Thank you visiting authors!

Please come by and write whenever you feel so moved!

poem 1/4/11

poem 1/4/11


Always starving
Too full to eat

Leslie Fuller

First things first

Sorry to be posting so late in the AM, but as you may have found out, there was no steak bread yesterday!  This morning, I baked before blogging.  I can now promise steak bread in 2 hours.
Cookies came out already!  And if I get to it...biscotta!  Almond, of course.

I will tell ALL about that communications company snafu, later...




 

The VERIZONfairpoint BIG TIME BOO-BOO

I don't know if they care how needlessly confusing they make the world today. I don't really know who 'they' is. THEY reaally impact my blood pressure.

I do know who made the boo boo. I did. I believed that the TRIPLE BUNDLE was going to save me money for the first 6 months, AS ADVERTISED. Of course, it isn't so. I finally have the bills to prove it. It's too COLD to go into the gory details right now. But I will fill you in formally, later.

THE REAL FEEL - 18 Below at 9AM

...But BEAUTIFUL!  Not a cloud in the pale blue sky.  The sun is just climbing over the tree tops.
It's a good morning for baking.  Perhaps some 'STEAK' Bread is in order.  It's a secret family recipe so I can't really say what's in it...easier to say what is not an ingredient.  So come by (in about 4 hours) and taste test it.  I am hoping to bake up a storm but feel a tad tired.  We all sleep lightly when fires need tending through the night.

The Big Chill

Alright, alright, I'm in with the bean milkers! It took a few tries and error messages, but I really enjoyed the new zodiac mythology post and look forward to my first foray into the blogosphere.
Here too (a little farther down Sandgate Road) the simple life can be strenuous. It was a triumph to keep the woodstove going through the night, but the uninsulated floor means it's warm above the kitchen table but freezing below the knees! Birds abound at the feeder, which is better than television to Suki, our Siamese. It's mostly starlings, chickadees and nuthatches with occasional cardinals and blue jays. It's interesting which wait their turn and which just knock seed to the ground to hoard to themselves. There have been a few midair disputes as to the pecking order!
As to snow shoeing, I felt impervious to the cold yesterday between the Neos boots and the rigors of climbing through the woods. The beauty of this creme brule landscape still thrills. We need short doses of fresh air no matter how frigid between the tasks of taxes and accounting for last year (which in turn makes me want to dig a secret snow cave and wake up in the spring).
So where's this January thaw we only have eight days left to claim?

Weatherman predicting 20 BELOW ZERO tonight!

It's about 5 degrees above zero.  Even the phantom feral black cat, Panther,  came out to announce it's need for food.  We have one feral critter already this winter.  We named it, Tiger.
At first, we didn't know what it was, a small catamount, maybe?  Very secretive, we only caught glimpses, until we saw him perched in the big bird feeder, hunting our birds!

We had to feed it!

We have yet to see the sleek black critter hang around long enough to snap a picture.  It steals whatever food it can grab on the run and keeps making tracks til it is out of sight.  It does not look like is has the coat of fur Tiger is sporting.  It sure is going to be cold tonight for all us critters.  Here's wishing you warmth from tip to toe.


 

Sandgate Snow Shoe Enthusiasts

KUDOS to my Sandgate Snow Shoeing Sisters and the Ocassional Brother Who Dons the Shoe

Are we really going out on MONDAY? Can I weasel out due to below freezing temps?
Actually I dress so warmly that it feels like the tropics when we're done, so a gentle push will get me lacing up my baby shoes. One of my nephews said he could get shoes for $40 somewhere on the net. I'll keep after him til I get that site. Since it has begun snowing this winter, my snowshoes are the best way to hike to the mailbox (or just about anywhere) the snow is so deep down here on the delta.

Alright, by now you've realized that this is just an awful ploy to get you share this blog space!
Are you falling for it? It doesn't take long to write. You can write anything. Give yourself a new name and by all means, stretch the truth if you feel so inclined...I will keep inviting you...

It is possible to edit, even after you've pressed the publish post button.

So who is OPHIUCHUS?

But who exactly is Ophiuchus? 

All the dozen previous signs of the zodiac have roots in classical mythology — specifically in the legend of how the 12 Olympian gods took the shape of various animals and creatures to flee the sulfurous, multi-armed monster Typhon who was causing havoc and ripping up mountains and such. (Only Zeus stood his ground and, gathering up his courage and his lightning bolts, let fly with those weapons of mass destruction and buried Typhon under a mess of rock, which smolder to this day as a volcano, Mount Etna.) The myth doesn't bear much fact-checking — or math. Does Gemini, for example, count for one or two? And if Zeus stood firm, then... something is missing.... And what god or goddess would have sought refuge in the shape of Libra, a scale?

Otherwise, the symbols are meaningful only in terms of mnemonics — giving earthly shape to the constellations that occupy the moving belt of stars that define the terrestrial year. Allusions to myth help give each meaning. Cancer, for example, being perhaps a giant crustacean defeated by Herakles (Hercules, to those who prefer Latin) but also being a hard-shelled creature, provides a metaphor for the nature of any human born under the sign (hiding in one's shell, by extension, a homebody, as I was comfortable being until now when I have to learn to be a Gemini.)

So, what kind of creature is Ophiuchus? The illustrations that have emerged (old prints from shortly after the time of Gutenberg, it seems) portray some sort of heavily muscled person holding on with difficulty to a veritable anaconda in the sky. There are various myths attached to the constellation, most of them obscure, two are quite telling — if ominous. A third I have come up with on my own.

The first is that of Asklepios (Latin, Aesculapius, which has somehow become acceptable in English as Asclepius), who was, as the old Greek stories often go, the offspring of a tragic match. His mother, impregnated by the god Apollo, started a dalliance with someone else. It is not good to cheat on any god — and certainly not one associated with the sun. The poor woman was set on fire and her child ripped from her womb (Asklepios etymologically meaning to be cut out). The infant was given over to be raised by the good and wise centaur Chiron. He grew to be very wise himself, able to cure the sick and the raise the dead. The serpent, already a symbol of wisdom and its goddess Athena, was associated with Asklepios' rejuvenating skills because it could renew itself, becoming "young" again, by shedding its old skin. But the fates and the gods did not like the idea of a human with the ability to grant other humans the gift of eternal life. So Zeus struck him dead with a thunderbolt. His father Apollo, however, raised him from the dead — and eventually Asklepios became the god of healing and medicine. Some early Christian writers went on to say that he was a prefiguring of their own savior — perphaps propaganda against the cult of Asklepios, which was a potent rival to the faith of the followers of Jesus.

The other tale has a magnificent piece of art associated with it: the Laocoön, an ancient sculpture found in Rome and reassembled by Michelangelo. It stands in the Vatican Museum and shows the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons being attacked by serpents. Why was Laocoön so punished? Because he warned his fellow citizens of Troy not to let into their walled citadel the giant wooden horse left behind by the Greeks. The goddess Athena (she of the snakes) sent enormous serpents to strangle and kill the priest and his sons. The Trojans interpreted it as a sign that it was alright to let the gift horse in without looking into its contents. The rest is, again, tragedy.

The key to both tales is the snake, symbol of wisdom and of all the knowledge hidden beneath the earth. One of the great sites of prophecy in the ancient Greek world was Pythia, from where we get our word "python." And, so, I have a third scenario to help explain who Ophiuchus is. It isn't a story told very often but, while not perfectly matching the "snake-holder" description, it involves wisdom and snakes.

Tiresias was considered the wisest of men and he was summoned before the gods because Zeus and his sister-spouse Hera were quarreling. Zeus insisted that women enjoyed sex more than men; the prudish Hera said that was not true. The only one who knew for certain was Tiresias. Why? Once when he was walking through the woods, he came upon two enormous serpents mating. Being curious and not afraid of disturbing these symbols of wisdom as they copulated, he poked at them. As punishment (or boon), Tiresias was transformed into a woman and lived, fully, as a woman. Years later, walking through the same woods, he once again came across serpents mating. He knew exactly what to do. He poked them again. Poof. He was a man.

And so, Zeus asked, having been both male and female, who derives more pleasure from sexual intercourse? Tiresias did not hesitate and said, "woman." Hera was incensed and struck him blind. Transgender, inquisitive, brave enough to risk the wrath of Hera (whom even Zeus feared) Tiresias, blind as he may have become, is the most modern embodiment of Ophiuchus. 

So what have we learned from this Time Magazine article with respect to ourselves?  When there's trouble in heaven, look for the Greek Connection.  Don't accept any gifts and for goodness sake, don't go poking at snakes!

OMG...Hold on to your SUN SIGN!

 
According to Time Magazine and the Minnesota Planetarium Society, here is where the real signs of the Zodiac should fall. Get ready for your world to change forever.
 

Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16.
Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11.
Pisces: March 11-April 18.
Aries: April 18-May 13.
Taurus: May 13-June 21.
Gemini: June 21-July 20.
Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10.
Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.
Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30.
Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.
Scorpio: Nov. 23-29.
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17. 
Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.

                                                     

Astronomers found that because of the moon's gravitational pull on Earth, the alignment of the stars was pushed by about a month.  Your astrological sign is determined by the position of the sun on the day you were born, so that means everything you thought you knew about your horoscope is wrong.

It turns out that astrology has had issues from its inception. (Aside from the fact that it tries to link personality traits with positions of the stars.) Ancient Babylonians had 13 constellations, but wanted only 12, so threw out Ophuchicus, the snake holder. Libra didn't even enter the picture until the era of Julius Caesar.

The constellation Ophiuchus represents a man wrestling a serpent, dividing the snake's body in two parts.  It is the only sign of the zodiac linked to real men, sharing traits with Imhotep, a 27th century BCE Egyptian doctor, and biblical Joseph.

Like Imhotep, Ophiuchus is considered a healer of men and a doctor of medicine or science. He seeks higher education and enlightenment. He is expected to achieve a high position in life.
Like Joseph, he is an interpreter of dreams and vivid premonitions. He is envied by his peers and favored by his father and authority figures.

The Asclepius and the Caduceus, the medical staff, are based on the constellation.

Now all you new Ophiciuchi can move beyond your identity crises

Snow Snow Snow

Three snow storms within 2 weeks!  It's beautiful. 
The newest storm has only deposited about four inches so far but it promises to snow all day and leave over a foot of the white stuff.

Inviting Authors

I was tooling around the old blog when I saw a function that makes it possible  to invite other authors to contribute to a person's blog, so, LOOK OUT!  You may receive an invitation.

Of course, I invited myself so I could test this new feature out.  I do believe it works!
As an old friend used to say..."What a concept!"

Looking Forward 2011

                                                                      Happy New Year

 El Exigente and El Exigente, Jr. are already looking through the seed catalogs.  Our own seeds are safely put away for spring planting.  We are planning to get some livestock.  Poultry, for eggs and meat (yes they are called meat birds) and if possible, I'd like to get some rabbits, a beefer and perhaps a piglet or two.  The guys are making plans for housing for the critters and mapping out the garden areas according to a rotation that kept us in lettuce until November.  The weather co-operated.

I have been researching soy products and lazily baking the usual breads.  When Alessandra was  home I felt inspired to make her soy milk and tempeh.  I also made several kinds of sprouts which was a first for me.  Sprouting beans is very easy.  I used the instructions from the Ten Talents Cookbook I have mentioned in previous posts.


Have a great 2011!