Tease

The extra is a tease. I did something wrong and have to figure out how to fix it. I changed something/did something and now can't trigger one of my flashes, so I have to figure it out and try this shot again - but in the meantime I thought it looked very mysterious. With luck tomorrow you'll say, "aha!" Now it will have to be a dark, mysterious, "behind the scenes" picture of a finger puppet about to be part of a fun picture. 

For the second extra, an example of the impact pandemics have on cultures, and I don't mean The Plague that killed a third of Europe and is given credit for people earning higher wages a century later. 

Last week we had a holiday. We didn't know what was going on so I did an internet search. It was a minor Jewish holiday called Lag B'Omer. The entry I found said it is the 33rd day of Omer, a period of mourning, when weddings and other celebrations are forbidden, and as a sign of grief, observant Jews do not cut their hair. Sound familiar? There are numerous explanations for Omer but the one listed first in multiple sources is that it is a period of mourning for when thousands of Rabbi Akiva's students died in a plague because they did not treat each other respectfully. Lag B'Omer is a one day respite. 


The Amabie picture is going viral in Japan. The Amabie is a spirit, ""first documented in 1846. As the story goes, a government official was investigating a mysterious green light in the water in the former Higo province (present-day Kumamoto prefecture). When he arrived at the spot of the light, a glowing-green creature with fishy scales, long hair, three fin-like legs and a beak emerged from the sea.
Amabie introduced itself to the man and predicted two things: a rich harvest would bless Japan for the next six years, and a pandemic would ravage the country. However, the mysterious merperson instructed that in order to stave off the disease, people should draw an image of it and share it with as many people as possible."*

Now, for obvious reasons, people are sharing pictures of Amabie. I was sent this postcard and am sharing the picture with you. 

*http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200422-amabie-the-japanese-monster-going-viral

FOURTH EXTRA:  HA! I GOT IT!