~~~
As you may know, Mercury is still retrograde and possibly interfering with such things as plans, new ideas, travel, commerce, contracts, and agendas.
The planet of thinking, communication, and trade, Trickster and Messenger Mercury will turn Direct on Sept 29, 2009, yet here are some good reasons to wait for implementation of new plans and ideas until Mercury leaves the Shadow degree range of its current retrogradation phase and enters new zodiacal territory, thus leaving behind its retrograde degrees.
When Mercury is Rx, it's a good time to reassess and work on plans and projects, so during Mercury's current Rx period, I have been attempting to set up a Jude Cowell Art shop at Cafe Press, but with disappointing results as far as transforming some of my Dreamyfish Art images of botanical fish drawings into 16" x 20" wall posters for your consideration.
Stewing in my non-techiness, I am finding the Cafe Press interface difficult to work with, and the site's instructions to be missing key points. So if you, dear and lone reader, have any tips on Cafe Press issues, please leave a comment here, or contact me at judecowell at gmail dot com - I'd muchly appreciate it since their forums have not helped me so far - but there's alway hope for a Eureka Moment, one of Mercury's favorite gifts to us which occurs when left and right brain creativity coincide integratively.
So I shall persevere with this art project when my schedule (also a province of Mercury) allows, and will mercurially announce the shop's official opening asap - probably, if my natal chart-ruler Mercury has a say in the matter, and it will - at or just after Mercury's leaving of the Shadow area of the zodiac @ 6Lib13...on or after Oct 14.
My reason for waiting to implement my botanical fish portraits/Cafe Press plans are noted in boldface in the above-linked article, if you are so inclined to check it out, and the chart image for October 14, 2009 @ 2:39 am edt in Washington DC (the first minute Mercury reaches Shadow degree and thus is 'free' to move forward) is included in the post in case you wish to use one of your mercurial senses, sight, to view it!
~:~~:~
9/21/09
Does McChrystal leak put Obama in a box?
~~
Well, I'm certain you've heard of what a bad and freakish Monday this has been for the White House after President Obama's remarks about sending more US troops to Afghanistan on Meet the Press yesterday have been characterized as 'wobbling' and undersecretary of defense Michelle Flournoy has had to defend the president's idea to put "strategy over resources."
This has the mainstream media and the blogosphere all afluffle with journalistic giddiness, while the GOP smells political blood in the White House. They can't smell the thousands of gallons of blood they've callously spilled in the Middle East, but they can smell Dem blood over the swampy stench of Washington.
So with what may be a method of applying pressure to the president, Stanley McChrystal - or his staff, as this report by Josh Rogin points out - 'leaked' a memo of McChrystal's assessment predicting failure of the whole Afghan venture if more troops were not forthcoming.
Or did McChrystal mean the whole venture of controlling oil and expansion of American imperialism in the entire Middle East including Iraq? Well, I didn't read the memo although you'll find it linked in Mr. Rogin's article. (I'm blogging in a rush against possible power failure here due to lightening and storm - Atlanta is pretty much flooded out - don't go there.)
Yet perhaps one of the more troubling things around here to come from McChrystal's 'leak' (if indeed such it was), is that a wayward rhyming muse alighted heavily upon my shoulder a while ago, and since current storms have neutralized my TV satellite (Tom Delay 'dancing' while seeing stars or not), I'm just bored enough to type it for you here.
So please pardon me in advance, if you can, and set your Groan Meter as low as it goes for...'Afghanistan':
Barack Obama in a box
Afghanistan is like a pox
upon his presidency new
he'd escalate but how and who?
McChrystal memo quite a dud
to land with such a dullish thud
on White House roof and in the hall
Obamaites are right to squall
Since change and hope he touted wide
we'd choose to have the peaceful side
but will the US ever see
an end to war economy?
Though pressure's on to send more troops
our US system has the droops
there are no jobs for every man
returning from Afghanistan.
Jude Cowell 9.21.09 8:49 pm edt
Well, I'm certain you've heard of what a bad and freakish Monday this has been for the White House after President Obama's remarks about sending more US troops to Afghanistan on Meet the Press yesterday have been characterized as 'wobbling' and undersecretary of defense Michelle Flournoy has had to defend the president's idea to put "strategy over resources."
This has the mainstream media and the blogosphere all afluffle with journalistic giddiness, while the GOP smells political blood in the White House. They can't smell the thousands of gallons of blood they've callously spilled in the Middle East, but they can smell Dem blood over the swampy stench of Washington.
So with what may be a method of applying pressure to the president, Stanley McChrystal - or his staff, as this report by Josh Rogin points out - 'leaked' a memo of McChrystal's assessment predicting failure of the whole Afghan venture if more troops were not forthcoming.
Or did McChrystal mean the whole venture of controlling oil and expansion of American imperialism in the entire Middle East including Iraq? Well, I didn't read the memo although you'll find it linked in Mr. Rogin's article. (I'm blogging in a rush against possible power failure here due to lightening and storm - Atlanta is pretty much flooded out - don't go there.)
Yet perhaps one of the more troubling things around here to come from McChrystal's 'leak' (if indeed such it was), is that a wayward rhyming muse alighted heavily upon my shoulder a while ago, and since current storms have neutralized my TV satellite (Tom Delay 'dancing' while seeing stars or not), I'm just bored enough to type it for you here.
So please pardon me in advance, if you can, and set your Groan Meter as low as it goes for...'Afghanistan':
Barack Obama in a box
Afghanistan is like a pox
upon his presidency new
he'd escalate but how and who?
McChrystal memo quite a dud
to land with such a dullish thud
on White House roof and in the hall
Obamaites are right to squall
Since change and hope he touted wide
we'd choose to have the peaceful side
but will the US ever see
an end to war economy?
Though pressure's on to send more troops
our US system has the droops
there are no jobs for every man
returning from Afghanistan.
Jude Cowell 9.21.09 8:49 pm edt
9/20/09
Here's a Jude Cowell Art Slideshow just for you!
~~
Here's an Art Slideshow created at Image Loop with a variety of my drawing themes and styles, some from Cosmic Persona Designs, a smidge from Dreamyfish Art, plus a few Secret Moon Art images tossed in complimentary-like.
And if you haven't as yet, perhaps it's time you moseyed over to Image Loop and set up your own display for your Art or Photography. Just let me know when and where you embed it, okay? Because I lo-o-ove to view Art Slideshows!
Plus, as you probably know by now, I maintain a small Lulu Art Storefront for your downloading and self-printing needs with all images at very modest prices.
Support the Arts!
~::~
Here's an Art Slideshow created at Image Loop with a variety of my drawing themes and styles, some from Cosmic Persona Designs, a smidge from Dreamyfish Art, plus a few Secret Moon Art images tossed in complimentary-like.
And if you haven't as yet, perhaps it's time you moseyed over to Image Loop and set up your own display for your Art or Photography. Just let me know when and where you embed it, okay? Because I lo-o-ove to view Art Slideshows!
Plus, as you probably know by now, I maintain a small Lulu Art Storefront for your downloading and self-printing needs with all images at very modest prices.
Support the Arts!
~::~
Shuttle Discovery exits California on a jet plane's back 9.20.09
~~~
Today there are major storm systems and heavy clouds bedeviling the state of Georgia, but that's okay because my home state isn't on NASA's Look Up list anyway. I now turn you over to...
Space Weather News for Sept 20, 2009
BE ALERT FOR THE SPACE SHUTTLE: Space shuttle Discovery is flying across the United States today atop a specially modified NASA 747 airliner. The trip is necessary because at the end of its last mission Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and must now be returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Sky watchers along the flight path (particularly in Texas, Louisiana and Florida) should be alert for the extraordinary sight of a spaceship flying through blue sky on top of an airplane.
Check SpaceWeather for details.
FARSIDE SUNSPOT: NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft is tracking an active region over the sun's eastern horizon that could be a large, new-cycle sunspot. We can't yet see it from Earth, but the sun's rotation is turning the region toward us, and it could pop into view as early as Sept 21. Readers with solar telescopes should monitor the sun's eastern limb for developments.
Images and updates may be found at SpaceWeather.com.
~:~:~
Today there are major storm systems and heavy clouds bedeviling the state of Georgia, but that's okay because my home state isn't on NASA's Look Up list anyway. I now turn you over to...
Space Weather News for Sept 20, 2009
BE ALERT FOR THE SPACE SHUTTLE: Space shuttle Discovery is flying across the United States today atop a specially modified NASA 747 airliner. The trip is necessary because at the end of its last mission Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and must now be returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Sky watchers along the flight path (particularly in Texas, Louisiana and Florida) should be alert for the extraordinary sight of a spaceship flying through blue sky on top of an airplane.
Check SpaceWeather for details.
FARSIDE SUNSPOT: NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft is tracking an active region over the sun's eastern horizon that could be a large, new-cycle sunspot. We can't yet see it from Earth, but the sun's rotation is turning the region toward us, and it could pop into view as early as Sept 21. Readers with solar telescopes should monitor the sun's eastern limb for developments.
Images and updates may be found at SpaceWeather.com.
~:~:~
9/18/09
Athens-Cine Theater and the 2009 Autumn Equinox celebration!
~~~
Athens-Cine is a movie theater in downtown Athens, Georgia which has the most unusual and diverse film showings such as you might find in a much larger market. Athens is a university town so the theater is a popular entertainment hotspot.
And believe me, this doc and film hub fills a woefully empty place in the cinema schedules of Athens!
Current Athens-Cine features include:
Food, Inc., an expose of the seamy underbelly and profit motives of America's fast-food hamburgers, fries, shakes, and their purveyors;
Soul Power, a verite doc about the legendary 'Zaire 74' music festival;
In The Loop, a hilariously comedic look at the US-UK relationship as skewed through a political lens; (politics manages to skew everything it touches, doesn't it?);
and...Sept 22's theatrical readings by Athens writers from the days of last century's Cafe Apollinaire of Paris, when avant-garde leader Guillaume Apollinaire coined the term 'surrealism'. Athens-Cine will also present the world premiere of a documentary about Atlanta rock band, the El Caminos, and more.
So if you happen to be in Athens during the September 22 Autumn Equinox, you're cordially invited to partake in the evening's celebrations with Athens-Cine's full bar of liquid refreshments at your beck and call!
Thea IDs Her Mask; drawing by Jude Cowell 2009+...for All the World's a Stage!
Athens-Cine is a movie theater in downtown Athens, Georgia which has the most unusual and diverse film showings such as you might find in a much larger market. Athens is a university town so the theater is a popular entertainment hotspot.
And believe me, this doc and film hub fills a woefully empty place in the cinema schedules of Athens!
Current Athens-Cine features include:
Food, Inc., an expose of the seamy underbelly and profit motives of America's fast-food hamburgers, fries, shakes, and their purveyors;
Soul Power, a verite doc about the legendary 'Zaire 74' music festival;
In The Loop, a hilariously comedic look at the US-UK relationship as skewed through a political lens; (politics manages to skew everything it touches, doesn't it?);
and...Sept 22's theatrical readings by Athens writers from the days of last century's Cafe Apollinaire of Paris, when avant-garde leader Guillaume Apollinaire coined the term 'surrealism'. Athens-Cine will also present the world premiere of a documentary about Atlanta rock band, the El Caminos, and more.
So if you happen to be in Athens during the September 22 Autumn Equinox, you're cordially invited to partake in the evening's celebrations with Athens-Cine's full bar of liquid refreshments at your beck and call!
Thea IDs Her Mask; drawing by Jude Cowell 2009+...for All the World's a Stage!
9/14/09
Jay Leno April 28, 1950: debuts at 10 pm Tonight!
~~
Okay, I got curious and had a sneak peek at Jay Leno's natal chart to see what's going on in the heavens with his debut tonight at 10 pm - quite the historical, if money-saving, TV event for NBC.
Born in New Rochelle, New York, on *April 28, 1950, Mr. Leno is an Earthy Sun Taurus-Moon Virgo fellow who has recently had a Saturn Return @ 12Vir50 on Sept 11, 2008. Natal Saturn is in 7th house of Partnerships with Moon 13Vir01 and Mars 22Vir11, and perhaps contract negotiations were on the menu then (n Sun in 2nd house of Money and Earning Ability.)
You may notice that his Mars is conjunct President Obama's natal Mars, so both conjunct US natal Neptune. Mars/Neptune hook-ups are excellent for 'rock star' reflections upon the screen of the public's imagination.
At 10 pm edt tonight, the Sun 22Vir23 will be spotlighting his natal Mars, a transit that indicates a surge of vitality and ego-gratification. Mr. Obama experienced the transit today as he spoke to Wall Street, and I mentioned this in my post on his 9.9.09 Address to a Joint Session of Congress - that the president's vitality and determination would receive a boost from this transit. (See third paragraph from the end of this post.)
Well, Pluto remains on his Direct Station degree (00Cap40 - Sep 11), so Mr. Leno's natal 11th cusp is being stimulated by Pluto while opposing natal Uranus 1Can59, a 'conflicts with those in power' transit. Perhaps powerful Pluto undergirds Leno's time slot change as well. It's been years since transiting Pluto conjoined his Career cusp at Midheaven 9Sag20, which you will note has one of the Royal Stars of Persia upon it: Fixed Star, Antares (keywords: obsessed with success.)
Pluto won't enter Leno's 12th house until he reaches 22Cap30; he may expect a loss (Pluto) of friends (11th house) during the transit, however (the voice of experience speaking here.)
This evening's Neptune 24AQ21 Rx and Chiron 22AQ16 Rx are snugged upon his natal ASC 22AQ57, which is either a dissolving influence, an indicator of entertainment and the masses, or simply a creative and inspirational infusion. If his 10 pm show is a hit with staying power, there will need to be more stable planetary support from other chart factors.
Yet Jupiter Rx @ 18AQ26 is poised to aid him later on and may be providing some 'guardian angel protection' (Jupiter) already since Leno's ASC was visited by Jolly Moneybags in April 2009 and will be so again in December 2009.
And given the hard work it has taken to produce the new version of the Tonight Show for the 10 pm time slot - as Saturn, Mercury (now Rx @ 2Lib54) and the Sun have plowed through his Saturn-Moon-Mars conjunction - it will be interesting to see if the sparkle and pizzaz of tonight's debut wears off soon (as I think it did with Conan O'Brien's revamping earlier this year, or maybe that's just me), or if the show continues to be a vehicle for Jay Leno's comedic inspirations.
Baby boomer fans will be happy, of course, to be heading to snoozyland 1 1/2 hours earlier, but are they messin' with a good thing just to save NBC a bunch of money? After all, the taping of such shows occur hours before air time, don't they?
Now here are the Images for Integration of his thorough, professional, and poised Sun Taurus-Moon Virgo blend with its great timing so perfect for a comedian, actor, or musician:
In her sumptuous garden, the music teacher entertains her now accomplished past pupil...The treasurer for the Association for Social Reform invests proceeds of a jumble sale into gilt-edged securities. (Sun Sign, Moon Sign, Charles and Suzi Harvey.)
This combo of energies is shared natally with quite a few entertainers:
Mort Sahl, Jack Paar (the first ever Tonight Show host, right?!), Sir Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day Lewis, Candice Bergen, Peter Townsend, Shirley Maclaine, and Donovan.
So you know I must say it: Break a gilt-edged leg, Jay! I'll be watching. And how about you, lone reader? Are you a fan?
*Rodden Rating AA, from birth certificate.
~:~
Okay, I got curious and had a sneak peek at Jay Leno's natal chart to see what's going on in the heavens with his debut tonight at 10 pm - quite the historical, if money-saving, TV event for NBC.
Born in New Rochelle, New York, on *April 28, 1950, Mr. Leno is an Earthy Sun Taurus-Moon Virgo fellow who has recently had a Saturn Return @ 12Vir50 on Sept 11, 2008. Natal Saturn is in 7th house of Partnerships with Moon 13Vir01 and Mars 22Vir11, and perhaps contract negotiations were on the menu then (n Sun in 2nd house of Money and Earning Ability.)
You may notice that his Mars is conjunct President Obama's natal Mars, so both conjunct US natal Neptune. Mars/Neptune hook-ups are excellent for 'rock star' reflections upon the screen of the public's imagination.
At 10 pm edt tonight, the Sun 22Vir23 will be spotlighting his natal Mars, a transit that indicates a surge of vitality and ego-gratification. Mr. Obama experienced the transit today as he spoke to Wall Street, and I mentioned this in my post on his 9.9.09 Address to a Joint Session of Congress - that the president's vitality and determination would receive a boost from this transit. (See third paragraph from the end of this post.)
Well, Pluto remains on his Direct Station degree (00Cap40 - Sep 11), so Mr. Leno's natal 11th cusp is being stimulated by Pluto while opposing natal Uranus 1Can59, a 'conflicts with those in power' transit. Perhaps powerful Pluto undergirds Leno's time slot change as well. It's been years since transiting Pluto conjoined his Career cusp at Midheaven 9Sag20, which you will note has one of the Royal Stars of Persia upon it: Fixed Star, Antares (keywords: obsessed with success.)
Pluto won't enter Leno's 12th house until he reaches 22Cap30; he may expect a loss (Pluto) of friends (11th house) during the transit, however (the voice of experience speaking here.)
This evening's Neptune 24AQ21 Rx and Chiron 22AQ16 Rx are snugged upon his natal ASC 22AQ57, which is either a dissolving influence, an indicator of entertainment and the masses, or simply a creative and inspirational infusion. If his 10 pm show is a hit with staying power, there will need to be more stable planetary support from other chart factors.
Yet Jupiter Rx @ 18AQ26 is poised to aid him later on and may be providing some 'guardian angel protection' (Jupiter) already since Leno's ASC was visited by Jolly Moneybags in April 2009 and will be so again in December 2009.
And given the hard work it has taken to produce the new version of the Tonight Show for the 10 pm time slot - as Saturn, Mercury (now Rx @ 2Lib54) and the Sun have plowed through his Saturn-Moon-Mars conjunction - it will be interesting to see if the sparkle and pizzaz of tonight's debut wears off soon (as I think it did with Conan O'Brien's revamping earlier this year, or maybe that's just me), or if the show continues to be a vehicle for Jay Leno's comedic inspirations.
Baby boomer fans will be happy, of course, to be heading to snoozyland 1 1/2 hours earlier, but are they messin' with a good thing just to save NBC a bunch of money? After all, the taping of such shows occur hours before air time, don't they?
Now here are the Images for Integration of his thorough, professional, and poised Sun Taurus-Moon Virgo blend with its great timing so perfect for a comedian, actor, or musician:
In her sumptuous garden, the music teacher entertains her now accomplished past pupil...The treasurer for the Association for Social Reform invests proceeds of a jumble sale into gilt-edged securities. (Sun Sign, Moon Sign, Charles and Suzi Harvey.)
This combo of energies is shared natally with quite a few entertainers:
Mort Sahl, Jack Paar (the first ever Tonight Show host, right?!), Sir Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day Lewis, Candice Bergen, Peter Townsend, Shirley Maclaine, and Donovan.
So you know I must say it: Break a gilt-edged leg, Jay! I'll be watching. And how about you, lone reader? Are you a fan?
*Rodden Rating AA, from birth certificate.
~:~
9/11/09
Violet now singing on YouTube
Hurrah! My daughter got around to taping and publishing a video of our favorite jokester, Violet, singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game - with hiccups!
When my kids were growing up, our family frequented Atlanta Braves games quite often, so this video is a treat for me - and you might enjoy it, too.
Popcorn, peanuts, and Cracker Jacks optional...
~~~
9/9/09
Knitting with a Happy Dance!
Even though I've never gone about the place thinking that I love the colors pink and yellow together, my eyes feel refreshed and exultant every time I look at this 'Happy Dance' yarn from Springtree Road's Etsy Shop.
Springtree Road is my daughter Maya's Yarn Shop, and the name refers to the street that I, and later on, my children, grew up on. It's named that because of a spring (obviously) and a creek that runs across and by it, so when my parents were living, their house had water from an artesian well nearby.
How cool is that? ;p
Especially these days when water is an issue everywhere, and will be more so as climates change and plunderers corner the market on the earth's freely provided life-giving substance.
Anyway, mosey yourself over to Maya's lovely Etsy Shop, if you wish, and view her luciously squishy skeins of handspun-and-dyed yarns, plus a few notecards and prints of her photos are available, too.
She'd be glad to meet you and perhaps y'all can do a Happy Dance together while you simultaneously knit me new mittens for winter using some of Maya's autumn-colored yarn...you're a very talented multi-tasker, or so I've heard!
~:~
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