Peace Now.

War is Barbaric!

U.S .

out of Everywhere!

Peace is Patriotic!!!
I was looking for an Art Nouveau era Birthday card and came across these

vintage 4th of July cards. I have always loved the art of this time period.

You can get a hard copy of these and others at http://www.emotioncards.com/

Happy Fourth of July Y'all!

Foxglove around my heart....

Pink Rhody by The Lodge

Lupines near the Meadows

Thanks Ike!

My friend Linda Catalano in NYC makes alot of really whimsical and wonderful things that she sells on etsy. She sent me this wonderful little purple owl that is stuffed with an array of aromatherapy herbs. I Love it so!

Check out her store on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PurtyBird

Traveling Altar Collage

Annie B. Siemer

June 2010

Foxglove/Digitalis

Oregon Iris Beauty






Above is a picture of a fox that was over my head when I looked up from eating breakfast this morning in The Towne Diner in Silverton. This year has been the "Year of The Fox" for me personally. I have seen foxes ( more than once) both in my dreams and in waking life . While I was in Florida this past winter I crossed paths with (most likely the same) fox on several occasions.


While riding my bike up and down my Dad's rural Florida road, Crossing the road, in the field behind my Dad's place, in my dreams.


One day that I ran into the neighborhood fox, he/she was crossing the road and stopped dead in his/her tracks and just looked me in the eye for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only 5-6 seconds. It was so large that I thought it was a coyote at first. One certainly well fed fox.


A few months before my little brother Patrick "crossed over" I had vivid dreams of this fox.
So now I will do research (and look up Jamie Sams Medicine Cards, my favorite interpretations) to see just what this fox stuff means for me.
Thank You to Jim and Liz, who once again have reminded me that everything is happening exactly as it should. And Thanks for the serendipitous ride into town too:)

This found July 1st,2010....
From Animal Speak by Ted Andrews:
"Fox embodies the magic of the world and was revered by every society at some time. It's a keeper of magic, healing, and the gifts of shapeshifting and invisibility. It's active at night but more easily seen at dawn or dusk at the edges of fields and forest which are seen as 'between' places, or doorways to Otherworlds.
It can teach lessons on camouflage, allowing us to see and hear things we might otherwise miss. Knowledge is power and the knowledge you acquire through quiet camouflage will be of use some day, if not the present moment. It has a keen sense of hearing and smell and so can herald a heightening of your senses, especially the psychic. It teaches us to use our senses to capture any prize we seek for everything is possible with the right action. It can also serve as a warning. If something doesn't smell right... if you aren't completely sure, then do nothing. Instead wait quietly for the right opportunity".
From Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams:
Flora is the foxes ally. It can vanish in the woodlands and foliage, which offers protection and medicine. Another of its abilities is to adapt to winter by changing color. Fox medicine involves adaptability, cunning, observation, integration, and swiftness of thought and action.
Its ability to remain unseen allow it to be the protector of the family unit. It is charged with the duty of keeping the family together and safe which is accomplished by observing undetected. It is an excellent talisman for traveling".


Me: Go figure.

Freewill Astrology

As horoscopes go, Rob Brezny's "Free Will Astrology" is my absolute favorite. I am a Libra Sun and Moon, Scorpio rising and a whole lot of other planets in Scorpio (intense yes I know). SO I usually read Rob's Libra and Scorpio every week in the alternative weeklies when I can find them. Here's what he sez this week for those:

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):" Have you been doing a lot of sweating and grunting from sheer exertion in 2010? Have you thrown yourself conscientiously into the hardest, smartest labor you've ever enjoyed? I hope so, because that would suggest you're in rapt alignment with this year's cosmic rhythms. It would mean that you have been cashing in on the rather sublime opportunities you're being offered to diligently prove how much you love your life. The next six months will provide you with even more and better prods, Libra, so please find even deeper reserves of determination. Intensify your commitment to mastering the work you came to this planet to do.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): How's that project coming, Scorpio? You know, that assignment the universe gave you at the beginning of 2010 to loosen up, play more, and periodically laugh like a tipsy Sagittarius. Have you been taking a sabbatical from the seething complications that in most other years are your rightful specialty? Did you throw some of your emotional baggage off a cliff? Are you dancing more frequently? I hope you've been attending to all of this crucial work, and I trust that you're primed to do even more of it during the next six months. To take maximum advantage of your appointments with relief and release, you'll have to be even sweeter and lighter."

The funny part is there is amazing insight in the others (signs)too. http://www.freewillastrology.com/

Matriarchial Collage w/Handmade paper

Right to left:younger me, my Mom Joan Finneran, her Mom Mary Bernice McVay Finneran, her Mom Elizabeth Cecilia Burns McVay...I thought the first 3 "booth" photos were a cool start to this collage. I never met my Great-Grandmother "Lizzie Burns" but I have always identified with her and wear her wedding band on my left pinky finger (her being tiny at her wedding and me being the big girl that I am). AM I glad that it fit perfectly on that finger? You betcha!

"Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smaller right and doing it all for love."

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Geo

Check out the poetry and musings of Geo! I have mentioned him before but this post is one of my favorites.
You can link to all of his blogs by clicking on "View my profile"
http://trainrideoftheenigmas.blogspot.com/2010/06/time-travel.html#links Train Ride of the Enigmas, Gardening with Geo and Invalid #39's Workshop never fail to inspire. And don't ever stop dancing, Geo!

Picture from Michael House's Facebook Page

(a relative of my niece, Mary Siemer House)

"Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon."

Ikkyu - Zen-monk poet, 1394-1481