Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.

- Mark Strand

"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." - Matthew 12:34

Karen's weekly assignment asks about powerful speakers and speeches that inspire.

There are a lot of great book recommendation threads on Ask Metafilter, and I have a long list of books highlighted there that sounded interesting. The Control of Nature came up in two or three threads, so I requested it from the library.

Late last night, I got to see the Dog Star.

There was this bright, twinkly object in the sky. It's hard to see the stars sometimes; the fog and the city lights hide them.

But this light was clear - and lovely.

I got my binoculars and stood watching it for a while. I was amazed that such a rainbow could appear in a tiny point.

Thanks to Stellarium, I was able to learn that it was Sirius. (Venus and Regulus were visible, too, a bit further east.)

It was lovely - a moment I want to hang on to, a beauty I want to keep.

I love the Internet.

I popped this into Google:

analyzing pop music structures

The results include a huge glossary from the Society for Music Theory's Popular Music Interest Group and the usual ton of other interesting-looking stuff.

Things timed out well with my consulting clients this year, and I was able to take the ten days or so around Christmas and New Year's off (almost completely - there were a few bits of work to attend to, but not much, thank goodness).

I really, really enjoyed reading Sue Hubbell's A Book of Bees, so I picked up A Country Year at the library.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through - partway into the "Winter" chapter - and I keep putting off reading more, because I don't want it to end.

Sue is such a lovely writer. Her voice is at once no-nonsense and filled with awe and delighted humility at the wonders of the natural world around her.

I had the great pleasure of seeing Sweeney Todd at ACT this week. It was actually my second time - I was so amazed the first time that I wanted to see it again. I'm glad I did (although I had a better view the first time).

Last weekend was was one of my personal holidays - the annual Big Book Sale put on by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

I like to go on the final Sunday, which is dollar day - every book is a buck.

Past years, I've sometimes hovered around the $200 mark, which is a lot of books if you live in an already-book-filled apartment.