mercury retrograde?

How much attention do you pay to astrology? I've spent time trying to understand it, but came to feel it relates too much to math for me. I do know my 'sign' and it does kind of fit. As for reading daily astrology tips for what to do, I don't check that. I have visited psychics, some years back, but not for years. 

There is, however, one thing I tend to pay attention to, if I see it-- Mercury Retrograde. The warnings are out regarding it starting February 26 until I think March 20. It is supposed to be a tough one; so I looked for a link to share here,for those who may be unfamiliar with it.

If it interests you, check it out at: https://www.thecut.com/article/mercury-retrograde-february-march-2026-predictions-survival-tips.html  

 old photo looking out toward the farm and a rainbow coming to our creek

some play time

As a kind of fun break, at least for me, from a lot of the upsetting news, I thought I'd share an app i got some time ago for play. I haven't actually used it on a book cover, nor do I use AI. I just play with it. 

You order it and then can use it as you wish. FotoSketcher. It lets you alter your original photos as I have done with a recent photo of me as well as photos from our desert home and the farm. For me, it's about play with many possible options to try. 

The following are all pencil sketching, but there are many others. Sometimes play is a good diversion from things we can do nothing about anyway.

  

farm from years ago, creek and barn before it collapsed due to old age

 

I obviously have many more. Here is a simple pencil drawing example, not one of our photos obviously. I think it does its best work with animals like us. 

 

a day for love

 For this blog, I had in mind a subject, then remembered it was Valentine's Day and felt this was better. We have so much pain out there, and sometimes in our lives, that it's good to have at least one day to take deep breaths and concentrate on love. It's not about cards, flowers, candy, etc., not even about having a special one. Instead, we need to take a break from being mad or afraid and let love seep in and fill us.

Regarding love, I've had two quotes that I carried with me through life, but especially when I was raising children. The first is:

 Let my love, like sunlight, surround you and yet give you illumined freedom. Rabindranath Tagore. 

I think its meaning is pretty obvious. I wrote it on a small piece of paper for my wallet.

Then, there was this one, which I tended to keep on refrigerators.   

"If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If it does not, it was never meant to be." the quote is often attributed, in one form or another, to author Richard Bach.

 To me, the important part is not love that profits us but rather what we freely give. If the one we love no longer wants or needs to be with us, set it free without guilt. Not easy to live, but I believe at the heart of true love. It can leave a bit of a hole.

The second quote, by the way, does not apply to pets, cows, horses, etc. 

Black Swan

 

 

 Have you heard of black swans, not birds, but events? I learned of them some years back in relation to my writing. Recently because of some events, I did a search online for a succinct definition and AI provided this one:

"black swan" refers to a highly unpredictable, rare event with massive, paradigm-shifting consequences, popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who defined them by three traits: they are outliers (beyond normal expectations), have extreme impact, and are rationalized with hindsight as if they were predictable. Examples include the 2008 financial crisis or 9/11, with the name stemming from the historical European belief that all swans were white until black swans were discovered in Australia. While often negative, black swans can also be positive, like the rise of the internet, but the common usage focuses on major disruptive events.

Life provides more than a few of them at certain times, but we are never really prepared for them or they'd not be black swans.

 

Most recently, not far from where I live, a woman, living alone, was taken from her home, in the dead of the night, stirring up more than a little concern, added to by the fact of her daughter being a television news celebrity. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kidnapping of an 84 year old woman would be considered unusual in the US, but what would be the motive in this case? It is a black swan event for the family at the least, but this has impacted the country beyond the loved ones  and friends. I relate to it because it's not that far from where I live,

maybe five miles by air, and in my kind of home situation. Ours is not, of course, a million dollar home, but is in the desert terrain. The photo of her home is probably from a drone or helicopter.

 

There are few clues, other than some blood splatter at the front door, that police have identified as hers. Scary as well as rare. It has ended up with the FBI and other agencies besides Pima County Police. It is on the news, far and wide. 

 

I relate to it for the location but also her age. So far, no return but some probably fake ransom notices but no proof that she's still alive. Hers is considered to be a safe neighborhood, but what is safe these days?

 

On YouTube, I've gotten into watching two true crime networks, A&E and 48 Hours, but try to only look where the killers have been caught and usually been found guilty. Things like this Black Swan provide no such comfort. What I have seen on those crime programs is how often illegal drugs are involved. Unlikely to be the case here. The other reasons murders are committed are within families, desire for money, hiding a secret. Ex relationships seem to sometimes end in violent results, male or female. Finally there are pedophiles and sexual predators, along with random killers, who do it for the experience... 

 

Here is a link to one of the news investigators with more info she has gotten from a reliable source.  The Suspect according to that source.  Personally, I have no clue and have heard multiple theories.

 

Below is one of the stories that I've watched. Not connected, but an example of police work, sometimes, with cold cases, years later. Hope the one in Tucson is solved sooner and with the return of a live victim. The longer it goes on, the less likely that this Black Swan will have any kind of happy ending.

 

Janet's Secret