July Wrap-Up : : August What’s Up
July was a blur!
And not just because of lots of wine at last weekend’s 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma County, California! During July I wrote 41 posts, posting something every day but two.
August What’s Up first including astronomy, astrology, cultural, environmental, and literary events then the July Wrap-Up…
In the night sky for August, a full moon rises eclipses on the East Coast with the greatest effect at 8:39pm local time. According to my 2009 TideLog, it’s not much, just some coloring; here on the west coast, we won’t see anything at all.
Next sky excitement is the annual August meteor show. This year, the waning moon will impact how many shooting stars we’ll see. The height of the shower is Wednesday early evening before the moon gets too high and bright and drowns them out.
A new moon on August 20 means that Burning Man this year over Labor Day weekend will have a full moon!
With regards to the astrological lookout this month, the big news continues to be the pair of eclipses. Think back 19 years and you’ll have a clue about what’s going on right now, because that’s the last time we had a solar eclipse like the one we had two weeks ago–the longest of our lifetime which passed over Asia. Astrology.com ‘s guide for the significant movements of the planets says:
August starts off astrologically with very favorable Mercury aspects. First, Mercury trines powerful Pluto on August 3 making this an excellent time to sign contracts, sell ideas, confirm agreements and, to deepen your understanding of what is workable and what needs to be let go. Then, Mercury sextiles Venus on August 7, which keeps conversations from getting overly intense.
August 5 brings about a dramatic full Moon lunar eclipse in Aquarius.
The full Moon is always an emotional high-tide time, and with the eclipse, feelings will be extra heightened — expect drama! On August 10, Mars squares Saturn, and you may feel that all your efforts have hit a sudden stop. You’ll be ready to move forward again with Jupiter playing cheerleader for your plans when Mars trines Jupiter on August 13. On August 14, the Sun is opposite Jupiter, and this is a time for reflection. Are your plans working out? Are there new ideas that now seem viable? When Mars squares Uranus on August 14, it’s your signal to make whatever changes you think necessary to bring your plans to fruition.
The Lunar Nodes change signs next — they move backwards through the zodiac and the north node moves from Aquarius into Capricorn, and the south node enters Cancer. This is big stuff! Advice for this transit: Get serious. Be brave. Work toward your goals. Instead of looking to others to take care of you, the north node in Capricorn means it’s time to be an adult, step up and accept responsibility for both good and bad.
On August 22, the Sun moves from Leo to Virgo, and you’re ready to focus your energy; you‘re eager to accomplish something. Happy Birthday to all Virgos!
However, the landscape changes and the environment heats up as Mars enters emotional Cancer and Mercury enters diplomatic Libra on August 25 and immediately square each other. Don’t act on anything that doesn’t feel right, but watch out for oversensitivity and a tendency to over react. Keep in mind that your words and actions carry a lot of weight right now, so think carefully before you tangle-up with anyone. We end the month with Venus entering Leo and forming a quincunx with Pluto on August 26, while Mercury squares Pluto and Mars opposes Pluto on the same day. This is a cosmic power struggle, so watch out for a war of words or actions when the issues of power and control arise. Try not to get embroiled in the rhetoric.
Locally, August highlights will be the Ventura County Fair which opens on Wednesday and runs for the following 10 days. On Friday, the First Friday ArtRide travels from the Promenade around downtown to various galleries and then to the Ventura County Fairgrounds for an after party featuring fair food, beer and Huey Lewis and the News, then fireworks at 10pm. We’ll be up bright and early for the Ventura ArtRiders Bicycle and Social Club’s line-up for the Ventura County Fair parade. Ride with us or just come down and cheer us on or help us with facepainting from 9am-10am.
Literarily, many venues for literary events go dark over the summer, but if I hear of readings worth getting to, I’ll post them.
Here on the Art Predator blog, I hit a huge milestone: 100,000 page views since I started the blog, ultimately reaching 105,500 this month, even though my stats for the month are down nearly 2,000 from recent months. I know, I know–it’s summer and you’re out having fun, not sitting in front of your computer bored at home or work!
What did I write about and what did you read? Some highlights–in addition to Monday postings of poetry, as well as poetry news, in early July I wrote about Wine Blogging Wednesday’s Sake prompt: WBW #59 sipping some sake & other Green Drinks on July 8 And of course there was a lot about bicycling and environmental activism including the next Friday ArtRide and more:
In July, I wrote lots about wine: the Murphy-Goode contest Careful, Murphy-Goode, Social Media Just Might Spit Wine in Your Face and Wine Blogging Wednesday’s Sake prompt WBW #59 sipping some sake & other Green Drinks on July 8 and WBW #59: some sake for you! Plus I attended WBC 09 and so far wrote 14 posts! (After last year’s conference, I think I wrote 8).
7.31.09WBC 09 Day 3: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Plus all the other fun stuff that I didn’t write that much about: white water rafting along the Kern for a day, then camping and fishing in Sequoia along Peppermint Creek in our new 90 Westy, Baby Beluga, and getting it all dolled up for the trip with two trips to GoWesty in Los Osos San Luis Obispo (and stay at Sycamore Mineral Springs near Avila Beach). People travel across the country or have GoWesty shipped to them so we’re lucky they’re about two hours north of us. Soaking at Sycamore is always a pleasure, although we learned this July that it is absolutely necessary to read the fine print there to know exactly what you’re paying for!
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