dual personalities

Tag: Weekend

October 11, 2021

Come ye weary, heavy laden

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? The weather here is still balmy and summery and I have no complaints. Daughter #1 came home on Friday and we had a lovely time sitting outside at Club Taco listening to the musical stylings of Dusty Rhoades. On Saturday we got the OM to drive us to Hillsboro where we hung out at our favorite winery. Lots of people had the same idea and the line for wine was very long and slow, but once we got our bottle and spread out our picnic, we relaxed and enjoyed the musical stylings of Brian Tobin, whose playlist was all our favorite 1970s tunes. Among the others enjoying the beautiful day and rolling hills of Jefferson County was a 60th birthday party, a gathering of overweight ‘witches’ in black pointy hats and suggestive outfits and a group of rainbow-attired Megan Rapinoe lookalikes. Everyone had fun.

Sunday morning we headed to church. Even the OM came along and so did the boy and the wee twins. It made me so happy to be all together, that I’m afraid I cried through all the hymns. C’est la vie.

We sang this hymn which I was unacquainted with and I really like it.

Words: Joseph Hart, 1759; chorus, Walker’s Southern Harmony, 1835
Music: Walker’s Southern Harmony, 1835

The wee twins and their parents came over Sunday night for one more October barbecue. We had more fun. They went on a hunt for my newest estate sale find yard ornament.

The wee laddie also asked me to go dig around a bit for cool stuff (i.e. bugs) and we found this guy, which he identified correctly as a praying mantis.

I was impressed. He pays attention.

Meanwhile I have been reading The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, which my DP has previously reported is excellent. (I concur.) I also remembered that a year ago when I advised my students at my flyover institute to read A Gentleman in Moscow, one of them emailed me to tell me he had gone to school with Amor’s father, right here in St. Louis at the same school my brother attended. He was, indeed, his best friend.

The world is more than we know.

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October 4, 2021

“There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life”*

by chuckofish

Can you believe it’s October already! Zut alors–We are on the downward slide to Christmas. I am a little discombobulated by the alacrity with which the year is speeding by. And my weekend, which I thought would be a quiet one, turned out to be busier than I anticipated and it flew by.

Not that I did anything particularly noteworthy…The OM is trying to put the complicated audio/visual system back together in our new built-in “entertainment unit” and that has been very stressful. The boy came over for awhile and helped. We are 90% there.

We also hauled a bunch of electronics (old computers/printers/monitors etc) to an electronic recycling event and felt that we had really accomplished something. I also moved some books around to make room for other books…the usual stuff.

The wee twins and their parents came over for dinner Sunday night. We had not seen them in three weeks!

They ran around merrily outside for awhile after dinner. They are getting to be such big kids. (Well, not really.)

After they went home we celebrated having our DVD player working again by watching My Darling Clementine (1946)–a movie that is literally perfect (except for Linda Darnell’s hairdo.) I had been meaning to watch it ever since watching the heinous Tombstone (1993). It did not disappoint and I highly recommend it. The minor characters are all wonderful John Ford regulars. The wildcard is Victor Mature and, boy howdy, he pays off.

The movie was filmed in Monument Valley, which is next on my travel wish list (after Oklahoma City).

Meanwhile back in Maryland baby Katie et famille did the pumpkin photo op thing and we texted our appreciation back and forth.

Fall is just about here and that’s okay with me, although I still feel like I am lagging behind in August somewhere. Well, I’ll catch up.

*Hamlet (III.I.66-70)

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August 30, 2021

“Frail as summer’s flow’r we flourish, blows the wind and it is gone”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? After a busy Friday with two social engagements and multiple phone calls with loved ones, the rest of my weekend was very quiet. But as the dog days of August wind down, we are looking forward to a busy September.

FaceTiming with Katiebelle

I did my homework for my Bible class, which meets on Thursdays. There are 40 or so women in the class, so it is divided in two and I am in the class with mostly old ladies. I was shocked to be so placed, but then I remembered that I am an old gray-haired lady. I do not feel like one, but it has been many years since my children were in middle school! There are a few women with college-aged kids in my group, so I don’t feel too bad. Anyway, we are reading Leviticus, which you will recall, is the third book of the Pentateuch, following Exodus. It is all about being holy.

We also put the patio umbrella on the new (old) table.

Here is a great prayer by Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) for us gray-haired oldsters. “Now, when I am old and grey-headed, forsake me not; but let Thy grace be sufficient for me; and enable me to bring forth fruit, even in old age. May my hoary head be found in the ways of righteousness!” Read the whole thing.

*Hymn #77, Henry Lyte, 1834

7 Comments
August 23, 2021

“In the tempests of life, on its wide heaving sea, thou blest Rock of Ages, I’m hiding in thee”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? It was blazing hot here (well, not that hot) but at least there were no damaging storms to wreck havoc and make a big mess.

On Friday, the boy brought the twins over for a visit. Lottie complained about being hot…

while the wee laddie got busy emptying out the garage.

After a couple of hours, we did go inside where we ate some pretzels and cooled off.

Daughter #1 drove home that late afternoon after a busy week in JC for some downtime in our flyover town. On Saturday we were very successful at an estate sale and I bought a classic Forshaw wrought iron table and chairs for our patio. I have been on the lookout for a nice set for a couple of years, so I was very pleased. And what a bargain! The boy picked them up on Sunday morning before he opened his store and we went to church. How nice to have a son with a truck who so cheerfully pitches in!

Later on Sunday the boy came back for tacos with the wee babes. (Daughter #3 was getting ready for the first day of school today.)

Lottie still balked at playing outside, but Aunt Mary was there this time to make it all okay.

Fun times.

But it occurred to me the other day that I was way behind in pre-Christmas planning/present stockpiling. For some reason, I feel very unmotivated this year. I’m not sure why. Uncertainty about the world order? Feeling anxious about the end times? Wondering what God is requiring of me today?

When as the grass the wicked grow,

when sinners flourish here below,

then is there endless ruin nigh,

but you, O  Lord, are throned on high;

Your foes shall fall before your might, the wicked shall be put to flight.

Hymn #635

Yes, I remind myself constantly, our Lord is throned on high.

Cheer up, Christian! Things are not left to chance: no blind fate rules the world. God hath purposes, and those purposes are fulfilled. God hath plans, and those plans are wise, and never can be dislocated.

Charles Spurgeon

*William O. Cushing, 1876

4 Comments
August 16, 2021

“In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand”*

by chuckofish

We had another huge thunderstorm with high winds on Thursday night. Once again we were reminded that weather is something we have no control over. No matter how closely we monitor the news, we don’t know what’s coming (and neither do the TV weather gurus.) Our electricity was out for five hours! But half of our town had no electricity for several days, so we were lucky. There was an enormous amount of detritus in the yard and some big limbs too. The chain saws were going non-stop this weekend.

(from a Post Dispatch story)

We all tend to be philosophical at times like this.

Anyway, the heat wave broke and on Saturday afternoon the OM and I decided to venture down to Ted Drewes again. We hadn’t been in a long time since several failed attempts when he got into arguments with other patrons related to social distancing, line etiquette etc. and we had to leave to avoid scuffles. (The OM not me.)

Trouble in a face mask.

This time it went okay and we enjoyed our concretes so much that we took a detour home and went to Lone Elk Park. However, the action at the park was minimal. We only saw one bison and it was a long distance away. C’est la vie.

That was about the limit of excitement for us this weekend.

This is a very interesting article that daughter #1 shared with me. Bob is most definitely a convicted Christian and anyone who doubts that does not really know Bob. Remember when he said this? And wrote this?

This is an interesting article on disappointment: “Jehovah’s will is done, and man’s will frets and raves in vain. God’s Anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed.” (Spurgeon)

Well, hang in there! May the Lord bless and keep you this week.

*Bob Dylan, “Every Grain of Sand”

5 Comments
August 9, 2021

Postcards from flyover country

by chuckofish

We had a super fun long weekend with daughter #2, DN and Katiebelle visiting.

We got the cousins together for a backyard splash party…

I got this cute sprinkler for the wee babes…

…but, of course, their aunt in Texas had just bought them this sprinkler…

(which do you think they preferred?)

C’est la vie…we hung out…

and looked out the window (better than TV)…

…and we prepared for our big party celebrating the 200th birthday of Missouri statehood on Saturday…

We had a party tent!

..where our friends Gary and Don played…

We were living in the moment and no one took many pictures, but it was fun and no one passed out from the heat. (We were glad the the big thunderstorm held off until the next night.) Someone showed the wee laddie how to use the party pump on the keg of beer and he spent a long time filling up cups and passing them out to guests (whether they wanted one or not) after playing with his surprisingly anti-social sister got old.

My oldest friend came in from Virginia for the festivities (but no one took a picture of us!) and that was wonderful. We had a nice visit after everyone went home.

Family and old friends…that’s what it’s all about, right?

Daughter #2, DN and sweet Katie made it out of town before the big storm hit, but daughter #1 decided to wait to drive back to JC until Monday morning. We tried to watch the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, but we didn’t make it very long.

Gee, where can I get one of those caftans?

Grace and peace to you today and in the week ahead.

3 Comments
August 2, 2021

“I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder”*

by chuckofish

The last of the Hibiscus unfolding…beautiful!

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty quiet. Daughter #1 returned from her conference in Salt Lake City, but she went home on Saturday to attend to things in Jeff City before leaving again on Monday. I practiced driving the OM’s new car. I am so used to driving my little Mini Cooper that it takes quite an adjustment to get used to a large SUV with all the whiz bang updates. My car doesn’t even have a rearview camera much less a buzzing seat to tell you when you are drifting over the line!

This is an interesting piece about the Unifying Power of Singing. I have mentioned how nice it is to attend a church again where everyone sings–and sings with gusto. I grew up at a church where everyone sang and we all sang in morning chapel at my private school. But increasingly (in the Episcopal Church anyway) it seems that singing has been left to the choir. It is part of the show, something to be appreciated, but not to be participated in. Maybe the small congregations feel self-conscious singing, who knows. But singing is good for the soul.

I recorded Paper Moon (1973) on TCM and watched it the other night. I had not seen it since 1973 when my Aunt Susanne took me to see it when I was back East visiting colleges the summer before my senior year in high school. I liked it then and I liked it this time around.

Well directed by Peter Bogdanovich, who keeps it simple, it was shot in Kansas and Missouri in black and white. It feels authentic to the 1930s without being precious. Ryan O’Neal plays an itinerant con man, Moses Pray, who meets nine-year-old Addie Loggins at her mother’s graveside service, where the neighbors suspect he is Addie’s father. He denies this, but agrees to deliver the orphaned Addie to her aunt’s home in St. Joseph, Missouri. O’Neal and his real-life daughter Tatum O’Neal work well together and Tatum steals the show without any Margaret O’Brien-style showing-off. I liked her. In reading about the movie, it seems that Bogdanovich had a hard time pulling a performance out of her, sometimes taking up to 50 takes of a scene (which sounds like borderline child abuse), but it doesn’t show. 

Tatum O’Neal won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, but clearly she is not a supporting actress. She was only nine years old, however, so I guess they thought that award was appropriate. Madeline Kahn was the supporting actress in the film and, as usual, she is terrific. You can watch it on Amazon Prime.

Here is Paul Zahl’s next list of “to watch” movies on TCM. As usual, he is right on target, but I do disagree about Vertigo (1958) which I find hokey and unwatchable. C’est la vie. I love it when he says a movie “is worth seeing once.” Quelle burn.

Here is a summer reading list of books on historical subjects from Albert Mohler, whose opinion I respect.

And finally, Baruch dayan ha’emet, Jackie Mason, who died on Saturday at age 93.

*Stuart Hine, “How Great Thou Art”

4 Comments
July 26, 2021

“Hey Dude, how do you like them apples?”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Ours was quiet. Daughter #1 arrived on Sunday after church. She is going on a business trip on Tuesday, leaving from our airport, so that is why she came into town at the end of the weekend. The boy and his family were in K.C. all weekend and came home on Sunday afternoon. We had the pleasure of the boy and the wee laddie’s company for a barbecue Sunday night…

…but the girls were too tired and stayed home. It is always interesting to see one twin without the other. They are two very different people indeed.

I watched Tombstone (1993) on Friday night. I had seen it back when it came out and I didn’t think it was a good movie then, but I thought it might bear watching again. I was so wrong. I had forgotten how really bad it is. First of all, it is totally derivative of classic westerns, but of all the obvious things: you know, lots of cloud filled sky and lawmen walking/riding four abreast.

Anyway, it was just a mess–a horrible bloodbath of a violent nightmare. The movie starts off with a gang of cowboys shooting up a happy Mexican wedding for no reason. Yeah, that happened a lot. The movie doesn’t even try to be realistic or to be historically accurate.

The acting is pretty bad and also derivative. Powers Boothe offers a full blown imitation of Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance. Kurt Russell struggles (and fails) to be Henry Fonda. Was Bill Paxton going for Earl Holliman? 100%. I couldn’t help wondering what Sam Elliot, stiff and uncomfortable, thought of this mess. Only Val Kilmer attempts to make his part his own and his Doc Holliday is lost in the flood of violence and competing action. There are no good guys. Everyone is drowning in liquor, drugs and/or gambling. Nobody actually works. No one has a plan. The Earps just want to get rich so they can, what, settle down with their families? There is no ethical standard to judge right or wrong here. Is this the point, because, if so, it is a false point. This is a 20th century, post-Christian point, thank you, imposed on a revisionist dream of fake history.

The women are all cardboard and the actresses can hardly handle walking in their overly fancy dresses. Dana Delany plays a “modern” woman who has a crush on Wyatt Earp and doesn’t care that he is a married man. She just wants to have fun! Wyatt is attracted by this crazy idea (having fun, ordering room service) and to this liberated woman (who nevertheless rides side-saddle). It made me long for Burt Lancaster and his puritanical version of Wyatt Earp in the bad, but infinitely better, Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957).

All this made me want to watch My Darling Clementine (1947) which I will do soon. First I had to watch Red River (1948) on Saturday night in honor of National Cowboy Day. I almost cried, the contrast was so great. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift = perfection.

Sorry about the rant, but I despise movie makers who think a western is just an excuse to fire guns and kill a lot of people. There is talk of border ruffians in Missouri and lots of threats of violence, but only one person dies in Red River and he is trampled to death by stampeding cattle.

On a totally other subject, I liked this about going about your business in our rock-star culture:

But I say: Be nobody special. Do your job. Take care of your family. Clean your house. Mow your yard. Read your Bible. Attend worship. Pray. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Love your spouse. Love your kids. Be generous. Laugh with your friends. Drink your wine heartily. Eat your meat lustily. Be honest. Be kind to your waitress. Expect no special treatment. And do it all quietly.

You want to be a spiritual hero? Distinguish yourself? Ironically, you have to give it up. This sounds like “lose your life so you can save it” for a reason. Being nobody special will feel like losing your life, maybe the life you’ve dreamed of in front of the mirror…But to distinguish yourself in our world, you must be happy about being a nobody.

Matthew Redmond, The God of the Mundane

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

*Stumpy in Rio Bravo (1957)

5 Comments
July 19, 2021

“Sun and moon, bow down before him, dwellers now in time and space”*

by chuckofish

Well, I have to say these Presbyterians I worship with now sure can belt out a hymn–four hymns, in fact, every service. Everyone sings, even the teenagers! Hallelujah, brothers and sisters. It surprises me every week. What a nice surprise!

The twins came over twice this weekend. On Friday morning we entertained each other while daughter #3 did something. Lottie, ever the chatterbox, brought me up to date on all the goings on in her life. The wee laddie, who plays his cards much closer to the chest, concentrated on his cars.

On Saturday we celebrated the OM’s birthday. His favorite present was a DVD from daughter #1 of his favorite movie Ford vs Ferrari (2019).

Yes, I know, we look like Mr and Mrs Crypt Keeper, but even in our decrepitude, we had fun and it was even balmy enough for us to sit out on the driveway.

While daughter # 1 was in town we also managed to have a margarita at Club Taco, while enjoying the musical stylings of Dusty Rhodes.

We also went to a couple of estate sales and braved one un-airconditioned antique mall. (I learned from my friend Becky always to travel with a fan.)

In other news, the boy and his family ventured to Grant’s Farm for the first time in ages…

…and daughter #2 and famille ventured to the beach in North Carolina.

(Baby Katie’s bathing suit care of daughter #3’s golden needle!)

And these made me laugh out loud.

Have a good week. The peace of Christ be with you.

6 Comments
July 12, 2021

“We will feast in the house of Zion”*

by chuckofish

Well, we had quite a three-day weekend–lots of drama and some severe weather thrown in for good measure.

The OM and I drove over to Jeff City on Friday where we bought a new car. We have a habit of thinking about a thing for two years and then, on what appears to be the spur of the moment, doing something big. This is what happened once again this week. Inspired by the video daughter #1 produced about the Riley Brothers car dealership in JC (the ones who sustained huge damage two years ago in the JC tornado), the OM finally made a decision re replacing his old Honda Accord.

While he dealt with finalizing and picking up the car, I went home with daughter #1 to her apartment and tried to put together a new bed which had been delivered that morning. We also talked for several hours about the pros and cons of a big job offer she got. This was a lot of drama for one day. I won’t go into the details, but we finally threw our hands up into the air, abandoned the bed unfinished, left her apartment in disarray, and drove home to St. Louis. The OM followed in his new car.

That night we drank two bottles of wine, listened to music and discussed more pros and cons of the job offer. Then we slept through a huge storm in which 60-70 mph winds downed big trees and power lines and left us without electricity.

Photo from KSDK.com

(The steeple was blown off this 150 year old church (STL PD photo)–Zut alors!)

We wanted the wee twins to come over the next day and help us pick up sticks and other detritus in our yard, but they had to go to a birthday party, so we had to do it ourselves.

The boy and his famille came over after the party to check out the OM’s new car.

The wee laddie said, “Pappy has a cool Caddy!” and set his seal of approval. (My “Cooper” is still his favorite.)

We ate a late lunch from Chick fil-A by candlelight.

After they went home, daughter #1 and I headed over to Club Taco to hang out on the patio…

The OM texted us when the electricity came back on (17 hours later) and we went home with a big sigh of relief.

After church on Sunday morning, daughter #1 headed home to put her chaotic apartment back in order. I caught up on the phone with my DP and daughter #2 and then the OM and I took a ride through Lone Elk Park. We saw this raccoon and her three kits…

…and a few lazy elk, but not much was going on there. Then I watched some PGA on TV and settled in for the evening, grateful for electricity, fair weather, family, and friends.

“I SHALL NOT WANT,” the psalm says. Is that true? There are lots of things we go on wanting, go on lacking, whether we believe in God or not. They are not just material things like a new roof or a better paying job, but things like good health, things like happiness for our children, things like being understood and appreciated, like relief from pain, like some measure of inner peace not just for ourselves but for the people we love and for whom we pray. Believers and unbelievers alike we go on wanting plenty our whole lives through. We long for what never seems to come. We pray for what never seems to be clearly given. But when the psalm says “I shall not want,” maybe it is speaking the utter truth anyhow. Maybe it means that if we keep our eyes open, if we keep our hearts and lives open, we will at least never be in want of the one thing we want more than anything else. Maybe it means that whatever else is withheld, the shepherd never withholds himself, and he is what we want more than anything else. 

–Frederick Buechner, The Clown in the Belfry

*Sandra McCracken

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