Blog Posts

  • transparent apples make good applesauce  Posted on July 24, 2010

    one of the many little projects for today is to use some of the countless apples that are falling on the ground here from our transparent apple tree.. last year we survived on applesauce throughout much of the winter.. susan usually makes it.. she doesn't care for the more bohemian approach i take towards making it which includes leaving the skins on and etc. etc.. i want to get some of this done as she does too around here already.. outside of making tomatoe sauce, this is one of the few things i can do as far as canning goes...

     

  • new beginnings and old endings  Posted on July 23, 2010

    someone is born, and another person dies... a story begins and another one ends.. i was contemplating this yesterday while out on a walk.. life is like a circle, or cycle if that is easier to grasp.. getting caught up on one part of it is often the human condition... i was thinking of how the sun shines on everyone and doesn't treat anyone more special then anyone else... people get caught up in people stuff, but aside from that being a real distraction, it is also disconnected from the greater reality that guides and sustains our life..i think i'm embracing the idea of letting go here... what matters? if you have the basic essentials met, and there are many people on the planet who don't, you have time to consider this.. you also have time to think of how fortunate you are instead of trying to grab for more... i read an article called 'no to oligrachy' today.  one wonders what some of those mentioned in the article think of ideas like the ones i am kicking around here...                       www.thenation.com/article/37889/no-oligarchy   

    at some point the confluence of power in the hands of a few must give way.. i plan on talking about a major astro configuration that seems to play into this directly, and which i touched on yesterday - the t square with pluto in capricorn on the top... that is the concentration of power captured in the astrology of the moment.. meanwhile the planets down on the bottom forming the oppostion - saturn and uranus - have a very different concept towards this pluto...  more later..

     

     

  • desmond tutu  Posted on July 22, 2010

    desmond tutu born oct 7 1931, (no specific time available - 12pm used here) Klerksdorp, South Africa.. uranus the freedom loving planet sits opposite a cluster of planets in libra – sun venus conj and mercury about 11 degrees away from sun.. uranus is also a part of a major astro configuration – the grand square which puts a person at the center of energies pulling in very different directions looking for a way to harmonize.. the t square of the early 30’s is similar to what we are headed for in the next few years. in tutus chart saturn is opposite pluto, with both squaring onto uranus… this is someone who will seek a path to freedom, which is indeed what he worked towards for his country...  in the present situation 2010-2012 it is saturn opposite uranus both squaring onto pluto.. this creates a new world order backdrop to much of what is happening today with a concentration of power in the hands of corporations and elite groups appearing to be much more deeply embedded and unlikely to change.. humanity struggles to break out of this oppresive yoke, but it doesn't come easy.. the challenges we face collectively are helped by alternative media outlets.   staying positive while watching the underbelly of our world at work is a challenge.. i think it was jesus who said 'resist not evil' ..not many seem to have ever taken those words very far..  instead it's usually a question of how to overcome these forces that are working to do us in? a 64,000$ question reappears..

    tutu also has a moon in leo, probably close to jupiter also in leo which is a sign known to gravitate towards pomp (jupiter in leo anyway) and leadership.. both planets square onto his warlike mars in scorpio and of course he would be no stranger to the difficult struggles his fellow citizens worked to overcome having lived them himself… in his case these leo placements seem to have helped him to a high position in the church which is where he made his (moon) home and also from where he worked to usher change for south africa…  he was able to express his political outlook(jupiter) with a desire for change (uranus) by helping to overthrow an apartheid regime (saturn/pluto).. jupiter/moon is the release point to this grand square in his chart.. it is aspecting the uranus/libra opposition in a harmonious way through the sign leo which is complimentary to the signs aries and libra…

    he is only 1 of 2 people to receive the nobel peace prize in south africa.. an amazing man by all accounts and someone i'm not too familiar with although i've heard his name countless times… he has decided to withdraw from the public sphere at this time which coincides directly with saturns transit into libra.. this 2 1/2 year approx cycle through the signs of saturn just happened the last day or so.. saturn remains in libra for a couple of years and can signal changes in the life of anyone with  planets in libra, but especially those with sun, moon or ascendant in this sign..

  • k2 trails near morrells  Posted on July 21, 2010

    there are some mountain bike folks making wacky crazy trails in the backwoods in and around mt. bensen.. today i happened on one of these trails and found myself down towards the middle of westwood lake, but up much higher so as to get a good view looking down on the lake... the descent from this spot brought bell and i onto the power line that runs alongside westwood lake and of course morrell sanctuary a spot where we walk quite often.. it is amazing the amount of space and land untouched for the most part by the people that live in this area, but the mountain bike people have some committed friends doing things in the surrounding woods... i will have to ask rene if he found this trail as it's a good one! if i go again soon i will take my camera so that i can share a picture of some of what they do in the middle of nowhere..

    now one of the things i like to do is bring my little h2 zoom recorder as i often find i can come up with melodies for future songs on these walks i do.. indeed i came back with about 3 ideas from this walk today.. now for the hard part - putting down on paper and making them into more then just fragmented ideas.. i have found myself coming up with many musical ideas off these walks and of course the fresh air and solitude are very beneficial too..i feel blessed to be involved as i am in all of this...

  • artichoke heaven  Posted on July 20, 2010

    artichokes in the garden, next to the broad beans.. this one has 4 heads.. i wonder if this is where some got the idea of monsters with many heads! i don't care for them, but i like the look of them.. susan loves them, but is going to have to get enrique to show her how to cook them up, or eat them raw..

    meanwhile, 2 rehearsals tonight, and one which includes a focus on mine and others original music.. i will get to play my new song after all...

     

  • the song "new story"  Posted on July 19, 2010

    i have a song that i'm trying to get uploaded onto the site, but learning how to do this sort of magic is more work then i thought! and this is with help from my dear friend enrique too, who is feeling a bit sleepy today! hopefully in the next day or 2 we, or i will have figured it out and i'll be able to share a song i have been working on for the past few days called 'new story'.. i have about 3 others that i'd like to share as well but until i get the hang of uploading scorch files, this will have to wait.. stay tuned.. out of tune is out of mind..

    early evening update:

    hey, i think i managed to do it.. amazing what a lot help from enrique and some perseverance on my part can do! i will work on the other songs in the next week. this song is like some of the other songs on the 'songs' page in that it requires a free download plug-in from sibelius a music software program that was used to generate this.. it shows the music passing by on the full score, while the sounds are generated via this same music notation program.. it's a really useful tool for a person interested in writing music.....the ultimate goal for me is having these songs played by others.. when you add real musicians the music takes on a breadth and life all its own with the support of other creative musical people...