover state in the appropriately named town of Defiance.

As Boone said, “I firmly believe it requires but a little philosophy to make a man happy in whatsoever state he is. This consists in a full resignation to the will of Providence; and a resigned soul finds pleasure in a path strewed with briars and thorns.”

I concur. Discuss among yourselves.

*Fred in the “Life of the Party” episode of Angel, season 5

The portrait of Boone is by John James Audubon.

5 Comments

November 1, 2016

Rescued from oblivion

by chuckofish

Even the most cursory of diaries can be of incalculable value. What the weather was doing. Who we ran into on the street. The movie we saw. The small boy at the dentist’s office. The dream.

Just a handful of the barest facts can be enough to rescue an entire day from oblivion — not just what happened in it, but who we were when it happened. Who the others were. What it felt like back then to be us.

“Our years come to an end like a sigh . . . ” says Psalm 90, “so teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (w. 9,12).

It is a mark of wisdom to realize how precious our days are, even the most uneventful of them. If we can keep them alive by only a line or so about each, at least we will know what we’re sighing about when the last of them comes.

~ Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words

The illustration of parked cars on a residential street is from This is New York by Miroslav Sasek.

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