dual personalities

Tag: reading

October 27, 2022

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

Currently I am reading David McCullough’s book about Theodore Roosevelt’s early years. TR has always been a favorite of mine, but I am learning a lot about his wonderful family. It is fascinating to see how his childhood made the man. As I’ve said before, McCullough understands context and presents history as it happened and not in relation to what is happening today. Today, by the way, is the great man’s birthday, so let’s all toast him tonight.

I am, of course, continuing with my Bible reading and have caught up after falling a wee bit behind while traveling last weekend. Tell me, are not these verses from Psalm 119 relevant to today?

33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
And I shall keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to covetousness.
37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way.
38 Establish Your word to Your servant,
Who is devoted to fearing You.
39 Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your judgments are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me in Your righteousness.

Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things. This is a serious problem for almost everybody these days. Instagram is my personal stumbling block. Can I get an Amen?

I love reading stories like this.

Yes, October 31 is Halloween, but it also marks 505 years since Martin Luther effectively—and unintentionally—sparked the Protestant Reformation with his Ninety-Five Theses. You can watch the award-winning documentary Luther: The Life and Legacy of the German Reformer streaming for free on Ligonier Ministries’ YouTube channel.  I will probably also watch the excellent movie Luther (2003) starring Joseph Fiennes as the reformer this weekend.

Meanwhile in weather news, it rained for a night and a day, but yesterday the sun came out and it was a beautiful fall day. The yard is a mess with past due hostas and lots of wet leaves…

…but what ho, it is the bell and it tolleth for me. Time to go inside and read.

3 Comments
October 6, 2022

“Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”*

by chuckofish

It is October again and time to toast our parents (tomorrow) on the anniversary of their marriage in 1950. I am grateful that they had it together enough to have three children in those post-war years and to stay together to raise them. It is more than a lot of people have, especially these days.

I finished S.C. Gwynne’s great book “Rebel Yell” about Stonewall Jackson. Although I am no fan of the Confederacy, I always admired Jackson a great deal.

The “Chancellorsville Portrait” taken seven days before Jackson was mortally wounded.

It was a terrible thing for the South when he died in 1863; but the whole country mourned his death. It is interesting to note how many strong men were moved to tears, openly sobbing in some cases, from the lowliest soldier to Robert E. Lee. Like U.S. Grant, he was not much of a success before the war. He was an unpopular professor at VMI and only came into his own when commanding men on the battlefield. When he did, he did so with a vengeance. He was a devout Christian, a Presbyterian, who believed completely in God’s providence. He knew that whatever happened, it happened because God willed it. This made him extremely courageous. He died knowing where he was bound.

Gwynne writes: “The most famous Northern view of Jackson came from the celebrated poet John Greenleaf Whittier, whose poem ‘Barbara Frietchie,’ published in 1864, became a national sensation. It described an almost entirely mythological incident from September 1862, when Jackson’s troops were passing through Frederick, Maryland, on their way to the battles of Harpers Ferry and Antietam. As Whittier told it, after Jackson’s troops had taken down all the American flags, the elderly Frietchie had retrieved one and flown it from her attic window. Seeing it, Jackson ordered his men to shoot it down, but Frietchie caught it as it fell and held it forth, crying, ‘Shoot, if you must, this old gray head/But spare your country’s flag.’ Jackson’s reaction followed:

A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,

Over the face of the leader came;

The nobler nature within him stirred

To life at that woman’s deed and word:

“Who touches a hair of yon gray head

Dies like a dog! March on!” he said.

All day long through Frederick street

Sounded the tread of marching feet:

All day long that free flag tost

Over the heads of the rebel host.

Ever its torn folds rose and fell

On the loyal winds that loved it well;

And through the hill-gaps sunset light

Shone over it with a warm good-night.

“None of this ever happened. But to the Northern nation–the wartime nation–the incident was as good as documented fact. What it said to them was that Jackson was a gentleman and a Christian and a decent person in spite of his role in killing and maiming tens of thousands of their young men. But it also said that he was, fundamentally, an American. It was his Americanness that had ‘stirred’ in him and redeemed him.”

Americans today have a hard time understanding that an enemy can be a good person, a noble person. And that being an American is a great thing.

We were sad to hear that beautiful Loretta Lynn had passed away at age ninety but we rejoice in her long, eventful life.

Loretta was the real deal who wrote songs about real people and how they felt about real things. She was a hillbilly and proud of it. This is a good article about her.

And here is a classic Loretta song, which she wrote in 1966:

Into paradise may the angels lead thee, Loretta, and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem. (BCP, Burial of the Dead)

And let’s not forget all those devastated people in Florida. “God is our helper who’s always with us in times of trouble. Trouble comes and goes. Hurricanes pass. But our helper never changes or leaves us. Even when our future is uncertain and our lives have been completely overturned, we know these things about God. He is almighty; he is eternal; and he loves us.”

This was a hard one!

*General Jackson’s last words.

3 Comments
September 29, 2022

I look deep down

by chuckofish

We all have our pensive moods.

And when we do, it’s a good thing to have our quote books at the ready…

“Oh, grassy glades! oh ever vernal endless landscapes in the soul; in ye,—though long parched by the dead drought of the earthly life,— in ye, men yet may roll, like young horses in new morning clover; and for some few fleeting moments, feel the cool dew of the life immortal on them. Would to God these blessed calms would last. But the mingled, mingling threads of life are woven by warp and woof: calms crossed by storms, a storm for every calm. There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause:— through infancy’s unconscious spell, boyhood’s thoughtless faith, adolescence’ doubt (the common doom), then skepticism, then disbelief, resting at last in manhood’s pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling’s father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it.”

And the same day, too, gazing far down from his boat’s side into that same golden sea, Starbuck lowly murmured:–“Loveliness unfathomable, as ever lover saw in his young bride’s eye!–Tell me not of thy teeth-tiered sharks, and thy kidnapping cannibal ways. Let faith oust fact; let fancy oust memory; I look deep down and do believe.”

–Moby-Dick, Herman Melville

We can also go to YouTube and line up our favorite movie scenes. Recently I saw someone’s list of the five best speeches in film. You can imagine what was on it: Jack Nicholson In A Few Good Men, Mel Gibson in Braveheart, Russell Crowe in Gladiator and so on. Ho hum.

These are the five that came immediately to my mind:

Gregory Peck in Twelve O’Clock High…

Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood…

John Wayne in The Searchers…

Burl Ives in The Big Country…

Gene Hackman in Hoosiers…

Watch them all–they’re short. They’re like quotes from Moby-Dick. They whet your appetite for the whole great thing. And they remind you why you are on this journey in the first place.

For the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host; but strength cometh from heaven.

–1 Maccabees 3:19

And here’s one more, for good measure. Leslie Howard in The Petrified Forest:

10 Comments
September 27, 2022

Oh, here I am ‘neath the blue, blue sky a-doin’ as I please!

by chuckofish

Last week I read Anne Tyler’s latest book. It was quick and easy and not very thought-provoking. Her books are all the same now–about some average white, middle class family whose members don’t seem to get along but who are remotely devoted to one another. Her characters inhabit a godless universe where no one really seems to care much about anything. But come to think of it, maybe that is the depressing world that most people live in today. To me it feels alien and empty.

Daughter #1 returned my copy of The Lincoln Highway, because it is the next book to be discussed in my church women’s book club. I will have to re-read/skim it because, although I read it last fall, I forget books as fast as I read them.

My DP mentioned on Friday that Hilary Mantel had died. This was, indeed, sad, but not surprising, news. She had been sick for a long time and wrote those three last great novels despite being very ill. She was a brave soul who had something to say.

As the word of God spreads, the people’s eyes are opened to new truths. Until now…they knew Noah and the Flood, but not St. Paul. They could count over the sorrows of our Blessed Mother, and say how the damned are carried down to Hell. But they did not know the manifold miracles and sayings of Christ, nor the words and deeds of the apostles, simple men who, like the poor of London, pursued simple wordless trades. The story is much bigger than they ever thought it was….you cannot tell people just part of the tale and then stop, or just tell them the parts you choose. They have seen their religion painted on the walls of churches, or carved in stone, but now God’s pen is poised, and he is ready to write his words in the books of their hearts.

–Wolf Hall

The great thing about Hilary Mantel is that she did not think religion in the sixteenth was just a tool used to wield power by kings and popes and countries. She understood that it really meant something to people like Thomas Cromwell. Yes, he used his power to great effect; he was a political genius. But there was more to him than just that. She understood that Thomas More, who wanted to keep the Word out of the hands of the people, was the real monster.

Here’s a good post from Anne Kennedy, who is back from her lengthy summer break. I missed her a lot.

Today is the birthday of Johnny Appleseed (1744-1845)! Let’s all take a moment to sing along with Johnny from Walt Disney’s 1948 film Melody Time, made when Disney was reflecting a very different America. We used to sing this song at bedtime when my kids were little. We also sang it as a grace at snack time when I taught Sunday School back in the day. I’ll have to teach it to the twins.

I owe the Lord so much
For everything I see
I’m certain if it weren’t for Him
There’d be no apples on this limb
He’s been good to me

5 Comments
September 15, 2022

Come prodigal children

by chuckofish

The other night when I was looking around for something to read I re-read Shirley Jackson’s great short story about Charles. You remember, the one about the disruptive kindergartner in her son Laurie’s class.

The day Laurie started kindergarten he renounced corduroy overalls with bibs and began wearing blue jeans with a belt; I watched him go off the first morning with the older girl next door, seeing clearly that an era of my life was ended, my sweet-voiced nursery-school tot replaced by a long-trousered, swaggering character who forgot to stop at the corner and wave goodbye to me.

He came home the same way, the front door slamming open, his cap on the floor, and the voice suddenly become raucous shouting, “Isn’t anybody here?”

At lunch he spoke insolently to his father, spilled Jannie’s milk, and remarked that his teacher said that we were not to take the name of the Lord in vain.

“How was school today?” his father asked.

“All right,” he said.

“Did you learn anything” his father asked.

Laurie regarded his father coldly. “I didn’t learn nothing,” he said.

“Anything,” I said. “Didn’t learn anything.”

“The teacher spanked a boy, though,” Laurie said, addressing his bread and butter. “For being fresh,” he added with his mouth full.

“What did he do?” I asked. “Who was it?”

Laurie thought. “It was Charles,” he said. “He was fresh. The teacher spanked him and made him stand in a corner. He was awfully fresh.”

I seem to recall that it was a favorite story of the boy and I hope he will read this story to his two kindergartners. I bet they would all get a kick out of it and the wee twins could learn some new words like “spank” and “fresh”…also insolent and renounce and regard. It is an artfully written story, as all Jackson’s stories are. On second thought, maybe he should not. It might give them ideas.

You can read the entire story here.

Today my Bible Study starts up again. We are reading the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is the perfect follow-up to Leviticus.

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?

–Hebrews 7: 11

I will be in a different group since our old leader has gone back to school to start work on a degree in Christian Counseling. I will miss our old group, but look forward to getting to know some more women at my church.

If you feel like it, you can toast Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), the noted French author of maxims and memoirs, who was born on this day in Paris to a noble family. His great-grandfather François III, count de La Rochefoucauld, a Huguenot, was murdered in the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre.

He did not seem to hold a grudge.

The reason why so few persons are agreeable in conversation is that each thinks more of what he desires to say, than of what the others say, and that we make bad listeners when we want to speak. Yet it is necessary to listen to those who talk, we should give them the time they want, and let them say even senseless things; never contradict or interrupt them; on the contrary, we should enter into their mind and taste, illustrate their meaning, praise anything they say that deserves praise, and let them see we praise more from our choice than from agreement with them. To please others we should talk on subjects they like and that interest them, avoid disputes upon indifferent matters, seldom ask questions, and never let them see that we pretend to be better informed than they are.

–Reflections on Various Subjects

Grace and peace to you this fine Thursday in September. Read some de La Rochefoucauld maxims here.

And I like Zach Williams’s new song:

2 Comments
February 21, 2022

“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take”*

by chuckofish

After a period of rain, sleet and snow, we enjoyed a pleasant and sunny weekend. It was in the 60s on Sunday! There is more rain and snow on the horizon this week, but, have no fear, the end of February is in sight. “Can spring be far behind?”

We had a quiet weekend. We managed to install our new tv, which involved more than just plugging it in. I had to leave the house for a bit while the OM hooked it up to the internet.

Later we watched a little speedskating and cross country skiing–our only nod to these Olympics–before switching over to the PGA.

For years I have been reading the blog New York Social Diary–I think I started when daughter #1 lived in Manhattan. I continued, not because I am particularly interested in New York high society, but because the writer David Patrick Columbia is a very interesting guy. He is curious about history and people and he writes about them in a detached manner. He is, moreover, a kind man, a nice guy. Tall, handsome, waspy, gay–he is the kind of man rich women have always loved to have around.

Now someone has produced a documentary about him and it is available to watch in seven chapters (about 10 minutes each) on his blog. I have enjoyed it and you might too. He knows that being rich and powerful does not make you happy. I grew up with rich people and that was my takeaway as well.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:11-13

This is an interesting interview with author Min Jin Lee. It is really beyond the comprehension of our liberal elites that an award-winning author would read the bible daily and attend church regularly.

Happy Presidents’ Day! Did you know that Presidents’ Day never falls on the actual birthday of any American president? Four chief executives—George Washington, William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan—were born in February, but their birthdays all come either too early or late to coincide with Presidents’ Day, which is always celebrated on the third Monday of the month.

Oh, don’t forget that the 200th birthday of one of our favorite presidents, cousin Ulysses Simpson Grant, is coming up on April 27!

How do you plan to celebrate?

*William Cowper, 1774 “Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread/are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head.”

8 Comments
January 13, 2022

Humble and contrite

by chuckofish

I recently watched The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) starring Frederic March as Missouri’s favorite son. It gives a sanitized look at the great man’s life but it is really pretty good. It inspired me anyway to take down “Life on the Mississippi” from its place on the shelf and I have been reading it.

Not surprisingly, it is very good and extremely readable. Have you read any Twain lately?

I have also been following the Gospel Coalitions’s daily “Read the Bible” plan and so far so good (12 days in!). I am currently reading a chapter a day of Genesis, Matthew, Nehemiah and Acts. (I am taking notes, because my memory is so bad!) Breaking it up this way is a good idea, since you don’t get bogged down in the Old Testament and you also see how everything in the OT points to the fulfilling of its prophesy, the coming of our savior, Christ Jesus. As Don Carson says, “When you read, remember that God himself has declared, ‘This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word’” (Isa. 66:2).

It is easy to see why 19th century American writers were so good–they were immersed in the Bible, steeped in its vocabulary and vivid visualizations. So many of today’s writers write as if they grew up watching made-for-tv movies and not reading much. This does not make for good literature.

I found this article about C. S. Lewis and Billy Graham on the subject of Angels to be interesting. And here’s what Calvin thought about Angels. “Calvin’s view about angels is indeed not spectacular in the sense that it offers new and unexpected insights into the world of angels or presents an impressive and new, reformed angelology. But on the other hand it can be called spectacular in the sense that for Calvin, angels play a greater role in the life of the believer than could be drawn from the spirituality of the average Reformed believer.”

This is an interesting article. “Put simply, cancel culture is a culture of bullying. What starts with a difference of ideas ends with a willful public destruction of other human beings. Those who claimed to be the ones bullied have now become the bullies themselves, all because of a shift of power…Power is the critical concept, here. Cancel culture is based on the assumption that power—not truth—is the only way to drive cultural change.”

I am leaving tomorrow to visit daughter #2, baby Katie and DN in far-off Maryland, so wish me luck and traveling mercies. I’ll be flying…

…no choo-choo trains for me this time! I can’t wait to see everyone and check out their new house!

Love that red jumper made by her great-grandmother!

7 Comments
January 4, 2022

Many are the plans in the mind of man

by chuckofish

These things have served their purpose: let them be.
So with your own, and pray they be forgiven
By others, as I pray you to forgive
Both bad and good. Last season’s fruit is eaten
And the fullfed beast shall kick the empty pail.
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.

T.S. Eliot, from Little Giddings

Like I said yesterday, I am not going to overdo the making of plans and goal-setting in the new year, but daughter #1 and I did get started on the time-consuming work of putting away Christmas over the weekend.

I still have a lot to do, but the two trees are down and the ornaments packed safely in their designated boxes. It always feels good to get things cleaned up in January, don’t you think?

After packing boxes and toting them to the basement, we watched Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959) to ring in the new year. It is, of course, an American classic–the brave sheriff (John Wayne), standing alone against the rich and powerful bad guy with his legion of paid gunmen, is aided by his friends, a motley crew consisting of a drunk, a crippled old man, a female card shark, a tiny Hispanic innkeeper, and a reluctant youth. Although he eschews their aid, they will not be dissuaded from helping.

The movie was a huge hit world-wide. Watch this climactic scene dubbed in French! (It’s not quite the same without John Wayne’s distinctive voice and manner…”Burdette! Nathan Burdette!”)

We also watched The Court Jester (1955)–another favorite with Danny Kaye and a stellar supporting cast. Can you say, “The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!”?

So I am off to a good start of vintage movie viewing in the new year. I cannot remember the last movie I saw that was made recently. If I wrack my brain, all I can come up with is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2020) or Ford v Ferrari (2020)–good grief. Last year was a total wash-out! I will stick with the classics–In fact, I am in the mood for a Paul Newman retrospective, aren’t you?

In other news, I have begun my Bible reading plan and I am working on one of my new puzzles.

I am also going to endeavor to read some actual books and not just my MacBook.

This sums up very well how I feel about everything. “Popularity makes a poor life preserver.”

Well, onward and upward. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21)

5 Comments
October 21, 2021

Living in the land of Nod

by chuckofish

Our internet was out for about 36 hours and, boy, did that throw a monkey wrench into my day! Thankfully, I had already written my post for Tuesday, so daughter #1 was able to schedule it for me. But without the internet I was limited in my activities as you can imagine.

I did buckle down and finish reading The Lincoln Highway, which I really enjoyed. (I thought the ending was fine.) For me, the narrative bogged down in the middle and some of the characters annoyed me a little, but on the whole it is a very good read and a welcome look back at life before television, the internet, iPhones, etc took over everyone’s life. The character of Billy, eight years old and an avid reader, is definitely not someone you would meet today–although I’m sure there are exceptions. In fact, it would be a good book for a lot of eight year olds to read (or to have read to them by a parent). They might learn something about “Heroes, Adventurers, and other Intrepid Travelers” who are not included in the Marvel Comic universe. You know, Achilles, Daniel Boone, Julius Caesar, Edmund Dantes, Thomas Edison…

This book will win no prizes, because its lessons are unpopular and old-fashioned, some are even canceled, but it is worth reading and probably re-reading.

I am of the opinion, Professor, that everything of value in this life must be earned. That it should be earned. Because those who are given anything of value without having to earn it are bound to squander it. I believe that one should earn respect. One should earn trust. One should earn the love of a woman, and the right to call oneself a man. And one should also earn the right to hope. At one time I had a wellspring of hope–a wellspring that I had not earned. And not knowing what it was worth, on the day I left my wife and child, I squandered it. So over the last eight and a half years, I have learned to live without hope, just as surely as Cain lived without it once he entered the land of Nod…That is, said Ulysses, until I met this boy.

There is an abundance of references–classical, literary, biblical–throughout the book. If you are like me, and you enjoy that, this book is for you. If you do not know your elbow from a hot rock, never mind.

Here’s an interview with Amor Towles. The first few paragraphs are off-putting–all the talk of bestsellers and falling in love–but you can just read the parts where AT is talking and ignore the insipid interviewer.

In other news, this is a good article about Ben Johnson. You will recall that he is the only Academy Award winner to have also been a Rodeo National Champion. Our mother was always a fan of Ben. I remember clearly her pointing him out to me the first time I saw Shane (1953). He played a cowboy named Chris who comes through in the end and does the right thing.

Reading this article inspired us to watch Junior Bonner (1972) which stars Steve McQueen along with Ben Johnson and Robert Preston.

I have always liked this movie because Steve seems very “real” in it. He has very few lines, but his character comes across in the same way Ben Johnson always does–as the genuine article.

We were able to watch this, because we could still use our DVD player even though our internet was down. Thanks be to God! I also watched several episodes of Miami Vice from season one (1984). This show is not so great as, say, NYPD Blue, but I still really enjoyed watching it. Such a nostalgic trip back to the 1980s! Those clothes and that hair! And Bruce Willis in a breakthrough role… (those pants!)

…Gina and Trudy, when not dressed as undercover prostitutes, wearing dirndl skirts and polo shirts…I looked just like Gina in 1984!

Yes, back when everyone had a waist. And, of course, there’s Don Johnson, the pride of Flat Creek, Missouri…

Give me an amen.

6 Comments
October 7, 2021

What are you reading and other stuff

by chuckofish

Last week I read the newest Longmire book, Daughter of the Morning Star, by Craig Johnson.

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It is the 17th novel in the series and, as you know, I am a big fan. This one–about Walt and Henry Standing Bear (Walt’s best friend) investigating the disappearance of a Native teenager and the harassment of her sister–did not disappoint. Walt and Henry are always a literary breath of fresh air.

Now I am waiting to receive my copy of the latest novel by Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway, which was released on Tuesday.

Let it be noted that Tuesday was the birthday of Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 – March 22, 1758).

“And yet some people actually imagine that the revelation in God’s Word is not enough to meet our needs. They think that God from time to time carries on an actual conversation with them, chatting with them, satisfying their doubts, testifying to His love for them, promising them support and blessings. As a result, their emotions soar; they are full of bubbling joy that is mixed with self-confidence and a high opinion of themselves. The foundation for these feelings, however, does not lie within the Bible itself, but instead rests on the sudden creations of their imaginations. These people are clearly deluded. God’s Word is for all of us and each of us; He does not need to give particular messages to particular people.”

Some things never change, right?

I don’t miss being an Episcopalian, but this was kind of funny in a sad way, i.e. this is all Episcopalians have to offer these days. And, newsflash, that is not enough.

This is very special, indeed.

Also, today is the 71st anniversary of our parents’ wedding in 1950. They made it 38 years until our mother died. So I will toast them tonight. Mazel tov, Mary and Newell.

1975

I pray for the day ahead and that I might bring Glory to God, in word, thought and deed. I thank God that his mercies are new to me every morning. I thank God that his grace is sufficient for all situations that I may encounter.

6 Comments