Winter's last blast

The snow began late yesterday afternoon. All our errands were finished and we were home safe, watching movies or hockey, fooling around on the computer, or laughing over a game of Scrabble in front of a glowing fire, before it got nasty. Within no time, the ground was covered in white. Within two hours, there was no evidence that Spring had been here -- tree branches were bent under the weight of snow, warm earth was hidden, the deer had retreated to the woods. After darkness fell, the winds began to howl -- a primitive lullaby to put us to sleep.

This morning, there is snow everywhere. Cloud-like cotton candy blankets the ground and wraps the trees. The sun is hidden, cocooned inside layers and layers of milky gauze. The sky has cast a grey, baleful eye upon us -- a warning to stay indoors, perhaps.

I'm glad it's Sunday. There is no where we have to be, no demands upon us other than to stay safe and warm.

Not so our neighbour who is shoveling his driveway and scraping ice from his car's windows -- a chore I hope to avoid. I prefer to await the warmth that will arrive later today or tomorrow and melt away Winter's last blast. Nothing more, I hope, than the cantankerous bark of an aging dog chiding us, from his soft bed in the corner, that he's still here.

Time to flick the switch that will bring the flames in the fireplace back to life and to pour a cup of tea -- something with cinnamon and orange sounds right for this morning -- and to begin a day of indolence.

How lovely that Winter has provided this breathing space for us. A reminder to not race ahead and become caught up in the excitement of Spring and the glamour of Summer before taking a slight pause to remember the season that was.

Colleen

Oh, the angst of it all...

So, I'm normal, right?

Writers are expected to go about wringing their hands and bemoaning their lack of talent, right? It's what we do, isn't it?

Please tell me that I'm not the only one worrying that I may never be good enough. That I'm not the only one agonizing about my perceived inability to construct a riveting plot or create compelling characters. Please. (I know, I know... begging is so unseemly.)

Planetary alignment may have something to do with it. Just look at the mess we Virgos are in on that front:

There's no reason to continue a slide into the abyss that may have begun with
yesterday's cosmic fireworks or even earlier in the week around the time of the
full Moon that was compounded by other planetary shenanigans. Every so often --
during any calendar year -- you hit a rough patch and that's what is going on
this week. Right now it is important to stay centered and clear on the
communication front as giant Jupiter makes a station at 20 degrees of
Sagittarius (6:24PM PDT) and begins a four-month retrograde cycle (lasting until
August 6). All Jupiter themes -- expansion of consciousness, philosophy and
religion, long-distance journeys, education and publishing, athletics, the power
of positive thinking, good fortune and worldly success, enthusiasm and euphoria,
speculation and gambling, arrogance and pride -- are emphasized now and during
the next couple of days. It's important to realize that planets moving into
reverse are not suddenly 'bad' or negative in influence. This is a normal and
natural part of the solar systemic dance that connects Earth to the other
planets in the solar system and, particularly the Sun itself. Any planet moving
retrograde is stressing its 'inner meaning' and accentuating its psychological
and spiritual components more than its exterior properties. Therefore, it is
very helpful to do more soul searching, reflection and meditation in order to
discover your own higher truth and purpose for living. Giving you more
ammunition in this direction are a Mercury-Neptune 30-degree link (2:38AM PDT)
and Sun-Uranus contra-parallel (6:02AM PDT). Inspirations can pack a wallop and
your literary abilities receive a positive jolt as well during a Moon-Mercury
harmonious trine (6:44PM PDT). Romance looks dicey at best this evening as the
Moon in Scorpio opposes Venus in Taurus (7:56PM PDT) -- a polarity that begins a
void lunar cycle lasting until 9:58AM PDT tomorrow. Finish old business during
the evening hours and delay new ventures into the Moon enters Sagittarius after
9:58AM PDT tomorrow.

So, apparently, if I stay up late tonight, I could benefit from a positive literary jolt about 10:44 my time and since romance looks dicey this evening according to the above, I might just as well do that. But, honest to god, if I do any more navel gazing, I'll implode.

That's what mid-life is after all, isn't it, an excuse for self-indulgence? That sounds harsh; I don't really mean it that way. It's just that, at this age, there is a lot of introspection and dealing with regret ... something I promised myself at a younger age that I'd never have. Silly, young me.

I suppose that agonizing is implicit in the middle age package. Agonizing about one's own life, about the environment, the economy, education, young people, the mores of society, and the feeling that we got life wrong somewhere along the line.

I came along at the tail end of the boomer generation. (Actually, that is a recent assessment. When I was younger, my year of birth wasn't part of that era. The experts have since extended the timeframe included in that generation until I too have been swallowed by it.) As an end-of-dynasty babyboomer, I have the philosophy of the boomers (right to personal happiness, for example) with some of the disaffection of the Gen Xers making me ultimately fascinating. (At least to myself. Ha!)

So, can you blame me if, given my age and the disastrous astronomical picture facing me, I am angsty?

However, I am a Virgo and that means enough moaning, for the moment at least. I have a re-write to tackle!

Have a great writing day!
Colleen