Aretha, Taketi and Uloomu

Snow Bow

 

     Beam me up. Count me in. Let me go on record: Miss Aretha Franklin’s grey felt Luke Song hat – give her props!

    As a new co-worker and I sat inside a sandwich shop, watching the live inauguration broadcast, the Queen of Soul looked grand in her coronet before she rose to sing. In command of her presentation. Beautiful.

   “That’s quite a hat!” I said.  “So taketi/uloomu!”

    Taketi and Uloomu could be - but are are not - persons attending the inauguration. They are the terms invented by Wolfgang Köhler to describe things that are angular and spiky (taketi) and things that are rounded and curvy (umoolu), wonderful opposites that attract and complement.

   The admiration I feel for the accessory, that Detroit- made work of millinery arts, is very much like the affection I have for the heron: Similar color! Features and benefits: plumage AND crowning glory.  Angular and round and soft and sharp.  Folding  and unfolding limbs and wings. A committee of means and ends. Simultaneously ungainly and elegant. Set with stones!  Poised and awkward. Blends in yet stands out in a crowd. Circumspect!

    The Heron Report: Spotted two.  First one cruised in for a landing about the 7 marker and stood sentinel-like at the edge of the bank ( 2:31 p.m).  Second, also sentinel-like, fished from the downstream side of a rock in midstream. Either that or it was one heron in two places. They are very haberdashery.

so taketi/uloomu!

aretha-franklin

Argent Aurific Oneiric

   Inauguration Day morning in Pennsylvania is silver rich. With the temperature at eight degrees at 5:30 a.m., the creek continues to churn out mist and moisture which forms fern-like crystal colonies on the bank’s marginalia of branches and boughs. The water itself at dawn has  the teal and aqua iridescentishness of abalone; the heron flying low: blue and slate. The woods look silverish. Closer inspection shows that is white snow on grey bark.

   We are  150 miles and several light seconds removed from the inaugural activities and events in Washington, D.C, where it is a new address for the Obama and Biden families, a glimmering new dress for the First Lady, her Adam the first black man in the White House and at the presidential helm.

    Sunrise grows golden. The augury is auric. We must pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off - of snow, of dust, of gold dust. Yesterday was only a dream.

 

Web Presence: the Barack of an Envelope

  

Barack of an Envelope: Web Presence

   Heavy rain before daybreak. Walking for the Heron Report: first one sits hunched on a branch, facing the bank of the creek, opposite. From this position, its head looks like a hard-boiled egg on grey feathers.

   The day is quiet, the sky grey. Mostly runners on the path, single or in pairs.

   Another heron flies above the creek, squawking and heading downstream until it lands in the high notch of a tree. 

   One man jogging: a once-regular whose schedule is shaken up by golf and bicycling. He asks if I am happy about the new man in office and, when I say “Yes,” he relates this:

  “People tell me I’m crazy. I wanted Obama to win but I voted for McCain because I didn’t want Obama to win by a landslide.”

   Hmmm.

   One more heron on the way back, in the water. Just another day.

  

   Related stories:

   * The New York Times

   * Yahoo! News
barack obama

Duck Red Tape: Sudoku Rebus

Capitol, Washington D.C.

   Prior to the elections, a friend described the WOW! factor that governmental edifices in Washington D.C. have. Their clean, classical lines and rigor, the precision and immensity that awe and overwhelm us. Their marble and granite mystery. What goes on inside them?

    “People lose sight of what the government’s purpose is, ” he said. “You can’t have government without people; you can have people without government.”

   ”The government organizes things to make it easier for people,” he added. “The government is composed of ordinary people and people should not fear the government, the government should fear the people.”

   The government organizes things for and provides money and opportunities to people. It also structures flights of successive steps – presents hoops to jump through. Requirements get tightened up, making it harder to reach the inner sanctum, or just to obtain or earn some type of benefits. 

Red Tape, sudoku rebus

               Imitation of a predacessor who has overcome barriers, negotiated the course,  or successfully traversed the red tape process, may be the sincerest form of operational flattery – of getting the same task done: “If you/they can do it, I/we can do it.” Yes, we can.

This just in

Oh so clear

   The political landscape

    and the natural signs favor

        the Obama camp.

Back of an Envelope: Election Day Forecast

 

License to Win

   Feng shui forecast for the United States Presidential election, 2008: Hawaii and Alaska, absent from the art piece, have provided two of the major entrants in the race.

From the back of an envelope, a look at the markers for this contest:

Assets and Liabilities

 

   Both sides are so even in terms of balance, creativity, growth and desire to lead, the race is still too close to call.

    Numerical analysis shows Obama/Biden to be a better coupling, a better team. A perfect ten. The McCain/Palin ticket is seven and seven, like a drink.

    A slight edge to the Democratic candidates. Seven o’clock will tell.

   The double “in” on the Republican side: a (W)in-(W)in after Dubya? Close call. Last call.

   Matching the date 11/4/2008 to each party? Useless. Not quite: a seven day overall. Just the number Obama/Biden needs. And the numbers McCain/Palin represent.

    It’s tight. Favors white. Piece it together. True colors. Red, white and blue.

Tool and dye.