It's difficult to capture the magic of angel chimes in a photograph.

Another Reason to Love Marie Osmond*

I was poking around on the web for a copy of Hugo Ball's great Dada poem "Karawane" on my coffee break today--and out of nowhere Marie Osmond started appearing in my results. It seems she recorded the poem for Ripley's Believe It or Not in the 1980s, and surprised everyone by reciting it from memory.

From what I understand, the clip that appears on UbuWeb is a bit mangled--Ms. Osmond did in fact recite the poem in its glorious entirety. It would be great to find the full version, because the clip is amazing. Listen to the conviction in those ü üü üs. Imagine what she must have done with the ba-umfs.

* I do realize that for some of you the title should be altered to read "A Reason..." I'm sorry. I'm also about a year behind the times in posting this--but in the immortal words of NBC, "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you."

All Done

I'm delighted (and a bit surprised) to report that I completed my self-portrait project yesterday. Hurray! If you have time on your hands and a desire to spend it perusing my year in pictures, you'll find the set of all 365 portraits here, and the greatest hits edition here--and clicking on the picture above will lead you to some late-night thoughts about the effect the project had on me.

Current Favorite Bus Graffiti

Christmas Spirits

Out of nowhere, Holiday Christine has reappeared. Please be aware that she is dangerously full of cheer; even canned Christmas music and energy-wasting holiday lights appear to be powerless to call forth her Scroogelike tendencies.

Why I should be so happy about Christmas this year is a mystery to me. It's still the same overcommercialized religious holiday that it was last year, and I'm still unable to do many of the things that used to make the season fun for me. I especially miss hosting Luciafest.

Nonetheless, I'm just brimming over with goodwill right now. I'm even looking forward to doing my Christmas shopping--which starts tonight with the excursion in search of presents Warren and I have made together since we were in high school. The first item on my list is a contribution to the pile of replacement presents for a holiday party for kids in my (extended) neighborhood; the original stash was ruined in this week's flood.

Details about the Miller Community Center / Country Doctor holiday party situation are here. It sounds as if there has already been a tremendous response, but if they're overrun I'm sure they'll find a good use for the gift overflow.

My Favorite New Compound Word

...is "happinessdotty," coined by Swedish amateur photographer Lena Möllergren to describe a feeling of glee. I may never use "giddy" again.

Breaking News

This dusting of snow arrived just in time to enhance the Christmas concert I'm headed to tonight. I love snow.