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#52: saurian

7/31/2015

saurian skin tells
story on story, casts spells
of life lived so well

Some photographs capture an eternity in one face. This woman has a wealth of knowledge, stories, wisdom, hardship, strength and character... and such intensity... I looked at her for a long time.

What's your name? Where do you live? What language do you speak? What do you want to know about me? What would I ask you if I had only one question? What would you ask me?

What do we have in common?

DEFINITION of this 3-syllable adjective:

resembling a lizard.
belonging or pertaining to the Sauria, a group of reptiles originally including the lizards, crocodiles, and several extinct forms but now technically restricted to the lizards.
a saurian animal, as a dinosaur or lizard.

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#51: olio

7/30/2015

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piquant paella
a grand olio of tastes
simmered to éclat!

My mouth is watering!! I love paella. I've exhibited at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, California, and the tradition on Friday night for the Makers is paella for 2,500!

Oh, the drama! The anticipation! The paella FINALLY in your bowl!

Best paella and gazpacho I ever experienced was in Barcelona, Spain, right on the coast. I know the location had a lot to do with it. Good tastes and good views!

DEFINITION of this 3-syllable (4-letter!) noun:

a mixture of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge.
a dish of many ingredients.
Informal. olla podrida (def. 2).

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#50: saxicoline

7/29/2015

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Rip Van Winkel sleeps
saxicoline egret nests
a-twinned in white beard

Rip Van Winkle evoked by Martin Luther King:
"There are all too many people who, in some great period of social change, fail to achieve the new mental outlooks that the new situation demands. There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in our world today. It is a social revolution, sweeping away the old order of colonialism. And in our own nation it is sweeping away the old order of slavery and racial segregation. The wind of change is blowing, and we see in our day and our age a significant development. Victor Hugo said on one occasion that there is nothing more powerful in all the world than an idea whose time has come. In a real sense, the idea whose time has come today is the idea of freedom and human dignity. Wherever men are assembled today, the cry is always the same, “We want to be free.” And so we see in our own world a revolution of rising expectations. The great challenge facing every individual graduating today is to remain awake through this social revolution."

We should remain not just awake, but aware and active in this social "changing of the guard," from fear of change to embracing the power within change.

DEFINITION of this 4-syllable adjective:

living or growing among rocks.

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#49: accouterment

7/28/2015

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their empowerment's
betterment from measurement
of accouterment

The photo at left documents a recent iteration of accouterment excess called Harajuku fashion, after a fashion district in Japan. Apparently anything... and everything... goes!

Question: is this being yourself... or hiding yourself?

I think I'm guilty of excessive alliterative characters in a single haiku!?

DEFINITION of this 4-syllable

personal clothing, accessories, etc.
the equipment, excluding weapons and clothing, of a soldier.

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#48: nabob

7/27/2015

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nabob all-potent
traveling by elephant
everywhere he went

[... from Wikipedia:] "A nabob is an Anglo-Indian term for a conspicuously wealthy man who made his fortune in the Orient, especially in the Indian subcontinent. It also refers to an East India Company servant who had become wealthy through corrupt trade and other practices. Nabob literally means "deputy governor" or "viceroy" in the Mughal Empire rule of India. This title was later adapted by British vassals in India, such as Bengal, Oudh, and Arcot."

Closer to [my] home: "San Francisco's historically posh neighborhood, Nob Hill, was named as a result of shortening the term nabob. Nob Hill came to prominence in the 1860s and 1870s when tycoons (including Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins; California's "Big 4" who helped create the Central and Southern Pacific Railways) built their lavish mansions there."

DEFINITION of this 2-syllable noun:

any very wealthy, influential, or powerful person.
Also, nawab. a person, especially a European, who has made a large
fortune in India or another country of the East.
a viceroy or deputy governor under the former Mogul empire in India.

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#47: fumarole

7/26/2015

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Muir and Fay alive!
warmed by hissing fumaroles
on snow-stormed Shasta

John Muir's shivering account of "Snow-Storm on Mount Shasta," was published in Volume 55 of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, September 1877. The first half of the article details the geologic history, geology, weather and flora of Mt. Shasta and the region, and fastidious observations of everything in his environment. When you get to the illustration at the left, not quite half-way down the article, the story of the ascent begins! His mountaineering companion was Jerome Fay, and it's an absolute wonder they both survived after literally laying on lava beds near gaseous fumaroles while covered with snow... for 17 hours! I have this indelible impression of John Muir hiking hundreds of miles in street shoes and a thin wool dress jacket surviving solely on tea and bread. If you read more about his adventures, especially The Wild Muir, it's a miracle that he lived as long as he did. A truly fascinating, influential and larger-than-life character.

DEFINITION of this 3-syllable noun:

a hole in or near a volcano, from which vapor rises.

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#46: scop

7/25/2015

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halfway through the tale
the old scop scoffed, coughed, dropped, died
story's end with him

Illustration from Jim Hensen's The Storyteller. Jim Hensen arguably did more for storytelling on television and in the modern era than anyone. The many characters he and his crew created are enduring, many with their own fan clubs. The Muppets series is one of my all-time favorites. The list of his contributions is long.

Jim, rest in peace.

DEFINITION of this 1-syllable noun:

an Old English bard or poet.

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#52: saurian

#51: olio

#50: saxicoline

#49: accouterment

#48: nabob

#47: fumarole

#46: scop

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