New Territory

Sagittarius Horoscopes
(Nov 22 - Dec 21)
Next Week

For the Week of Apr 27th, 2009 -- You love exploring new territory, Sagittarius, and the Moon in your 9th House of Faraway Places makes it even more alluring this weekend. Seek out people and events from different cultures to fill your heart with joy. When you stretch your boundaries you light up with a smile that makes others want to be around you.

W00T!! Stretching boundaries is so enjoyable. There may be that little tingle of anxiety, perhaps a tiny thrill of danger. Well, if you don't test yourself how will you have any fun? How will you continue to grow if you don't step out of the box once in a while? As for me, I don't know where I'm going but I'm going.
It's almost baby time and the surrogate nesting instinct has me tossing things out and bringing softer things in their place. Babies are magical beings. They set you on a new path, one I've walked before as a parent. The mindset changes, the boundaries stretch. This is life. The Wheel of Fortune turned up in my tarot reading this morning reminding me that nothing is static. Even when you think you're standing still, perhaps to catch your breath, things keep changing around you.
My mom sent a little note saying she is looking forward to being back in the neighborhood although she will miss the wine hour with my brother and his wife.
My daughter is excited by the prospect of having her daughter's great-grandmother closer to home. Round and round we go. Isn't it grand?



Mother & Daughter~altered~ Outsider Artists xoxo
Weather in NYC ~ 92' and sunny Hah!

Some Days Better Than Others

Return I
by Elisabeth Stevens

When I am traveling,

hurrying hundreds of miles

in trains or by car,

I pass houses

where we once lived.

All those places

once seemed permanent, immutable,

part of our marriage, home.

Now they are abandoned stage sets,

insubstantial cardboard and canvas.

Like clothes sent to the thrift shop,

there were lives that we left behind—just like taking out the garbage,

dropping it in the can,

slamming the lid.

I return as a tourist to

our old lives. Speeding by,

I see our first roof top through

a soot-marked window. I could walk there

from the station. I do not get off the train.

When I have the car,

I park down the block from another place and keep the motor running.

I see tulips whose bulbs I held,

brown and flaky in my palm.

Without moving,

I cross the lawn like a specter, ring the bell like a prankster, run away.

The house has been painted a different color. The swing set is gone.

At the country place, our last,

I stop behind the privet hedge you planted

to see your tree.

Set out in September when you'd measured your last summer's sun,

it now shades the terrace, just as you'd planned.

When you died, I thought of putting your ashes under your tree.

Instead, the summer after,

I sat out alone in the evenings,

waiting, listening to the leaves.

I still have your car, our child,

the dog, and some of the money.

The cat, the rabbits and the goldfish

are gone. I release the brake.

Driving quickly, I take a familiar road.

I do not see anyone we knew.

"Return I" by Elisabeth Stevens, from Household Words. © Three Conditions Press, 2000.

Pic~Izabella

Absinthe or Present

Vickie, Your horoscopes for Monday, April 20, 2009
General Weekly Love Horoscope
This is a great time for lovers as astrology's romantic leads, Venus and Mars, join together this week. The heat will continue to rise as both planets enter fiery Aries and stay close to each other for almost two months. Sensual delights are offered by the weekend's Taurus New Moon, a reminder that making your love life a priority will reward you with pleasure.

Sage advice indeed...making your love life a priority. There's nothing more precious than love. Few people realize what a gift it is when they are in the moment. Just let that moment disappear and there you are, bereft. Be certain to appreciate all the love you have, family, friends, lover and the universal love that ties it all together. I try to remind myself every day.

Lately, I've become a bit forgetful. This does happen to me in the springtime. Some call it Spring Fever. It's a kind of day distant state of mind, not unpleasant, but slightly distracting. The spring cleaning offensive is part of the syndrome. Diving into the clutter that is my art studio/guest-baby room is most therapeutic. There is lots of stuff there--metal, canvas, fabric, ribbons, buttons and ephemera. Shiny things appeal to me. My stash of sequins from old flapper dresses, rhinestones, beads of every description and glitter. Yes, sparkling glitter in rainbow colors (and lots of black, of course) in all forms from glass shards (not child friendly) to fine, pale glow-in-the dark white reside in my little studio. I found minute Mexican wrestlers with masks and capes, teeny tiny almost microscopic people and many plastic animals and amphibians.

Numerous tin nichos await their new residents. There is even fabric from old kimonos and silk saris. Securing these treasures away from tiny hands will be a feat of wonder, but I've done it before when Christine was a babe. Grand babies are so cool. The room is a bit Gothic, but I can cover my Gorey prints and snake-haired portraits easily enough when necessary. Never did I think I would have pink in my white, gray and black decor. It does give a softer tone to the room.

Moving the absinthe fountain to my bedroom seems a prudent idea. Pink fairies are so much more apropos than green ones for a little girl. Pink curtains are out, though. Maybe a dreamy mauve. It's just that I do write some of the vampire tales in that room and I'm not sure they would be comfortable with pink curtains. There's always room for compromise, even among the undead. Now, about the swords...

Grimm cover~AlphaStamps xoxo

http://alphastamps.com/

Egg Hunts & Hidden Treasure

Vickie, Your horoscopes for Monday, April 13, 2009
General Weekly Love Horoscope
Romantic Venus finally ends her retrograde period on Saturday and slowly begins moving forward again. This will help to get relationships back on track, whether it's about repairing a current one or finding a new one. Don't expect to be blasted by the heat of love right away, as this weekend is more about reason than passion.

Reason is fine with me. There's been a lot of moving and shaking lately. Spent a lovely Easter afternoon and evening with dear family. Mom was in good spirits as we all were. We even Skyped the Floridians, dripping from a dip in the pool, cooling off from a toasty 80'.

Each year the traditional egg hunt takes place. Theresa hides them and the junior crew goes on the hunt. The boys are getting older and a bit bored, but Caitlin still finds joy in each egg discovered. Soon there will be new additions toddling about the yard seeking their treasure.

We will photograph and document the great event. As the years pass those pictures become

the catalyst to remembering the real treasure we find. Of course it is the love we have for one another. The realization how precious the time we have as a family is, how fragile it is. Like the soap bubbles the kids blow into the wind with rainbows reflecting on the surface, time shines and evaporates back into eternity.

So, I say, don't hide your treasure. Don't save it for a rainy day. Enjoy your life and let those you love know how much they mean to you. Tell them every day. They're good eggs.

Star Crossed

Sagittarius Horoscopes
(Nov 22 - Dec 21)
Next Week
For the Week of Apr 6th, 2009 -- You may be uncharacteristically low-key this weekend, preferring the company of a quiet person to being in the middle of a rowdy crowd. This offers you a perfect opportunity for a delicate conversation or some inner reflection that will give you a more objective picture of your relationship situation

Vickie, Your horoscopes for Monday, April 06, 2009
General Weekly Love Horoscope
Venus, the planet of romance, swims back into sensitive Pisces to add inspiration and uncertainty to relationships. This is her last full week of retrograde (backwards) motion, stirring up memories of love gained and lost. Draw on the wisdom of positive experiences to find pleasure in the present and spur hope for the future.

Springtime is for beginnings. Starting something. Renewal. Daffodils and hyacinths are blooming.

Pale green and soft pink buds appear on trees and bushes. Sunshine yellow forsythia sway in the breeze, waving on opportunity. April showers are predicted for tomorrow, today is glorious. A beautiful Palm Sunday. Neighbors stroll by holding graceful green fronds. Some have been fashioned into small or large verdant crosses, already fading to the pale straw color they will remain 'til reduced to midnight dust for Ash Wednesday service. Easter is next Sunday, truly a symbol of rebirth.

I am looking forward, but, at the same time I've been checking where I've been. Getting my bearings. One of the reasons I love the night sky is the constellations. Since mythology captured my imagination as a child, the idea that these entities resided in the stars seemed quite logical to me. Then, finding out sailors used these very same constellations to navigate the seas led me to believe that Orion or Leo or lovely Cassiopeia actually showed them the way to all the exotic places they dreamed of at the start of the voyage.

Now there is much debate as to the possibility of life on planets within these constellations.

As galaxies expand or contract and even collide I feel it's almost certain life exists elsewhere in the universe. As self-centered as the human race can be, there is room for this possibility.

Growing up I watched men land on the moon and, amazingly, walk on it's surface. Astronauts leaping into the air, defying gravity and gracefully landing on the moon dust gave me the impression I would one day be able to do the same. For the most part, I am still earthbound save the occasional airline flight where at least I get to peer into and above the clouds.

Now it seem Venus has been swimming backwards, poor dear! It must be quite tricky to hop onto that clam shell doing a backward flip. This may explain why she's been a mite testy lately. All that and she has to contend with sensitive fish. That may explain why she's been reminiscing about past romances. Sometimes the present is just too much to deal with for now. A little nostalgia is healthy so long as that's not where you decide to reside. I'm sure she'll be back in her awesome stride once she's on the right course again. Her cohorts in the stars will make sure she gets the right star map. I've always had quite a fondness for Orion in that chill winter sky, standing there with his belt and sword. Hmm, it could be the sword.

For some reason, heaven only knows, I have Paris on my mind. Perhaps it's spring fever. Maybe there's something in the stars. Everything is coming up Paris for me, though I have no plans to visit the City of Lights. The last time I visited Paris I was in love. That is the right place to be.

If it is in the stars, I may be standing under the Eiffel Tower again. Ah, that would be magnifique!

Ah, Edith Piaf!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKgcKYTStMc&feature=related

This journal page sums things up for today.

No, I did not forget. Weather in Oaxaca 93' partly sunny.

"Men like women who write. Even though they don't say so. A writer is a foreign country."

~Marguerite Duras

Perhaps...lol

Chick and the Chickaroos

My dad's given name was Reuben James, but everyone called him Chick. He was born April 4, 1920 in New York City, the first in his family to be born in the USA. They immigrated from Spain, some via Cuba. Family was everything to him. My mom, of Irish and German descent, kept us all in line. We knew we were his top priority.

This is a picture my brother Mark sent, copied from an old slide taken many moons ago. That's my brother Bob, my Dad and me. As I recall, I wanted to be a singing cowgirl, stage name Peggy Lee. Must have had a fever!

Thanks for all the love Dad. We still carry it with us as we carry you in our hearts.

xoxo

April Fool on the Hill

In honor of April Fool's Day the DJ on my morning radio program was playing songs with 'fool' in the title. Next thing Paul McCartney is singing 'Fool on the Hill', one of my fave Beatles' songs.
It reminds me of my brother Chris. I'm blessed with a lovely sister and five amazing brothers.
Chris and I were simpatico. We got one another. We were in the same groove, on the same wavelength. We may have been considered a bit more eccentric than our siblings, which is quite a statement if you know our family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDJ-015ojec

Back in the day, Chris and some friends rented a house in College Point, location Queens, known to be the northernmost tip of the Bermuda triangle. On a moonlit night the boys decided a party was in order.
Arriving fashionably late, accompanied by my friend known affectionately as 'The Hat', I surveyed the grounds. The yard was alive with people enjoying various beverages and refreshments. Hey, it was the '70s, you get the idea. We entered the house and found ourselves in the kitchen. Someone had baked a huge, gooey fudge layer cake, decorated with tiny chocolate babies and a gazillion sprinkles. Next to the cake was a pan of brownies, still warm from the oven. The aroma was heavenly. The Hat did not resist temptation. Deftly lifting a brownie from the pan, he consumed it in three bites. Smiling, he poured some wine for us and we retired to the veranda. OK, it was the backyard. Chris spotted us and ran across the lawn.

"Glad you made it. How's everything?"
The Hat swayed a bit, then whispered..."Man, I feel weird. Was there something in those brownies?"
Today you may think, how cliche. Then, it was a legitimate question. *
"No, just regular brownies, no extras."
The Hat did not buy it.
"I better sit down." Which he did, on the grass under a sprawling oak under the moonlight.
I sat next to him. Another roommate appeared.
"You need to lie down Hat? You can use my water bed if you want."
The Hat just gave him a doleful look.
"Thanks Elliot, but I don't think I can move right now."
Chris leaned down, looking into his eyes.
"Listen, Elliot is going to get some chamomile tea for you. You'll be fine about ten minutes after you drink it. Just relax. We'll all sit here for a while and listen to Van Morrison."
That's just what we did. Miraculously, The Hat was his old self within the prescribed time.
It was a beautiful night.

Later, as we drove home, past the wrought iron factory, The Hat turned to me with a smile.
"Your bro's a cool dude. He does that mind control calm you down thing. He's my man."
Yeah, he was my man, too. Totally cool.

Chris was a wise man. I would seek his advice on many issues. He moved to California, I stayed in New York. He met Mary and her beautiful children. They married and had another amazing child. The laid back West Coast suited him. It was home.

My daughter and I were ready for a long overdue visit to Chris and the family. In our last phone call he was so excited. We would be taking another road trip together. He had the itinerary and the music all planned. Everything was groovy.

The phone rang about 1AM. It was my Mom, but she sounded so small, so far away.
"We lost Christopher. He's gone."
I screamed "No!" to the Universe. It still echoes in the stars.

Chris died suddenly from a dissected aorta. His family donated his organs.
We listened to Van Morrison at the memorial service. We laughed and we wept.
Mary said we should take the road trip, so two weeks later Christine and I flew back. We celebrated Chris, singing Hotel California as we rolled along the highway.

A few months later I received an email from Mary. It told us how his donated organs had been used all over the world. He would have been happy to help each and every recipient. He was a blessing for them the way he always was for us. Very cool.

My heart goes out to Liam Neeson and all of Natasha Richardson's family. She too was a gift in life and in death. Bless them all.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojGuCttS55w



Fool on the Hill~The Beatles
Tupelo Honey~Van Morrison

pic~Woodstock summer 2006
some names may have been chnged to protect the guilty

*totally untainted brownies, totally man