The New Year's Eve Entertainment Has Arrived.

For your dancing pleasure.....

Everything I do gonna be funky
From now on
Everything I do gonna be funky
From now on

Never before have I felt so good
Just being natural me
Minor hangups and monor ties
But deep inside I'm free
So let your hair down, get down get with it
Who can say what's right or wrong

Everything I do gonna be funky
From now on
Yeah, everything I do gonna be funky
From now on.

And for the Gloom & Doomers......

And for a few laughs..... a brilliant comedian.

Welcome 2007!!!!

Comedian Bert Williams. Funky by Lee Dorsey.

The Joyous, Lake

I consulted the I Ching last night and found the results very very interesting.
I got Hexagram 58.....Tui/The Joyous.

The joy is infectious and therefore brings success. But joy must be based on steadfastness, while gentleness reveals itself in social intercourse. Under certain conditions, intimidation without gentleness might achieve something momentarily, but not for all time. When, on the other had, hearts are won by friendliness, they are led to take all hardships upon themselves willingly, and if need be will not shun death itself, so great is the power of joy over men.

THE IMAGE
Lakes resting one on the other
The image of The Joyous.
Thus the superior man joins with his friends
For discussion and practice.

A lake evaporates upward and thus gradually dries up; but when two lakes are joined they do not dry up so readily, for one replenishes the other. It is the same in the field of knowledge. Knowledge should be a refreshing and vitalizing force. It becomes so only through stimulating intercourse with congenial friends with whom one holds discussion and practices application of the truth of life. In this way learning becomes many-sided and takes on a cheerful lightness, whereas there is always something ponderous and one-sided about the learning of the self-taught.

Is that so? Hmmmmm.
I think it's just the Gemini Moon speaking.

Reality and the Sunny Side

Am I seeing things or is that a giant fried egg on the bed? This New Sun is getting to me along with Neptune. I can't wait till Saturn gets there. maybe I'll see things clearly for a second......uhhhh.........then again......

Facing Reality

I had to do it. I finally faced the truth. I realized I needed help, so I hired a cleaning man to come once a year. His name is Hector Guiterrez Cohen and he's fabulous! I highly recommend him if you need some help around the house. he does electrical work too.

Illustration by Mercer Mayer.

The Magic Reel

Leow's Paradise. The Bronx, New York.

From the fires in the cave to the modern screen, humankind has stared into glowing light and seen pictures from the imagination come to life. Everyone loves flickering light, fantasy, and escape into other worlds.

When the American movie industry hit the stage, it stopped the world in its tracks. The stories came out in serial form and people around the globe waited on pins and needles for each installment. They still look to this country for wish fulfillment.

The theater above is exactly like the ones I grew up in. Every Saturday for a quarter I would go with my brother and the other kids for newsreels, cartoons, short subjects, and often a double feature. The darkness, the quite, the expectation, the clickety-click of the projector, the real-buttered pop corn, the bon-bons, and the jujubes were honey in the rock to me. The modern day multiplex doesn't satisfy me. The sound is too loud and tinny. The screen too small. The lack of elegance, lonely. I do love a beautiful thick velvet curtain.

There has been some speculation that pictures projected from the front of the screen are healthier for the human than projections from behind. Food for thought.

Things change, but something will come along to replace the fullness of the original movie-going experience. I'll be there.

I'm in a traveling mood. Even a little trip down the river would be nice right about now with this snowbound cabin thing. And there's more on the way as I'm pecking. Looks like I'll be in until next year. Mars is moving and I was hoping to ride him before Capricorn puts the brakes on.
Ah, well. Might as well relax. I've got a Sun-kissed grapefruit to enjoy.... and some sweet yellow peas.

This is the city of Bruges in Belgium, a town of tiny streets, gabled houses, and scores of bridges, reminiscent of the Middle Ages. Given its delicacy, it's appropriate that Bruges has long been synonymous with the making of fine lace.

Photo by Gerald Brimacombe from Heaven on Earth

Venus in Moscow

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow built by Postnik Yakovlev for Ivan the Terrible in 1555.

I saw this architectural wonder myself many years ago in my globe-trotting days. The weather was truly terrible (like Colorado right now), the food was even worse, but the vodka was good and the experience altogether fascinating.

The Proper Intake

Here's something for the age reducing, health enhancing, grounding, balancing, integrating, Sun-kissed regimen some of us have begun.

There were some recent reports of projectile extrusions of a rather unpleasant nature, but, as is the norm, these things are easy to correct.

AND NO CHEATING AFTER NEW YEARS!!!!

Venus in Leo

I'd party with her in a second. Even smoke some of her cigs.
My mother had a Venus in Leo and she wasn't far from this really. Flamboyant and outlandish she was, although Saturn was there to tone it down somewhat. And she really did have good taste. She smoked Pall Malls however.  

A Simple Service

I love cemeteries and churches. Especially the small ones in country meadows with simple white clapboard houses of worship. I don't know whether it's reverence or fear that keeps people from desecrating these places. I don't even find litter in the ones I visit.
Years ago the churches were always open often with no one inside. Never a locked door, and always deep and peaceful. I wandered through often. In my town in rural upstate New York, I had a girl friend, an advanced Gemini, who used to accompany me on these churchgoing jaunts. We meandered through the cemeteries talking about life, and in the church I would play the organ.

One quiet summer afternoon while driving to the churchyard, we came upon a dying snake in the middle of the road. The agony of its struggle was almost unbearable as it lifted its head off the pavement to no avail. Jessica took a rock and killed it instantly. I was unsure and watched, hypnotized. I thought about the earth's creatures' unwillingness to give up on life.

I feel like I am attending a funeral now as I remember these simple country churches. I'm thinking about the palaces of jewels and gold that have become the world's temples and all the murder committed, Thou Shalt Not Kill be damned, to make them so grand. This Christmas I felt the beginning of the end of the vise-grip the Christian hierarchy has held on humanity. The death of the last pope, and all his political power, marked the turning point in my view. The failure of the world's religions couldn't be any more clear as murder gets top billing this holiday season, at least on the grand public stage.

The current Pope asked an interesting question in his holiday service...."Does a saviour still have any value and meaning for the people of the third millenium?"

Pisces is the sign associated with saviours. With Uranus (freedom) in Pisces leaving a sqaure to Mars (decisive action, cuts) in Sagittarius, I think this question is being answered. Maybe the people of this millenium are ready to part ways with this excessive belief in salvation delivered by other people. The desire to be good probably would be more effective if it came from within the individual as a natural impulse. All next year as Pluto and Jupiter transit Sagittarius and finish the job on the religious rulership, perhaps our Uranus/North Node square will start to release us from bondage to saviours and prophets and closer to the source of our true reverence.

But I still wish the doors to my country churches were unlocked.

Up, Up, and Away....

The human urge to fly.
Can you imagine? That a clumsy thing like us with no wings would do such a thing?

The pioneers of aeronautical invention were the Montgolfier brothers. In 1783 they launched their first, unmanned hot air balloon. Later in the summer, a balloon went aloft for an eight-minute flight with three passengers inside its basket: a rooster, a duck, and a sheep. They returned safely, and the next stage was a manned flight. Who would make this dangerous first step? Louis the XIV suggested that condemned men be used.

Professor Jacques Alexandre Charles, whose unmanned hydrogen balloon had already achieved an altitude of 3000 feet .... proposed himself. However, he was pipped at the post by Pilatre du Rozier, who flew across Paris in a hot-air balloon for 25 minutes at 300 feet on November 21, 1983.
Benjamin Franklin remarked about the event, "Charles made a sound ascent alone that evening and became the first person to see a sunset twice in one day."

Above is an artist's impression of how the flight must have looked from Franklin's balcony.

Ain't that somethin'?

From Famous Letters, edited by Frank mcLynn.

Christmas Facts/Fiction and the Great Mythological Mish Mosh

St. Nicholas served as bishop of Demre, Turkey, in the 4th century. From there, the legend of his generosity spread around the world and became interwoven with mythical stories of the jolly gift-giver. Legend had it that one night, St. Nicholas threw a sack of gold through the open window of a poverty-stricken man who could not pay the wedding dowries of his three daughters. The next night, he tossed a second sack.
On the third night, the window was closed and St. Nicholas climbed onto the roof and dropped the sack down the chimney, which landed in the girls' stockings drying in the fireplace.

Santa later took on the white beard of Odin, and Odin's eight-legged flying horse became eight reindeer. The ability to enter houses down the chimney comes from an old Norse legend, and the tradition of leaving cookies and milk is derived from a medieval German tale.

In the 12th century, French nuns began to give gifts in St. Nicholas' name on his feast day. This gift giving was later blended with the three wise men bearing gifts for the newborn Jesus, and thus became associated with Christmas.

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was created for an ad campaign for the Montgomery Ward department store chain.

An update on the Digital Democracy:
"As candidates prepare for the 2008 presidential campaign, the Internet is now the new Main Street. An estimated 70% of adults in the US travel the digital highway, still a cheap and largely unregulated medium. Reaching those potential voters and donors has become an important part of modern politics."

Another Day

A honey walnut pie and peace on earth.


Ahhhndd..........

A whisper of wine.

An Incredible News Item just came off the press!

This is absolutely amazing.
The world is becoming less violent.

According to the first report by the Human Security Center, and to the surprise of many, violence has decreased worldwide. The second report reveals the trend continuing.

The Human Security Report, an independent study funded by five countries and published by Oxford University Press, draws on a wide range of little publicized scholarly data, plus specially commissioned research to present a portrait of global security that is sharply at odds with conventional wisdom. The report reveals that after five decades of inexorable increase, the number of armed conflicts started to fall worldwide in the early 1990s. The decline has continued.
By 2003, there were 40 percent fewer conflicts than in 1992. The deadliest conflicts — those with 1,000 or more battle-deaths — fell by some 80 percent. The number of genocides and other mass slaughters of civilians also dropped by 80 percent, while core human rights abuses have declined in five out of six regions of the developing world since the mid-1990s. International terrorism is the only type of political violence that has increased. Although the death toll has jumped sharply over the past three years, terrorists kill only a fraction of the number who die in wars.

The new data indicate that the post-Cold War decline in armed conflicts and related fatalities reported last year has continued, with Sub-Saharan Africa seeing the greatest decrease in political violence.
Other encouraging trends include continuing declines in the number of genocides and other mass slaughters of civilians, and a drop in refugee numbers and military coups.

The Human Security Report 2005
Human Security Centre / Human Security Center 2006
The Human Security Report

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Credit to Virginia Cotts at the democratic daily.

Festivals, Joy, and Lights

I can't think of anything I love more than the display of lights around the world in winter celebrations. Every culture is unique. There is something exceptionally fiery about the Mexican character that I discovered when I lived in Santa Fe. Farolitos filled the whole city at Christmas, bonfires were lit, and mixed with the usual Anglo-American colored electric lights, it was a sight to behold. The farolitos are little bags of sand with real fire inside.

Another event that the Spanish New Mexicans celebrate in the fall is the burning of Zozobra, Old Man Gloom. I went to the site outside of town where there was a huge, and I mean really huge effigy of this god erected. Strange sounds were coming from this giant and when the fire was lit, it was mystical and filled my body with a sensation I will never forget. Awe-inspiring to the maximum.

Zozobra - history
Southwestern Christmas - Luminarias and Farolitos

Since the Homeowner's Association would most likely frown upon paper bags with fire on my patio, the best I can do on this wonderful unique night of the year is light some candles to express my reverence and hope for a good conclusion to this year, 2006, and a bright and fulfilling coming year for all of us. I'm confident.


Top photo by Schmatzy. Second photo by Diana Lundin.

Jump Jive & Swing

Dig that crazy Santa claus
With his red suit on
Dig that walk that crazy talk
Man oh man it's really gone!

Dig that crazy Santa claus
With his bag of toys
Open his sack with a jam in a stack
And all the little hep-cats jump for joy!!

Cool little Rudolph, cool it
With your nose aglow
Cool little yule with Rudolph
All the little hep-cats know!

From Dig That Crazy Santa Claus by Brian Setzer.

A Conversation.

Last night I participated in a wonderful conversation at Raging Universe....three ladies were involved.
Well, the universe might rage, but this talk was anything but. It was relaxed, warm, informative, humorous, and altogether delightful. Immensely enjoyable.

It reminds me of these three fine representatives of the female persuasion pictured above.
Of course, there are eight planets in Libra among us with a few Neptunes thrown in. That would influence matters.

Three Sisters - a Study in June Sunlight. Edmund Charles Tarbell. 1890.

Downtown Denver, December 20, 2006

Ellen Jaskol/Rocky Mountain News.

Medium Swing Tempo

Sometimes I wonder
What it's all about
I sit and wonder all day long,
Trying to figure it out.

The rich man is a liar.
The poor man is a thief.
The rich man no better than the
beggar man
And everyone is a cheat.

People talking to each other
Who is foolin' who?
You got to read between the lines
If you ever wanna know the truth.

You reach for satisfaction
Shove it into your mouth
Salt on a lick, a little sugar on a stick,
A little sugar for me now.

Coffee, cake, or candy
An evil cigarette.
A slip of this, a little bit of that
A little bit of happiness.

Oh my brother !
Shake your magic stick
To satisfy yourself in this life
It's gonna take some kind of magic trick.

Eeyeah

To satisfy yourself in this life
it's gonna take a little magic trick. .

From Incus, Malleus, and Stapes by jm. 1985.

Sugar Baby

Trouble is a thing called bad
Sometimes seems like trouble's all I've ever had
The weather man he told me, gonna be some wind
Hang on everybody there's a storm comin' in
Hard times comin', everywhere you turn
Can't get away from the pain and the burn
And everybody tellin me 'bout the good times I don't have
Cause I know trouble......
Trouble is a thing called bad.

When the Africans were forced into slavery and sent on ships to America, the first thing their captors did was to take away their drums, the most important instrument in their vibrant music. Without this vital outlet, the slaves turned to their guitars for percussion and from this emerged the unique form of music known as the blues. A strange and beautiful mixture of melody, rhythm, and lyrics that forever changed the face of musical expression in the world.
The original bluesmen and women sang about life in all its sorrow and joy. The most truthful songs I've ever heard.

They also took everything in the barnyard ...washboards, sticks, spoons, jugs, tubs, carved whistles, and fueled by their homemade liquor made some of the most joyous and uproarious sounds ever known. The jug bands from the Mississippi Delta were unmatched in originality and jubilance.

This great creation traveled all over the country and influenced American pop music in its glory days.... The first half of the 20th century. The best music we ever made. Freed from the confines of European structure, these sounds mixed with fantastic lyrics to influence the entire world and get them dancing to the irresistible beat. It's unfortunate that so many Americans cannot know the exhuberance of the bands that came out of Chicago, Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City, New Orleans, and all over the United States. It's hard to fathom the experience of such music live and in the streets by day and by night.

Love or hate, I'm truly glad that my countrymen today don't know the kind of social and political oppression that spawned this creativity. I hope they never will. I also am in awe of the basic human ability to transcend these horrors and triumph in the spirit.

I love the Blues. As a blues singer, songwriter, and piano player, I will carry on this remarkable tradition forever.

Sugar Baby, oh so sweet
Sugar Babe, I need something to eat
Sugar Baby......I'm feelin' blue
It's such a mean old world through and through.

One minute you're cold, the next minute hot
Lookin' for somewhere put that arrow shot
Sugar Baby, I'm feelin bad
You're the meanest man I ever had.

Sugar Baby, what's that I see
Come a little closer you got something for me
Sugar Baby.....
Yeah, yeah, yeah

You turn to the left, you turn to the right
Then you turn around and I'm nowhere in sight
Sugar baby.....I'm comin' back to you
But if you want me hangin 'round
You better watch what you do.

photo:Son House by David Gahr
Trouble is a Thing Called Bad, Sugar Baby by jm.

The Atomic Igloo

Home sweet home. This 1951 fallout shelter, called the atomic igloo, looks like a mausoleum.

With the long War on Terror, all the massive what-nots, major collapses, nuclear annihilation, and the imminent end of mankind, I thought it might be advisable to go back to an old standard used against the Commies..... the fallout shelter.

They looked like prison cells and were about the same size, but a family of five was expected to live in one. A symbol of the Cold War era, these windowless concrete rooms were designed to protect against the lethal fallout of a nuclear attack. They first appeared when President Truman began a civil defense program. President Eisenhower helped popularize them, but few shelters were built until President Kennedy, making a speech about the Soviet Union, encouraged everybody to build one.
Instantly shelter mania took off and contractors rushed to fill orders. Stocked with food, water, medicine, and other necessities, these little prisons were as standard in some neighborhoods as patios and pools.

Suckerdom is nothing new. Be sure to take some good books.

A Return To Elegance

With the Moon now in Capricorn taking us to the Sun soon to be in Capricorn, the usual serious tone is settling in, along with the winter, certainly here in Colorado.
The season is high, as glimmering lights spill their sparkle on gowns and tuxedos at holiday parties, concerts, and gala celebrations nationwide.

There's been some speculation about a return to elegance in the coming Capricorn years. I'm in favor of this. I love the country, I live in a rural enclave within a large city. I also love the urban beat, the night life, and the warmth of human celebration. There's magic and otherworldiness in the air when I put on my finest fabrics, my fabulous fake furs, and of course, my beloved rhinestones, and venture out for a night on the town.

It's been ages since I've done this, and I wouldn't mind opportunities to do it again. But most of all I would rejoice with the return of graciousness, manners, and elegance to all areas of my society.

Yes, I would welcome it enthusiastically.

Painting. Times Square by Howard Thain. 1925.

The Road Ahead

Well, the heavens have descended dumping their contents on my hometown. I'm snowed in, stranded, and at a standstill waiting for the new direction, the new road. A pure white world. A long night. How amazing to have a New Moon and a New Sun together. I'm even doing my laundry, and if this ambition continues, steam ironing is ahead. Oh, and another vegetable soup. The old standard. The solid rock.
We will see what path emerges.

Illustration by Chris Van Allsburg from Jumanji.

The New Sun Comes

As this year's Sun turns red, sinks, and dies, and Hel leads us on the bridge to the New Sun, with the New Moon upon us joined with Pluto in the center of our Milky Way, with Jupiter and Saturn protecting and guiding us......my hopes are high. I'm ready to go to the next circle.

Pile high the hickory and the light
Log of chestnut struck by the blight
Welcome in the winter night.

The day has gone in hewing and felling,
Sawing and drawing wood to the dwelling
For the night of talk and story-telling.

These are the hours that give the edge
To the blunted axe and the bent wedge,
Straighten the saw and lighten the sledge.

Here are question and reply,
And the fire reflected in the thinking eye,
So peace, and let the bob-cat cry.

Top illustration by Sophy Williams from Starry Tales. Bottom illustration by Nancy Carpenter. Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

I'm in the Mood For Peace

I'm finally there! I'm getting ready for the longest night and the big celebration. I've got walnuts, raisins, and jellied cranberry sauce in the cupboard. There's even some aluminum foil behind the waxed paper. The oven is working despite a faulty lower heating element, just in case I need to bake something.

I don't care about any war talk, I'm inviting everyone to enjoy a meditation on harmony, peace, and well being. And maybe a walnut honey pie. The season has come. Let joy prevail wherever it can.  

*.......... ? ......!

Well, I'm sorta starting to get into the spirit. Could it be that I haven't been in the stores listening to Xmas songs? Am I missing something? I usually am. As long as it's not my keys.
I'm not even as miserable as I get on the winter solstice normally. I love the nights but I have my limits.

This is definitely a way out of the ordinary holiday season.