Stop scarfin’ that down, you’ll get indigestion.

Haven’t photographed all of my Christmas scarfing victims yet, but here are a few of them. My mom “Miss Anne,” my buddy Roger, my Sai (wearing her own design in spare-key jewelry), and my sister Natalie, whose scarf I think i like best—though they’re all my children...

Eagles on the Wabash.

Saw two big beautiful American Bald Eagles perched aloofly in a tall leafless tree while i was out for my this morning’s constitutional.* Closest I’ve ever been to eagles in the wild. One of them took off, but the other one sat there while I stared at him/her. Funny—since there was no patriotic music playing in the background—they didn’t strike me as symbols so much as big hungry birds, looking for brunch—so I tried to walk briskly and not appear to be a wounded animal... In case anybody was wondering, this is NOT my photo (no such mountains along the Wabash). From Veronica somebody’s blog, via Google.

Awfully nice to walk less than ten blocks away from your house and be in relative wilderness.

*This might seem to imply that I actually TAKE a walk every morning. This is not true, but I’m trying to make it a more regular thing.

And hats the way it is.

This lovely new hat—possibly the warmest one I’ve ever worn—was made for my buddy Mickey by a friend from Bloomington named Ruth, who I had just met a few days before. Mickey just doesn't much wear hats, I think. Some of the kids at the coffee house had been saying how perfect it would be on me (perhaps because I have such a giant head, or because it hides my horns)—and in I walked. It was presented to me and I’ve gladly worn it nearly every day since. Thanks, Ruth!

Small good things in N.H. Pt. 1

You know how sometimes you think you see faces in nature? Pretty sure this one was on purpose. Who knows, maybe it’s one’a them Ent things from Middle Earth...

Bosse Reitz.

Went into Evansville with Mickey Grimm the other day for some adventure. We went to the Willard Library, the oldest continually operating library in Indiana. I got a library card, the Willard’s pretty great. Also haunted, hooooooooooo....

Then went to the old Vanderburgh County courthouse, ca.1890, which is very beautiful, but sadly decrepit. Nice that it’s still standing, however. The usual non-profits and design firm tenants. Scavengers for cheap rents. Found these two strange busts, one of Benjamin Bosse, the mayor of Evansville from 1914-22, namesake of Bosse field, the great old minor-league field where they shot a lot of the film A League of Their Own. The other bust, of Francis J. Reitz, scion of a wealthy lumber family, seems to have been made by Edward Gorey. Odd.

Happy New Year from Utopia.

Peace may seem like a fool’s wish in a country that’s projected to spend $1.8 trillion at the end of the day in Iraq (if there is an end of the day)—but call me foolish. Happy New Year!!

This obelisk is just one of the small good things to be stumbled on here, wandering about. God bless Jane Owen.