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Friday, November 12, 2021

Enigmas or Enigmi?

Let's begin with a Normaphoto testing a surveillance camera we mounted over our back door in advance of trick-or-treaters. I posed for her and tried to look grim. High camera angle shortened me and exaggerated the effort:

a strangely welcome distortion which is ok. Let my enemies believe I am stocky, dangerous, brooding and have broad shoulders.

This leads us recklessly toward our title. Plural of Enigma in English is Enigmas, but in Italian it is Enigmi which, written backward while borrowing the English "a", becomes Imagine. We do our best in a divided nation, a politically prickly world. The solution is not the proverbial needle in a haystack;  more like a bit of harmless hay in a needlestack.

Imagine that, until the meek obtain. 

30 comments:

  1. You look very dangerous, dear. You can conquer the world--of poetry.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Thank you, dear Janie. Conquest of poetry progresses with every person's exploration, in every language --at every age.

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  2. The world could benefit from a "...welcome distortion..." about now. Imagine indeed.

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    1. Dear Tom, Just as a security camera angle compressed me, I suspect our competitive news media misrepresents the height of our brooding world --which looks rather guarded and grim as a result. And yes, we must imagine our way to a better world.

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  3. I have a hard time believing you have "enemies"...

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    1. Me too, dear Squid. Me too. Yet, they invade my past and all suffer my phenomenal ability to dodge blows. Enemies and bullies are terms equally broad and unfortunate.

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    2. Just keep that Bobo Olson move in your back pocket.

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    3. Bobo will always be a head-bonked hero to me.

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  4. 'Imagine' by John Lennon is ideal. You made me think of it. I can still imagine all the people sharing the whole world. Unfortunately I don't think I'll ever see it.

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    1. Dear Mimmylynn, if you have seen world peace in your imagination, an adjustment is made. It can only spread. As Mr. Lennon's song has persisted through the years. Even now, in our internet correspondence, it has not diminished.

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  5. I don't usually needle people, but it seems finding the hay would be a prickly job.

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    1. Dear Mike, I love your comment. I grew up on a small farm where needles were kept in the sewing room and hay in the barn. Never understood "needle in a haystack" or vice versa --in regard to human interaction. Still don't. But suspect we're witnessing something impossibly in between right now.

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  6. When I order "Two espressi" the barista might looks puzzled - he frowns: An enigma. Imagine! Hay-ho!

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    1. Dear Britta, Zwei Espressi? Make sure you give the 2-fingered Peace Sign --palm toward the barista-- just to make sure (My world-traveling friend, Willie, says it's important).

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    2. Dear Geo., I always talk with my hands and body too, in fact I am very un-northern. People from other countries understand very well what I mean (not in the realm of ideas, maybe, but in everyday-life).
      The triplets also give a really great show to express what they cannot say - though at the moment a breathtaking start of learning to say and pronounce what one means starts - so startling and wonderful!

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    3. Startling and wonderful indeed. Each new mind reflects the continuum.

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  7. Replies
    1. "Ole softy" is precisely the image I've worked on for 72 years. Can't stop now.

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  8. We have a back door camera as well. It "watches" the garage, basement door and back entry, which is our most vulnerable areas of the house I guess. Truth be told I mainly use it to check out the wildlife that sets off our motion lights and to check what time Youngest rolls in. :)

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    1. Dear Juli, I too appreciate affordable technology that helps us feel safe --and apprised of backyard wildlife doings. We used to depute those jobs to a big dog (and miss her dreadfully) but surveillance devices are almost as effective, just not as silly, fuzzy and loving.

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    2. Oh... we have the dog also. And a sign that says "Please do not trip over our security dog"

      She doesn't bark, sleeps through everything, but she's quite the love bug.

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  9. You do look dangerous, like maybe you hang out with some of our illustrious Arizonans, ala Chansley or Gosar. My state is not getting any good publicity today, thanks to those two. And I'm sure you'd avoid both of them so maybe the camera does lie and you're not dangerous.

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    1. Dear Bruce, My dangerous look is all camera-angle. Attacks by Gosar and Chansley upon people trying to do their important work is dangerous for real. Nobody likes to see their jobs, public images, especially their lives imperiled by guys like Gosar-Chansley whose brains need examination by a good colorectal surgeon.

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  10. At first I read Imagine as linguini, which was an enigma of pasta, I do believe.

    Imagine aged very well. I just wish we weren't singing it so wistfully at this late date.

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    1. Dear Jenny, Freud mapped the mind into mutually interactive regions: I believe "Ego"=self-conscious mind is intact but "Imagination", which springs from the unconscious, was misread by his publisher as Linguini. Fortunately, the error was corrected before Mr. Lennon wrote his beautiful song.

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  11. ❤️ cat and her cat Theo Thunderbutt :)

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    1. Dear Cat, I am SO Happy to see you comment here again. As you've probably heard, my state, California, is one of 3 areas most affected by internet outage in the U.S. Apparently Frontier Communications is floundering. My participation in this insurrection is confined to odd moments when the rest of the country is having supper. I look forward to our renewed online company.

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  12. ydg is at yellowdog granny now or for now. dont know that it will stay down or what. any how its up and have a post. stop by and let me know if you found it..thanks ydg.

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