dual personalities

Tag: Weekend

December 12, 2022

Go tell it on the mountain

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? The twins turned six (!) on Sunday and we celebrated their birthday on Friday with Dewey’s Pizza and a Tippin’s pie.

…and presents…

It was one of four celebrations they enjoyed so we played it down.

On Saturday I had a meeting at Mudd’s Grove after which daughter #1 buzzed into town with the wee dog. We celebrated her getting a new job (!) and the fact that she will be moving back to St. Louis (!) in January with much toasting. Later we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas and Die Hard (1988) which IS a Christmas movie. Mr. Smith watched too like a good boy.

On Sunday we went to church where the Covenant children sang “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” the choir sang and the congregation sang with piano, guitar and drum accompaniment, and I cried during the Doxology per usual. It never gets old.

And Katie watched White Christmas for the first time.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

–Isaiah 35:10

P.S. This is an interesting article about how A Charlie Brown Christmas first made it on to network TV. “The Charlie Brown Christmas special may have been the first time a prime-time animated cartoon quoted Scripture at length, but it was not the first time Schulz infused his comic strip with his faith. Published in more than 2,500 newspapers at its peak, the Peanuts gang’s musings on contemporary issues sparked passion and fueled debate among Schulz’s readers—particularly in the areas of religion and faith.”

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December 5, 2022

The light shines in the darkness

by chuckofish

A busy week and a busy weekend! Non-stop activity. On Friday I helped decorate the church…

By Sunday morning it looked really nice and very festive!

On Saturday daughter #1 buzzed home to introduce the wee doggie and get a break from being home alone with a semi-frenzied pup. (She doesn’t look too frazzled herself, does she?)

Mr. Smith is quite a cutie and we all took to him immediately…(especially the wee bud who was very angry when the pup had to go into his crate and he had to go home…Life is hard sometimes.)

On top of all this we checked off a few important things on my To Do list: we bought a Christmas tree from our super friendly local Optimists…

…and daughter #1 put up the outside Christmas lights!

I also managed to go to my church’s Advent ladies’ tea held at the seminary where I had never been. (No pictures) It was very nice–there were scones and cucumber sandwiches and tea and hymn singing and a spiritual message!

During the service at church on Sunday the Covenant School (4-5 grades) Ensemble sang a “Celtic Noel,” the organist played a dramatic version of Handel’s “For Unto Us a Child is Born” and my Bible Study leader sang an operatic rendition of the Lord’s Prayer (Lottie spontaneously clapped at the end) and we all sang some good Advent hymns. Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Afterwards we had bagels and creme cheese and the twins got another chance to frolic with Mr. Smith. Then everyone went home and I collapsed.

(We also FaceTimed with this precious angel…)

Hail, the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

–Charles Wesley
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November 7, 2022

Come, all ye pining, hungry poor, the Savior’s bounty taste*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was a quiet one, mostly because I am still fighting this cold. I managed to “do” the flowers for church on Sunday–my maiden solo voyage so to speak and I was pleased with the result. I went to Trader Joe’s early on Saturday morning and bought a bunch of different flowers and then went to church, going in with my key and setting up in the sacristy…

Voila. Yay, me!

We went to church on Sunday (I had to check out my flowers) but I had a coughing fit during the sermon and had to leave and get a drink of water. I sat on a comfortable sofa and drank my water and listened to the sermon which was piped in. I have to say, it was quite nice. I rejoined the congregation after the sermon for the Lord’s Supper. Then the boy and the wee twins came over for bagels and cream cheese and we sat outside for some final driveway time of the season.

Lottie is such a big girl now–she sang along with one of the hymns and said the Lord’s Prayer (from memory)! The wee laddie filled out the Welcome Card, which he does every week.

After they left, I FaceTimed with darling Katie and her darling mother, making the weekend complete.

Well, have a good Monday! Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!

*Anne Steele (1716-1778)

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October 31, 2022

His mercy is more/stronger than darkness, new ev’ry morn

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? I have been sick since Thursday and quite under the weather. I didn’t go to my Bible study group and I even stayed home from church. (Daughter #1 convinced me it wasn’t kosher to go to church these days when you are coughing and have laryngitis.)

But I enjoyed vicariously Katie’s Halloween party she hosted for some of her wee compadres…

Quelle wild bunch!

Daughter #1 came home and watched Signs (2002) with me and we really enjoyed it. In my book it is not a horror movie; it is a story about a man regaining his faith.

The twins came over for brunch after they went to church. The OM had made shepherd’s pie and the kids ate leftover Chick-fil-A tenders. We had a special Halloween torte from Cosco that was a winner. There were jelly beans in a bowl. It was kind of a free-for-all, as usual, but c’est la vie.

And the OM wore special socks…

But don’t forget that the real reason to celebrate has nothing to do with witches and scary monsters.

Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason–I do not accept the authority of popes and councils for they have contradicted each other–my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise, God help me.

–Martin Luther

Have a good Monday! Smile

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October 17, 2022

Leaning on the everlasting arms

by chuckofish

Recently I read in Psalm 102:

I lie awake,

and am like a sparrow on the housetop.

–Ps 102:7

I don’t know about you, but that perfectly describes how I feel on many a night. Usually I relate to my friends the hawks and owls, but not at night, alone and awake. I am a sparrow.

Then in church yesterday we sang this old-time hymn written by Elisha A. Hoffman in 1887 and I was reminded what we have as Christians:

  1. What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
    Leaning on the everlasting arms;
    What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
    Leaning on the everlasting arms.
    • Refrain:
      Leaning, leaning,
      Safe and secure from all alarms;
      Leaning, leaning,
      Leaning on the everlasting arms.
  2. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
    Leaning on the everlasting arms;
    Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,
    Leaning on the everlasting arms.
  3. What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
    Leaning on the everlasting arms?
    I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
    Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Take heart, brothers and sisters! We do not have to go it alone. Again I say, go to church and be reminded.

After church…

…the boy and the wee twins came over for Presbyterian soufflé and other assorted goodies. The twins were introduced to Spicettes, a candy which literally blew their minds. It was a beautiful day so we also sat outside after brunch…

Who knew knee socks are a thing again…with ruffles!

Then we went back inside to get cleaned up after extended playtime which included much throwing of themselves bodily down the hill, chasing the new dog who lives across the street, and playing the fun game of pretending the Raptor has broken down and calling Triple A for a tow truck. (“Ma’am, I need a new battery.”)

I’m sure they slept well. And me too. I know I have a blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Have a good Monday.

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October 3, 2022

“O hushed October morning mild”*

by chuckofish

My weekend was a nice quiet one. The weather was beautiful. I went to a DAR meeting and to Target for the first time in a couple of years to buy a second car seat. On Saturday afternoon the OM and I attempted to install it, along with our other car seat in the SUV, but failed. Seriously you need an engineering degree and the strength of Hercules to do this. I accept that I lack these things, but it frustrates the OM mightily when he is unable to do such tasks easily. We had to ask the boy to come over and use his man strength and general know-how to accomplish this not-so-simple chore. C’est la vie.

I needed the two car seats because I wanted to pick up the wee twins and take them to church on Sunday so they wouldn’t miss again when their Dad was working. This I did. And all by myself since the OM went to the baseball game–the last home game of the season**. He would have benefited from hearing the sermon which was on the third commandment:

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

–Exodus 20:7

There was a lot of blaspheming during the carseat installation incident on Saturday.

Anyway, the twins were great and I got them in and out of their carseats (another engineering feat) and home safe and sound. Lottie filled me in on all the gossip.

It is October so I am beginning to watch some of my favorite Halloween-ish movies, i.e. ones dealing with the supernatural. First up was The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) directed by Joseph Mankiewicz.

Rex Harrison stars as the ghost of a sea captain who appears to Gene Tierney’s young widow Lucy Muir when she moves into his Gull Cottage and dictates his “memoirs” to her. George Sanders is the children’s author who temporarily steals Mrs. Muir’s heart. Edna Best is Lucy’s devoted maid and Natalie Wood plays her daughter. It is a wonderful, subtle and genuinely haunting movie, beautifully photographed by Charles Lang. The score by Bernard Herrmann is perfection. Every time I see it, I like it more. This time I was struck by how much Gene Tierney reminded me of my friend Nicki, who died in January. This made me even more sad, but the OM had left during the opening credits, so I was free to weep throughout the movie.

Here’s the soundtrack suite from the movie. According to Wikipedia it was Bernard Herrmann’s personal favorite.

So watch The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, forebear to swear, and enjoy the lovely fall weather (if the hurricane missed you.)

Thanks, Mommy, but I prefer Toll House to these organic, gluten-free cookies

*”October” by Robert Frost–read it here.

**In his final Busch Stadium at-bat, Albert Pujols hit homerun #702 to tie Babe Ruth on MLB all-time RBI list. And the crowd went wild.

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August 29, 2022

“While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high”*

by chuckofish

On Friday I went to my BFF Carla’s mother’s funeral. It was a very watered down Catholic/Episcopal service loosely officiated by Carla’s cousin (a Catholic priest) and her son Michael (an Episcopal priest) with Eucharist (wafer and white wine). No pomp. No circumstance. Her mother Rosemary would have liked it that way.

My favorite memory of Rosemary is the time we went to hear her grandson preach and after the service we talked about how all of us flyover friends and relatives should go to his ordination in NYC. We laughed picturing us all pulling up in front of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine like the Beverly Hillbillies in an overloaded pickup truck. I told Michael that story before the funeral and he showed me the picture of just that–Rosemary in front of the cathedral with the entire family (sans pickup.) She was very proud of all her grandchildren.

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

The rest of my weekend was pretty quiet. The boy and the twins were back at church with us and then came over for brunch and some driveway sittin’.

The wee bud took the Raptor out for a spin…

…and a good time was had by all.

I watched Santa Fe Trail (1940) starring Errol Flynn as Jeb Stuart and Ronald Regan as George Custer.

Although it bears no connection to historical reality, it nevertheless holds up very well as a movie. Directed by Michael Curtiz and with the Warner Brothers A Team of supporting actors, it tells a good yarn, and as the boy said, Raymond Massey was born to play John Brown.

And I talked to these sweet ladies…

…who were doing some driveway sittin’ of their own.

*Charles Wesley, 1740

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August 22, 2022

You know my sitting down and my rising up”*

by chuckofish

We had a nice weekend in flyover land with temperatures in the low eighties and low humidity. That is about as good as it gets here in the summer and I am grateful.

Daughter #1 came home and we enjoyed some normal weekend-y activities. The boy and I also went in his truck to pick up a “new” vintage camelback sofa I had bought at our local antique mall last week. Now we have to deal with disposing of our old sofa, which, believe me, is not easy!

We went to church on Sunday where we heard a good, long sermon on Luke 16:1-13, a hard parable, which the preacher met head-on. Later in the afternoon the OM and I returned for the fall ministry kickoff picnic which was actually a lot of fun. Everyone is returning to school and that means that the summer, I guess, is more or less officially over. Sigh.

I was sad to read that the College Hill Presbyterian Church in Oxford, Mississippi, had burned to the ground. The church was built in 1846 and was the oldest church structure in Oxford, as well as the oldest Presbyterian church in all of North Mississippi. The grounds of the church were used by Union troops under Generals Grant and Sherman during the Civil War, and it is where William Faulkner was married.

Before the fire

In other news, a ridiculous story has recently been making the rounds of social media claiming that six security men had to hold back John Wayne from assaulting Sacheen Littlefeather at the 1973 Academy Awards. Blogger Farran Smith Nehme, aka the Self-Styled Siren, has now thoroughly researched and debunked this fantasy in a well-written article. People have no shame nowadays about lying and spreading more lies.

But this story about the Samaritan’s Purse volunteers helping people right here in St. Louis is uplifting. They walk the walk. Check out the video.

Also, Katiebelle got a haircut…

…and she approved…

And here’s R.C. Sproul explaining flat-out nonsense:

Well, have a good week!

*Psalm 139: 2

3 Comments
August 8, 2022

Gotta serve somebody

by chuckofish

Lord, grant us grace, to make Thy goodness our trust: shutting our hearts against pride, our mouths against evil words, our ears against foul knowledge, and using Thy gifts to the promotion of Thy glory and of man’s salvation; for His blessed sake, in Whom we have all and are full and abound, Jesus Christ.

-Christina Rosetti

Many things these dark days are an outright affront to God, such as a drag queen parading down the aisle at Grace Episcopal Church in New York City. I could go on, such examples are everywhere, but what’s the point? They are all trying to provoke us and mock God.

But God will not be mocked and I try not to be provoked.

This past weekend I stayed in my lane by watching movies directed by the great Cecil B. DeMille. First I watched Samson and Delilah (1949) which was a huge box office smash when it came out, the #1 highest grossing film of the year. I have to say, I enjoyed it. Beautiful Hedy Lamarr, as Delilah, stole the show from Victor Mature, who doesn’t have the personality to match her…

…but they are well supported by George Sanders, Henry Wilcoxon, Angela Lansbury et al. The screenplay sticks to the biblical story fairly closely until the end when they soften up Delilah quite a bit. The real Delilah never had a second thought for Samson or a moment of guilt. (I will add that a drag queen would have gone unnoticed in this film and maybe there’s a point to be made there.)

Next I watched Reap the Wild Wind (1942), a technicolor historical romance directed by DeMille and starring John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, and a giant squid.

It is a good movie featuring all the bells and whistles–sets, costumes, music, a great cast, and lots of action–but it suffers somewhat because, I’m sorry, the audience is rooting for John Wayne, but he isn’t the hero! He does a bad thing and has to die, doing a good thing, killed by that giant squid. Paulette Goddard has to settle for Ray Milland. Sigh.

Both these movies have very strong female characters at the center and both are appealingly played. Points to Mr. DeMille.

My plan was to watch The Buccaneer (1938) which I have never seen. It stars Frederic March as Jean Lafitte…

…who one imagines is very different from Yul Brynner who played Lafitte in the 1958 remake. But I haven’t gotten to watch it yet since I was sidetracked on Sunday night when we went to see the boy play in his Men’s Lacrosse League championship playoff.

It was fun to be back at DeSmet HS watching a game. It’s been quite awhile. The wee babes were there yelling, “Go, Daddy, go!”

…even when he wasn’t on the field…

But he scored once and they are league champs!

And we saw a rainbow!

I am content.

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August 1, 2022

“Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take”*

by chuckofish

It is August now and our summer has been a hot one. I am thinking how nice it would be to be floating in a lake in Maine with my Massachusetts cousins (see above). Alas, I am not. Sixty or so years have passed since that picture was taken–hard to believe.

Happily, the temperatures came down this weekend to a very respectable low eighties. It was overcast, but pleasant enough to sit outside on the patio and contemplate the passage of time. I was happy that daughter #1 could join me for happy hour.

I spent a good part of Saturday attending an online auction where I was glad to see some vigorous bidding on “brown furniture.” This meant that I didn’t get anything, but c’est la vie. I was glad to see that there is still a market for tall case clocks. The prices are still amazingly low compared to twenty years ago, but they are, nevertheless, more than I am willing to pay for a rescue. I did buy a nice wing chair for $25. I mean, nobody wants a wing chair these days. Nobody but me.

On Sunday we went to church and were joined by the boy and his two wild monkeys. They checked their depravity and behaved, but when we got home they let loose and wreaked some havoc. (Note that our wing chairs took quite a beating.)

At some point the havoc moved outside (thankfully).

I am out of breath just looking at these pictures! When the wee babes headed home, daughter #1 also headed back to Jeff City, and the OM and I crashed for awhile before heading back to church that evening to celebrate the assistant pastor who is leaving with his family for a new job in Tuscaloosa.

Sunrise, sunset.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

–Martin Luther, Ein Feste Burg

*T.S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton”

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