Mother Nature Requires Our Attention

If tonight’s Harvest Moon along with Mercury Retrograde isn’t enough energy, here in SoCal, the outer bands of Hurricane Kay — now Tropical Storm Kay — woke me up with high winds and spotty rain, just an amuse-bouche of what’s to come tonight and tomorrow.

My windchimes are going crazy. I think I better take them down before the fifty mile an hour winds cause them to crash and break.

It’s still really HOT; the high temp for today will be right around ninety degrees, but next week’s forecast looks to be back to normal and cooler.

There have been several small fires in the area, but the larger one, the Fairview Fire, located northeast in Hemet has burned more than 27,000 acres moving toward Temecula. Lots of people and animals have been evacuated.

As of 9:00 a.m. here’s a CalFire update:

#ForkFire 780 acres, 20 % contained
#RadfordFire 1,088 acres, 59% contained
#BarnesFire 2,943 acres, 0% contained
#MillFire 3,935 acres, 80% contained
#MountainFire 11,690 acres, 55% contained
#MosquitoFire 14,250 acres, 0% contained
#FairviewFire 27,463 acres, 5% contained

Emergency officials warn us that this incoming storm could cause dangerous flooding and countywide damage.

I’m paying attention to Mother Nature for sure, I feel like I should contribute some kind of offering to her to show respect for her power.

She’s NOT playing around, a bit different than the gentle and nurturing mother Emily Dickinson wrote about:

Mother Nature

Nature, the gentlest mother,
Impatient of no child,
The feeblest or the waywardest, —
Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill
By traveller is heard,
Restraining rampant squirrel
Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation,
A summer afternoon, —
Her household, her assembly;
And when the sun goes down

Her voice among the aisles
Incites the timid prayer
Of the minutest cricket,
The most unworthy flower.

When all the children sleep
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light her lamps;
Then, bending from the sky

With infinite affection
And infiniter care,
Her golden finger on her lip,
Wills silence everywhere.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died today at Balmoral, surrounded by her family.

She’s free now to join the love of her life, Prince Philip.

I loved to watch her interactions with her grandchildren, to see the genuine love in her eyes, and that’s how I’ll remember her.

Ghost Ship?

Not this time.

My son takes the greatest photos.

A couple weeks ago, Lady Debbie, a commercial fishing boat, ran aground south of Westport, Washington. Luckily, there were no injuries and all six crewmembers walked away.

I wonder why she’s still there, unsalvaged, because it looks like it’s already starting to deteriorate and is now a canvas for taggers.

I wasn’t with the fam on this surfing beach trip so I didn’t get to actually see the vessel, but the last time I was there, I discovered a treasure trove of sand dollars which made me VERY happy.

Waiting For The Sky to Fall

It’s HOT.

6:30 a.m. and already 85 degrees. There are some monsoonal clouds drifting by and a bit of wind, but no rain.

I don’t think the temp has ever been this high this early, not that I can remember, anyway.

We are in an extended high heat warning. It was nearly one hundred degrees yesterday. Scorching, brutally hot.

It’s not often that we have humidity but that’s what made it all so unpleasant. Several records were broken. Climate change, anyone?

It was too hot to go outside. Because of the fires around here, air quality was poor.

And then critters started invading the house.

I heard the raucous chirping of a cricket and located the sound coming from the dining room.

Then, the family room was invaded by dozens of diminutive flying insects that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere.

A lizard clung to the patio screen door. I told him it wasn’t any cooler inside–there’s no air conditioning and he’d fare better by hiding in the shade of a rock.

I filled a bowl with water for my bobcat and coyote family.

I’m now waiting for the locusts.

It’s Open! Lions Gate Portal 8/8/2022

Today, the Sirian 8:8 energy spiral/vortex of the 2022 Lions Gate opens.

In sacred texts, the Lions Gate portal is guarded by two of the Royal Sirian Lions known as the Lions of Yesterday and Tomorrow.  They are gatekeepers, ensuring that only if you are grounded in the Present moment and conscious of your path can you pass through the portal and begin a higher timeline. https://www.hareinthemoonastrology.co.uk

The Lion’s Gate portal is a powerful time when the sun is in Leo. The brightest star in our sky, Sirius, rises on the eastern horizon and aligns with Orion’s Belt.

There is also the numerical significance of the number eight and the date of 8/8. The number eight represents completion, perfection, and completeness.

This is a super potent moment for spiritual growth! 

It’s a unique phenomenon that occurs once a year during the northern hemisphere’s summer, often described as being like a tunnel or gateway through space and time, connecting us with ancient wisdom.

For many, it represents a portal that connects us to our inner self, spirit guides, ancestors, the divine and spiritual realms.

In addition to the spiritual benefits, there are practical applications for the Lion’s Gate such as increasing productivity, creative energy, abundance, and healing. https://www.threadsoffate.com/blogs/news/lions-gate-portal

I’ve been having VERY odd dreams; not good, not bad, just ODD and strangely unsettling.

My gates are open. Are yours?

RIP: Judith Durham, Lead Singer of The Seekers

UPDATE: Another lovely Australian, Olivia Newton John, passed away Monday, August 8, 2022. How sad!

Judith Durham, Australia’s folk music icon, died yesterday at the age of seventy-nine. Sources report cause of death was a long battle with chronic lung disease.

Judith’s bandmates Bruce Woodley, Keith Potger, and Athol Guy said their lives had been changed forever by losing their treasured lifelong friend and shining star.

I’m reminded of Karen Carpenter, another iconic singer. There are only a few voices that possess such pure, magical, soulful qualities.

If you’ve never heard of The Seekers, here’s some of their biggest hits…

From The Seekers Farewell Tour 2013, I’ll Never Find Another You. Listening to it, I think her voice is even more beautiful than in the original, if that’s even possible.

Have you heard of the 1966 film, Georgy Girl, with Lynn Redgrave, Charlotte Rampling, and James Mason? It’s absolutely worth watching. I might watch it tonight as an homage to Judith Durham.

Back in 1967, when The Seekers returned home to Australia for a visit, little did they know that their free concert at the Myer Music Bowl in their home town of Melbourne would break attendance records for the Southern hemisphere and TV ratings records for Australia.

The group sang live on the day, but because no promo video existed for the original (1966) hit version of the song, it is this which was used for the audio.

A World of Our Own:

Red Rubber Ball:

An earlier version of this song, Judith Durham’s voice is EVERYTHING:

This is a cool video too…

Rest in peace, Judith Durham.

Compassion

“Compassion is the awareness of a deep connection between yourself and all creatures.”

This picture could totally be me.

Someone once told me I was a wolf in a former life and I wasn’t actually all that surprised. Even as a little girl in Detroit. somehow I always knew that wolves and coyotes were my spirit animals.

During my lifetime, I rescued a wolf hybrid, studied wolves in college, and worked with wolves at a wildlife refuge.

There’s nothing to compare with the feeling of deep intelligence when a wolf looks directly into your eyes. It’s transcendent.

Humans really really need to stop murdering sentient beings. Really. It breaks my heart.

From Don’t Fund the Wolf Massacre States

Nothing to Celebrate on the 4th of July

How anybody could enjoy Independence Day this year after what’s been happening to erode our reproductive rights and other freedoms that were fought for and taken for granted, I have no idea.

FFS, what the hell happened to the United States of America? I’m disgusted.

The Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade

What an absolutely horrible headline. I fear dark days ahead.

Our rights, including reproductive rights, are being rapidly eroded. Soon, contraception will be regulated, and possibly marriage.

It’s simple. Stay out of my uterus. You do you. If you don’t want to have an abortion, then DON’T do it, but no one has the right to police my body. Or any woman’s body.

I know it sounds crazy, but I believe this is the direction our stupid country is headed.

It’s all so depressing and disgusting, I can’t even think about it without getting too upset.

Final thoughts…

Land Rape in Carlsbad

I can see this area called Marja Acres from my backyard and it’s several blocks away, but even so, I watch and hear this land rape on a daily basis, and it makes me feel sad and angry.

It’s one of the very last pieces of land around here that hadn’t yet been violated by earth movers and concrete and plundered by developers who don’t care about anything except making money for themselves. They tore down a couple of nurseries, a little old fashioned store, and a couple of other businesses that had been here for decades, coexisting peacefully amongst the native flora and fauna.

Here’s what the plan is, to build a strip mall and way too many homes without any consideration for the existing community so negatively impacted by yet another ugly and unnecessary development.

We fought against it, of course; to no avail, as usual.

Even more sadly for me, there was no thought nor consideration for the creatures that lived here: coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, possums, birds of prey, AND RATS. They’ve all been displaced and this is where our RAT infestation emanates from.

I swear, this city continually never fails to disgust me.