Musical and Meandering Monday

We're back! Our trip led us to the south-eastern corner of beautiful Colorado. On the way we experienced bitter cold winds in Amarillo, just above freezing daytime, freezing at night - donned padded jacket there. Bright, cool and lovely in Walsenburg CO; temperatures heated up to high 80s by Garden City KS and southward, home, bringing attire down to short sleeve weather - still windy though.

For larger, clearer images please click on photographs.

Above: view from supermarket car park in Walsenburg, Colorado. Below: from another angle, without the incongruous inclusion!

We drove The Highway of Legends from Walsenburg - gorgeous weather, some amazing scenery. Also HERE.

Right by that amazing rock wall (which stretched further than we could see due to trees) was the entrance (below) to a World War II German Officers' prison camp. Dang - but they treated 'em well didn't they? At least it'd be difficult to escape though - unless they had a Steve McQueen type resident!

We opted to travel back east on a route we'd never taken before when in this part of the country. A long straight-ish road along the bottom of south-eastern Colorado - H'way 160. Considering there'd be little in the way of civilised pee-stops, we tried not to over-hydrate. It was with great relief that around half way along the seemingly never-ending highway we came upon the small outpost store below - complete with loo/restroom. Ah! Blessed relief!

Not long after a stop at the Kim Outpost we found a memorial, of sorts, to a former town/settlement: Andrix. On the wall of the one remaining building is scrawled "Andrix, gone but not forgotten"

Reflecting on the early settlers are photographer and yours truly:

We crossed into Kansas to stay overnight in Garden City (from the scent on the wind next morning, blowing off the several feed lots in the area, the name might rather be Garden Shitty (and I bet I'm not the first to have said this!)

Onward through south-west Kansas and eventually north-western Oklahoma. There was quite a lot of this - and, by now many bugs on windscreen and front bumper. The car looked as though we'd travelled through some far flung jungle by the time we reached home. We were well in front of a storm line forecast to hit our region on Sunday, which did in fact result in a tornado warning for our town and county, Sunday evening, but we missed all but the thunder.

John Denver sang us in, and sings us out. I miss John Denver, still. I shall miss Jonathan Cainer for ever - and only now do I allow myself to weep.

Music Monday ~ John Denver

Harrison Ford's plane crash last week brought to mind the tragic flying accident that took John Denver from us some 18 years ago, in 1997. Happily it seems Harrison Ford's injuries are not fatal.

In booklet accompanying a double CD of John Denver's songs, Rocky Mountain Collection reviewer Colin Escott wrote:

"John Denver always offered more than music. Once he caught your ear with a melody, he had something he wanted to share with you. Taken together, his songs come close to offering an integrated version of how life can be lived, as well as an invitation to get concerned about our world, and see beyond ourselves. His work was, and still is,an unfailingly upbeat celebration of life and its possibilities. He has never shied away from sharing what he felt and what he knew, nor has he shied away from exposing his tender and vulnerable side, no matter the cost."

Astrologer Zipporah (Zip) Dobyns wrote about John's chart in 1997, John Denver Flies On , after the tragic flying accident in which cost him his life. I'll not even try to match her long, scholarly assessment, but will include a copy of John's natal chart here, and make a very brief note of what stood out for me.

Ms Dobyns had access to birth certificate data from Lois Rodden of AstroDatabank.




John was born on December 31, 1943 at 15:55 MWT in Roswell, NM. He died on October 12, 1997 when his private plane crashed into Monterey Bay, California.

Pluto lay, exactly, on North node of the Moon. I wonder if, for him, that was an ill-omen?
He was always going to be a communicator - Gemini rising with Uranus/Mars right on the ascendant, a forward-thinking communicator too, whose life could well be punctuated by the unexpected. Sun in solid, reliable Capricorn was in sextile to his gentle Pisces Moon this is a good blend for someone whose business is music. His Venus, planet of the arts, in Scorpio reflected the soft yet intense and sometimes melancholy flavour of his songs.

Among the several patterns in his natal chart this Yod stood out for me. It links natal Sun to Uranus (the unexpected) and Pluto (death, darkness) by quincunx (an uncomfortable aspect).


John travelled to China, Russia and Africa on missions of detente and mercy - his concerns covered nuclear power, nuclear arms and world hunger. He probably, quietly, did much more good than many of today's "celebrities" frequently lauded for their efforts. He was a man we could ill-afford to lose. His message, in this song of his, Rhymes and Reasons, remains timely:-

Some of the lyrics:

And you wonder where we're going
Where's the rhyme and where's the reason
And it's you cannot accept
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind

Though the cities start to crumble
And the towers fall around us
The sun is slowly fading
And its colder than the sea

And the song that I am singing
Is a prayer to non believers
Come and stand beside us
We can find a better way.
(Words and music by John Denver)

Rhymes and Reasons

It's time for mid-week uplift.

A booklet which accompanies the double CD album from which I took the track for the video, below, says this:

"John Denver always offered more than music. Once he caught your ear with a melody, he had something he wanted to share with you. Taken together, his songs come close to offering an integrated version of how life can be lived, as well as an invitation to get concerned about our world, and see beyond ourselves. His work was, and still is,an unfailingly upbeat celebration of life and its possibilities. He has never shied away from sharing what he felt and what he knew, nor has he shied away from exposing his tender and vulnerable side, no matter the cost." (Colin Escott)

Astrologer Zipporah (Zip) Dobyns wrote about John's chart in 1997, "John Denver Flies On" not long after the tragic flying accident in which cost him his life 10 years ago. I hesitate to add anything to her scholarly assessment, but I will include a copy of John's natal chart here, the one in the linked article isn't too clear, at least to my own eye.



Pluto lies EXACTLY on North node of the Moon. I wonder if, for him, that was an ill-omen?

John travelled to China, Russia and Africa on missions of detente and mercy - his concerns covered nuclear power, nuclear arms and world hunger. He probably quietly did much more good than many of today's superstars who are regularly lauded for their efforts.

A man we could ill-afford to lose. His message is still timely:-

So you speak to me of sadness
And the coming of the winter
Fear that is within you now
It seems to never end
And the dreams that have escaped you
And the hope that you've forgotten
You tell me that you need me now
You want to be my friend

And you wonder where we're going
Where's the rhyme and where's the reason
And it's you cannot accept
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind

For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day

Like the music of the mountains
And the colours of the rainbow
Theyre a promise of the future
And a blessing for today

Though the cities start to crumble
And the towers fall around us
The sun is slowly fading
And its colder than the sea

It is written from the desert
To the mountains they shall lead us
By the hand and by the heart
They will comfort you and me
In their innocence and trusting
They will teach us to be free

For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day

And the song that I am singing
Is a prayer to non believers
Come and stand beside us
We can find a better way.
(Words and music by John Denver)

September

September brings with it memories of two portentous events - in September 1939 Germany invaded Poland, World War 2 followed. September(11th)2001 brought us another fateful, never to be forgotten event. This year a solar eclipse adds to the drama.

It's sad that September carries such dreadful memories.

Sorrow and scarlet leaf,
Sad thoughts and sunny weather.
Ah me, this glory and this grief
Agree not well together!
(Thomas Parsons, 1880, A Song For September)

September, so named because once upon a Roman time it was the 7th month. (Septem = 7th in Latin).The first three weeks of September fall within the tropical zodiac sign of Virgo, with just one week left for Libra.

You know, September, as a month, here in the northern hemisphere, doesn't strike me as being a typically Virgoan time, or for that matter Libran. Yes, I know that in mythology Virgo holds a sheaf of corn, and in most places September is harvest time, but September is also when the leaves fall from the trees, and life starts winding down. September is not a neat Virgoan month. Leaves pile up all over the place then chilly winds blow them messily around. If anything, Virgo describes the work of clearing up the leaves, I guess.

September is when the kids go back to start a new school term. The boys, in Britain anyway, play soccer and rugby again, after a summer of playing tennis and cricket. They often get themselves very muddy in the process - how Virgo is that?

One of Frank Sinatra's loveliest offerings, "September Song"....."And it's a long long time from May to December, and the days grow short when they reach September....." describes our life's September, our autumn/fall. On the back of the old LP cover to the Sinatra album "September Of My Years", writer Stan Cornyn says:

"...............September can be an attitude or an age or a wistful reality. For this man it is a time of love. A time to sing. A thousand days hath September"

My goodness those liner note writers were good! It's a big loss that cds don't have the space for their purple prose.

Sinatra in his songs, though a Sun Sagittarian, remains in essence a September man. Often melancholy, whether for the dying of the year, or for a love, a memory, a feeling - yet with hope always for Septembers still to come. And that, for me, is the true essence of September.

A YouTube presentation of Sinatra and John Denver singing "September Song" together - a rare and lovely combination. John Denver didn't live to see the September of his own years, and that is so very sad.