My Bucket List

As I've said before, I haven't had T.V. service for 14 years, because of the location of my house. There is no cable and it's not worth having a satellite dish, because I don't spend that much time watching. I do have a set, though, and a subscription to Netflix. Since movies are so expensive these days, I tend to wait 'til they come to Netflix before I see them, which could be as much as a year after they come out. Oh well.

I just watched "The Bucket List" with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. And, of course, I started thinking about the bucket list I made for myself when I was a kid. Here are the things on the list that I have done so far:

Sky dive
Join the Peace Corps
See the Pyramids
Travel on the Nile
Go on a camel caravan into the Sahara
Become a Whirling Dervish
See the Taj Mahal
Travel all over Mexico
Study Mayan Hieroglyphs
Have a small house in the woods where I can have a garden

Here are the ones left to do:

Write and publish a best-seller
Get an Academy Award
Get married in Machu Picchu
Travel on the Amazon River

Not bad. A couple of those on the to do list might not get done, but so far, my life has been pretty miraculous, so I'm not ruling them out.

Although I have not written 'a book', I have had some things published - articles about California Indians in News From Native California, and articles on Benicia and the Historic State Capitol there in the Solano County Historical Society Journal. I also worked on the illustrations in a book on Mayan hieroglyphs written by one of my professors at Tulane University, which was published - called A Grammar of Mayan Hieroglyphs by V.R. Bricker.

While I did not become a professional epigrapher or Mayanist, I learned enough about Mayan hieroglyphs to teach courses at Sonoma State University.

And I did write the script for published video that shows daily at the Sonoma Barracks - part of the Sonoma State Historic Park in Sonoma, California. It's called Mariano Vallejo and the Northern Frontier and has to do with the role Vallejo played in early California history. In fact, the town I live in now was once a land grant given by Vallejo to an Englishman who "Mexicanized", which was what they had to do to own land in California in those days.

What this meant was: 1. They had to become Catholics, 2. They had to speak Spanish, 3. They had to marry a Mexican national, 4. They had to become citizens of Mexico, 5. They had to change their name to a 'hispanicized' version - John became Juan, etc. There were a few exceptions, but they are rare. Things have changed a bit since then.

Another thing most people don't know about early California history, is that the California State Constitutionwas written in English and Spanish, since most of the signers were from the land-owning majority - who were Mexicans and all documents that came out of the legislature were bi-lingual. This state was bi-lingual from its creation.

I doubt that my video will win an academy award, or that my publications will become best-sellers, but they are all published and out there in the world with my name in or on them.

The two things that may actually prove more difficult are those two travel destinations which are extremely challenging physically and I doubt I'm going to get married again. LOL

There may have been other things on that list from time to time, but whatever they were, they were not important, since I totally forgot about them. In general, I'd say I got to do more than was on my list, because there are many other places I've been and things I've done than were on those lists. I can truly say I am satisfied with my life.

I never wanted children since, even as a child myself, I knew the world was over-populated and that my children or grand-children would suffer from the effects of pollution, lack of resources and degradation of the planet. And I was right.

Because of who I am, I can't help thinking that 'the end' of life as we have known it, is upon us. For the past week, here in Northern California, the orange sky and the smell of smoke due to the numerous forest fires has had all of us coughing. My cats are freeking out. I have been having nightmares.

The SF Chronicle had an article on the front page today about the dying bees and how much we need them for our food supply. One quote was "How would our federal government respond if 1 out of every 3 cows was dying?", Maryann Frazier, a bee expert from the University of Pennsylvania.

These days, all I want is to see bees, birds, and butterflies in my yard. When a hummingbird hovered in front of me then flew directly to the plants I had put in just for her, I knew I had done something right and she was thanking me.

Part of Us Has Moved

As of a couple of days ago, I created a new blog called Hamida the Herbalist, which can be found at hamidatheherbalist.blogspot.com . It was time to do it. Soon I will be creating a separate blog for astrology. That way, those who want those specific topics won't have to wade through the rest of it. To make the transition sweeter, I'd like to offer sweets. An offering of chocolate. Take the test and see.

You are Milk Chocolate

A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds. You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life. Also nostalgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

I'm am totally loving this blog stuff!

It's that Mercury Retrograde Thing Again

After the previous posting, I realized that I used an expression "dying before death" without sufficient explanation. I assumed (and you know what that means) that it was "self-evident". Sorry. Of course, as with all spiritual teachings, there are a number of ways to explain it. The way I understand it is this: that it is much like the Hindu and Buddhist ideas of non-attachment. Be "in the world, but not of it." Participate in life to the full extent, but know that there is more to life than what you perceive with your five senses. Do your duty, but do not be attached to the outcome (Bhagavad Gita)
Carlos Casteneda's Don Juan said to see Death as an advisor. Live as if you have all the time in the world with the knowledge that you could die any moment. If you knew you only had six months to live, what would you change about your current life? Sometimes our outer circumstances may be impossible to change, but we can always change our attitude about them.
In other words, be unattached to the things of this world, learn to let go (eventually we have to let go of everything, even our bodies), and come to know the spiritual realm while still in this world through connection with God, The One, The Source, Unity or whatever you call it.
And as Sponge Bob would say "Good luck with that!"

Acceptance: Transmuting Loss to Gain

Haven't posted for awhile because I was focusing on getting ready for All Things Herbal, an herb fair and sale benefitting the Herb Exchange, in Sebastopol. Made three new products. Bottled, wrapped and sealed for days. Made clever new labels and informational sheets. Made handouts for my astrology business. Then woke up with the worst lower back pain I've had in years. Could hardly move. Was not able to go because I knew I was incapable of unloading the car and setting up my canopy and tables, or lugging all the boxes of product. Oh, was I disappointed! Hopefully those who showed up as a result of the 100 emails I sent, were at least happy with the rest of the event.
But then I realized that this disappointment was an opportunity to practice acceptance. Acceptance of what is. One of the most powerful teachings of Sufism is one referred to as "dying before death". While its meaning may be self-evident, its practice is both difficult and rewarding. In this instance, it was a letting-go of "my plan", and submitting to the reality that I could not walk, let alone "lift that bale". Although on a much smaller scale and hopefully short-lived, my temporary disability reminded me that many people every day all over the world, are faced with major changes in their lives due to sudden illness or injury. Death itself often comes suddenly and with no concern for what people may have hoped to do on a particular day.
My disappointment was followed by guilt, shame, and self-judgement that went something like this: "If you had done.... if you had not done..... you always xxxx things up..... why can't you get your xxxx together", etc. I listened for a couple minutes then realized that this was not constructive. With Saturn conjunct my Ascendant right now, self-criticism is highly available. I called a friend who had invited me to her grand-daughter's birthday earlier in the week and told her that since I was not able to do the herb fair afterall, could I come to the party.
So I went and had a delightful time. It was an interesting group of people, mostly adults since Maya is only 1 year old. She lived her first year with her paternal grand-parents in Tunisia and is becoming a tri-lingual child. Throughout the day, we spoke 5 languages (I love this) and the complete tree of Abraham was represented (I love this too).
We all got along although we sometimes did not share eachother's beliefs or opinions. And we said "why can't the world be like this?"
So a day that started out as a loss, turned out to be a gain. All because of a change in attitude. A turning point where grace allowed me to reframe my thinking.

Mercury Retrograde Again

Mercury went retrograde on May 27 in Gemini and since my Sun and Uranus are both in Gemini, I am really getting the effects. Plus we had a New Moon in Gemini conjunct my Sun and Uranus is squaring my natal Uranus. My birthday was on the 30th and here's what happened: 1) I got an email from a man I dated 34 years ago and don't ever want to see again, but my current boyfriend, who is in Mexico right now, totally forgot. 2) I got a phone call from a woman whom I've known for nearly 50 years, but none of my current friends called. 3)I got locked in my 4 year old Lexus and had to crawl over the console to get out of the passenger side, then after I got it fixed, I backed into a concrete wall (nothing happened though), 4) I finally cleaned the outside of my microwave and after setting off all the touch buttons, it broke - moral: never clean things (I like that).

Yesterday, after spending many hours doing blog stuff, I decided to make several separate blogs, each focusing on one thing, but, is it a good idea to do that during Mercury Retrograde? Probably not. So, I will wait until June 20, when it goes direct again. The message for me is to slow down rather than going along with the impulse to speed up. Mercury, as messenger of the gods, brought information to human beings. As a god of trade, I think he is especially significant for the Internet, which is fast becoming the way people do business. More and more, people are finding ways to make money on the Internet. Honestly, though, I wonder just what it is they are selling. I find some blogs to have no content on them whatsoever.

When I go launch separate blogs, one will be on Astrology, another on Herbalism, and I will keep the one I have now that is considered a mixed bag. Sort of like me.

For an affordable astrology reading see the many reports I feature on the astrologer page of my website

It's Lavender Season

If you have never used lavender in cooking, here are some ideas and recipes to try. It is important to use organically grown, culinary lavender for obvious reasons. There are some types of lavender that taste "soapy". Make sure you have one that has a more "floral" or "fruity" taste, especially if introducing lavender-laced foods for the first time, to family and friends who may already be skeptical. Basically, there are three ways to use Lavender in cooking:

1. Lavender Sugar

Leave lavender in sugar for 1 week, strain and use sugar in other recipes

2. Lavender Infusion

Steep in water, oil or vinegar, then used infused liquid in other recipes

3. Lavender as Dried Herb

Substitute in recipes where you would normally use herbs such as
Rosemary or Thyme

Easy Recipes:

Lavender Lemonade
Lavender Lemon-Ginger Dressing
Lavender Roasted Beets
Lavender Roasted Potatoes
Lavender Scones

Lavender Festivals occur all over the country. A couple of them that I know about are:

Here in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma Lavender will have its Lavender Festival Saturday and Sunday, June 14 and 15. It's a small festival put on by one grower, but I've been going for years and I always learn something new. That's where I had Lavender Lemonade for the first time and it was sublime. It not only refreshes, but relaxes you. You feel like you've had a glass of wine, but no alcohol so no need for a designated driver, Ha! ha! I do make a Lavender Rosemary Cordial, which contains vodka and brandy, but that's another story.

The Lavender Festival in Sequim, Washington is huge. I hope to go up there this year.

In Sequim, Washington, the Lavender Festival will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 18, 19 & 20.

Thank you George Lucas

I have not had T.V. since 1994. I live in an area without cable and so the only way to have it would be to get a satellite. Since I don't want to watch enough to make it worthwhile to pay for the service, I don't have it. Instead, I rent DVDs of movies or series that interest me. Besides, in all my adult years of T.V. watching there were few shows that I really liked. Mostly, it was passing time. One of my all time favorites was The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which didn't last long (most of the time the shows I liked lasted 1 season or less before they were pulled). Due to the fact that a fourth Indiana Jones movie was about to be released, I was reminded of my fav show and wondered if it was available on DVD. YES!!! and for sale at that. I purchased the 3 volume set and have been enjoying it ever since. In addition to the episodes (most of them I never got to see) there is an extensive amount of educational material. This is a set of DVDs you can't miss. Entertaining and educational, it covers the early part of the 20th century including history, scientific breakthroughs, art, music, social life, inventions and so much more. Historic figures like Lawrence of Arabia, Ataturk, and others are featured as well as the discovery of Tut's tomb. A must see and should have, this is the best series that was ever on T.V. in my opinion. So much of what is going on in the Middle East today is the result of what occurred after the end of WWI and this series and the special features, goes into this in detail. Eventhough the series originally came out in the mid-90s, it is totally relevant today, because of current political events. Since the fictional part of the story takes place so long ago, it is timeless. Lucas must have spent a mint making this series. It is beautifully done in every way: locations, costumes, acting, content. I can't praise it enough. This is what T.V. should be. Thank you George Lucas!!!