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Forecast and Analysis for 11-17 May

We’re looking at the week beginning 11 May 2008. The Moon forms the First Quarter on the 11th. It’s time to check out the progress of your work so far this lunar cycle. Make needed corrections and push forward.

Theme transits this week: The Sun squares Neptune, and begins to square Saturn as the week goes on. This is a potentially tough configuration. Neptune is non-physical reality, spiritual insight, mysticism - and delusion. Combined with the Sun, our vitality is redirected from normal physical reality to look inward. This is just fine, but Saturn expects hard, diligent work, and self-definition. The problem is the conflict between earthy, hard-working Saturn and ethereal Neptune. We need to give each side its due. Spend time inwardly, and spend time defining your work and dedicating your efforts. The potential downside is a feeling of malaise where nothing useful happens. Take special care to support the body with excellent nutrition, rest, and exercise. Right thinking is important: avoid getting sucked into negative ruminations on what might have been.

Mercury squares Uranus by the week’s end. These two planets ignite thinking and communicating in very positive, energetic ways. Prepare for sudden insights and new ways of thinking. Watch for excessive nervous tension from too much stimulation, though.

The week’s net: Overall energy may be compromised this week, so take special care to support yourself. As the week ends, capture new thinking and stretch out to exchange ideas with others.

On the 11th we start the week with the Moon squaring the Sun and Venus and opposing Neptune. Moon / Neptune is mystical inspiration, with a side of illusion and miscommunication. Be careful to avoid misunderstanding in your close relationships. Support your body by avoiding excess and getting plenty of rest.

12 May:  The Moon conjoins Saturn and continues to oppose Neptune today. Saturn wants us to define our emotional lives and to clear up unfinished business with others. This is never fun, and today’s energy may be a bit down. With the Neptune involvement, focus inwardly and explore feelings and images that emerge from within. It’s not a fabulous time for external work and for business. Avoid drugs and alcohol.

13 May: The Moon squares Mercury. The Mercury involvement makes communicating about your feeling states easier and helpful. Our moods should improve a bit.

14 May: The Moon opposes Uranus today, and forms a Kite with the Sun and Jupiter. This is the high point of the week energy-wise. Explore your ideas, expect novel shifts and the unexpected. This is the best day this week for business dealings and negotiations. Nervous tension rises with increased stimulation. Maintain your balance with centering work.

15 May: The Moon squares Pluto today. Emotions shift to a more intense, obsessive mode. Avoid conflict with those you’re close to. Power plays and control issues will likely surface.

16 May:  The Moon squares Jupiter and forms a Grand Trine with Mercury and Neptune. This is another highly supportive day, so take advantage of the inner vision, renewed inspiration, and potential for business dealings. Plan to spend some time with those you love, and open yourself to novel experiences. Spread your wings just a bit!

17 May: The Moon moves to square Mars today, and it sextiles both Saturn and Pluto. This energizes feelings - at the potential risk of argument over emotional matters. Focus on your relationships, and use the high energy to enjoy yourself. Saturn and Pluto help by grounding energy, making it useful. Push to achieve your goals!

Do check us out on the web at www.CosmicTiming.com where you can see how cosmic influences impact your own personal chart. Have a great week!

Oof! We installed one of John's huge pieces

John built a 16 foot reception desk for a doctor's office here in town, and we got the go-ahead to install it last weekend. After we schlepped it over to the office on Saturday afternoon, John started disassembling the current desk - only to find that electrical and networking conduit laced its way through the whole thing. The doctor shut down power on Sunday morning, and we headed back over for eight more hours of setup. It took us almost four hours to complete the demolition and cleanup - John pulled things apart and I carted the detritus out the door.

The setup went mostly without a hitch. The doctor headed over to see our progress, and she got her electrician and networking folks to meet John yesterday morning. The office staff is delighted, and I decided to take yesterday off. I pulled weeds, planted herbs, and generally had a fantastic day.

Our trail's flooded out again

We've had torrents of rain the past few days. Our walking was cut short - twice! - when both of our trails were flooded out this morning.

Early spring in the garden

Here's a slide show of our garden. (I just got in from about ninety minutes of pulling weeds...)

Cirque du Soleil last night

John got us front row seats for Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco, appearing this week in Cedar Rapids. He (and I) have been great fans of video recordings of Cirque's performances, but he'd never seen them in person before. He camped out on the ticketing website and grabbed best available seats for us - which amounted to us being less than ten feet from the stage - and right in the line of aerial acrobats flying around the auditorium. Pretty wonderful, I say!

Stuff's up!

John came in my office earlier last week. He'd retrieved a pop can someone had thrown in our garden. While doing that he saw that crocuses (croci?), snowdrops, and these Louisiana irises were up and blooming.

I got out both days over the weekend to cart away detritus from last year's garden. I pruned back echinacea and peony stems, raked apple and oak tree leaves, and started weeding - the creeping charlie starts early in the season.

Out on a limb

This cute guy gave me the eye when John and I passed by on the Cedar River trail yesterday. Ducks were just settling in and geese were flying by, coming back for the season. The water's still up a bit and moving fast.

The power of winter

A week ago John and I headed out on the Indian Creek trail just outside of town. Threading our way around bits of snow and ice we rounded a bend where I shot this. The water - which had been high and flowing fast - had gouged out big hunks of the river bank. Tree limbs were down everywhere, casualties of winter's snow and ice. We dragged small limbs off the trail; the city will be through at some point to remove the bigger stuff.

In a month, though, this scene will be unrecognizable. Scrub trees spring up fast, and the whole place will be emerald green...

Spring: almost here

It was cold and windy yesterday morning with bits of snow, so John and I stayed home where it was nice and warm. Today started off still overcast and gloomy, but by the end of my marathon conference call this afternoon between me, my clients in Michigan, and an outsourcing firm in India, the day had cleared off and was quite wonderful for walking.

I didn't stay out very long, but long enough to walk to the small cemetery at the end of the block, and up the hill to look over the neighboring park and on down to the Cedar River. We've finally lost almost all of our snow, save for those areas mostly in deep shade. Things are just barely beginning to turn green, and the willow trees are turning faintly yellow -- the color they have just before their leaves begin to sprout. I'm hopeful next weekend we can head to the trail down by Indian Creek; we haven't been down there in more than four months.

Setting up John's new gallery

I took a day off from work to help John bring some of his work to a new gallery. He's had a long-standing relationship with the Waterloo Center for the Arts in Waterloo, Iowa. The Center is completing a massive remodeling; through the window in the back you can see some of the heavy equipment still outside. Part of the remodeling gives the Center a marvelous new space to sell artwork. The Center's director contacted John about bringing down a number of pieces and installing them before their Grand Opening in about a week.

The new gallery space has a display balcony where John's pieces look quite fantastic. You can see them looking up from the gallery space below, and just behind the balcony are floor-to-ceiling windows that give a super view of his work.

Now for the light of heart

While walking around our Co-op I spotted this fabulous collection of finger puppets created by the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. It's the Axis of Evil, starring Kim Jong Il,  Saddam Hussain, the Ayatollah, and our very own George W. Bush. It comes with its very own stage complete with radioactive curtains and biohazards. The  puppets have small magnets so they stick right on the refrigerator door. We have Eleanor Roosevelt stuck to ours, by the way.

Here's our new bad boy

When I left the Foundation at the beginning of the year I had over 50 vacation days accumulated. With that very welcome payout, I built up our bank account and purchased a few things that we've been wanting.

I have always enjoyed using elliptical trainers for aerobic workout, but we simply had no place to put one until John completed remodeling the Annex as our exercise space. On a lark at the beginning of February we headed over to one of our best suppliers of high-end gym equipment. We both fell in love with this Octane Fitness elliptical machine, and we brought one home that weekend. We've both been using it regularly for the past six weeks. If anything, I enjoy it more now than when we first got it. Using our faithful treadmill (which you see in the background) starts to bother my knees if I use it more than about three times a week. The elliptical, on the other hand, is so easy on my body that I can use it almost daily. I take advantage of the heart rate control feature: the machine monitors my pulse and adjusts the intensity of the workout to match my condition. John has loved it because it is easy on his ankle; he broke his ankle more than twenty years ago and it occasionally still acts up a bit.

Finally we're on the trail again

It's been four full months since John and I were on the trail. In late November the two of us spent a week in California. By the time we returned, Cedar Rapids was covered in half an inch of ice and over five inches of snow. Between digging out and having temperatures dip below 10 degrees, we've not spent much time outdoors for recreation.

This is what the Cedar River looks like in the early morning. We walked along the river for about five miles this last Sunday. It looks colder than it was: with no wind I was very comfortable in my good jacket and jeans.

I'm getting better mileage so it must be warming up

Finally we're starting to lose all the snow. John and I figured that we've had significant snow on the ground for over three months. For the past week, though, we've enjoyed some halfway decent weather.

So what's the connection with gas mileage? It's my hybrid vehicle. I have a Ford Escape Hybrid, which I love a lot. But it (and all the other hybrids out there) use NiCd batteries. If you have ever left a flashlight with rechargeable batteries outside at night you may have been surprised that the batteries discharged much more than you normally would expect. The same thing happens with rechargeable batteries in a hybrid vehicle. The batteries don't hold a charge when they are cold, and they don't recharge well either. From spring through fall I typically get mileage in the low 30's; once winter arrives, though, my mileage plummets into the low 20's.

A bit of spring

We headed out for an early birthday dinner for John last Thursday. After eating sushi and seaweed salad until we were stuffed we headed for home. I caught my breath when I opened the car door and looked westward. The sky was a mottled ochre with splotches of indigo. The trees rustled with a wind we'd not felt in months. And by the following day we felt Spring. It's been a long haul this Winter. We're not done yet; more snow tomorrow. But it was almost sixty today with brilliant sun.