ZODIAC (4) LIBRA

LIBRA...The Scales...23 September to 22 October.  (my son, my #3 granddaughter and grandson-in-law were all born under this sign.  My son is right on the cusp so his personality I imagine would also contain some of those traits relating to Virgo).

Libra your element is Air and your quality is Cardinal.  You are the relationship devotee of the Air signs, graceful and strategic. the 'in charge' cardinal sign.  The Air element means you are a Thinking Type, motivated by mental ideals and communication dynamics.

As the 'cardinal' Air sign, you initiate human connections and drive co-operation.  Usually tactful and subtle in your push toward relationships, you can surprise people with your feisty side.  You can fall into indecision if you are too concerned to make the perfect choice and if you try too hard to please, your honesty is called into question. You are most happy when you achieve a balance between your personal creative efforts and being with the people you love.  You are the seventh sign and the lover of the zodiac, your key phrase: "I create".

Your planetary ruler is VENUS: Planet of Love.

A sense of justice and an impulse to initiate relationship are the way your Air shimmers. A cool character with passionate ideals, ancient Arabic astrology says Libra is "of hot and humid nature (aerial).  Its angel holds the keys of the creation of states (ephemeral) and of changes."  Does this hint at your well-known fence sitting, yes it does.  It also suggests you know exactly what you want - you simply change a lot.  Venus is the opposite pole of sexual energy to Mars, the magnetic draw card, which displays the nectar of the bees with vibrant colours and sweet allure.  Mars wants to win, Venus knows how to! Diplomacy, charm and a magnetic mental quality are some of the gifts of Venus to Libra.  Since the love planet rules both Libra and Taurus, you are the 'day sign' of Venus.  In the body Libra rules adrenals and kidneys, the venous system and the acid/alkaline balance, as well as sharing rulership of the skin.  The right balance of rest and play, of optimism and realism is your key to good health.

Venus represents the vitality of human connections, of relationship balance.  Her special message for Libra is to believe in love's work, even amidst strife and uncertainty.

I think there is some of all the above family members in the above description but after checking on Virgo's traits I feel they perhaps describe my son much better than here although he does like to be in charge as said here.  Perhaps that is what happens to people born on the cusp.  How did you fare if you are a Libra?

ZODIAC (3) LEO

LEO.  The Lion....23 July to 22 August.

Both my daughter (born late July) and her husband (born earlyish August) come under this star sign.

LEO your element is Fire and your quality is fixed.  You are the 'shining one' of the Fire signs, ruled by the Sun, creative and dramatic - the Fire sign most suited for centre stage. artistic and confident.  The Fire element means you are an intuitive type motivated by your enthusiasms and inspirations, ever needing a creative outlet.

As the 'fixed' Fire sign you hold strongly to your creative ideas and self image. which is why you are sometimes also known for pride and arrogance.  This need not be the case; you just know what you like and what you want.  You learn with maturity how to hold to these in a graceful and charming manner.  You are most happy when you are acknowledged by others, for your creative contributions and when you are surrounded by your group or 'pride of lions'.  You like to snooze lazy Leo style in the sun but are ever ready to pounce on a new idea.  As the fifth sign your key phrase is "I create".

SUN: Planet of Radiant Vitality is your planetary ruler.

As the sun's own sign a sense of presence and strong personal awareness is the way your Fire flames.  Hot and passionate by nature, ancient Arabic says of Leo, that you are 'Of hot and dry nature (igneous). Its angel is generous; he holds the keys of the future world".  The Sun is the plant of radiance and being a shining light for others is definitely your most satisfying role, if you can achieve it.  In the body Leo rules the heart, spinal chord. blood circulation, spleen and vital forces.  Your vitality burns brightest when you link your creativity with others, through a leadership role or in a position which affords you a degree of autonomy.  You don't like taking orders and you hate small-mindedness since you yourself like to take the larger view of things.  Ever ready to expand and develop an idea there is no distance between the spark and the flaming up of your fire.  You can also go from still to action mode in the blink of an eye. Lion like.  Rarely able to resist a chance to be with your 'playmate' and clan, you are capable of burning out by an overload of activities.  The right balance of play, rest and work is what stops you from burnout and keeps you healthy and happy.

Sun represents the strength of the human heart and the light of creative impulse.  His special message for Leo is to shine as brightly and generously as possible, regardless of the response of others.

Well, here again, much of the above definitely relates to both my daughter and her spouse.  They are both creative....she is artistic and he is musical.  Although the two are individually different a lot of their qualities are described above and they are excellent qualities.  Are you, as a Leo, anything like the above description?

ZODIAC (2) SAGITTARIUS

SAGITTARIUS...The Archer.....23 November to 21 December.

I am doing these out of order as I intend to do family birth signs first and I've never been one for disciplined order anyway so if you are a Sagittarian this if for you.  This is Phil's birth sign.

The element of Sagittarius is Fire and your quality is Mutable. You are the philosopher of the Fire signs, enthusiastic and ever juggling ideas. the 'mutable' Fire sign.  The Fire element means you are an intuitive type, motivated by enthusiasms, mental inspiration and the search for knowledge.

As the mutable Fire sign, you are one of the dual signs who shifts ground regularly, ever on the search for new wisdom, the perfect idea.  The most peace loving and gentle of the Fire signs, you are nonetheless capable of pushing your ideas and opinions to the max.  Thus your reputation for 'foot in mouth' episodes!  Firing your arrows of ideas continuously, you let many fall by the wayside and only action a few.  You are most happy when life feels like an adventure and you have an interesting new plan on the boil.  You are the ninth sign and your key phrase is "I know".

Your planetary ruler is Jupiter, planet of wisdom.

The quest for a breadth of experience and knowledge of the world around you are the way your Fire flames.  You are a hot character but the coolest of the Fire signs, ever ready to make friends and influence people.  You are likely to have an opinion on almost everything and sometimes do better to keep that opinion to yourself.   Ancient Arabic Astrology says Sagittarius is "of hot and dry nature (igneous).  Their angel rules...luminous bodies and in partcular it holds the keys to the creation of plants."

Your symbol is the Centaur, half man, half horse and this signifies your unique combination of strong physicality but mentally driven.  It is when your human nature rules your animal nature that you are most balanced and happy.  The gifts of Jupiter are expansive good nature, enthusias, a hunger for knowledge and tendency to exaggeration.  Since the wisdom plant rules both Sagittarius and Pisces, you are the 'day sign' - the most extroverted version of Jupiter.  In the body Sagittarius rules the thighs.. hips, sciatic nerve. arterial system, pelvis and sacrum.  These relate to balance and movement and you are happiest with plenty of physical activity and mental challenge.

I was amazed as I copied this at how well it described my other half.  He has always searched for knowledge and in fact seldom reads anything other than non-fiction.  He has a fantastic memory, often recalling things he read as a youth.  He was adventurous as he emigrated to Australia with his first wife when he was 30 and that was a big step.  I think when he was on his own again he may have moved on but then he met me.  I guess he couldn't be lucky all the time.  He is also peace loving and gentle.  When I mentioned to him about 'foot in mouth' episodes he said. "No, not these days but I often did when I was younger."  He does know a lot but he is not a know it all for which I am very thankful.

I wonder if anyone else out there comes under the sign of the Archer and, if so, is this a good description of you?

ZODIAC....WHAT BIRTH SIGN ARE YOU?

Zodiac (n. an imaginary belt of the heavens, entering on the ecliptic within which are the apparent paths of the sun, moon and principal planets.  It is divided into 12 constellations and signs of the zodiac).

Just for the sheer fun of it and something different to do I thought perhaps I could do a series of 12  posts each dealing with a different birth sign so here goes.   As I am a Capricorn and as January begins our year it seemed appropriate the begin with the goat.  My two grandsons, Luke and James (both born in late December, are also Capricorians and yet we are all different from each other.

Capricorn is the tenth astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Capriconicus.  It spans the 270-300th degree of the zodiac, between 270 and 305.25 degree of celestial longitude.  In astrology Capricon is considered an introvert sign, an earth sign, and one of four cardinal signs.  It is ruled by the planet Saturn.  In the Tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this are of the zodiac from 22 December to 20 January each year.

Capricorn is the mover and the pusher of the zodiac, the 'cardinal' Earth sign, who likes to be in control of situations and to make their mark on the world.  The Earth element means they are a sensate type, driven by practical goals, material ambitions and physical concerns.

Capricorn seeks security and stability and has a natural respect for social institutions, like the family and government organisations.  It they want to change something they seek to work from the inside to create change.  They are most happy when they have a meaningful role, have autonomy and can engineer slow progress.  Their key phrase: " I build".

Saturn is your planetary ruler.  The power and determination to bring your goals to fruition are the way your Earth is expressed.  Ancient Arabic astrology says Capricorn is "of cold and dry nature (earthly).  Its angel holds the keys of day and night."  You are the 'night sign' of Saturn and the parts of the body Capricon rules are knees, bones. joints, skin and cutaneous system.  Maintaining mental and physical flexibility if your key to good health.

Ruled by Saturn, your strengths are patience, responsibility, realism and a persevering attitude that brings eventual success.  Strong ambition and the desire to build a safe, secure home are further Saturn gifts.  Saturn represents the primal force of contraction the energy that holds things togethre.  His special message for Capricorn is to build the foundations well before expecting the golden return.

This information came from "Astrology Spot" as will future posts.  I am not sure if you as a Capricorn  feel this describes you and I am not sure it describes me very well.  I have never sought material goods so that is not me but I do respect families but can't say I have that much respect for government organisations!!  Slow progress sounds rather like me, especially these days so I'll have to accept the above as being reasonably accurate if not completely true for me.

Incidentally, I never read my horoscope at all so perhaps I am not a true believer but do find it very interesting.

CATS...LOVE 'EM OR HATE 'EM

I think anyone who has read my blog realises I do have a great love of cats and they have always been a big part of life since I was a small child.  Here is a lovely photo taken by my daughter a few years ago showing our Precious in all her winter finery.  (she sheds in spring and becomes a short hair for a time during summer before becoming fluffy again in the winter):

I know I've popped her picture on her before but I always love to show her off.  My daughter had come to our place on her birthday and wanting to try out her fantastic new SLR digital camera she snapped this picture.  I have probably shown it before on here but I always love to show off our special friend.  This was taken in July of 2007 but she still looks about the same and we still love her very much.

At our exercise group on Wednesday morning the subject of cats came up as that was the subject discussed on Insight the previous night.  I didn't see the programme and am probably glad I didn't.  I think it showed the devastation that large feral cats can cause among the native fauna and I know this is very sad and true.  There would have been discussion for and against keeping cats in suburbia too.

You can often tell when people speak of cats whether or not they really like them or not.  I could tell one of the fellows there isn't at all fond of them so perhaps prefers dogs although I know that he and his wife have no pets a present.  They travel a fair bit so probably suits them not to be tied down and that is their choice.   Don't get me wrong they are a lovely couple and we get on with them so well.

I immediately went to the defence of cats saying at least, unlike dogs, they don't attack people and in some cases injure them badly or even kill them.  I mean of course domestic cats as I am quite sure feral cats would be capable of killing a small child as they can apparently kill a wallaby (this is a smaller Australian marsupial similar to a kangaroo).

One suggestion was that every house should have a cat run but they are terribly expensive and don't suit all types of dwellings.   I feel if you keep your cat in every night there is much less chance of native animals or birds being molested.  Precious tends to catch vermin if there are any about during the day and she is inside until after daylight each night.

Phil brought up the point that if there were no cats in suburbia then just how many rats and mice would there be.  I felt this a very fair argument although I am not sure it sat well with those not fond of cats.

To be truly serious I feel all cats should be registered/licensed and sterilised and anyone buying a cat should have to pay for sterilisation and perhaps micro-chipping before taking delivery.  Anyone found in possession of an unsterilised cat should face a fine of perhaps $5,000.  Sounds hard but we do have to try and prevent unwanted cats being dumped and roaming the countryside destroying our precious wildlife.  Our council does help towards the cost of cat sterilisation which I hope makes more people accept this responsibility but unfortunately, as with many things in like, some people just don't give a damn.

How could anyone resist this little sweetheart?  You'd have to be hard-hearted wouldn't you?

A-Z #26 (Z)

Z is for ZOOID

I was completely stumped when I came to Z so I decided to use a word I really knew nothing about so here goes, just for the fun of it.

Biol.   any organic body or cell capable of spontaneous movement and of an existence more or less apart from or independent of the parent organism.

Zool.  (a) any animal organism or individual capable of separate existence and produced by fission, gemmation or some method other than direct sexual reproduction.
(b) one of the individuals, as certain free-swimming medusas, that, in the alternation of generations, are produced asexually.
(c) any one of the recognizably distinct individuals or elements of a compound or colonial animal whether detached, detachable or not.

I truly hope you all understood that and feel all the better for the knowledge.

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Z is also for ZOO but unfortunately I've not been to our Zoo for years so my photographs are well out of date and probably not very good as they were taken with an old camera.  I would, however, recommend you to their website where you can learn so much about their breeding programmes.  If you love animals as I do I am sure you will enjoy a visit.  The website is:
www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au/news/gallery

The walks through Perth Zoo are delightful and you discover so many diverse species of animals and plants too.

I borrowed these pics from their website but I am sure they won't mind one little bit.  They like people to visit the zoo and if you don't live in Perth you can only do so via the internet.

Oh heck, here I am at the end of the alphabet.  What on earth is going to inspire me tomorrow?  Perhaps I should begin with numbers?  No, I can't see that working.  My poor old brain is going to have to work overtime from now on.  An idea just came to mind....a word beginning with Z has inspired me...I think.....so watch this space.

A-Z #24 (X)

X is for X-RAY but this is not the word I was intending to use.  I just had to include it as x-rays have been a big part of my life since I was quite young and I often wonder that I don't actually glow in the dark.  Recently I went through my drawer of x-rays and threw away the films and just kept the reports. I don't read them as they are very depressing as my poor old joints are mostly in a bad way.  I'll just file them away in case they are needed one day..

X is for XANTHIC (adj. of or pertaining to a yellow or yellowish colour)

What's the old girl up to now you are thinking?  What on earth made her choose that word for her X?

There are not very many interesting words beginning with X and I didn't want to get involved in xenophobia and the like as I was serious enough in my UVW post.

I chose xanthic because my favourite colour is YELLOW.  I just love yellow.  It always makes me feel much happier than any other colour although I do love blue as well.  I had a more unfortunate penfield in New Zealand some years ago that was actually allergic to the colour yellow and my heart went out to her to have such a disability.

Our last two cars have been yellow, mainly of my choosing but fortunately my other half is quite happy with my choice as they are easier to see on the road than many other colours so went along with my choice.

There's not a lot more I can say about my love of the colour yellow except to say that when I look at any of these pictures I can't help smiling and I feel just that much more cheerful.  Forgive me for this indiosyncrasy. I guess it's just one my little foibles that makes me who I am.

You must admit they all look so cheerful.  Thank you so much for once again indulging me in my meanderings.