Time of the Auguries

A sign can be an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else.  

Loaded with irony, a sign can also be a source of amusement or distress.

Signs of disconcerting hilarity are abundant in the swamp, and in the beauty salons.

For this augur, the interpretation of omens is a Sunday pastime.

I predict uniforms will be back in style and Diana Vreeland's movie will come to Miami soon.

A sign of the times is something judged to exemplify or indicate the nature or quality of a particular period, typically something unwelcome or unpleasant such as the hair loss on your head.

Signed, sealed and delivered means formally and officially agreed and in effect.

For bloggers it means hit the publish button.

Hard to ignore, signs are often notices publicly displayed giving information or instructions in a written or symbolic form, as with this political add asking you to pull the lever for Hardemon.

But a sign need not be printed words boldface on placards.  Signs are also something regarded as an indication or evidence of what is happening or going to happen, as with the cranes that tower over the swampscape.

A sign of the cross is made in blessing or prayer by tracing a cross from the forehead to the chest and to each shoulder, or in the air in the hopes that all goes well for god's chosen few, such as the new museums dwntwn.

Signs are also each of the twelve equal sections into which the zodiac is divided, named from the constellations formerly situated in each, and associated with successive periods of the year according to the position of the sun on the ecliptic.  The Design District is a Scorpio.

South Beach is a Pisces by day, a Gemini by night.

Whatever the horoscope says, the signs are clear.

South Florida and all its chipmunks will be underwater in 100 years.

But we are too busy replacing perfectly good sidewalks with some version of new and improved WTF.

This corner crossing has been people un-friendly for over a year.

A sign of abandonment, boarded windows near the ocean indicate that someone or something is not present where they should be or are expected to be.

Pigions and sea gull provide other signs of wild things to come with their tracks and droppings  adorning a gutted hotel near the ocean.

A sign of privatization of public commons, South Point in SoBe typifies action or reaction that conveys something about someone's state or experiences, particularly developers and politicians.

Public art in private places, a monumental crankshaft up ended is a metaphor for excess capital.

This contraption is another sign of perceived security, a pataphor, a gesture or action used to convey information or instructions,  such as big blubber is watching.

 

Alas, a sign can also be a miracle regarded as evidence of supernatural power.

In Swamp We Trust.

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