Spitball Army

Once the word gets out that my all-encompassing eye has been soaking up details from within the homes of people kind enough to welcome me into their living spaces, I may never get another invitation ever again.  But the wall ornament above was a detail that demanded documentation.

The very nice couple who owns this clock, and the equally nice North San Diego County home in which it hangs, gave my mother a timepiece similar to this years ago.  Because of its (I’m now referring to my mother’s clock) frequent playing of “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles” at the striking of the hour, I have dubbed it the “Nazi Clock.”  I’ll be talking to Mom on the telephone when, across the miles, I will hear the Nazi Clock chiming away with the German national anthem.  [For the record, I have nothing against Germany, Germans, or anything Germanic.  After food, water, and a companion, my only other desert island requirement would be the complete works of Beethoven and something to listen to them on.  But German wine?  Keep it.]

So it made perfect sense that this home would have a singing clock, too.  But the choice of tune here (there were several) was impeccably matched to the clockwork show.  See how the clock face breaks in two, just like a broken heart?  It dances around, the towering sentiment of the song’s (unsung) lyrics holding it together like a gravitational force!  “Near, far, wherever you are / I believe that the heart does go on. / Once more, you open the door, / and you’re here in my heart / and my heart will go on and on.”  Until, finally – and not a saccharine moment too soon – the heart is rejoined with itself and made whole.  Ah, sweet devotion!

SeeLion DingDong wishes she could have mustered a moment with such poignancy (and I didn’t even have to sit through a three-hour movie to experience it!)!!