Yesterday I picked up Mr. Smith at the kennel where he had been all week, hanging with his bros and barking it up. So I had Scottish Special Forces guarding my house last night, but he was too tired to do much (and no barking).
Mostly he rested up before daughter #1 returns from her western adventure to the middle-of-nowhere later today. Travel prayers for a smooth trip are welcome!
In other news the prairie girls went to their first parade–the high school homecoming parade, complete with marching band, football team and floats! They got a lot of candy and had a super fun time…
Good small town vibes!
And I hope you enjoy this new version of Old Town Road from Alison Brown and Steve Martin and some bluegrass legends.
We were sad to note the passing of actress Eva Marie Saint the other day. She was 102 and had led quite a life. A classic beauty, she was not your run-of-the-mill Hollywood actress. She was married to the same man for 65 years (until his death) and she raised her own children, making only one movie a year while they were young. She evaded super-stardom and she was fine with that.
In looking at her resume, I was impressed with the smart choices she made during her long career. I think I will watch The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966) in her honor. It is a favorite of mine. She is the perfect foil for Carl Reiner’s frenetic performance.
Another favorite, and one of her lesser known movies, is That Certain Feeling (1956) in which Bob Hope plays a divorced comic strip cartoonist who is hired as a ghost-writer by pompous Larry Larkin (George Sanders) who happens to be the fiancé of his ex-wife played by Saint. It’s the one with Jerry Mathers as the little lost boy who steals the show. I saw it as a child on television and was quite moved by the Jerry Mathers character.
Eva Marie Saint is quite believable as the girl from Port Huron, Michigan, who aspires to be someone else, but finds out she is just a girl from Port Huron. And that’s okay. The screenplay by Norman Panama, Melvin Frank and I.A.L. Diamond is a silly, but sophisticated, concoction that they excelled at writing. Just what the doctor ordered for October 2026.
And here are fourteen lessons learned in the Cancer School of Wisdom. They apply to everyone.
Yesterday I had lunch with my old administrative assistant from my days at the flyover university–always a good time. Once again I was reminded how God has blessed me with great people in my life. From time to time I make a list and I think it is a good practice to be intentional about noting this and to thank God.
Thank you, God, for the life you have blessed me with. Thank you for the opportunities that I have been given and for the strength to make the most of them. Thank you for guiding me through difficult times and for giving me the courage to face whatever comes my way. Most of all, thank you for your unconditional love and support, which has seen me through every challenge and kept me going. You are an ever-present source of comfort and hope, and I am deeply grateful for all that you have done for me.
I missed Jonathan’s Edward’s birthday yesterday, so here are some good words from the great man:
“The deceitfulness of the heart of man appears in no one thing so much as this of spiritual pride and self-righteousness. The subtlety of Satan appears in its height, in his managing persons with respect to this sin. And perhaps one reason may be that here he has most experience; he knows the way of its coming in; he is acquainted with the secret springs of it: it was his own sin. Experience gives vast advantage in leading souls, either in good or evil.” (The Religious Affections)
Ain’t it the truth? Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.
He also told this parable to some who trust in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14)
*Steve Judd in Ride the High Country (1962), directed by Sam Peckinpah
How was your weekend? I went to my women’s retreat and church on Sunday as usual. Our weather was beautiful and everyone in my neighborhood was out and about enjoying it along with all the festive giant skeletons and piles of pumpkin in front yards. One or two pumpkins on your porch is not enough anymore–I really don’t get it.
I wound up the weekend with daughter #1 and wine time on the patio at her club…
What could be more pleasant than that? I am content.
Friyay! I will be hanging out with the PCA ladies at our annual retreat on Friday night and Saturday. Not sure what all this will entail, but I am game. Rumor has it that there will be S’mores at the fire pit on Friday night.
The boy has an in-law family wedding in outstate MO so he will be busy on twins duty. Daughter #2 will be corraling the small fry as usual. Now that Wes is mobile, he is unstoppable.
And daughter #1 will be getting ready for a work week in Wyoming!
It is October! The great slide to the end of the year begins! It will be Christmas before we know it. But let’s all take a deep breath and enjoy October. It was 92 degrees yesterday, but that’s all going to change this weekend. Cold front. Rain. You get the picture.
And here’s my favorite oft-quoted October poem from Robert Frost…
It is the last day of September. Where did it go? It is a mystery.
Anyway, today we remember the poet W.S. Merwin (1927-2019), who went to Princeton with Frederick Buechner, back in the day when that’s where Presbyterians went to college. He received many awards during his long career including the Pulitzer and the National Book Award and the Tanning Prize and was popular during the Vietnam era. When he died he lived on an off-the-grid 18-acre restored pineapple plantation in Haiku, Maui, which had been transformed from an “agricultural wasteland” to a “Noah’s Ark” for rare palm trees. He got his own Library of America collection, but I’m really not that familiar with him.
Here’s a poem:
And I found this interesting: “We boomers are in a crisis of confusion We do not know what to do. Retire? To do what? Work on? To what end?” What he says is mostly too true. But I am not confused. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” That goes for boomers in retirement too.
Yesterday was a beautiful day, starting with a lovely sunrise. (The sky was much pinker than this iPhone photo shows.)
After my morning Bible reading and desk work, I got busy switching out my summer clothes for my fall turtlenecks and sweaters. I know I am no doubt jumping the gun, but I was in the mood. Of course, since I re-organized everything last spring, I couldn’t find anything. I made quite a mess tearing various closets apart, which I am sorry to say, I have yet to put back, but c’est dommage.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the day the great Herman Melville died in 1891 and we like to note that.
“I turn my body from the sun. What ho, Tashtego! Let me hear thy hammer. Oh! ye three unsurrendered spires of mine; thou uncracked keel; and only god-bullied hull; thou firm deck, and haughty helm, and Pole pointed prow, death glorious ship! must ye then perish, and without me? Am I cut off from the last fond pride of meanest shipwrecked captains? Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole foregone life, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!”
Today we also note the passing of Winslow Homer in 1910. He has always been a favorite of mine since childhood.
So a toast to Herman Melville! A toast to Winslow Homer!
How was your weekend? Mine was a lovely quiet one.
I had my semi-annual cancer check-up on Friday and that appears to have gone well. Daughter #1 and I celebrated with a visit to a favorite antique store and wine time at Llewellyn’s Pub. We had sliders for dinner.
On Saturday we went to one estate sale where the prices were ridiculously high, but we still found a couple of things–Christmas shopping, you know. We also went to the huge South County antique mall, but we only made it through about 1/3 of it before I was worn out. (Call me Oldie Hawn.) It was fun though and a good mall. We’ll go back.
I watched The Producers(1967), Mel Brooks’ directorial debut, the one about a mild-mannered accountant and a con artist theater producer who scheme to get rich by fraudulently overselling shares in a stage musical designed to fail. To this end, they find a play celebrating Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and bring it to the stage. I enjoyed it a lot.
On Sunday I went to church where the assistant pastor gave a good sermon on I Corinthians 1:18-31. My adult ed class was terrific–I am learning so much! Effectual grace! It is very exciting. After church my “fold” had a luncheon at our elder’s house which was very pleasant–we got to eat outside! The sun had finally come out after a week of clouds.
And this made me laugh:
Enjoy your Monday! Watch an old movie, pet a nice (dirty) dog! Sing praises now and evermore!
