tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-166598502012-01-27T19:31:29.601-06:00Learning Curve on the EclipticOn Art, Music, Writing, Politics, Life. ~ Astrology is dusted over many, though not all, of these thoughts.Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comBlogger16941100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-9708549679864602182012-01-26T07:00:00.002-06:002012-01-26T07:01:23.793-06:00Nutty Okie Senator ~ & ~ Heading Out From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night....and loopy Oklahoma senators, Good Lord, deliver us! Before we hightail it out of this crackpot state for a few days, this from Huffington Post yesterday:OKLAHOMA CITY -- A Republican state senator from Oklahoma City introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban the use of aborted human fetuses in food, Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-38280437381952862152012-01-25T08:45:00.001-06:002012-01-25T08:45:20.641-06:00Image of Aquarius ? The photograph below is among my husband's collection of vintage and antique photographs. (See Lost Gallery). I liked it at once - it's unintentionally (?) arty as well as being an unintentional representation of the two sides of zodiac sign Aquarius. Note that I say zodiac sign Aquarius - not "an Aquarian".Aquarius has two planetary rulers: Saturn traditionally, and Uranus in modern astrology. Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-46793113403477418832012-01-24T08:35:00.003-06:002012-01-24T08:38:34.403-06:00Aquarius, Astrologers, Uranus, Urania.Sun's in Aquarius again, I'll soon need to add another year to my age! I've written more than enough posts about zodiac sign Aquarius over the years - they are easily available via the Label Cloud in the sidebar - click on "Aquarius". I have a special interest in the sign, and its modern ruler Uranus, being a Sun Aquarian-type myself. Occasionally I ask myself what's the source of my longtime Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-8438682661151689342012-01-23T08:30:00.001-06:002012-01-23T08:30:40.602-06:00Movie Monday ~ The Ides of March ~ Ryan Gosling ~ US Politics I'd been waiting to see The Ides of March since first reading of it months ago. The movie never did reach our local cinema, so we awaited the DVD release, rented it during its first week out. Main reason for being so keen to see the movie: Paul Giamatti is in it. Bored, disgusted and disillusioned as I'm feeling about the whole US political circus, The Ides of March's fictional political Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-64740704046506746712012-01-21T08:27:00.001-06:002012-01-21T08:27:54.301-06:00As Time Goes By~ Time Slips #4 ~ BritainA final consideration of some reported time slips. These come from the UK - none concerning France at all this time! Unfortunately I have no means of looking at astrological indications as no exact dates are quoted for the time slips, but I've used an historic date for one of the times "slipped-into".I found these examples to have a rather more authentic feel than those featured in posts from Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-34030736616216281762012-01-20T08:22:00.001-06:002012-01-20T08:23:01.881-06:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Gustave Courbet: Enfant TerribleOpening paragraph of an excellent piece from The Smithsonian, Larger than Life by Avis Berman on French 19th century painter Gustave Courbet:Painter, provocateur, risk taker and revolutionary, Gustave Courbet might well have said, "I offend, therefore I am." Arguably modern art's original enfant terrible, he had a lust for controversy that makes the careers of more recent shockmeisters like Jeff Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-50638439668591867962012-01-19T08:22:00.001-06:002012-01-19T08:22:34.023-06:00Last Time I Saw Paris? Time Slip #3 Another time slip-related post (see also Tuesday's and Wednesday's posts for others) ....This comes from an article by Amelia Crater at Mysterious Universe :"For most of us, timeslips happen randomly, perhaps due to finding ourselves in a setting where dramatic incidents from the past have imprinted deeply on the landscape or when our own state of consciousness is altered by unusual stress, Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-80248126147976937342012-01-18T08:20:00.007-06:002012-01-18T08:26:55.866-06:00"Funny How Time Slips Away"?~Time Slip # 2Following yesterday's theme, another oft-repeated time slip story, this from 1979. It was also featured in a British TV series Strange But True. Highlighted words are my own thoughts. Astro chart for the date and time the occurence began is at the end of this account. The exact location of these happenings in France isn't known, so I've used Bourges, a mid-country location, to discover where the Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-57839736073744692792012-01-17T08:47:00.005-06:002012-01-17T08:53:08.766-06:00"A place where there's no space or time"? Time Slip#1Yesterday's post described the movie Midnight in Paris - a plot which centres on a time warp or, I find now, the more commonly used term is time slip. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris isn't the first movie to latch onto this fascinating premise of course. Portrait of Jenny & Somewhere in Time are two others we've seen fairly recently on DVD or on Turner Classic Movie channel. Several novelists Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-62044776331537134502012-01-16T08:37:00.006-06:002012-01-16T08:38:36.217-06:00MONDAY MOVIES ~ Midnight in Paris & Another EarthA couple of reasonably up-to-date movies, rented as counterpoint to our usual out-of- date junk-store acquisitions.Midnight in Paris (2011)Woody Allen was writer and director, though this time with no starring part. This movie won him the Best Screenplay award at yesterday's Golden Globes shindig. At last - something we've actually seen got an award! The film was also nominated in two or three Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-30251297953025109252012-01-14T09:14:00.007-06:002012-01-14T09:16:37.241-06:00Ho-hum ElectionsThe Republican primaries now show all the signs of collapsing into a deadly boring heap at the feet of Governor Romney; which means, in turn, that the General Election in November, barring surprises, will also be a boring affair. Boring is way better than scary, of course. I wouldn't wish for an Obama v. Gingrich, Obama v. Perry or Obama v. Santorum election, fun-filled as any one of them Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-76803638815298190552012-01-13T08:20:00.007-06:002012-01-13T08:21:58.325-06:00Arty Farty Friday ~ William Heinesen of The Faroe Islands This Arty Farty Friday's artist was born on 15 January in 1900, came from a place he called "the navel of the world", remote islands in the North Atlantic ocean, The Faroe Islands. A cluster of 18 islands to the northwest of Scotland and halfway between Iceland and Norway, territory of Denmark but self-governing. There, one is never more than 3 miles from the ocean, with countryside dominated byTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-52401778556303943742012-01-12T08:49:00.003-06:002012-01-12T08:49:52.513-06:00Back to the Future Fashion? Some photographs, one is shown at left, from fashion designer Jil Sander's ad campaign for spring/summer 2012 rang a bell in my memory bank. More than one bell, in fact.The bell ringing nearest the surface: early 1960s fashions in Mad Men, the TV series we're in the midst of watching on DVD. See below....Christina Hencricks as Joan; and full cast.Deeper down a bell rang reminding me of a post Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-28023994788039325172012-01-11T08:48:00.004-06:002012-01-11T13:35:25.265-06:00Dickens' Sydney Carton (Tale of 2 Cities) ~ A Speculative Natal Chart Syndey Carton from A Tale of Two Cities is, for me, Dickens' most memorable character - and that's saying a lot, for the author created so many vivid characters.Next month will see the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth, by the way.I got to wondering about a (fictional) natal chart for Sydney Carton. I can find no hint of when he was said to have been born. We know that he was English, Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-82497502750600677092012-01-10T08:19:00.001-06:002012-01-10T08:19:24.818-06:00The Future ~ Known Unknown, Unknown Unknown.I wouldn't normally wish to quote former US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, but for once:"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."...And follow with an edited version of my post from 2007 touching onTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-65550426841566133922012-01-09T08:40:00.001-06:002012-01-09T08:40:56.482-06:00Music Monday ~~ 4 Born on 9 January9 January, through the years, seems to have been a propitious day for the birth of singers and musicians. Wikipedia's details of births for this day has more musically inclined people than I usually notice. Some names are familiar, some not universally well-known. I've picked four from the many; four for whom Astrodatabank has times of birth. It could be interesting to compare the charts, becauseTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-60444876981646771012012-01-07T08:33:00.001-06:002012-01-07T08:33:19.410-06:00Hitler's Britain ~ What ifs & RevisionismI've recently watched Hitler's Britain on DVD. This was originally a documentary film shown on TV in the UK in 2002, later in Canada, and, I think, on PBS in the USA.The film, a detailed exercise of the "what if" variety, describes the consequences of a hypothetical German victory over Britain in World War II. The key ingredient is a reversal of the actual British victory in the Battle of Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-58654810210842005482012-01-06T08:37:00.001-06:002012-01-06T08:38:00.083-06:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Alexander PogrebinskyCasting around for a Sun Capricorn painter to feature today found me struggling. Henri Matisse was born on 31 December - but, somehow, I didn't feel inclined to feature him, his paintings don't do a thing for me. Pickings are slim. Russian (Ukraine) immigrant to the USA, Alexander Pogrebinsky, born 2 January 1951 is another possibility. Something about his work, the few examples of it I've seen Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-17636126492443001102012-01-05T08:45:00.001-06:002012-01-05T08:46:39.112-06:00Ongoing Search.....Back in 2006, when this blog was still wet behind its ears, I bemoaned the fact that I was unable to identify a likely teacher for myself being, so far, a self-taught student of astrology. I've updated that post, with experience of 5 years now behind me:There's an old saying: "when the student is ready a teacher appears". This runs along the same lines as "cometh the hour, cometh the man". Do Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-74977640264485771982012-01-04T08:29:00.001-06:002012-01-04T08:29:30.561-06:00"It's Only Words.....and words are all I have..."Words.Words, astrologically, are province of planet Mercury. My natal Mercury is in Capricorn. Most of the time I try to be fairly disciplined in writing style, down to earth, not given to poetic paragraphs or vicious verbiage. I am not a verbal painter. Capricorn isn't as pernickety as Virgo when it comes to perfection in the wordsmithing department, but Mercuy in Capricorn stands next in Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-60890758714945413542012-01-03T08:30:00.004-06:002012-01-03T08:31:34.372-06:00THE THATCHERThe Iron Lady movie is going the rounds just now, and Margaret Thatcher has, unfortunately, crept back into the public consciousness....just when I thought we'd all but forgotten the horror that was The Thatcher.I cannot bring myself to attempt any kind of useful astro-profile on this woman. My prejudice against her is too far gone. I will, though, link to a piece by astrologer Joyce Hopewell.Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-27221923795072448472012-01-02T08:23:00.002-06:002012-01-02T08:25:01.864-06:00MOVIE MONDAY ~ Lost in Translation; Beloved; Still Crazy; Mad MenThoughts on movies we watched over the festive period, the first on TV (HBO channel), others on DVD ~~~~Lost in Translation (2003). We both thought we'd already seen this, but it turned out that we were mixing it up with another of Bill Murray's: Broken Flowers. We hadn't seen Lost in Translation after all, and it was nothing at all like Broken Flowers. Bill Murray in a movie is always a good Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-13613754733104422162011-12-31T08:18:00.001-06:002011-12-31T08:19:03.057-06:00Into 2012: "A Going On"......Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. (Hal Borland).Last New Year's Eve I posted some predictions for 2011 from around the net and via my tarot deck. (Relevant post is HERE). First 3 featured were, very predictably, winners.They were part of a list drawn up by John Derbyshire, who is a contributor editor of National Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-76510005048941396392011-12-30T09:05:00.003-06:002011-12-30T09:08:08.943-06:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Georgia O'KeeffeI recently received a comment on an old (2006) post of mine on the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. That post was more than a tad ragged, but in those days I was new to blogging and to Blogger. I believe I can do a little better now; so - an improved offering:Georgia O'Keeffe born 15 November 1887, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin - time unknown. If I had been unable to find Georgia O'Keeffe's birth data, I couldTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-80264105780351229442011-12-29T08:42:00.002-06:002011-12-29T08:43:02.187-06:00It's Still the Jolly Silly Season....The few days between Christmas and New Year are always something of a silly season. Nobody's sure exactly what they're supposed to be doing: predicting ? (I'm not getting into that can of worms); celebrating; trying to lose weight; preparing resolutions; drinking up what's left of the Christmas booze; grumbling about TV repeats; trawling end of year sales events; stocking up for extreme weather Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-46574836333495591702011-12-28T08:43:00.003-06:002011-12-28T08:45:18.972-06:00Thoughts on Saturn & Growing Older: A Privilege Denied to ManyWhile the Sun is in zodiac sign Capricorn, planet Saturn, as ruler of that sign could be said to be "in its element". Astrologer Ingrid Lind wrote that Saturn corresponds with the side of a character that is respected, or feared, rather than loved. Sense of duty, responsibility, caution, commonsense, sobriety, punctuality - all that good stuff is the reserve of Saturn. Saturn, aka Chronos, Greek Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-85766003176183846032011-12-27T08:24:00.001-06:002011-12-27T08:24:19.284-06:00FRUITS OF URANUS' TRANSIT THROUGH ARIES ?We have to wonder what new technology, inventions and discoveries, all stock-in-trade for Uranus, we'll see during the eccentric planet's transit through Aries, between now and 2018, Aries being the sign of initiative and initiation. Inventions and discoveries quite often emerge unexpectedly, signature style of Uranus. We regularly read of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC),and the search for Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-59646145337209280252011-12-26T08:35:00.001-06:002011-12-26T08:36:19.058-06:00Music Monday ~ OSCAR LEVANT ~ Unusual Capricorn-Type ? Oscar Levant would have celebrated his 105th birthday tomorrow, 27 December. He died in 1972. He has been largley forgotten now, I guess, except among keen musicians, Gershwin fans and those keen on old movies, TV and radio shows. I needed a reminder of which face fit his name. Recalling the movie An American in Paris did the trick. Levant played a concert pianist, still struggling to make it Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-34851906850852890712011-12-24T08:50:00.003-06:002011-12-24T08:51:16.156-06:00The 12 Zodiac Days of Christmas (and a Josh Krajcik update) First a quick update about X Factor USA - this week's finale: Our favourite, Josh Krajcik, didn't win, after all, but was runner-up. 19-year old Melanie Amaro took the prize of a 5 million dollar recording contract with Simon Cowell's record label, and an appearance in a Pepsi-Cola commercial. Had any other contestant beat Josh I'd have felt annoyed, but Melanie, with her flawless voice, Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-78272958451548531932011-12-23T09:10:00.001-06:002011-12-23T09:10:34.615-06:00Christmas the Re-MakeChristmas. It's one giant re-make really isn't it? We follow roughly the same pattern, year in, year out, with tweaks here and tweaks there to adjust our mistakes in former versions of the celebration. Eg: decide not to give auntie Sylivia so much sherry this year; leave the turkey roasting for an exta hour; make sure the tree is firmly anchored so as not to fall over - again; wear layers you Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-73700173938229525372011-12-22T08:20:00.001-06:002011-12-22T08:20:00.217-06:00Zodiac Sign CAPRICORNAs Sun has now entered Capricorn I'll post the last excerpt from Ingrid Lind's out-of-print little book Astrology and Commonsense - her entry on the sign of the sea-goat. Before flexing my typing fingers for that, just a word about Capricorn's symbolic depiction as a goat - properly a sea-goat (fore-part goat, hind-part fish)but often nowadays the sign is depicted by a common-and-garden goat. Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-76028047425267206742011-12-21T08:24:00.001-06:002011-12-21T08:24:54.296-06:00SOLSTICEIn the northern hemisphere Winter Solstice this year will occur, for us in US Central Time Zone, at at 11:30 PM - tonight. In the UK, at the same point, clocks will say 5:30 AM GMT on 22 December. We've arrived at the shortest day, longest night - after which light will begin, slowly, to return. In the southern hemisphere, of course, Summer Solstice is being celebrated. Wherever you are, Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-21961872199556518822011-12-20T08:35:00.002-06:002011-12-20T08:35:14.463-06:00LAURA SAN GIACOMO A fellow Blogger, Vanilla Rose, asked if I'd take an astro-look at Laura San Giacomo. The name wasn't familiar to me, but a quick Google search reminded me that I've seen this actress in several movies without being aware of her name: Pretty Woman and Quigley Down Under are two I easily recalled.Another movie for which she's well-known (though I've not yet seen it) is Sex Lies and Videotape. SheTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-61160007492934012082011-12-19T08:30:00.002-06:002011-12-19T08:33:55.981-06:00Music Monday ~ Paul Francis Webster, Award-winning LyricistPaul Francis Webster (yes, I heard you say: "Who?") was born this week in 1907 - on 20 December, in New York City. His name may be obscure but his songs will not be - at least to those of us old enough to recall the movies many of them embellished. He was one of Hollywood's famous lyricists, winner of three Academy Awards, wrote the lyrics for more than 500 songs, received 16 Academy Award Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-20015092385373624482011-12-17T08:45:00.004-06:002011-12-17T17:02:18.606-06:00From a House By the Side of the Road......to a blogger's house by the side of a road.Last March, on our way down to Austin, Texas to visit my husband's younger daughter, granddaughter and great-grandson we stopped in a small Texas town, Coleman, to look around an antique store.I wandered through the store while husband perused a box filled with old photographs. I re-traced my steps several times to look again at a framed group of two illustrations + two photographs hanging in a Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-39501690669485489702011-12-16T08:27:00.001-06:002011-12-16T08:27:25.452-06:00Arty Farty Friday: La Belle Epoch & Antonio de la Gandara Noticing the name of an artist born in Paris, France this day, 16 December, in 1861: Antonio de la Gandara, led me to look into his "era", generally known as La Belle Epoque. (Left: Antonio de la Gandara's portrait of Ida Rubinstein, ballerina and actress.)La Belle Epoch covers, roughly, the last two decades of the 19th century and onward into the 20th, up to the start of World War 1 in 1914. Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-5050133914007094452011-12-15T08:30:00.001-06:002011-12-15T08:31:55.560-06:00JEAN PAUL GETTYI'd best type with one hand, hold my nose with t'other as I write this post about a guy who was a fully-paid up member of the 1%!Today, 15 December, in 1892 was the day Jean Paul Getty was born into George Getty's family in the petroleum business in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He was one of the first people in the world with a fortune estimated at over one billion U.S. dollars.After studies at Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-55406084324339272512011-12-14T08:20:00.003-06:002011-12-14T08:22:00.537-06:00SEXIEST? OF ALL TIME?Readers of Men's Health magazine recently voted Jennifer Aniston "sexiest woman of all time".What?Of. All. Time?I can only assume that readers of Men's Health are seriously near-sighted, or have no knowledge of anything that went on before their own puberty.Jennifer is an attractive gal, some men are very likely to see her as sexy, she doesn't seem intimidating, can be funny - has a nice sense ofTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-44538159016774223892011-12-13T08:40:00.001-06:002011-12-13T08:41:33.328-06:00GUEST POST : Ben Bernanke's Cosy World of High Finance, by Gian Paul.Today, 13 December, is the birthday of American economist, and Chairman of the Federal Reserve, central bank of the United States: Ben Shalom Bernanke. He was born in 1953 in Augusta, Georgia.Being a complete and absolute ignoramus where high finance is concerned I asked my friend Gian Paul, in Brazil (though Swiss by birth) who is knowledgeable in that sphere, to write a guest post for the Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-7611315769126947892011-12-12T08:27:00.007-06:002011-12-12T13:05:59.873-06:00Music Monday 12 December: Sinatra's BirthdayIt's 12 December - and it was the birthday of Sinatra! I have idolised Frank Sinatra since the 1960s. Appreciation of his singing was possibly the only thing I took from my first short and disastrous marriage to an Italian guy. Fortunately, both of my subsequent long-term partners have shared my love of Sinatra's music. It wasn't a prerequisite, it just seemed to happen that way - and it worked Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-70602296855563916492011-12-10T08:35:00.003-06:002011-12-10T08:38:09.281-06:00Atlas Shrugged ~ Pt. 1 (movie) & Ayn RandWe were in our local stationery/book/video store the other day to buy a birthday card. About to leave, I spotted, on the "Best Rental" DVD shelf "Atlas Shrugged. Part 1". I've been curious about Ayn Rand's supposed tour de force for a long time, yet too lazy to read the 1000+ page book. Outcome: we watched the DVD that evening, so as to get the DVD back in time for a discount. The movie was Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-80730162420532790082011-12-09T08:30:00.009-06:002011-12-09T08:36:04.139-06:00Arty Farty Friday ~ JOHFRA, Zodiac Signs, Magic Realism Johfra - full name: Franciscus Johannes Gijsbertus Van Den Berg - known as Johfra Bosschart (Bosschart being his mother's maiden name), but often referred to simply as "Johfra". He was born in Rotterdam, Holland on 15 December 1919, lived in France from the 1960s until his death in 1998. Left: his self-portrait, as a faun.His style, described in his autobiograpy, was "surrealism based on studiesTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-54768791459785674232011-12-08T09:03:00.002-06:002011-12-08T09:04:19.723-06:00LIBRARY OF HALEXANDRIA , website of Dr. Daniel Sewell WardThe website of Dr. Daniel Sewell Ward, Library of Halexandria contains pages and pages of fascinating information and ideas about the mystical, mysterious, hidden elements of life, history, religion, and other stuff, including astrology. There are sections on more down to earth subjects such as Discrimination, Common Sense, Education, etc. All is written in plain language spiced with humour. The Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-67270205537737237052011-12-07T08:27:00.002-06:002011-12-07T08:32:01.295-06:00FAIR USE ?I received my first ever "cease and desist" letter from Blogger this week. Blogger, of course, is responsible for the content published in blogs it hosts, so any official complaints are received first by them. The letter told me that Blogger has "taken down" (i.e. reduced to a draft that remains unpublished) a post of mine from August this year. The notification advised me that something in Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-18511663312701293762011-12-06T08:37:00.001-06:002011-12-06T08:37:29.921-06:00Infidelity & Integrity, Personal & Political.During the 2008 election-go-round Democrat and presidential candidate John Edwards' infidelity had news media and blogosphere all agog. The 2012 campaign cycle started early. Long before the primaries we have been reading of the misadventures of (now former) Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.As history appears to be rhyming yet again, I decided to bring forward part of a post from Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-43090804598748100522011-12-05T08:25:00.002-06:002011-12-05T08:25:57.519-06:00Music Monday ~ Leonard Cohen & "Everybody Knows" I've once or twice approached the natal chart of Leonard Cohen but was wary of featuring it in a blog post. I enjoy many of his songs, though preferably sung by others: Bird On a Wire, Hallelujah, Suzanne, Dance Me To the End of Love to name a few. The man himself, though, strikes me as being a wee bit "out there", farther out than I care to go! When I first saw Cohen's chart I was surprised toTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-22339678968702761062011-12-03T08:20:00.006-06:002011-12-03T08:20:01.395-06:00WINTERCan't kid myself it's Fall any longer - it's December and Winter is upon us! No snow yet in this part of Oklahoma, but some very cold days and freezing nights. I decided to trawl once more through my husband's collection of "found photographs" at Lost Gallery to find some pics of winters long past. People were not quite as keen to be amateur photographers when it was cold outside, snow on the Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-26900981551545718942011-12-02T08:20:00.002-06:002011-12-02T08:20:00.303-06:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Rudolf Hausner's Fantastic RealismRudolf Hausner, painter, lithographer and etcher was born on 4 December 1914 in Vienna, Austria. He died in 1995.Born as World War 1 began, he had reached young adulthood as World War2 erupted. He had studied art at The Academy in Vienna. In 1938 the ruling nazi party confiscated many of his paintings, branding them "degenerate". He was drafted into the German army and served until war's end in Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-61974840845068681662011-12-01T08:28:00.002-06:002011-12-01T08:28:20.779-06:00Will There Be "Son of Occupy"? Will its Saturn side start to show?As the Occupy Movement's visible presence begins to fade, as we suspected it would, either by force or due to winter weather, journalists and bloggers are taking sides for and gainst the view that either OWS has been either an abject failure, or alternatively has done a worthwhile job of raising awareness and will winter "underground", revitalising come springtime 2012. (Photograph from http://Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-63451500035728273332011-11-30T08:39:00.003-06:002011-11-30T09:58:48.720-06:00SINCLAIR LEWIS :" I love America, but I don't like it"SINCLAIR LEWIS was born 7 February 1885 in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. A well-worn line, mistakenly believed to have been his, is quoted by writers, bloggers and commenters frequently: When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.It's not impossible that Lewis uttered something along those lines in conversation, but it remained undocumented. Something very similar,Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-66813302426169782322011-11-29T08:32:00.003-06:002011-11-29T08:36:04.397-06:00ZODIAC SIGN SAGITTARIUSSun is now in Sagittarius - as it is each year between 22 November and 21 December - with lee-way of a day in either direction. I thought I'd already completed a year of excerpts from Ingrid Lind's out-of-print little book Astrology and Commonsense, but on checking I find I've still a couple of signs to go before completing the zodiac - I began in January with my own Sun sign, Aquarius.So.....Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-2335311801985390922011-11-28T08:23:00.001-06:002011-11-28T08:23:32.680-06:00Music Monday ~ Bruce Channel, Donizetti, & Josh KrajcikWell-known musical peeps born today, 28 November, are few and far between. Bruce Channel, is one, born 1940 in Jacksonville, Texas, known for his 1962 one hit, million-seller Hey Baby! He and Margaret Cobb wrote the song.Interesting tidbit with a connection to The Beatles. From WikiChannel toured Europe and was supported at one gig by The Beatles, who were then still unknown. John Lennon, who hadTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-35074198775961873242011-11-26T08:25:00.002-06:002011-11-26T08:26:19.911-06:00Learning Curve on the PoliticI often get to wondering why some of us feel as intense we do regarding left and right stances in politics. A post: : aux armes? by al loomis (no capitals - ever), at Open Salon the other day reminded me of reasons for my own strongly left-leaning political ideals.These lines, from al loomis, regarding his family history, shed light on why some things in my own ancestral memory bank are Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-61920592645604478232011-11-25T08:45:00.004-06:002011-11-25T12:22:32.203-06:00Arty Farty Friday ~ George Segal, Artist and SculptorGeorge Segal (not the movie star, the artist) was born 26 November 1924 - tomorrow would have been his birthday. He died in 2000. Segal is considered to be one of the founders of the 1960's Pop Art movement. His works include abstract paintings, pastels, very large portraits, but possibly best known are his reliefs of human figures and plaster scupltures. "My teachers were abstract painters. But Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-36777613268235919122011-11-23T11:50:00.001-06:002011-11-23T11:52:47.699-06:00Retro Thanksgiving A Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who will be celebrating on Thursday. As we enter a Mercury Retrograde period, it seems appropriate to dip into the past for some echoes from a bygone era. I found these postcards in an antique store in Purcell, Oklahoma. They are postmarked, 1919, 1914 and 1920, from Kansas (Bison, Wichita and Hutchinson) and carry short personal Thanksgiving greetings addressedTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-68840681494075786552011-11-22T08:40:00.006-06:002011-11-22T21:35:46.870-06:00Altus Quinque to the Zodiac Signs Thinking back, a long, long way back, to my schooldays in England I recall our school motto: Laetus Sorte Mea, which, translated = Happy In My Lot. We, pupils of the Bridlington High School for Girls, carried it on the pockets of our green/black/white striped blazers and a smaller version on our green, and hated, hats. High School/Grammar School in England back then was quite different from Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-7001355569361744472011-11-21T08:35:00.001-06:002011-11-21T08:38:42.782-06:00Music Monday ~ Dr JohnWe're contemplating the last few sips of Sun in Scorpio now. Sun will move into Sagittarius after tomorrow. There's a Music Monday subject among these final dregs, known best to the public as Dr. John - proper name: Malcolm John Rebennack. Dr John's a talented boogie/blues pianist and gravelly-voiced singer of R&B with a touch of Cajun thrown in courtesy of his native New Orleans. His Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-19760358661210352402011-11-19T13:40:00.006-06:002011-11-19T14:01:33.214-06:00SATURDAY-SUNDAY SUNDRIES (Occupy; kinky; Pleasantville.)A comment I noticed the other day struck me as funny yet clever. It was after this week's police crackdowns and occasional rough behaviour towards Occupy protesters, and it went something like this: "We pay our taxes - the taxes go to pay the police - the police beat us and rough us up - that's kinda kinky when you think about it!"On another level of "kinky" altogether, X Factor USA is Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-8294015581126711092011-11-18T08:20:00.003-06:002011-11-18T08:21:22.120-06:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Clarice Cliff ~ Aquarian Bizarre-ness Clarice Cliff - sounds like the name of one of today's pop stars! She was, however, an English designer of ceramics, one of the most prominent of her heyday: late 1920s to late 1930s, the Art Deco period. She was born on 20 January 1899 in Tunstall, in the area of England known as the midlands, Staffordshire to be exact. Staffordshire was, and still is, famous for its potteries.(From Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-51682952011154616912011-11-17T08:20:00.001-06:002011-11-17T08:21:50.337-06:00Matt Smith, Doctor Who.Commenter "Juno" recently suggested I feature Matt Smith, the current Doctor Who, in a post here....so:I'm no Doctor Who expert - only really began taking notice when David Tennant, Matt Smith's predecessor took over the role. Just when I started to get into the series, Doctor Who changed skins - again. Smith is a worthy successor, not quite as charismatic as Tennant thus far - but he could getTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-84617815489034433322011-11-16T08:10:00.001-06:002011-11-16T10:46:41.874-06:00Conspiracy Theories ~ Neptune in ScorpioThere are, in each lifetime's span, a few indelible time-markers. JFK's assassination, man landing on the Moon, death of Princess Diana, 9/11 - such events slice through our communal consciousness like a knife through butter. Conspiracy theories have since emerged around each of the mentioned events.If we are on the outside, we assume a conspiracy is the perfect working of a scheme. Silent Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-21160715973402357162011-11-15T08:15:00.008-06:002011-11-15T08:16:00.507-06:00Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman and the rest...."the race is not to the swift...." In a couple of GOP debates Rick Perry has revealed his unpreparedness for high office outside (and maybe even inside) Texas. My fears that he might be "The Chosen One" for 2012 by The Powers That Be were unfounded. That's a relief!He is a rather charismatic guy though, in spite of his whacky political stances. But, as my husband commented: "Perry's is not finger you'd want to have on that Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-27123232280929431572011-11-14T08:18:00.001-06:002011-11-14T08:18:23.153-06:00Music Monday ~ 14 November : Fertile astrological soil for composers?Glancing through lists of births for this day through the years, 14 November, I noticed the word composer coming up again and again. "Odd", I thought. Scorpio, ruled by Pluto, or traditionally by Mars, doesn't strike me as being a particularly musical sign. But, but but....nextdoor lies Libra, where Mercury and/or Venus might well be found in charts for 14 November. Libra is ruled by Venus, Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-8306945765465829372011-11-12T08:10:00.011-06:002011-11-12T08:10:00.846-06:00USA/UK - Quirky Differences (no astrology)Surfing the net, I came across Ask MetaFilter. There a question was posed by an author seeking information to assist in his novel featuring an ex-patriot. The question concerned "quirky" differences between life in the USA and life in UK/Europe: What Are America's Quirks? I'm just starting my eighth year here in the US. Practically every item in the long list contributed by readers at Ask Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-66153601971961027502011-11-11T08:10:00.006-06:002011-11-11T08:10:00.228-06:00Armistice Day ~ Alan Seeger ~ Rendezvous Although today's date, 11:11:11, has mystical connection for some people, I'm sticking with tradition. It is Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day and, in the USA Veterans Day). Traditionally today commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I. It took effect at Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-77335202427536086772011-11-10T08:10:00.002-06:002011-11-10T08:10:00.898-06:00Gordon Lightfoot & Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald10 November, on this date in 1975 an ore carrier, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during a November storm, taking the lives of all 29 crew members. Later that month, Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, inspired by an article in Newsweek Magazine, wrote Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald .That's not his most famous song though, at least it wasn't in the UK. I'd never heard of it Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-41617589845914105712011-11-09T08:24:00.002-06:002011-11-09T08:25:26.485-06:00Carl Sagan & AstrologyAbout three weeks ago I received a comment on a five-year-old post, from December 2006 featuring Carl Sagan. The anonymous commenter wrote: "Thank you for this insight. I too watch closely the connection between modern astronomy and ancient astrology - and believe that one day, astrology will be acknowleged as a science in itself, as it was in it's inception."As today would have been Carl Sagan'sTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-14941591967530278232011-11-08T08:22:00.001-06:002011-11-08T08:23:27.190-06:00Astrology In The BlenderThe following is adapted from a 5-year old post from the early days of Learning Curve. I was still wet behind the astrological ears then, but my views remain much the same. ~~~Although I love astrology dearly, I often struggle to agree with some of the stuff professional astrologers write, or imply, in textbooks:We all have the same planets and luminaries in our natal charts. What makes us Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-68348067310530726912011-11-07T08:45:00.006-06:002011-11-07T14:53:12.471-06:00Music Monday ~ Great Jazz GuitaristsNow and again Music Monday will feature a trio of jazz icons, instrument by instrument, with brief astro detail along with an occasional link to archived posts or other sources. For the earlier post on tenor saxophone players see Greatest Sax Voices in Jazz.I'm still on a steep learning curve when it comes to jazz - as with most other things in this life....but then, aren't we all? When Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-50372890228273933602011-11-06T08:40:00.001-06:002011-11-06T08:42:30.973-06:00"...Hippies Were Right" (non-astro)Just this video today: (Exceptionally well made and presented) - Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-23041631962346112432011-11-05T08:36:00.001-05:002011-11-05T08:37:32.729-05:00Great Ill-timed Expectations. (Non-astro)I often wonder how authors feel about their books, short stories and screenplays when time gives the lie, or more accurately, misjudgement to the timing of their storylines.It's an odd experience to read science fiction, speculative fiction or stories set in a dystopian future, written many years ago, to find that the author's time-frame for his tale is now in the past. Nothing remotely close Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-19888426487185687502011-11-04T08:17:00.006-05:002011-11-04T08:19:46.512-05:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Scorpio Photographer Joey L & "Twilight" Tomorrow will be the 22nd birthday of an amazingly talented young photographer known as Joey L, full name Joey Lawrence. He was born in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada on 5 November 1989.Joey L's name might be unfamiliar to any other than avid photography fans, but some of his work will be recognisable to many: the "Twilight" posters and promotional photographs for the movie series.(Note: This "Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-77392813129758379332011-11-03T08:05:00.003-05:002011-11-03T08:06:49.764-05:00ElegyI don't feel like posting the usual stuff today. I am still incensed over some cruel comments made online about the young man who died at the Oklahoma City Occupation site on Monday.From Elegy On The Death Of A Young Man by Friedrich Von Schiller.In memory of a young man we met, but briefly, last week:"....There, with rapture sorrow leaves the breast,–Man’s afflictions there no longer Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-89335733290963406142011-11-02T16:00:00.001-05:002011-11-02T16:53:32.118-05:00Wear Light Purple to Show Support for OWS. Also UPDATE Re Sad News of Occupy OKCThe Occupy Wall Street movement has adopted a signature colour: light purple. The colour was chosen by the original New York Group with the idea that light purple is obtained when the red/blue/white colours of the USA national flag are mixed together. It's a nice idea, and one which could also represent the UK group. I'm not sure what Occupy groups in other countries might feel about the Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-6903916731824192322011-11-01T08:29:00.001-05:002011-11-01T08:30:08.018-05:00Alan Moore, author of V For VendettaPondering upon the Occupy movement and the 99% led me to recall the movie V for Vendetta. We saw it at the time it was released several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it."In fact, let us not mince words… the management is terrible! We’ve had a string of embezzlers, frauds, liars, and lunatics making a string of catastrophic decisions. This is plain fact. But who elected them? It was you! You Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-40881478582468051392011-10-31T08:28:00.004-05:002011-11-04T08:13:47.089-05:00Music Monday ~ Josh Krajcik of The X-Factor USA We've slogged our way, groaning and complaining (mostly about Simon Cowell) through audition and bootcamp phases of The X Factor USA. As I've written before on this blog, TV musical talent shows are my/our "guilty pleasures"; such shows are routinely put down as "fodder for the sheeple" by critics. But I love, and get a kick from the idea, that ordinary people of the 99%: car washers, burrito Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-64127645371770792892011-10-29T10:00:00.001-05:002011-10-29T10:02:37.124-05:00OCCUPY OKLAHOMA CITY (no astrology today) We spent a couple of days in Oklahoma City, 90 miles north of our hometown, this week. Timing, as it happened, was a bit off - or rather a lot off!During Wednesday night, after we'd arrived, the temperature dropped around 20 degrees, it started to rain and storm - heavy constant rain - and it didn't stop until well into Thursday afternoon, even then starting again after a brief respite. It Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-64845379477045768832011-10-28T08:20:00.001-05:002011-10-28T08:20:00.980-05:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Two Artists, Two Eras, Two Nations - One focusSpotlight, this week, on two artists from eras and nations far apart in time and location, but connected by their attempt, using their creativity and talents, to illustrate wrongs of their time, or to offer support to those would would try to improve matters.Walter Crane from Britain 1845 - 1915Norm Magnusson from the USA 1960 -Walter Crane produced some of his most powerful work as stimulus to Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-55261738916351306212011-10-27T08:20:00.006-05:002011-10-27T08:20:00.732-05:00End Of.....Something? In case a passing reader hasn't yet stumbled on the fact, not every researcher of the ancient Mayan culture agrees on the date 21 December 2012 as an end-of-calendar date of significance. A light Googling of the name Carl Calleman will bring up something of interest - or fascination.I try to feature other Blogger blogspot-type bloggers when I can, and found Roadside Mystic has a couple or more Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-35333435536002936602011-10-26T08:20:00.002-05:002011-10-26T08:20:00.396-05:00SCORPIO (and sign rulerships)The Sun moved into Scorpio on 24th October, and will remain in the sign until 22 November (dates vary by a day, either way, year by year). Once again I'm quoting 20th century British astrologer Ingrid Lind, from her long out of print little book Astrology and Commonsense. Her take on the zodiac signs is so interesting. She makes it easy to understand how the traits for each sign have been Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-44656813500492684502011-10-25T08:35:00.001-05:002011-10-25T08:36:17.998-05:00Astrology Skeptics & Preaching to the Choir in GeneralI sometimes turn "chicken" and shrink from using "Twilight" hyper-linked to this blog, when leaving comments outside of the astro-community, or on sites of my known non-astro blog-buddies. Among those with no interest in, or indeed a definite hatred of, astrology, such an interest tends to mark one as something of a nitwit, or at best as being totally irrational. My comment as "Twilight" might Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-61666712789835657932011-10-24T08:25:00.001-05:002011-10-24T08:27:31.925-05:00Music Monday ~~ Greatest Sax Voices in Jazz Jazz was a closed book to me, until I met Himself (my husband). It's still a book open only at Chapter One. The jazz I enjoy most is the kind one might hear in a dark cellar bar, late at night, drink at hand - not too strident, not a cacophony of sound, but creative interpretation - making a familiar tune different, yet the same, exploring it and embellishing it. Now and again Music Monday Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-23622341011628864582011-10-23T08:30:00.001-05:002011-10-23T08:32:06.537-05:00Frodnonag on OWS & Sorely Needed ChangeWhat follows is another part of Frodnonag's comment, posted with his permission. For the first part, spotlighting "The American Dream" see yesterday's post. Here the writer looks at the current state of affairs in the USA, and the Occupy Wall Street movement.Comment was dated Oct 19 2011 - 9:22pm at http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/19-6"I want to be as positive as possible, and I do Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-91119709438353226562011-10-22T08:25:00.002-05:002011-10-22T08:36:06.620-05:00Insightful Views of Frodnonag on The American DreamI often find myself in awe of the writing, perspicacity and insight of some commenters on the few news sites I frequent. The articles are usually good - and they ought to be, written as they are by professionals or academics. However, some comments can occasionally outshine the articles. Maybe these too are written by (retired or resting) journalists or academics, it's hard to say, being signed Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-60800160181946906142011-10-21T08:20:00.002-05:002011-10-21T08:22:45.286-05:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Illustrators & The Golden AgeI'm a fan of illustrative art, especially that with roots in The Golden Age of Illustration (roughly 1880s to 1920s). Astrologically, that Golden Age coincided with a period of time when the outer planets were at points in their slow cycles strangely appropriate to what was going on here below.Development of technology capable of good and economical colour reproduction launched illustrative art Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-67216435255642230952011-10-20T08:33:00.001-05:002011-10-20T08:34:22.147-05:00Seeing Ourselves As Others See UsC.E.O. Carter, well-respected 20th century British astrologer, writing about the ascendant or rising sign ~~ On the Ascendant as a Mask:Recently we have heard a good deal to the effect that the rising sign, and in particular the ascending degree, is a mask which the native wears before the world but which conceals his true self.As I have stated in the Lodge, this proposition does not seem Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-56690964592610751502011-10-19T08:20:00.008-05:002011-10-19T14:10:30.680-05:00We were not in Kansas anymore....(no astro today).We returned home Monday evening, sooner than originally planned, having decided that it would be best to leave our detour into Oklahoma City as a separate trip for a couple of nights next week. There are so many bits and pieces we want to do in The City, as well as visit the "Occupiers", that it felt like too much of a good thing to tack on to our Kansas trip. It means, too, that we still have Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-52109811498800254752011-10-12T08:18:00.006-05:002011-10-12T08:25:12.224-05:00Try, Try, Try Again....Heading out later today. This time northward, for a change, into Kansas, my husband's home state. We're hoping this trip, unlike our last two attempts, will prove to be trouble-free.In other news: the long drawn-out Oklahoma/Texas drought and run of unusually high temperatures came to an end at the weekend. We had two or three days of continuous, heavy rain, with more storms and rain last night.Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-22534089216125906992011-10-11T08:25:00.003-05:002011-10-11T08:26:27.175-05:00Wine, Medicine, Gods, Goddesses.....On this day, 11 October, the Romans would celebrate yet another festival (they did love their festivals!) Meditrinalia: one of several celebrations linked to the vineyards. This one gave the workers a chance to sample the new wine. It was customary when doing so to pronounce the words vetus novum vinum bibo, novo veteri morbo medeor ("Being old, I drink new wine, and cure the old disease with theTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-2701705006176411612011-10-10T08:15:00.004-05:002011-10-10T10:46:23.533-05:00Music Monday ~ Midge Ure ~ Bert JanschA Scottish two-parter today ~ Happy Birthday Midge Ure ! His real name is James/Jim Ure, "Midge" being Jim backwards, phonetically. He was born on 10 October 1953 in Cambuslang, Scotland at 8:30 am (Astrodatabank). He's an all-rounder: pays guitar, keyboards, is both vocalist and songwriter. He co-wrote, with Bob Geldorf, the famous charity hit Do They Know It's Christmas, to raise money forTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-32342742175340660002011-10-08T08:45:00.002-05:002011-10-08T08:48:27.097-05:00Why Has It Been So For So Long ?Before I'd even arrived on these shores I'd become puzzled about an aspect of life in the USA. Having chatted to several Americans online, I'd noticed a recurring theme: problems arising from lack of universal health care. One person with whom I chatted regularly had had their own small construction business, a home and small amount of land adjacent. Cancer struck. The insurance wasn't Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-53703735775087278012011-10-07T08:30:00.002-05:002011-10-07T08:31:49.474-05:00Arty Farty Friday ~ Another Sun in Libra painter with a sad story: Simeon Solomon Searching for another arty Sun in Libra birthday I found the name of Simeon Solomon.(Photograph from the album 'Portraits of Many Persons of Note', Frederick Hollyer, 1866.)Simeon Solomon was born in London on 8 October 1840. He is described at Wikipedia as "an English Pre-Raphaelite painter". Huh? I thought I knew of all of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and have mentioned them more than once Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-42650393671100694202011-10-06T08:20:00.001-05:002011-10-06T08:21:04.810-05:00Not in Kansas an English park anymore.....(no astro).We've been dog-sitting Casey the Jack Russell this week, while her master re-builds a humungous fence in their backyard. She seemed to grow tried of walking our local parks, giving us her "Im bored" look now and again. So yesterday we drove the 10 miles to Marlow, small town nextdoor, where there's a pleasantly spacious walking park: Redbud Park. Casey seemed well-satisfied. In mid-park I Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-52486742352456395792011-10-05T08:15:00.003-05:002011-10-05T08:16:24.209-05:00THE VENUS-RULED SIGNS ~ Libra & Taurus Libra and Taurus, the "Venus people", were compared by 20th century astrologer, Carl Payne Tobey in his Astrology Primer for the Millions (1965). His assessments of zodiac signs with the same planetary ruler help us see that, although there are big differences between the two signs, there is some similarity at their core, flowing from their common traditional ruler.We should bear in mind that Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-26652860701909660032011-10-04T08:28:00.001-05:002011-10-04T08:29:42.814-05:00Kazuo Ishiguro, Remains of the Day, Never Let Me GoIt's odd how seemingly unrelated stuff we read or watch on screen, sometimes turns out have strong connection. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, on TV, we watched Remains of the Day. Then, last week, we saw Never Let Me Go - billed on our TV schedule as a movie with sci-fi elements (so one we pounced upon eagerly!) I didn't realise until later that the two movies were adaptations of books by Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-10717377710431988212011-10-03T08:20:00.002-05:002011-10-03T08:22:40.533-05:00PLANETARY NODESWhile holding the hair-dryer in one hand and turning the pages of Astrology for the Millions by Grant Lewi with the other, I came across reference to planetary nodes in relation to three highly significant historical events. On the days and places of The US Declaration of Independence (Gemini rising chart), the start of the Russian Revolution, and Hitler becoming chancellor of Germany, the nodesTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-6475359841003468402011-10-01T08:15:00.003-05:002011-10-01T08:16:34.102-05:00ON WALL STREET: 99% versus 1%The Wall Street Occupation by protesters began on 17 September. US corporate media are giving the protesters minimal, if any, publicity. Unions are now rallying support, and relatively modest numbers, in hundreds up to now, will soon swell to many thousands. The movement is spreading to other US cities too.Some of the protesters have documented their complaints in photographs accessible at:WE Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-90730102280980498992011-09-30T08:20:00.002-05:002011-09-30T08:21:48.195-05:00Arty Farty Friday ~ George Ault: Depressed, Obsessed, Alcoholic, Dogged by Misfortune George Ault, a good-looking fellow, as befits Sun, Mercury and Venus in Libra - but he was an artist who could be said to have "painted his depression".Born into privilege, on 11 October 1891. His parents were wealthy business people who moved from Cleveland, Ohio to London, England when George was young. He had the benefit of a good art education at Slade School of Art and St. John's Wood Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-12288016943064201002011-09-29T09:00:00.001-05:002011-09-29T09:01:59.597-05:00The Muckrakers & Their AstrologyI think this post from April 2010 could stand a re-airing: Once upon a time, around the first decade of the 20th century, the USA had a group of writers upon whom the then president, Theodore Roosevelt, bestowed the name "Muckrakers", a term borrowed from literature (John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress). The president could, it seems, see both advantage and disadvantage to the work of these Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-31868043893488227012011-09-28T08:40:00.002-05:002011-09-28T08:42:07.459-05:00ZODIAC SIGN LIBRA The Sun moved into zodiac sign Libra at the weekend, and will traverse through the sign until 23 October (in other years, give or take a day at either end of the span).Here's another relevant excerpt from UK astrologer Ingrid Lind's long out-of-print little book Astrology and Commonsense(1962).LIBRAQuality: CardinalElement: AirRuler: VenusThis is the second Air sign, but it by no means echoes Twilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.com0