Sun’s Coronal Hole-Combo-Climate Crisis Make for “Interrresting” December Human Conditions +Airliner Surprise

SUN’S CORONAL HOLE-COMBO-CLIMATE CRISIS MAKE FOR “INTERRRESTING” DECEMBER HUMAN CONDITIONS +AIRLINER SURPRISE

DECEMBER EMERGING from SUBTERRANEAN WRITERS’ WO/MAN CAVE finds us in PECULIAR STATE:SUB-ARCTIC BRITAIN; SNOW & AURORA BOREALIS in ARIZONA

Large Coronal Hole Ejecting Solar Wind Directly at Earth

Coronal Mass Ejections [CMEs]are predictably unpredictable and NOAA’s forecast for early December is giving nothing away, except that normal winter storms will be anything but ‘normal’.

NOAA Space-weather forecast for 1st 10 days December making headline news via wide open coronal hole, l, directed at us.

Particularly unusual: early ice & snow hits NE Scotland-Aberdeenshire & NE England-Northumberland-see snowy pic above top l. 11thC Durham Cathedral on sacred loop-A.D.1093 Xtian shepherd’s crook of R.Wear, before it reaches confluence with R.Tyne.

Aurora Borealis has been spotted as far S as Duluth. Michigan & Arizona, top rt., & above bottom rt.

Despite fierce solar storms headed directly for Earth bringing sub-zero temperatures for U.S. cities, many have begun their civic Christmas-tree lighting ceremonies with traditional parades and street parties.

While Hawai’i celebrates Lono’s Makahiki festival [see below],with street parades and canoe & surfing contests offshore, it is well to remember Capt.Jas.Cook’s 1778 arrival in the Islands was thought to be the god Lono’s ocean canoe arriving for the festival -hence he was welcomed [& later killed!]

With onset of Advent [Xtian calendar 12/1] Christmas trees in all parts of the Northern hemisphere have been illuminated in town squares, shopping malls & in some early-birds’ homes-e.g.my g.dau’s cowboy home stead in Alabama-with appropriately topped cowboy-hat-star.

In case of any doubt—it is a sign that, even if zero snow on ground, there are plenty of frosty greetings in southern hearts!

Hawai’i Celebrates Traditional Street Parades-& an Airline Surprise

Lono-i-ka-makahiki [Lono] below rt. is the god associated with the Makahiki—a Hawai’ian “New Year” festival that starts w/the “rainy season” [any time after November & lasting thru February/March]. He brings prosperity to the land and is associated with fertility, agriculture, rainfall, music, and peace.

Hawai’ian tradition tells that Lono travels from Kahiki (ancient homeland) to the Hawaiian Islands when it first rains during the ho‘oilo (wet season) for Makahiki. Street parties & traditional parades, pix below rt. often coincide with city tree-lighting ceremonies but his feast in ancient times was signaled by the sighting of the star cluster Makali‘i (Pleiades or Seven Sisters, M.45) below l. as it rises over the horizon in Hawai‘i at sunset. This happens around early November and lasts for four months.

Their names In Celtic countries are somewhat alike: TŵrTewdws in Welsh; in Irish Streoillín. While Arabs call them al-Thurayyā, in Hindu mythology they are associated with the god of war & known as Krttikà or Kartikeya & aligned with the Saptamatrikas [7 mothers], celebrated always on new moon Diwali. Native American tribes of the Quechua call them Qullqa=the storehouse. Full “Cold” moon is Dec.26th.

We know the Pleiades as star cluster Messier 45 in NW night sky in constellation Taurus, approx. 444 light years distant. It also features on 1800-2600 B.C. Bronze Age Nebra sky disc, above mid-rt. found in Halle, W.Germany. Their name in Japanese is Subaru. Six of seven principal stars featured on the automobile company’s logo denote their six principal engineering divisions.

…and a Hawai’ian/Pacific Alaska Surprise

Midway through Hawai’ian “New Year” Makahiki season, above bottom rt., Alaska Airlines announced plans to acquire Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion. It marks a significant milestone in the airline industry. The acquisition-pending regulatory approvals and Hawaiian Airlines’ investor consent-is set to combine two iconic Pacific brands. A combination of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines operations would create the fifth-largest airline in the U.S.A.

Plans at present are to continue to operate out of Honolulu, Oahu, HI, but the possibility of a new H.Q. in Seattle, WA has been mentioned. Both divisions will continue to display local native feature designs.

Hawaiian Airlines operates a fleet of long-haul wide-body A330s and Boeing B787-9 aircraft, as well as narrow-body A321-neos, Boeing 717s, while Alaska uses the smaller narrow-body type. Keeping this iconic fleet mixture operational presents a fresh challenge to Alaska Airlines in their operations and maintenance divisions, because the airline has not previously operated wide-body planes, since it discontinued its [Euro] A320 Airbus fleet last year.

Hawaiian Airways wide-body Boeing 787s are a feature of Pacific travel, affording all passengers generous seating space, good visibility & wide aisle mobility.

Takeover bid by Alaska Air may make some travelers feel restricted,but the airline plans to create an “interesting mix” of aircraft to satisfy all demands, & to use smaller craft for inter-island hops, they announced.

Both companies traditionally use native images on their tail structure: native Tlingit on Alaska and native hibiscus-adorned Kānaka Maoli on Hawaiian Aircraft. These iconic designs will continue.

Alaska Airlines has ordered 52 additional Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, scheduled for delivery between 2024 and 2027. This will increase the airline’s confirmed 737 MAX fleet from 94 to 146.

Alaska’s CEO Ben Minicucci says:”We are fully committed to investing in Hawai’ian communities and maintaining robust Neighbor Island service that Hawaiian Airlines travelers expect. We look forward to deepening this stewardship, as our airlines come together to provide unmatched value to customers, employees, communities and owners.”

And While we’re Onboard Wide-Bodied Aircraft…

A U.S. Navy Maritime Patrol Poseidon P-8A plane returning from a routine training exercise last month overshot a military runway at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, HI & got stuck on coral reef.

Last week it took combined efforts of U.S. Navy divers, Marine Corps engineers and a local Honolulu land-based salvage & recovery contractor using airbags & subsea flotation hawsers to pull aptly-named “Poseidon” [Gk. Ocean god] out of the Bay and off the (protected) coral reef, where its undercarriage pulverized coral and where leaked fuel may have contributed to further damage.

P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane, designed to carry out military anti-surface warfare & electronic surveillance can transport cargo & also act as a mid-air refueling tanker. It is the militarized equivalent in size and rescue capacity of a Boeing B-737. The jet belongs to U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron (VP-4) based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, WA. She was on ‘routine’ training exercise to the Islands.

Navy Rear-Admiral Kevin Lenox, incident commander in charge of Poseidon’s recovery, said all efforts by Navy divers, recovery vehicles and airbag technicians coordinated “remarkably well, considering it took sometimes up to seven hours to move her only 100ft out of the water!” Process of reassessing damage—to both military hardware and subsea coral—is ongoing. Despite all remaining fuel being syphoned off, the P-8A lost its nose-cone & suffered some undercarriage damage in the incident.

If Poseidon Scenario tempts us Creative Writers..

If the sad fate of unhappy nose-less Poseidon strapped in her airbags & floundering like a shipwrecked turtle on the shore of a Pacific island resonates & you don’t feel like re-submerging in our subterranean Writers’ Den, we empathize! It’s winter after all: we all need a little sunshine to heal our weary bones.Yet needs must when the Devil drives!

Thank you being there. Happy Christmas! enjoy all the festive party games & even happier full Cold Moon Boxing Day. See ya in 2024, writerly comrades. ©siderealview ©2023MarianC.Youngblood

Warmest Year on Record: 2023 “October—All Over”? No Chance as Angels Are With Us

WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD: 2023 “OCTOBER—ALL OVER”?-NO CHANCE AS ANGELS ARE WITH US

Bahamian Hurricane Rhyme Stirs Us Creative [sometimes Insecure] Writers from Our Subterranean Slumber, Shoots us like Goddess Pele’s Lava Fountains into Real World

“June—too soon; July—stand by; August—come it must; September—remember; October—all over”

Traditional Bahamian hurricane rhyme, now weirdly outdated by 2023 temperatures & solar activity

Coronal Mass Ejections [CMEs] Still Corrupting Earth’s Weather

If we thought the month of October would bring cooler weather—technically a month after official “fall”—autumn equinox, September 23rd—we earthlings have been proved wrong, again.

Northern hemisphere temperatures continue to blast hot days [& not-so-cool nights], even though some areas of New England and northern Scotland are experiencing the beauty of falling leaves and changing colours in coastal woodland and montane forests.

CMEs which began last month-9/11-with a direct hit on Earth September 19th, have been plaguing distraught scientists who issued warnings to stay indoors.

But magnificent #AuroraBorealis, top, has tempted viewers outside from Arctic circle [Reykyavik, Iceland] thru the British Isles, & as far as Michigan-Keweenaw Peninsula,MI above top rt. Photo l. courtesy NASA

U.S.-wide memorials to those lost 22 years ago in New York’s 9/11 attacks on World Trade Towers, 2001, were accompanied by earth-wide explosions [Marrakech prefecture Morocco where earthquakes rendered 2100 people dead, but spared the local Mosque] & floods in Greece & Turkey caused by unusual weather swings. Some southern U.S. states [Nevada, Texas & parts of CA border w/Mexico near Tijuana] also suffered, but first responders—geared up after last month’s flooding at Burning Man, at Black Rock, NV quickly restored order. Turkish/Moroccan authorities are still at work clearing rubble.

Historical Examples of Celestial Intercession bring Peace to Many

Following Hawai’i’s tragic loss of life in the August 8/8 Làhainà fires on the island of Maui—sparing the local church building—and last month’s Marrakech earthquake where the local mosque was untouched, many have compared such unusual anomalies within destruction with the horrendous bombing in WWII by the Allies of Germany’s Kölner Dom—Cologne Cathedral on the River Rhein/Rhine—below, which remained standing while all around was bombed to bits.

Begun in 13thC on a sacred site of previous Roman worship, the Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus,[Cathedral Church of St.Peter] is the highest twin-spired church in the world at 515ft/157m.

Construction began in 1248 on an edifice which was to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and also to be majestic enough for a Holy Roman Emperor. But work stopped and it was left unfinished c.1560. Attempts to complete construction began again in 1814 and a protestant Prussian overlord injected major funding in 1840s. The façade was completed to the original medieval plan in 1880.

In 1996 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Significantly, its original medieval name, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, has ties to other northern nations like Anglian Northumbria, Celtic Brittany and Kernow/Cornwall-with influence in Anglesey, Wales and Ireland. Its Prussian overlords not only injected much-needed funding to complete the building, but effectively re-translated its medieval [Roman] catholicism to protestant worship; thus keeping it more in line with original 8thC non-partisan [though aligned with Rome] Pictish kingdom of Peterkirk monarch Nechtan, who pulled his nation out of heathen darkness into Christian light with his stone “Fite” kirks.

In Ortelius’ revealing map of Scotland [Britannia Minor]! 1595-1612, mention is made of tribes Caledonii, Attacotti, Maetae and Venicones-viz. Tacitus.

By making the Grampian Mountains [Graupius mons] stretch from Firth of Tay as far N as Ross & Cromarty, however, he may have misled many historians to think Calgacus‘ battle of Mons Graupius happened in Morayshire! Some still do!

N.Britain—Roman ‘Ultima Thule’ Beyond the Wall—Back of Beyond

Historically Scotland—Ortelius’ ‘Britannia Minor’, above, and Hadrian’s Legions’ ‘Ultima Thule’ is a prime example of map-makers’ guesswork, in the absence of real on-the-ground discovery/exploration.

Tacitus, writing A.D.98 on the life and character of his father-in-law, Roman General/Governor of Britain Julius Gnaeus Agricola A.D. 77/78–83/84, described the tribes of North Britain—Caledonians—as heathen tribes of warriors in a country few of his contemporaries knew existed. At the time Caledonia was split into two divisions: Dicaledonii ruled by Pictish kings, in Moravia [Moray] and Veniconi & Taexali in Mar & Buchan [Aberdeenshire].

Solitudinem faciunt Pacem appellant
They create a Wilderness and call it Peace—

Calgacus exhorting his Caledonians before Battle of Mons Graupius AD83

Roman Walls of Hadrian & Antonine built to Control ‘Warlike’ Picts

Roman legions—with their military god Mithras leading them north into unknown territory—were quick to destroy any signs of Pictish bull-worship which conflicted with their own pagan god Mithras’ birth— Hellenic pagan Mithra born under the sacred tree of life already bearing arms, able to ride (and kill) the mythic life-giving cosmic bull whose blood fertilized all vegetation. Pictish Class-I carved bull stones, viz. Burghead‘s 32 iconic guardian stones, were automatic casualties. One remains in British Museum. Others—thrown in the harbor—are still “missing”.

One intriguing reference from Roman authors following legions’ forays into Britannia Minor was that the Pictish citadel of present-day Edinburgh Castle, Braun Hogenberg 1581-8 map above, lower l. was the Castrum Puellarum, ‘Citadel of the Virgins’ or ‘Maidens’ Castle’ c.f. Maiden Castle, Dorset, ABD Maiden Stone. While the Aberdeenshire & Dorset icons refer to P-Celtic/Brittonic Mai-duinn=morning [ABD Maiden Stone casts no shadow at noon, but acts as sundial both a.m. & p.m.], the Castle in Edenbvrg was actually used by Picts to board up their young virgins while they went into battle, because the fortress was impregnable/safe.

It was a safe stronghold for other princesses. King Malcolm III [Canmore]‘s widow, Queen [later St.] Margaret of Scotland used it for her refuge after his death, A.D. 1093.

Other notable features of the capital city are: ‘High Street’, top, now the ‘Royal Mile’- its exact length; the town gate, bottom, near ruined Abbey of Holyrood; whose guesthouse was later transformed as official residence of the monarch in Scotland—the Palace of Holyrood House.

Also of note in Mercator 1595 maps, above top l.+rt. inset, Loch Ness is clearly marked with an opening to the North Sea on Moray Firth—today only accessible to boat traffic via man-made Caledonian Canal.

With Angels & Saints in our Corner, How Can We Lose?

Even in this 21stC age of materialism where the ‘Almighty’ is the dollar on the ground, rather than a spiritual presence from ‘Above’, thankfully there are moments of personal Revelation when a door—or a new path—opens up, where we thought there was no way forward.

But we gotta believe ❤ for it to happen.

Prime example of human belief in a higher power & fortitude when all light seemed dim, three pioneers stepped into a void on a beach on the Moray Firth [now considered part of Aberdeenshire, Scotland] in 1962 to follow their dream, and the spiritual community/ecovillage of the Findhorn Foundation began.

Dorothy Maclean, 1920-2020, pic.4 Canadian gardener communicated with the Devas, spoke to sweet peas and the pea fairy while she worked, was co-founder alongside her Brit friends Eileen Caddy who meditated while on the toilet in her ‘fifties blue caravan, far rt. above, with her ex-RAF husband Peter Caddy, a WWII vet. They all shared a dream of international peace. And growing their own veggies.

When their first year’s garden produced cabbages of such enormity that they could feed an army, all three realized they’d touched base with the ‘Great Spirit’—the Angels [FF member Joy Drake’s angel cards above 2nd l.]—and Universal Consciousness.

The Universal Hall was built [lower l.above]. Dorothy returned to die there, March 2020.

And the rest is history.

Findhorn Foundation celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, 2022. Winding down its workshop syllabus was chosen by team residents after the Sanctuary burned 2021.

Resource People Around the World

While it is tragic that Findhorn’s spiritual workshop initiative & on-site teaching seminars have come to an end—its last hands-on event was September 22, 2023—the Foundation continues with help from its RPs-[Resource persons] who have spent long periods at its Ecovillage on the Moray Coast.

My first RP Gathering in 1988 as one of their worldwide network [am current RP for U.S.A.Hawai’i-Hilo] was the first where they were proud to be represented by spiritual practitioners in over 40 nations in the world. At that time I was resident in [& RP for] nearby Aberdeenshire-not too onerous a task. ❤

While this news of the Foundation’s last workshops may disappoint many, to me it seems only natural—in a 21stC milieu of extremes [poverty & riches; poisonous & organic; death & life miracles] that on one level they’re returning to the simple life in the blue caravan on the beach overlooking Findhorn Bay.

More sad news:last week iconic 300-yr old ‘Robin Hood’ sycamore featured 1991 Kevin Costner movie at Hadrian’s Wall National Trust Northumbrian WorldHeritage site was chainsawed/vandalized.

Police have held & released two suspects & continue to investigate reason for such vandalism on a special tree, beloved & visited by thousands.

One thing amid uncertainty: Nature always survives, Of that we are certain: Angels are still with us all—Creative Writers/Artists; first responders; ditch-diggers; television & movie strikers & production teams. Thank you, @SGA Hollywood for recognizing screen-writing talent; & thank you, Universe & Angels & Great Nature Spirit-we’re all still here. And we believe. @AAM @cleopasbe11 @siderealview ©2023MarianC.Youngblood

September-Remember: As Autumn Hits, Human Tragedies are Hard to Forget but Human Kindness Wins

SEPTEMBER-REMEMBER: AS AUTUMN HITS, HUMAN TRAGEDIES ARE HARD TO FORGET BUT HUMAN KINDNESS WINS

From DEEP INSIDE EARTH’S CORE we CREATIVE [occasionally INSECURE] WRITERS EMERGE to LOOK AROUND at DISASTROUS EFFECTS of GLOBAL WARMING & WEEP

“June—too soon; July—stand by; August—come it must; September—remember; October—all over”

Traditional Bahamian hurricane rhyme, now severely outdated *see effects of DORA below

Maui Wildfires and Human/Wildlife Loss Stir Worldwide Response

While one might be forgiven for believing the U.S. Labor Day Weekend fiasco at Black Rock, Nevada’s Burning Man Festival [August 27th thru September 4th] was tragic—torrential rain (2″) all day Sunday-made wilderness campers & artists look like mud sculptures in a normally arid desert—revelers didn’t appear to be phased by Mother Nature’s drenching gift. Some tried to exit the muddy venue in vehicles ill-equipped to handle deep bog conditions.

Authorities ordered dancers, musicians and party-goers to “shelter in place”, but many trailer-dwellers & stuck campervan owners shouldered backpacks and attempted to hike 5-6miles out to dry ground.

Proximity to Ocean did not Save Làhainà Marina, but Divers Assist

Water was in short supply one month ago, when Hawai’i’s worst disaster in living memory happened on night of August 8th, 2023 [cosmically ‘Lionsgate’ 8/8] & the island of Maui was struck by a combination of lightning storm, tropical typhoon Dora, downed power lines and wildfires which engulfed the coastal town of Làhainà, spreading from oceanfront all the way to interior mountains in the centre of the island.

Emergency sirens—usually sounded in the event of a tsunami—were, because cable towers went down, without power & unable to blare a warning to residents on Maui’s southern shore. Sharp-eyed residents still awake, on the other hand-many older people were already in bed-took it on themselves to rescue a few of their own belongings, plus cat & dog [& other pets] and raise the alarm with their neighbours.

Fire was already consuming vehicles, and traffic on the main highway was down to a crawl—then nil.

So, locals took their few precious possessions, pets in arms or on a leash—and walked.

Because of severity of Dora winds, they met a combination of thick, dense smoke, unbreathable air+ immediate blockage of any & all escape routes. Many headed for the marina & dove in, hoping that proximity to the ocean would give them time to gather their wits, if not their doomed belongings/home.

Làhainà Oceanfront Villas Burned, despite Divers’ Help

But vessels at anchor along the oceanfront piers were also on fire—with yachts’ & speedboats’ water-logged hulls succumbing to flames. Many sought help, as volunteer divers and veteran surfers tried to save those less able than themselves.

The nightmare continued for the rest of the week as official rescuers, first responders & government agencies began the work of ‘search-&-rescue’ of missing persons, pets & belongings, after the fires were contained.

Lahaina’s iconic 150-year-old Banyan tree [Ficus Benghalensis] in downtown survived the fires. Benches under her aerial roots lay unharmed, but work by arborists continues 2tap underground feeders so new shoots can sprout both underfoot & in her canopy.

“After” above, & “before” pictures of the legendary Lahaina old lady.

Sap is still oozing from her main trunk & bore holes are being filled with organic earth-based ‘soup’, to encourage aerial roots to reattach themselves below ground

A Month Later, 115 People Dead,110 Missing–22,000Acres Burned

Fires are now 100% contained—even those spontaneous brush fires inland. This means they aren’t all out; but that Fire Dept. water hoses, helicopter ocean-filled buckets and local rescuers’ garden spray efforts [if they still work] have the previous inferno under control.

One month later, official death count stands at 115 dead, a similar number [110 approx.] missing, with the Maui Humane Society still on the ground assisting in finding & rescuing bewildered animals who don’t know where their owners are. In the first week of the fires, some animals were taken [when there were no shelters in situ] to Honolulu & mainland California, but all records are now updated and owners have been contacted—where possible. They suggest you call them if you haven’t found your pet.

Cats & dogs with seriously burned paws have been stitched & bandaged, scorched whiskers trimmed, other injuries surgically treated. While some owners have claimed their lost pets & taken them to state-offered free lodging, shelters, emergency quarters, or to relatives who still have a roof over their heads, a number still remain in the Society’s rescue cages.

Rescued animals include 10 cats, 14 dogs, 3 rabbits, one baby boar, one dazed chicken and a parrot.

International Response—Food & Financial Help from Media Stars

While local divers & international agencies collaborate with on-the-ground K-9 search dogs amid the ongoing clean-up operation, it is hoped the body-count will not get any higher. Tragic stories emerge of lost loved-ones found still clutching a beloved dog, of missing cots uncovered with babies still in them. Thankfully, few isolated child deaths have been reported. The job of sifting through contaminated ash & [unbreathable] dust heaps continues.

Meanwhile Hawai’ian Governor Josh Green encourages residents with relatives still unaccounted for, to contact his agency which is maintaining an exclusive DNA bank of relatives looking for a lost loved one.

FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] has received ca.11,000 requests for assistance and has donated $14.6 million in federal housing and individual assistance. Governor Green said 6,000 people are now living in hotels and Airbnb units, paid for by his office, with help from FEMA.

Media stars Oprah Winfrey & Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson-with 2nd homes on the island-have set up their People’s Fund of Maui, starting with a sum of $10million of personal funds, and assuring those who want to help that every penny will go directly in the pockets of Maui residents affected by the recent wildfires.

They guarantee any adult resident in the area displaced by Làhainà & Kula wildfires is “eligible to receive $1,200 per month”.

American Red Cross & Salvation Army have been on the ground since day one, providing food, free shelter & are now assisting those with no home to return to, to move into Govr. Green’s special units.

On a Brighter Note…Before our Muse Drags us Writers Back Down into our Subterranean Cave

September-Remember: one of our hurricane rhyme lines (top) is brimming with unspoken truth: it’s often a time around autumn equinox (9/22-23) when we look back on the year & prepare for winter—and the holiday season. 2023 adds a few sky miracles to help us through hard times. ThankU Universe.

With a new moon in Virgo September 14th, our skies will be dark: perfect for spotting the new comet C/23-P1 Nishimura which will be visible to the naked eye [without binoculars or telescope] in the early morning sky around 4a.m. Sept.12th.

Tonight 9/4-5 the Moon & Jupiter will be conjunct—together as they circle us Earthlings.

Then green comet C/23-P1 Nishimura can be spotted by early birds at 4am 9/12 thru 9/17 when it reaches perihelion-closest to the Sun in its orbit-before heading back out of the Solar system.

It won’t return until until 2431-that’s 107 years from now.

And if you need further consciousness-raising before you join us obsessed writer-holics as we go back into our Muse-directed subterranean cave below the Maui Banyan tree [<3]-the Moon & Saturn will be conjunct-only 2º apart on 9/26, with full Harvest Moon-closest to Equinox-in Pisces on 9/29.

If you’re REALLY blessed-aren’t we all?-you might spot some leftover Aurigid meteor shower remnants during moonless dark night skies—September’s iconic decorations as a prelude to festive sparklers & winter holiday lights! Happy Autumn peeps! ©2023MarianCYoungblood

Lammastide/Lughnasadh LightFest, Lionsgate, Two Full Moons in August +Tropical Cyclones & Hurricanes

LAMMASTIDE/LUGHNASADH LIGHTFEST, LIONSGATE, TWO FULL MOONS in AUGUST plus TROPICAL CYCLONES and HURRICANES

AUGUST EMERGING FROM SUBTERRANEAN (WATER-FILLED)WRITING CAVERN 2 GREET HEAT & then DIVE BACK DOWN BELOW SURFACE for MUSE-DIRECTED COOL

Euro Heatwave Hits All-time High, Ocean ‘HotTub’ temps in Florida

While tourists dive into Rome’s famed Trevi Fountain to keep cool, and Florida residents stay indoors w/ air conditioning on full blast, rather than take a dip in the Ocean at their local beach, then you know something weird is controlling our weather.

So, what’s up in Paradise?

Even Paradise Island resort-a short boat trip across the Florida Straits in Bahamian waters, connected by bridge from Nassau-reports their young honeymooners-along with older patrons-are hogging the indoor bar, rather than luxury poolside deckchairs on the lanai outside.

Music festival-goers are struggling to hear performers on stage from their ice-filled coolers set as a barricade under umbrellas to ward off (mosquitoes &) heat!

“June too soon; July stand by; August come it must; September remember; October all over”

Old Bahamian hurricane rhyme, now outdated

Helping Wildlife in the Heat

Meanwhile Europeans are struggling with triple digit [Fahrenheit]temperatures in a summer where many have agreed to conserve/enhance natural wildlife in farmland & natural parks-pix top middle: wilderness Glenfeshie rewilding preserve & lower l. Aberdeenshire private Scots pine replanting, w/protected 1826 Douglas Fir, upper rt brought as seedling from Pacific NW by David Douglas, given as gift to Moderator Church of Scotland whose residence it was at that time. Other pix top include protected species-wren; honey bee, w/ local shared beehive within same garden; Kirkton of Bourtie, ABD. Harvest, usually the domain of combine harvesters end August/September top lower rt, in full swing before end July 2023.

Irish god of Light, Lugh—from whom derives August fire festival of Lammas [Lughnasadh] is celebrated still, albeit camouflaged as Nevada desert’s Burning Man; but in ancient times the last handful of grain/sheaf of barley, oats, wheat was woven into a ‘corn dolly’ and hung on doorways & celebrated with bonfires after a field was cleared. The Lammas fire festival is still held by some communities in Scotland’s Northern Isles: it lasts for six weeks— from 3 weeks before>3 weeks after August 1st.

Lammas is happening NOW.

Unst in Shetland holds both the record for longest-lasting Lammas fire festival AND Hermaness, most northerly cherished headland of protected sea-birds, including puffin, greater & lesser kittywake, cormorant, black-backed gull, herring gull and guillemot.

The Gertrude Jekyll rose, top centre, bred by David Austin to commemorate the British horticultural genius & garden creator in her work with architect/life-long partner Edwin Lutyens. Together they designed English formal gardens, including Lindisfarne Castle, N.umberland, the Cenotaph,London.

Harvest this year progresses a month ahead of schedule in Scotland—c.f. winter solstice pic from 2002-20yr ago humour-farmer only just finished baling November, rolled them into position round RSC Kirkton of Bourtie ABD in lieu of missing megaliths -author photo aligned SSW to midwinter sunset viewed from Manse Glebe

Two Full Supermoons, August 1 & 30, 2023 Bright as Daylight

First supermoon of August—the full “Sturgeon” moon, according to Native American lore, is August 1st full moon, with its sister full Blue Moon (two occurring in one month) on August 30th, after the sun moves out of summery Leo into autumnal Virgo. A supermoon is one which nearly coincides with perigee—or, the closest the (full or new) Moon comes to the Earth along its elliptical orbit.

During Lionsgate-8/8 starting July 28 thru August 12, this year’s full Sturgeon Moon coincides w/ Delta Aquarid meteor shower which, because of the moon’s brilliance, may only be visible as sparkles in the sky, or completely outshone altogether.

Our Oversoul Shining thru 8/8 Lionsgate

Those who believe in the opportunity given by the Universal Consciousness to us hoomans in opening the Lionsgate on August 8th each year call themselves followers of Telosians—invisible beings who live in a subterranean cavern inside Mt. Shasta, accessible from a pool in central Mt. Shasta City-itself the source of the Sacramento River; and from snow-lined slopes of the great peak herself near Weed, CA.

Lionsgate 2023 is open between July 28-August 12th, with its peak on 8/8/23. Astro chart 11:11a.m. EST/03:11p.m. UT 08:11a.m. PDT/05a.m. Hawai’i ST Hilo,HI

Astrotheme chart shows detailed focus at midHeaven/MC Cancer with potent cluster round Sun, Venus retrograde in Leo. Grand trine of planets Mercury/Mars in earth sign Virgo with Jupiter, Moon & Uranus in Taurus & Pluto R in Aquarius-sign of ‘Great Awareness’ aka ‘big picture’ ❤

Saturn Retrograde awash in watery Pisces can inflict no harm in his solitude rocked by fellow Uranus R in its topsy turvy orbit.

This year Hawai’i & mid-Pacific islands e.g. Midway, Guam, French Frigate Shoals (pix below top & bottom rt) receive 8/8 energy first, with California, Oregon, WA, Alaska & Mexico next in line.

Significantly, Lionsgate opens end July, strengthening until its climax 8/8 & then diminishes until it closes on “Glorious Twelfth”.

Oldies from Scotland [‘Olde Countrie] may recall this was a day when lairds & their visitors to estates from Aberdeenshire thru Banffshire, to Moray & Inverness [also Argyll, Perthshire & thru Devil’s Elbow by way of Braemar & Cabrach in Highlands, to Caithness & Sutherland] took elaborate picnics-carried by servants-to remote shooting grouse moors; men of the party supplied with guns/women champagne while they wantonly massacred every flying creature in sight—from black grouse, to ptarmigan, even accidental crows, buzzards, eagle & blackbirds if they got in their line of fire. Subsequently, rich purple heather moorland [food source for grouse] was burned to ‘encourage’ a new crop for next year’s sport.

Polynesians & Hawai’ians Celebrate British Return of Sovereignty- mid-Pacific ‘Independence Day’ Festival La Ho’iho’i Ea

Seafaring Polynesians discovered Hawaii as early as A.D.200 by paddling double-hulled canoes across thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean, pic below rt. When in 1778 British explorer James Cook became the first European to arrive, several chiefs ruled over different parts of the archipelago. Yet by 1810, King Kamehameha I had united Hawai’i’s eight-island chain as one kingdom.

During first half 19thC, British missionaries arrived & began to convert a population seen by them as heathen savages. American and European businessmen, hearing that the islands’ climate & landscape were perfect for growing sugar cane, began buying up plots of land.

La Ho’iho’ai Ea‘s origin links to King Kama-hameha III who on July 31,1843 succeeded in reclaiming his Hawai’ian kingdom after the British had occupied the Hawai’ian Islands for a period of five months. King Kamahameha III achievement is celebrated as Hawai’ian ‘Independence’ Day ❤

Queen Lili’uokalani took the throne in 1891 & attempted to restore rights of her people solely without interference from U.S. business interests, which her brother had allowed under duress, along with a free trade agreement that greatly favoured the islands’ Brit/U.S.sugar planters who by then controlled four-fifths of all farmable land.

In 1894 U.S. Minister to Hawai’i, John Stevens headed a conspiracy to overthrow her, ordered a nearby naval vessel to land troops ostensibly to protect U.S. residents, but surrounded the palace & told U.S.

“The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe and this is the golden hour for the United States to pluck it”

John L. Stevens 1893 leading white militia Honolulu Rifles to depose Queen Lili’uokalani

The Queen agreed to step down so long as the U.S. recognized her sovereignty under law. Instead, President Grover Cleveland opposed the coup after learning she had been overthrown, and as most Hawai’ians opposed the coup, Cleveland’s administration urged for restoration of the monarchy. Instead the provisional government dug in its heels, establishing a Republic of Hawaii in July 1894.

The British did not go along with U.S. annexation, but the Queen agreed to abdicate in 1895.

When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, the islands became strategically important for U.S. troops fighting in the Philippines. Annexation of the islands happened August that year. Statehood was the next step.

There are 4,000 Polynesian residents currently in Hawai’i & both nationals celebrate La Ho’iho’ai Ea together.

Hawai’ians’ Abandon Ohana/Home for Las Vegas NV ‘Ninth Island’

Thus it is no giant leap for [Polynesian/Hawai’ian] Mankind that between 2011 & 2021, the mid-Pacific population of Clark County, NV grew by 40% to 22,000 people.

Since Covid passed, both Spring & Fall Pure Aloha Festivals have resumed at the Craig Ranch in N.Las Vegas, with authentic Hawaii’an music & dance, ukulele ‘slack key’ [open tuning in D], hula contests & more.

2023’s 17th Annual Pure Aloha Fall Festival will happen September 29th-October 2nd

Many native Hawai’ians-who grew up in the islands in simple outdoor-lifestyle homes akin to shacks at the bottom of grandpa’s garden on Oahu-have returned to their ancestral homes to visit, but have found economics of their Las Vegas life more achievable. Many now have bought homes, where ownership would have been out of reach in native Oahu or Maui, Hawai’i.

While Hawai’i governor Josh Green works hard to encourage local landowners, farming, & homegrown fruit/vegetable homesteading, Hawai’i is still considered the U.S.’s most expensive state to live in, as economics dictate importation of common household items-—from toilet rolls to automobiles—a luxury.

Dragons & Monsters—Hiding out for Centuries Waiting…Waiting…

A little light fantasy before we creative writers, Insecure scribblers, penwielders, pencil scratchers head back down our personal [rabbit hole] subterranean hideout for another session with our Muse.

Reflections of the gleaming sacred monstah icon above midpage,top l.& here, bottom rt. kept by anonymous warlock spellcaster in undisclosed [secret] location, or exposed for all to see on an historic dragon-shaped headland on 21stC Moray Firth at entrance to famed Loch Ness, above middle l., the dragon is a potent & intriguing symbol we are all drawn to.

Dutchsinse—see his Youtube channel—is an amateur volcanologist, with years of experience finding surprise geological events (& now surprise geographical ones) where the professionals forgot to look. In his latest discovery, he focuses on position of 18thC military Fort George sticking out like a #dragon’s head at the point where Loch Ness spills into the Moray Firth. On the ground it’s famed for its Garrison kirk & its founder King George IV [“fat Geordie”] who is traditionally credited with being wheeled to hunting grounds in Scotland [too hard for him to hike] & killing the nation’s last wolf.

Lying a stone’s throw across the Moray Firth at the mouth of Loch Ness-N of Inverness & the spit stretching out from Roseisle on the Black Isle across the water, the stark outline of a dragon/monster stands for all to see. Only we didn’t-until young Dutchsinse, above pic middle l. pointed it out. He elaborates how close to being the real Loch Ness Monster it is—with examples!

From my perspective, as a Pictish fanatic & believer in genealogy of the Pictish Chronicles & their Anglo-Saxon copies, it might well be the site of Pictish King Brideii whom Saint Columba [521-597] visited to try to convert to Iona version of Christianity. But the king’s chief Druid, Broichan dissuaded the king from listening and chastised Columba because in his exalted position, he should have had the [heavenly] power ‘to raise & still storms’. Columba was sent on his way without achieving his goal.

But there’s another hint for dragon-monster fans.

No modern historian has ever been able to identify Pictish king Brideii’s fortress. Urquhart Castle mound, on the W shore of Loch Ness is suggested, because of its extreme antiquity and proximity to [the monster &] Inverness; that’s in the Chronicles.

Nobody so far had proposed Fort George.

In Garrison kirk where military battalions guarding an 18thC fort gathered to worship, a miraculous stained glass window shows St.George piercing his angelic staff into his defeated opponent-a [dead] dragon. St.G is England’s patron & any six-year old can recite he killed a dragon. But how cosmic to find them here, hidden within a private chapel on a dragon-faced promontory on the edge of Monster territory.

Wildlife…and Wolves

In 1999, Dr Martyn Gorman, senior zoology lecturer at University of Aberdeen & vice chair of Mammal Society called for reintroduction of wolves to the Highlands and northern English countryside because at that time 350,000 young trees in commercial forests were being damaged by red deer.

Recently philanthropist & rewilding laird Paul Lister who bought Alladale Caledonian Forest in Sutherland North Scotland in 2003, has plans to reintroduce large carnivores into his wildlife reserve, such as wolves, lynx, and bear. He says farming interests [sheep farmers not keen] are not affected, as there is little agricultural activity in this far Northern county; and he affirms his type of reintroductions would be beneficial both to Scots tourism & economy-as it has been in the U.S.

Yellowstone Park recently reintroduced wolf into its forests.

Elk, CA is famous for its free-roaming Elk, above. One guy breathed heavily into my nostrils when I opened the car window ❤

Before we Submerge2 WritingCave, Moon Message from Dragons

Reminder: last night’s full Leo/Aquarius Moon is still 99% full tonight, only beginning to wane over the next few nights. High tides feature more than ever because Earth’s companion is so close & aligned to stir strong ocean movement. Surfers-enjoy! Beachgoers don’t bathe without proper equipment. Nature always wins.

Post scriptum

A Hawai’ian bumblebee stumbled into my medical bedchamber—its dimensions unbelievable: minimum cupcake size. But then it demonstrated that Mother Nature pairs intelligence with size. It flew [heavily-it was a hot day] towards the light of my [screen] window, put on the brakes as it got near enough to see no bee exit. Then, curving in best NASCAR style, it circled, found a gap in my cubicle curtains big enuff to buzz thru; kept on humming, aimed for the corridor with its outside glass sliding door &—clearly a highly bright boy—hovered. Could almost hear him thinking: “hoomans come in & out here”.

Sure enough, within two seconds, a nurse appeared from another ward with a bag of rubbish for the outdoor bin, punched her code into the door & yanked it sideways. Monsieur cupcake bee took off like a jet. Did I imagine it or did he turn & give me a black & gold blink from his huge eyes? Bless his little pollen socks ❤

p.p.s.

With gratitude to my much-appreciated followers<3

Bees & wolves & monstah thoughts preyed on my efforts earlier [last week’s draft prep4 blog] & my Firefox itchy finger pressed the publish button by mistake. Some of you will have read an opening title with several enormous unedited images before I managed to delete & do this one instead. Thanks for your attention-and patience. Hope this one makes up for it. Happy Lammas summer. Stay cool. ©2023MarianC.Youngblood

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Fireworks in U.S.,Tropical Cyclones, as Brits swim into their Summer Hols thru Torrential Rain

FIREWORKS in U.S., TROPICAL CYCLONES, as BRITS SWIM into THEIR SUMMER HOLS thru TORRENTIAL RAIN

MIDSUMMER MADNESS on ALL CONTINENTS JUST 2 MAKE US CAVERN-DWELLING WRITERS COME UP for AIR & CHECK if REAL WORLD FIRST WEDNESDAY still EXISTS

Yellowstone Followers Disappointed by Kevin Costner Departure

July 4th weekend usually brings must-see shows to U.S. Television audiences; not least Peacock TV’s YELLOWSTONE 1883 prequel series with leading man Kevin Kostner enrapturing his fans. But following the lead star’s announcement last week that July 5th will be his last season-he won’t return November [13,20,27th]-viewers will be dying to get in4 his final performance—streaming all weekend+week 7/5-8.

In the REAL WORLD, outside the Dutton Ranch Paramount TV empire, Yellowstone National Monument is a fascinating Park to visit.

The hotsprings attract animals, insects, birds & other creatures into a unique geological setting.

Its multifaceted chert/gneiss-quartz-feldspar & biotite (black mica) mix reveals ancient creatures embedded within metals like gold & silver in stone polished to a high gloss by hot water over multiple centuries.

History Repeats Itself in Scotland’s Yellowstone Ancient Hotspring

A whole continent & another ocean farther East, within Scotland’s ancient Pictish kingdoms [Fib=Fife; Forgue; Fortriu=Strathearn & Moray=Lat.Moravia] & Regalities of Fidach & Cé [Aberdeenshire, with its famed mountains Bin na Cé/Bennachie and Tap o’Noth, [above pix top l.], lies the hidden village of Rhynie—original home to Pictish Class I carved stone ‘Rhynie Man’ [above bottom l.], presently housed in Aberdeen, but residents are working to have him returned to his companions in Market Square.

Rhynie has many secrets apart from its Pictish carvings, its proximity to ancient Wheedlemont RSC [recumbent stone circle, date approx 5000B.C., upslope SW] & its other claim to fame, the massive Pictish stronghold atop Tap o’Noth, second in size only to Pictish Burghead on the Moray coast 20 mi N. It lies in Dufftown heartland, home of Glenlivet, Glenfiddich & other Distilleries and Huntly, ABD 10mi E., roughly equidistant from Banffshire coast & Aberdeen. Top pic also shows famous Barflat Pictish Class I stone of Salmon & Dolphin [sometimes called Pictish ‘Beast’] on site of a thriving Pictish settlement, in part excavated recently by University of Aberdeen: finding many more treasures from the same era—A.D. 4th-9thC village, itself Rhynie’s precursor!

Barflat is currently farmed by a private owner, but he is a Rhynie fella & shares in their fellowship & supports the village in its having their “Rhynie Man” return “home”.

What the Romans wanted was Pictish gold.

They knew-as their legions stormed Pictish bastions from Normandykes in the Mearns, NE thru Aberdeen, to Fyvie & Huntly,then N wherever legions followed their military god Mithras in his bid to rout out Pictish bull symbols, that there was a secret cache at Rhynie in an ancient pre-Cambrian deposit.

Bathed by subterranean hotsprings, Rhynie chert sparkled with silver & gold, hidden by Picts from Roman eyes in a domestic camp

Rhynie on Important Royal Route S to Forteviot & Strathearn

Of 32 sacred Pictish Class-I carved bull stones which ringed the great Pictish fortalice of Burghead— [pic above bottom rt.] six have been found. They are thought to have guarded the huge fortress-largest in Scotland-until thrown into the harbour. One is kept in British Museum; another in its hometown, near sacred Doorie fire altar [pic above, lower centre], a burning tar barrel used every January for Burning the Clavie-only Northern town remaining to celebrate this fire festival, according to ancient tradition. Sacred bull was anathema to Mithras. whose beloved sacred beast was the Boar!

Second in size to Burghead, Pictish fort on Tap o’Noth with Barflat village below was an important A.D. 7th/8thC connection to Aberdeen [harbor traffic] & royal Fyvie [Nechtan Derilea/Darley] en route S to central Royal Fortriu/Forteviot=Strathearn.

Rhynie villagers had no intention of allowing Roman eyes to glimpse their deep hoard. It was guarded well. Legionary atrocities performed on the Druids’ Holy Road 1stC B.C-A.D.1stC between East Anglian Norfolk Iceni territory NE to Pictish neighbors in Druidic Ynys Mons=Anglesey were legend – after all, Queen Boudicca & her family were Celtic neighbours.

So, learning from her example, Rhynie kept their secret close to their chests.

Rhynie Pictish village covered most of Barflat & its dominions stretched inland up to Wheedlemont RSC but the villagers were wise enough to hide their most treasured secret from the invaders. Rhynie chert deposit remains today a site of Special Scientific Interest [SSI] guarded by deep layers of turf & is not open for public display.

Yellowstone-Rhynie Connection aka PreCambrian Hotspring Earth

It may be difficult to imagine hotsprings in the middle of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, when North winds blow or winter hailstones spatter the Village Green Market Square. But the secret stash of Rhynie gold tells a different tale: In preCambrian times—before Greenland & Eurasian continent Gondwanaland separated, huge volcanic outbursts thundered through the region, [pic top rt.]

No life forms existed in the earliest aeon/eon of preCambrian Earth—called Hadean, 4,500-4000million or 4.5billion years ago. It was a time of the ‘Big Splash’ or Theia Impact when the Moon was formed as a projectile from a collision with a giant Mars-size planet 4.5billion years ago.

The second aeon of the preCambrian—following the Hadean—was the Archaean aeon 3.5-3.7billion years ago, when crustal deposits began forming after volcanic & sedimentary rocks were impacted by increased oxygen in the atmosphere, creating iron-rich layers alternating with metamorphic greenstone & volcanic deposits. [pic above bottom l. Theia impact or “Big Splash” creating the Moon.

This is the famous aeon in which Rhynie chert—and Yellowstone “Y-sedimentary” boulders belong.

Third & last of three pre-Cambrian aeons is the oxygen-rich Proterozoic when the Columbian super- continent Nuna, formed 2.1–1.8 billion years ago and broke up about 1.3–1.2 billion years ago. Oxygen levels increased as creatures in ocean below began to reproduce, feeding into the atmosphere, with resulting oxidation of iron particles to form iron-rich rocks in boulder strata.

It was a time when Earth’s first land-based lifeforms—from bacteria to insects, to plants & creatures began 2appear [above far rt pix ocean plant life feed oxygen-nitrogen-CO2 atmosphere; 1st animals]

That’s when our beloved T-Rex, [above top l.], Tyrannosaurus Rex came into his own.

And the rest is history…<3

Midsummer Heralds Music Festivals in Both Global Hemispheres

With sounds of the British classic 5-day Glastonbury Midsummer Music Festival during solstice week still ringing in our ears, we leave sacred Glastonbury Tor in the Vale of Avalon with its mythic history of Arthur & Guinevere & Knights of the Round Table to another time & to a host of cleaners [& to grateful police officers who didn’t have2 respond to a single violent episode within the 210,000 crowd]—yeah thankU Brit public for showing the world how happy can be peaceful, too!

Glastonbury five-day music festival over summer solstice weekend last month—a precursor to U.S.July 4th fireworks-was a prime example of Brit understatement—or just a bunch of happy people partying together & enjoy a week of music in a sacred setting [Vale of Avalon, Somerset].

1000-acre site[size of 500football pitches] hadn’t asingle violent episode-happy police

As we bounce forward, as is our writerly wont from deep within our subterranean Creative Cave aka H.G.Wells’ 1895 Time Machine, [lower rt], July 2023 has resounding time-travel music festivals & performances on offer from many renowned ‘Sixties musicians us Oldies remember fondly.

From Creedence Clearwater Revival to The Band [John (Cameron)Fogerty b.May 28, 1945, below middle l. comes top of the list.

Now performing solo & by invitation since the breakup of CCR 1972, he heads the July line-up at Table Mtn Resort, Friant, CA. Inducted into 1993 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, he’s produced nine Top-10 singles & eight gold albums. He now performs solo and by invitation.

Singer/songwriter Fogerty above mid-l. play July 21, 2023 at the Table Mountain Casino, Friant, CA, nr Fresno. Think ‘Bad Moon Rising’, [photo top rt lunar eclipse from UAE/Persian Gulf May 6, 2023] ‘Proud Mary’, ‘Up on Cripple Creek’; the sounds in your head are still coming out of his mouth & his guitar ❤ !

…And a little Napa Vino to go…

Other name musicians scheduled this month include topliners & resident jazz musicians Robert Glasper with Dave Chappelle at the Napa Valley Blue Note Jazz Festival at the Silverado Resort from 10a.m. Fri July28-Sun July30 3 pm. Located within wine country, resort has de luxe accommodation, serves beer & spirits in addition to wine-tasting from on-site vineyards. Blues rendering described as extraordinary.

Rohnert Park in Sonoma hosts many music festivals all summer long from classical, thru art&craft & dance. It is therefore great to see Booker T. Jones, Chris Smither, Steve Poltz performing live there at the Green Music Center August 6th, 2023 7p.m.-10p.m. on Rohnert Park’s Mountain Stage.

In Other Muse/News…

Time & music wait for no man, woman or child, we are told; so an in-depth on Hawai’i’s “Ninth Island”— an unprecedented 370,000 Hawai’ians live in Las Vegas, contra 310,000 residents in Honolulu-will have to wait for another blog. Clark County Hawai’ians celebrated their Holo Holo Music Festival for the first time in the Downtown Las Vegas Event Center in spring & plan for an autumn concert there. Holo Holo features Hawai’ian music stars like Kapena-a native band playing traditional ukelele music & ‘slack key’ [open tuning] guitar. We’ll catch that one later this year.

Back2 the drawing board—or, rather, heads down the volcanic sinkhole into our writing cave for us scribbling-obsessives, devoted followers of our Muse; with an occasional glance upwards into that world of make-believe they call the ‘present day’.

And If they were to ask me which I prefer, I’d have to stick by my Oldie-but-goodie roots & say H.G.Wells, 1895 ‘Time Machine’ & ‘Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home’ have the best take on this Muse-related question.

LLAP Live long and prosper, as Mr Spock would say.

So next time you see something strange skim past the moon, or weird alien footprints in sand under the garden wheelbarrow, remember to thank the Universe for its continuing support—and surprises—and let’s keep on keeping on with this writing gift, cos it comes from that same blessed heart ❤ space. ©2023MarianCameronYoungblood

Atlantic Hurricane Season Echoes Pacific Cyclone in GUAM/MARIANA Is. Heralding Earth’s Hottest Summer Yet

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Easter Week Chocolate Honey-Bunnies Recall Ancient Traditions, Excite Children to Search for Hidden Gems

EASTER WEEK CHOCOLATE HONEY-BUNNIES RECALL ANCIENT TRADITIONS, EXCITE CHILDREN TO SEARCH FOR HIDDEN GEMS

First Wednesday MUSE-Induced Shoutout/Connection to All Creative Writer/Scribblers [Insecure or otherwise] to Exit Your Cave and Say Happy Easter Bunnytime

Hidden in Antique Easter Eggs, Concealed as Marshmallow Egg-Hunts in Grass & Shrubbery, Ancient Rites Tempt Next Generation to Learn About their Past; Prepare them for a Future feeling more included/involved in their own Destiny

Many cultures celebrate this time of year—R.C./Christian biblical “Holy Week” between last weekend-Palm Sunday-and Easter (next) weekend. Ukrainians create amazing Easter eggs, top pic above; and Russian jeweler Gustav Fabergé in St. Petersburg, Russia, manufactured his bejeweled masterpieces, top lower left, in 1842.

Palm Sunday marks Jesus of Nazareth’s entry into Jerusalem celebrated by people laying coconut palm fronds ahead on his path, out of respect for his teachings and sacred lifestyle.

In Biblical context a lot happened this week after Palm Sunday—including Herod’s ordering his death by crucifixion with his interment-Good Friday-and his disciples’ revelation on discovering his empty tomb after three days & nights-Easter weekend—Good Friday through Easter Monday. Jewish Passover also marks Christ’s Jewish roots & the passing of Angels over his grave.

Orthodox Christian church aka Constantinople, Turkey and Crimea celebrate Easter one week later.

Interestingly, the Christian cross (upright) is used almost universally now as a talisman or as jewelry by believers & non-Xtians alike.

The St. Andrew’s cross, left, (crucifixion sideways, festival November 30th) is 2023 years later still used as emblem of the Scots, whose flag is blue with white cross overlay. Saints Peter & Paul share a June 29th festival; Peter requesting to be crucified upside down, but Paul, as a Roman citizen, could not have a similar request granted and was beheaded.

While dedicated Christians were observing Lent over the last month, (immediately after Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival, 2/21/23) it is used as a time of fasting, and dedication to others.

Muslims (Saudi Arabia, Middle-East, UAR, Dubai & Persian Gulf) have celebrated a month of prayer, with gift-giving, generosity, and care for others during their annual fast of Ramadan, March 23-April 21, 2023. Breaking that fast on Eid-al-Fitr, April 21/22 is also beginning of the next new moon cycle.

April’s Full Pink (Paschal) Moon occurs tonight, April 5th, 2023-or 12:37a.m. EST (New York) tomorrow, to be precise. Its other cultural names are Frog Moon, Breaking Ice Moon, Sugar Maker Moon and the Broken Snowshoe Moon, according to various native cultures in continental U.S.A. Its derivation “Pink” is from ‘moss pink’ flower of ground phlox. Ice refs are self-explanatory.

After heavy snowfall February/March in the Rockies, & High Sierra, inland states felt the chill in unusual locations like Las Vegas, NV, Arizona and inland and coastal California.

Traffic snarls common in Alaska happened in multiple highway collisions in Los Angeles, San Francisco and northern New Mexico. Flooding from snowmelt is still being cleared.

While Mississippi, Arkansas & Georgia are among 11 states suffering multiple disasters-with whole towns wiped out by tornado, top l. pix- unseasonal ice-storms have also hit Louisiana, Texas and Nevada.

Spring can often bring the first California forest fires. Not this year. Coastal, peninsular & inland California, normally free from extreme weather, has suffered a lot of damage. Power outages, freezing storms, snow and ice followed by sudden melt and subsequent flooding have dogged the Golden State since January.

Where snowmelt areas have been blessed with a river close by, like here on Hwy 299 Trinity Co. between Redding and the coast, floodwaters have been quickly channeled downstream. Earth movement here at Southfork, Trinity River, collapsed overhanging cliffs causing havoc on the Highway below. County road clearance vehicles have had a tough time maintaining a single traffic lane to the coast.

El Niño-Combination-La Niña Dumfounds Pacific Meteorologists Trying to Explain Heavy Rains

Much of the extreme weather in coastal California and parts of Oregon and Washington has been caused by a series of extreme La Niña high-alternating-low pressure systems formed in the sub-equatorial region of the Pacific South of the Hawai’ian Island Chain. Normally a winter onslaught of this kind is benign, flits through and releases winter rain to coastal U.S. and is replaced by balmy weather in spring as the Trade winds return to caress the islands. Trades bring super surfing weather, not dangerously high swells.

This year has been different.

A combination of La Niña and El Niño interchange, constant since late December, has confused expert weather forecasters and senior meteorologists at National Weather Service and Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. Trade winds—starting usually around spring equinox—have been late and erratic.

La Niña is a natural temporary cooling of parts of the Pacific Ocean that affects weather worldwide. This year’s La Niña is over, but has dampened global average temperatures from breaking records, while El Niño inevitably turbocharges temperatures into setting record highs.

El Niño years are typically those with above-average number of tropical cyclones in the Central Pacific. The record year was 2015. “That was a strong El Niño year,” says Genki Kino, meteorologist for the National Weather Service & Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. “That year there were 16 tropical cyclones in the Central Pacific, but none of them impacted land.”

Hurricane season is June through November in Hawai’i—just as in the Bahamas it’s end-June thru September.

“June—too soon.

“July—Stand by.

August—Come it must,

September—Remember,

October—All over.” Bahamian hurricane rhyme

According to Kino, El Niño winters are different from El Niño summers, with winters typically drier in the islands, and lighter winds but larger surf. La Niña years are usually windier, rainier and with smaller surf. But when the low pressure systems hit the continental U.S., they have basically the opposite effect on New England than they have on Hawai’i.

La Niñas bringing heavier droughts and wildfires to the Western U.S. are usually more damaging and expensive than El Niños.

“That’s the weirdest thing,” says Kino. ” El Niño years are normally the ones the Western U.S. gets big snowfall and all the storms. But they’ve been getting that this year. It doesn’t really match any of our climate signals-that they should be getting record snow-pack in a La Niña winter.

Usually the American Midwestern corn belt is more damaged by La Niña than El Niño. But if it plays through, this year could have a beneficial effect on farmers in continental U.S., if not European agriculture as well.

The weather anomaly—a constant stream of strong low-pressure systems, felt as far as the Greenland ice pack, has even swooped on Scotland’s Northern Isles, where Aberdeen-Shetland run by North Sea Ferries, rt. has been battered by unprecedented storms and high seas creating excitement aboard a normally uneventful quiet voyage.

Nature has certainly got the upper hand.

Pacific Traditions Share Ancestral Knowledge, Handing Down Ancient Stories to Next Generations

Some islands in the Pacific share similar legends like the one about goddess Hina, her son Maui and several of her daughters- Hina Ke Ahi, Hina Ke Kai, Hina Mahuia, and Hina Kuluua. Each name marks a peculiar “mana” or divine gift which Hina, the mother, bestowed upon her daughters. Her eldest daughter, Hina Ke Ahi was goddess of the home fires and like all Hina goddesses, she had power over procreation, so she was thought of as the procreative fire—or spark of life. Maui gives his name to the island.

The Hawai’ian version of the story begins with a famine—with the drying up of springs and watercourses.

A sickness spread among the people and their crops until too few were able to cultivate the land or go fishing. Hina Ke Ahi saw and heard their anguished prayers & was saddened. She called all people able to walk and commanded them to build a large imu—underground oven—on a volcanic slope of Halai Hill, part of Mauna Kea above Hilo on the Wai’au stream beside Rainbow Falls.

Ghosts of the Hilo Hills

Goddess Hina’s home was in a cave behind Rainbow Falls on the Halai Hill. She gave the hill Halai to Hina Ke Ahi and the hill Puu Honu to Hina Kuluua (goddess of water, seas & rain) for their families and dependents.

Hina’s daughters enjoyed abundance and had rich pastures for their children. But at last the days were like fire and the sky had no rain in it.

Taro planted on the hillsides died; bananas and sugar cane and sweet potatoes withered and the fruit on the trees was blasted. The people were faint from hunger, and the shadow of death was over the land.

Hina Ke Ahi pitied her suffering friends, determined to provide food for them; so commanded them & her people labored at her command.

They went to the banks of the river Wai’au-bed of an ancient lava stream, over which no water was flowing; the famished laborers toiled, gathering and carrying back whatever wood they could find. They climbed the mountain side to great koa and ohia forests, gathering burdens of fuel according to the wishes of their chiefess.

Their sorcerers planted charms along the way, uttering incantations to ward off danger of failure. Priests offered sacrifices and prayers for safe return of the burden-bearers. After many days a great quantity of wood ordered by the goddess was piled up on the side of Halai Hill.

They started digging out the hill and making a great imu cooking oven and preparing it with stones and wood. Large quantities of wood were thrown into it. Stones chosen for retaining heat were gathered and the fires were kindled.

When the stones were hot, Hina Ke Ahi directed the people to arrange the imu in proper order for cooking ingredients for a great feast—a place made for sweet potatoes, another for taro, one for pigs, pic.2 boar below, and another for dogs. Ritual of preparing food for cooking was carried out, but no real food was laid on the stones.

Then the goddess told them to make a place in the imu for a human sacrifice.

Human sacrifices were frequently offered by Hawai’ians even after the days of Captain Cook, pic.l.Brit. Colonial influence in Hawai’ian flag, c.f. pic 4. state flag w/Kahili and canoe oars. A dead body was supposed to be acceptable to the gods when a chief’s house was built, when a chief’s new canoe was to be made or when temple walls were to be erected or victories celebrated.

In quiet despair the workers obeyed Hina Ke Ahi and prepared for sacrifice, not knowing if it might be one of them.

“O my people. Where are you? Will you obey and do as I command? This imu is my imu. I shall lie down on its bed of burning stones. I shall sleep under its cover. But deeply cover me or I may perish. Quickly throw the dirt over my body. Fear not the fire. Watch for three days. A woman will stand by the imu. Obey her will.”

Hina Ke Ahi was very beautiful, but she was also very kind. Her eyes flashed light like fire as she stepped into the great pit and lay down on the burning coals. A great smoke arose and gathered over the imu. The men toiled rapidly, placing mats of straw over their chiefess and throwing dirt back into the oven until it was thoroughly covered and smoke quenched.

Then they waited for the strange, mysterious thing which must follow—the sacrifice of their divine chiefess.

Halai hill trembled and earthquakes shook the land. The great heat in the fire of the imu withered what little life was still left from the famine.

Meanwhile Hina Ke Ahi was carrying out her plan for securing aid for her people. She could not be injured by the heat as she was goddess of fire. Waves of heat raged around her as she sank down through the stones into subterranean paths of the spirit world.

Legend says she first made her appearance in the form of a gushing stream which would always supply the need of her adherents.

The second day passed. Hina Ke Ahi was still journeying underground, but by now she came to the surface as a pool named Moe Waa (canoe sleep) much nearer the sea. The third day came and she caused a great spring of sweet water to burst forth from the sea shore in the very path of the ocean surf. This was named Auauwai.

Here she washed away all traces of her journey through the deep earth. It brought the last of a series of earthquakes and the appearance of new water springs. The people waited, feeling some more wonderful event must follow these remarkable three days.

Soon a woman stood by the imu, commanding the laborers to dig away the dirt and remove the mats. When this was done, the hungry people found a very great abundance of food, enough to supply their want until the food plants should have time to ripen in the fields, and the days of the famine should be over.

The joy of the people was great when they knew that their chiefess had escaped death and would still dwell among them in comfort. Many were the songs sung and stories told about the great famine and the success of the goddess of fire.

Emerging From Our Ancestral Cave to Greet a New Spring

So, Writers/Creative authors out there—wasn’t it worth it? You too [Insecure] Writers? As dwellers in our own secret writer’s caves, isn’t it inspiring to learn about other secret caves in our ancient past? There’s more to come.

As part of our usual First Wednesday blog for writers [Insecure or otherwise], we take this timeout to celebrate the forthcoming Merrie Monarch Festival—a week-long celebration of events in April featuring an internationally acclaimed hula dance competition, an invitational Hawai’ian arts fair, hula shows, and a grand parade through Hilo town.

The Merrie Monarch himself, pictured above Hula dancers, last pic; stands opposite the entrance to popular Richardson’s beach of golden sands, turtles & gentle surf on Hilo’s Bayshore Drive.

Hawai’ians celebrate their famed Merrie Monarch Festival week of April 19-26 in downtown Hilo, HI. This great hula-dance festival includes ancient tradition coupled with up-to-date dance and costume competitions which will spill into the streets of the little town. Unlike big-city Honolulu on Oahu island, Hilo on Big Island maintains a comfortable size with access to golden sand beaches as well as volcanic outcrops where turtles hide & visitors stab their feet on lava in attempts to follow. But it’s basically a kindly friendly little town -and the above Legend relates solely to her.

Such a legend! Townspeople are proud of their roots, visitor-friendly and known for their gentle hospitality. Aloha! Enjoy! ©2023MarianCYoungblood

Oriental Year of Water Wabbit aka March Hare Brings False Spring, Ice Balls, Massive Snowfall in Unexpected Places

ORIENTAL YEAR OF WATER WABBIT aka MARCH HARE BRINGS FALSE SPRING, ICE BALLS, MASSIVE SNOWFALL in UNEXPECTED PLACES

FIRST WEDNESDAY TUNE-IN FROM DEEP INSIDE MOUNTAIN WRITERS’ CAVE for[?INSECURE] CREATIVE, SCRIBBLERS to WITNESS UNUSUALLY HIGH TEMPS & SUNSHINE in SOUTHERN PARTS of ‘REAL WORLD’

GOLF BUFFS CELEBRATE @PGA HONDA CLASSIC PALM SPRINGS, FLA in 80ºF, w/BAHAMAS, PUERTO RICO, CARIBBEAN vs. SAN FRANCISCO, LAS VEGAS, SHASTA’s SNOW & ICE BALLS

HONDA Classic golf tournament just ended at the hugely complicated PGA golf course in Palm Springs, Fla, with a final playoff between champion Chris Kirk & challenger Eric Cole, Kirk winning by a triumphant birdie on water/bunker-enclosed 18th green.

Rubber Duckies Join the Throng Aboard new s.s. Scarlet Lady

More than a decade ago, ocean studies conducted by major New England ocean research state-funded institutions discovered that “rubber duckies“, below rt. were being unwittingly transported around the globe, following natural current fluctuations & boosted by tropical and Arctic storms. While a concentration of these tiny plastic toys gathered naturally in Central Pacific’s Great ‘Pacific Garbage Patch’, others found their way to Alaska, Pennsylvania, Trinidad, CA & even the Magellan Straits & Chile’s Cape Horn.

Virgin Cruise ship, top rt. s.s. Scarlet Lady has joined Richard Branson’s family of human transportation to unusual places-space, airline jets & deep sea adventures with ocean voyages to Caribbean, Florida Keys, Bahamian Cays, and Leeward Islands, & soon Puerto Rico in essentially British style cruises: the Scarlet Lady takes only adult passengers; although a little bird succeeded in hiding mini “rubber-duckies” under passengers’ dining room chairs & in cabins (for charity) before they sailed on last adventure.

During Mardi Gras Carnival in NOLA, the ‘Big Easy’, and Brazil last month, there were all versions of duckies, although it took return to semi-normalcy for our fave creatures to feature—Valentine’s Day duckies, rt, 2nd top & middle rt. reigning supreme.

Ocean-fishing begins to surge now, with the waxing March moon encouraging fishermen—particularly Pacific islanders-to join their fellows in catch-to-eat swordfish & Ahi-(popular member of tuna family), while Ocean tourism by local Hawai’ian Tourist Board yachts is bringing in early whale-spotters. Humpbacks, monk seal pups, even shark babies are being born in seasonal balmy waters—Hilo Bay, Big Island, HI air temp 80ºF; water temp 76ºF.

Even if no mythical hippocampus sea monsters have been seen drawing god Poseidon/Neptune’s chariot—as in Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic floor, above bottom rt., indeed gentle giant Mama humpbacks have been spotted giving birth to babies in balmy waters off Kailua-Kona on Hawai’i’s leeward coast. Right now volunteer preservationists are diligent in removing all discarded fish-netting gear & plastic debris from these waters. Even sharks, stranded in unusually high spring tides have been carefully assisted by the volunteers (wearing protective dive suits) back into the Bay. Baby monk seals caressed in sand by Mama are also being monitored,

Thankfully, we are seeing the last of February’s month of high winds and rainfall—two feet in places, up to 7inches per day Hilo coast, associated with high surf & wintry showers over Mauna Kea mountain top, 29,000ft from ocean floor—which coated the telescope array (ELT, extra large telescope) with a dusting of white snow. It had a surreal edge to it, particularly on Virgo full moon night February 19th.

March full “Worm” moon next Tuesday March 7th, will be followed by new moon March 21st, coinciding with Spring Equinox and the beginning of Ramadan. In the old pre-Xtian calendar Equinox falls precisely six weeks after Feast of Bridei/Brigid, aka Candlemas, February 2nd.

Clocks spring forward on March 12th, 2023 (Daylight Saving time in U.S.A.), while British clocks change later month 3/26/23.

Ancient pre-Celtic Deities Based on Babylonian/Greek/Carthaginian Model copied into Roman Pantheon

In the ancient pre-Xtian Calendar, based on Roman/Greek/Babylonian mythology, we [Europeans] still calculate Palm Sunday, Easter & even Islamic Ramadan/ Jewish Rosh Hashanah around solstices & equinoxes. e.g. Candlemas, Feb.2nd, Feast of Bride/ ancient Brigantia falls precisely six weeks after winter solstice; six weeks before Spring Equinox; with one exception—Easter in R.C, Anglican & Presbyterian Churches varies from Orthodox Church by one week.

This clearly wasn’t an issue to the pantheon aka atheist gods of myth; as theirs was a realm “above”/beyond the human sphere, where “God was killable”. Pantheon=place where gods dwell. So, when Zeus/Helios at first reigned within the pantheon [below 3rd l.] he drove his chariot drawn by horses of his creation around the sky in the day, resting at night in the arms of Nyx, Nut in Egyptian pantheon. When Zeus took on the rôle of sole sun god & Hades [the place/underworld] became incarnate as god of night, he delegated the job of ocean protector and father of (sea)horses to Poseidon/Neptune, pic below bottom l. & top rt. who not only birthed equine offspring, but was in charge of earthquakes-[earth-shaker] Sculpture below rt. Poseidon stands at Melenara harbour entrance Gran Canaria; Canary Islands, on Atlantic Ocean side of entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.

His trident symbolizes triple rôle as god/protector of ocean-and ocean-going vessels, sailors and fishermen-earthquakes and horses.

Nymph Scylla, above rt, (in myth sister of Carybdis, the whirlpool), because she was hated by Zeus’ wife Hera-putative reason:her ex-marital lover preferred Scylla to her-was forever doomed to cause the death of fishermen/sailors, therefore the antithesis of a protector, in contrast to Poseidon/Neptune, their guardian god, (adjacent pic w/sea bubbles) whom she loved.

Before Hades was given dominion over the underworld, Poseidon was seen as its ruler: logical, as Ocean and (underground) Earth Shaker. At that time he was married to Demeter, with Persephone as their daughter. When Zeus took over that godhead, in Bronze Age Mycenaean Greek pantheon, Hera, his wife who hated Scylla, bottom r. above, changed her from delicate inspirational nymph -Muse to forever land-bound beauty, so that passing sailors and fishing craft would be inspired/transfixed by her earth-bound loveliness and not see their ship being drawn into the whirlpool of her sister Carybdis in the waters ahead of them.

Homer’s Odyssey describes her fatal attraction in some detail, as a warning to sailors and fishermen throughout the ages.

Traditional belief that planet Earth goes through a transformation in spring, summer and fall/winter, personified in female form by Greek, Babylonian & Roman triad of goddesses Persephone, Demeter, Hecate/Ceres. Earlier Babylonian/Greek goddesses seem to fit the classical image of that female triad: maiden, mother & crone better than their Roman counterparts Artemis/Diana & Selene/ Luna.

Muse-nymph Scylla, above rt. however, never ages, never experiences winter, never becomes the crone.

Archaeologists in 2000 discovered the tomb of Babylonian GILGAMESH aka Nimrod, rt. the first anti-Christ of the Bible (Old Testament).

The U.S, under excuse of going to war, collected the body, looted the museum, stealing 5000-year old Babylonian tablets describing how to ‘raise a god from the dead’.

Cold war antics do not go away. They are just superceded by modern politics.

RAF Nimrod, jet aircraft pictured here on take-off from R.A.F. Lossiemouth airbase—still operational—on Moray Firth coast, near mouth of River Spey.

It lies adjacent to Gordonstoun School, (private), and 7thC Pictish stronghold Duffus Castle & estate.

Neighbours to W: Findhorn intentional spiritual community, Burghead Scotland’s largest Pictish stronghold

Duffus House, previously leased boys’ boarding house attached to G House on school grounds, has returned to private ownership, now operates as a holiday venue entertainment centre for visitors to Morayshire’s North Coast, ABD Scotland.

Enter the Slippery Slope of Politics as Humans Decipher Code from the Stars—or from Rival Regimes

Hacking isn’t anything new. I became a victim of the dreaded hack in late autumn last year, making it impossible to continue writing this, my beloved blog—a fave occupation next to novel-writing; tree-planting—necessitating a three-month hiatus [+deep self-questioning & doubt of my abilities as a writer—guess you could call that truly Insecure], partly rescued by “reality”, a period of enforced confinement in hospital for a hereditary diabetes-related condition, and addressing the ‘real’ prospects of recovery in a [Telosian eternal, I know, I know] body which was in ‘real world’ terms past its sell-by date! i.e. fledgling octogenarian.

Fave trees of ancient vintage-top of page 2nd row: sacred ash, last remaining one of four planted 1752 as church boundary marker Bourtie kirkyard, ABD to delineate division between kirk burial ground (full of Pictish remnant stones) & ‘outsiders’/non-believers who had to settle for burial in ‘annexe’! And companion in age—though worlds apart—Prairie Creek State Park, N of Orick, CA off Old State Hwy & present Hwy-1 UCal/Arcata/Eureka: ‘Corkscrew’ Redwood [Sequoia sempervirens] first-growth i.e. 2000yr old with twisting trunk in characteristic counter-clockwise motion.

It became clear to me that the world of hackers—now being adopted en masse by powerful regimes around the world as a political ruse to familiarize themselves with the prospect of world domination by bot [as opposed to domination by tank, military force, or clever television manipulation of innocent masses] operates with cleverness at the most innocent level, [my persuasive lady who wanted my site/personal info was a mid-life crisean from Lancashire, N.England, working hard to support a family after a lifetime of poverty]. It is also being commandeered by top officials in hugely powerful regimes in both hemispheres of the globe, neither admitting their stealth or outright theft to one another.

‘Cold War’ was a term used c. 1990-2000 to describe an uneasy agreement among war-capable nations not to use their weapons. The expression has raised its head again, as political heads in U.S. imply unconfirmed reports of certain nuclear-capable countries in the Eastern bloc readying their arsenals for ‘potential’ deployment. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has backed his Chinese allies in promising aid—nuclear-capable implied—along with military force if needed. While neighbour (U.S. Ally) S. Korea, Seoul press releases have emphasized both neighbor countries’ poverty-stricken masses’ need to return to traditional (organic, hand-tooled) farming. Food scarcity has become a shared world issue.

American teens-proficient in body-camera/portable phone culture-have taken up the litany to help poor nations—especially crucial right now with thousands of earthquake fatalities & lucky survivors/refugees from recent Turkish disaster—to donate free food.

This younger generation has been storming the White House environs & midtown New York with signs & blocking traffic.

As a footnote to the recent mid-February 2023 President Biden (much-televised, but unofficial) visit to Warsaw, Poland, combined w/Ukrainian leader & Euro NATO member nations’ meetings, U.S. White House supremo promised $500million in (military) ‘aid’ to Kyiv. Teens/children supporting nursing & hospital staff on strike in U.S. mainland agree this sum would pay for rescue food & care packages for the poor, aged care-home residents and homeless within mainland U.S. for the next three years.

39th President Jimmy Carter, 95, recently committed to receiving care treatment at home, would certainly agree.

In order to add weight to White House speculations, U.S. political spokespersons in the D.C. capital have allowed television cameras to reproduce their claim that a variant of the pandemic Covid virus was caused by an accidental leak from a medical laboratory in China. Absolutely no evidence of the validity of this so-called ‘received information’ has been given.

It adds to the nuance of lying by a White House official to an already festering issue of anti-China sentiment.

Oblivious to Needy Millions within Continental U.S.A, White House Focuses on 2024 Election

Meanwhile, as of yesterday, Feb.28th, 2023, the White House has given all Federal Agencies 30 days to purge Chinese-owned video-snippet sharing app TikTok, pic above (on millions of private phones) from all U.S.Government-issued devices, setting a deadline to comply with a ban ordered by U.S. Congress—ordered end-January by Texas governor/Austin agents & removed the app. The ban does not apply to businesses within the U.S. (that have no association with the government) or to private individuals.

With my fairly poor excuse that I never quite got the hang of Tiktok anyway—or SnapChat for that matter; I’m a traditionalist & Tweet-person at heart—Elon Musk eat yours out! ❤ with occasional fanciful flights into Instagram—when I’m not being hacked!

Great Britain has not issued any statement on the subject.

Meanwhile Biden seems more concerned with his own image vis-à-vis rivals to his status in 2024 election, as both D.Trump & newcomer Marianne Williamson, who believes in politics of ‘Love inspired by Spirituality’ through ‘Eyes of the Heart’, have a lot of support & promise fairness & equality in federal spending. We wait to see if that might downplay any nuclear arms race.

Writing—and Nature-Watching—a Healthier & Happier Solution to All Ills

Farmers—in particular Organic agri-buffs who use natural companion planting to foster good relationship between plant offspring—remembering Findhorn founder & Angel-chat lady Dorothy Maclean who chatted her sweet peas (below) into producing a more abundant crop—her 1960s’ residence blue caravan at the Park, rt—have always had the edge over those who mow their lawns into oblivion or plant in weed-free rows as means to a quick harvest. Weed killer a no-no!

I have always been one of the former, with addition of hundreds of free-range henny-pukes 2add free manure to an already abundant pasture. See jungle fowl below.

Tree-related p.s.Trees-for-Life started @ Findhorn as a woodland charity, creating its own forest-environment ethos, now centred in Glenfeshie. INV, Scotland

Dorothy, caravan above, in the first garden she planted at the ‘Park’, Findhorn’s perennially thriving growing plot, now peopled with other structures, spoke daily to the sweet pea fairy, left. She was told by the entity’s non-corporeal essence that its cousin, the gloriously edible pea loved humans so much it wanted to thrive.

Peas have always been my fave veg. As a child growing up (in Aberdeenshire) within a hugely productive [organic] garden available to me, I used to pick & stuff my apron with them, climb up the tower of our Victorian granite house & munch [& meditate] overlooking vast-undeveloped-green rolling fields.

As an adult in my own (also granite) house, there was an 18thC walled garden. It welcomed my simple ways, making horticulture a delight. I grew both sweet peas & peas on trellises—wouldn’t you guess, they thrived.

Where I live now-a mid-Pacific ex-pat with gratitude for Hawai’ian warm temperatures to caress my bones-most people grow their own food aka organic. Gardens & woodland [+supermarket parking lots & harbour entrances] are domain of ‘jungle fowl’ who roam freely. You’re lucky to find a nest, as eggs are clearly organic. Go Jungle Fowl!

It is good to hear that Chinese and Polish, Russian and Pakistani agencies are encouraging the innate ability of their country’s poor to grow their own food as a partial solution to modern-day crises—political or otherwise. Poor people, imho, have always known how to make their backyards productive.

So, with the sound of local Hawai’ian froggy-croaks by green shiny tiny Coqui amphibian babes in my earphone-enhanced ears, & the blatant ego-preening swish of cockerel feathers & crowing to his hareem as he gloriously struts outside my hospital window, may I add greetings & good luck to all gardeners, writers young & old. Keep flying the flag of truth, cos lying never wins. We have places to go [in our heart & minds], ppl to influence [truth & light, joy & laughter aka Telosian delight]. And keep that pen and/or Computah working like a Fire-the-Grid expert that you are; and noli illegitimati carborundum don’t let the b–tards grind Udown. ©2023 Marian C. Youngblood

U.S. Groundhog Day, pre-Celtic Candlemas Focus on International Rewilding/Reuse of Old Farmland w/Solar Assist

U.S. GROUNDHOG DAY, PRE-CELTIC CANDLEMAS FOCUS ON INTERNATIONAL REWILDING/REUSE OF OLD FARMLAND w/SOLAR ASSIST

First Wednesday Creative (& Insecure) Writing Celebration of Indo-Euro-Brit Support for Rewilding Old Spaces w/Solar Panel Technology

Getting Carried Away by their own Animal Festivities

Americans do seem to take Groundhog Day a little too literally sometimes—Pres. Biden’s staff getting rather more worked up about holding the poor animal (ground squirrel/marmot) on high for the cameras this year, rather than low for the (poor beast’s fodder) grass & wood-fiber—beaver cousin pictured below top left). And it is the magical creature’s flat-tailed beaver cousin, that Europeans (bar a few Scots purists) think will save the Day—or at least some of our blessed days in the immediate future of the planet and for all of us grateful inhabitants—if we’re spared!

In U.S.A., February 2nd is usually reserved as a fixed date for the miracle animal’s so-called peep out of his underground hideaway—very similar to us obscure writers, hidden away in our Muse-bower or whatever serves to give us undisturbed solitude with our keyboard—before he theoretically pronounces the weather forecast for the coming month [traditional six week gap]. This year’s Candlemas-Beaver-Groundhog Day got a little complicated by Chinese New Year’s being celebrated early with the beloved #Wabbit—aka Hare—coinciding with the last week in January 2023—so they can celebrate a candle-on-water floating ceremony; but the end results appear to come together as February—ancient Candlemas—begins.

Candlemas, as we learn repeatedly from our ancestors, is traditional Feast Day of Bride; Bridei; old British Brigantia; Forest Maiden & Earth Mother—identifying with Ancient Egyptian ISIS [‘Eset’], above far rt., Egyptian Queen of Heaven & Mother of the World. As Patron of all women, she has in recent years (with feminism rising) become world icon for International Women’s Day. It’s crazy in the Shetland Isles as they, too, are celebrating Up-Hellya amid gale-force winds!

It’s Brazil & S.American Carnival time also—traditionally an end to winter with street parades taking over every town.

Chinese New Year tradition—in nations like S.Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, mainland China, Burma & Philippines include a prayer-float from shore towards the open ocean, pictured left.

Hawai’i, particularly in winter months, is dominated by an increase in numbers on the southern route of migrating Whales—most vivid & entrancing, the Humpback whales, who often give birth in these tropical waters before returning to their northern grounds in the Salish Sea(B.C.) to overwinter.

Mid-Pacific technology appears already to be able to outstrip Western thinking—perhaps increased hours of sunlight have something to do with it—a Hawai’ian farming project, given Local Government funding & support, are offering farmland acreage on Oahu, HI, complete with installed solar panel-covered roofs—like glasshouses w/built-in sun—so their solar panel technology will be used to maximum, gathering rays while simultaneously covering useful greenhouses.

British Weather Used to Max for Windpower

As a Scots ex-Pat—grateful for no longer having to endure the rigours of the wintry North Coast [Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Moray Firth], I’m proud to see, not only restoration of my personal tree glade outside my walled garden, pic top rt. but the continued appreciation of the stand of hazel, wild & domestic cherry (gean; morello; pear & alder, bottom 2nd l.) to supplement plum, birch & previous century’s copper beech. Foregound Redwood [Sequoiadendron Giganteum] planted to celebrate the birth of my son there adjacent to/obscuring the two-century-old Douglas Fir [Pseudotsuga Menziesii; gifted by David Douglas as a seedling to the then Minister in residence in 1827 at the Old Manse who was designate Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, at that time. Scots pine aka Caledonian Pine abound.

It is also truly amazing—and fairly Scots in nature—to know that the little kirk below the Manse in the farmland of the Kirkton continues to celebrate a Sunday service once every two weeks!

Nevertheless, weather & human nature being relatively constant—although increasingly wild conditions appear to be taking hold, the winds of the North are being harnessed—following a lead by radical innovator Burnett of Williamston family, led by daughter ‘boss’, with their Culsalmond/Colpy windfarm. Now wind & wave harnessing is occurring through the Glens of Foudland as far as Maggieknockater in the Buchan peninsula to electric generator power centers in the Black Isle, Cromarty; reaching into Sinclair territory in the Far North.

Bejeweled Whale-centred Dreamcatcher holds all bad nightmares at bay

Easter Island Facial Traits Show Influence on Other Pacific Island Residents

Many Europeans may not notice, but there is a noted characteristic in Hawai’ian, and other mid-Pacific island residents like French Frigate Shoals, Guam, resulting in a less-circular “Caucasian” round-headed appearance, and more flat-backed, almost sheared-off shape for which Easter Island’s gods, below—and presumably their ancient resident population—were known. It is remarkable that the Hawai’ian Royal House, headed by King Kamakameha whose statue stands in downtown Hilo, HI overlooking Lilli’ewa Bay, (bottom rt.) took pride in this trait.

Last of the Royal Hawai’ian line, Queen Lilliuokalani, died last week, aged 90. Her hand-sculpted coffin made of local koa wood is currently lying in state in the Royal Palace, Honolulu. She was the daughter of Queen Lydia Kamakameha (1838-1917) who was the ultimate sovereign of the Islands and who lived during the annexation of Hawai’i by the United States in 1898.

Hawai’ians are not only proud of their facial characteristics and unique Pacific heritage, but on special occasions—during hula dance festivals or fire & light ceremonies, they dress with leis (orchid garlands w/mix of tropical blossoms-frangipani, plumeria, hibiscus-in their hair) usually tied in a “topknot”, shown above left. Easter Island topknots were a feature of all the gods aligned on the island’s shore. They were carefully chosen from local volcanic rock, sculpted into the topknot shape.

Many are now lost.

Hawai’ians are not only expert hula dance performers—using hip movement which Europeans take years to learn. But their body shape—maybe considered large to Britiish eyes—in particular with current mountain-climbing madness gripping a (mostly male) muscle-bound population.

Body movement, however, reveals a supple quality within waist & hip gyration that Caucasians are hard-pressed to emulate. It takes years to learn.

Access 2 balmy ocean temperatures have a lot to offer, & many Hawai’ians bathe once or twice daily in local pool. Pictured here rt. within a literal stone’s throw of downtown Hilo, is fave Lilli’ewa Bay. Its easy shallow sandy beach makes it popular not just with locals, but w/Oldies visiting who may have found volcanic black rocks difficult to negotiate elsewhere!

It’s also the single most sought-after go-to pool for that Pacific anomalous practice of Doolah-tending: South Seas (Bali, initially) assist within water to help young mothers prepare for giving birth.

Hawai’ian Paradise Wins Hands Down, Despite Weather Woes

Bottom Line:when all else is said, locals may complain about the weather; Californians about drought alternating with hurricane disruption; New Zealander Kiwis about people raiding their carefully-guarded environmentally-protected reefs, but it’s relative.

Pele—Hawai’ian goddess of fire & ice—continues to reside atop the Mauna, pic above l, holding the world’s largest telescope array [extra-large telescope, ELT] in her sacred grasp, while anchoring her watery toes 29,000ft into the Pacific Ocean’s deepest trench below. She is revered from ocean fringe to Mariana Trench; from coastal California—earthquake roadblock above top rt.—to Bali, Indonesia, Fiji and beyond. Like the Phoenix, ISIS, Egyptian Queen of Heaven, pic top far rt. she may fade but will never die. Even the world telescope symposium atop her sunset summit, above l., keeps touch with local Hawai’ian ‘guardians’ adhering to their policy of no unnecessary disturbance/development at her summit.

It is sacred ground, after all.

Meanwhile, despite record dry rock-bottom water supply (not) in drought-ridden No.Cal (pic 3 above rt.), organic rewilders and other gardening/planting enthusiasts continue to allow the ground around the sacred mountain and its new farmland project in Oahu to prosper—as it will even more when planned solar-panel-roofed greenhouses are erected.

And what about the workers?!

Yes:we writers, IWSGers, NaNoWriMo-ers, Muse-driven regular bloggers, insecure or otherwise, are fortunate to have such a neighborly friendly heritage right on our doorstep. Whether we’re groundhog fans or not, whether we’re just monthly First Wednesday bloggers with a leaf of fresh mint or homegrown lettuce to chew on [lucky us]; let’s agree we are a fortunate lot.

Some people never get past the comic section in their local newspaper—confusingly, Hawai’i’s own is Bahamian (Herald-Tribune) in reverse:Tribune-Herald! See what happens when you let the fritillary (above bottom rt.) out of the chrysalis!

And meantime in authentic Hawai’ian lingo, may I again wish all Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year. Keep on writing!

©2023 Marian C. Youngblood

Social Media Meets its Match—Hackers with Pretend Money Worming Their Way into People’s Hearts

With great sadness I preface this blog with news that Her Majesty the Queen, 96, has died at Balmoral Castle on the Royal Estate, Aberdeenshire. We send sincere condolences and support/love to the Royal Family.

Not certain if as a Brit ex-pat, currently living mid-Pacific, I should announce her death as a post- or ante-script to IWSG & First Wednesday, but a series of unprecedented events this week led me to miss this month’s deadline by 2 days {GMT-1 day PDT}.

My Angelic choir clearly approved/sent spiritual help support my request 2recover from mental & physical violation. Not only did Source aka the Universe send power outage-cum-rainstorm couple hours Weds. evening, but my computah wouldn’t load the blog. Death announcement arrives as the date/midnight changes to zero-day+1 Hence delay, date confusion—didn’t backdate to correct-so here goes Writing Addicts Pic rt. © NewYorker Monarch sits on 11thC Stone of Destiny.

SOCIAL MEDIA MEETS ITS MATCH—HACKERS WITH PRETEND MONEY WORMING THEIR WAY INTO PEOPLE’S HEARTS

FIRST WEDNESDAY BLOG—TIME FOR CREATIVE WRITERS, ARTISTS, MUSICIANS—INSECURE OR OTHERWISE—TO RISE OUT OF OUR DUSTY WRITING CAVERN INTO THE LIGHT OF DAY TO CHRONICLE/COMMENT ON HUMANITY’S SEPTEMBER FOLLIES—BEFORE THE FALL

Hack-Attack: new fearsome enemy on the home front that nobody thought would last

Human memory bank-especially in a child’s 1st, happy, protected, familiar territory with beloved toys, dollies, baby names-rulez!

"I'm gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own / A doll that other fellas cannot steal / And then those flirty flirty guys / With their flirty flirty eyes / Will have to flirt with dollies that are real" John Mayer

As the Old World [double-entendre] gets demolished around us to make way for the New—below left Cahuenga cut-off where SoCA’s Hollywood “superhighway” (no longer exists) used to link northern end of San Fernando Valley Hwy with downtown Los Angeles Civic Center. Demolished too are downtown Alhambra district Japan and Chinatown, with loss of beloved restaurants like The Far East Café. Korean food trucks replace.

As fuel prices soar, superhighways aren’t getting the traffic. Windfarms and environmentalists rulez.

A ‘stay-at-home work-from-home’ preference shown by majority of employees during our enforced two-year isolation period—using video meetings instead—has begun to rub off on businesses around the globe, with outdoor walks, recreational gardening and a work-at-home-ethic becoming the norm. Remarkably, Saudi desert’s THE LINE, recreational ‘outdoor living’—a feature of old hippie times—is likely to catch on with the new wave—nouvelle vague—of iGen/Generation-Z of youngsters finding joy, pleasure and fulfillment in simple pursuits.

This shorthand version of ‘happiness’ is the wavelength accomplished hackers beam in on. But it’s the oldies—but goodies with a kindly trusting heart—who get spammed.

Decline… and Fall—Call Center Consciousness

There are many spaces between Earth and Heaven and in between are The Doors

misquote Wm.B.Yeats by Jim Morrison & The Doors

In the ‘Fifties when Baby Boomers were ‘in’, English-speaking nations commissioned call centers in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Pakistan using [cough] “English-speaking” local labour at a fraction of cost of a similar outfit at home in the West. They died pre-internet revolution, with onset of mobile phones, but seem to have raised their head again in this latest phone-related scandal.

In the ‘Sixties and ‘Seventies, nobody gave a thought to such strange remote telephone exchanges. An antiquated (but cheap) method of communication did survive the noughties’ boom. But now, surprise surprise, not only is the hacking empire privy to your personal information, but it has resuscitated the old call-center theme—this time in Nigeria, South Africa and Midlands England.

To a veteran ex-pat Brit with octogenarian comfort zone, a Manchester accent even in text—dahling—is a whole lot less intimidating than a voice on the line in broken accent telling you to hang up already.

The little lady from Manchester—so short of breath you can hear her gasping between texts—but so inner circle—in the know about it all—she has time and patience to chat (text)with an oldie—usually a safe bet as we Booomers & beyond less likely to baulk at bottom line when the money chat comes up.

iGens & Millennials are decidedly wary creatures; have little time for subjects that need a long-winded explanation. Often the shortest answer—no—can take Boomers and vintage grannies a very long time to unearth from their verbal repertoire. So they/we say yes instead and then wonder why our friendly social media accounts no longer belong to us.

Cleverly, the technique works in the hackers’ favour: soc.med. sites like Pinterest and Facebook aren’t equipped to handle breakdown. Restoring isn’t an option, either—your site no longer belongs to you. One has to start all over at the beginning; ask to join Insta, send a new photo—the newbie approach.

Meantime—every day since—my poor iPhone jumps and splutters, beeps and cajoles me from mine- no-longer Insta account telling me fifty-two messages from the hacker to all of my followers. Some of my followers still think it’s me. And until I have the strength to initiate a new account, I’m unable to correct that. Thankfully some (young, bright minds) figured it out & challenged the chat-monkey.

Monsieur Musk Plunges into Twitterdom

Most brilliant of all events, however, unfolding in this cyber-saga of crazies, and because I managed to (sortof) get my Twitter page up and running again, albeit with no files or explanation to friends: I asked Elon Musk to look into security risk and hacking potential of his new acquisition.

True to his image as Humanity’s Saviour, not only did the dear billionaire listen, actually read my text, give it some thought, respond! and follow up but my stats on that day hit the ceiling. Bless you M.Musk

Warning to oldies who get targeted: at first it feels friendly, ‘why not help her? I’m old, what harm can it do?’ Loads. Don’t mean losing friends. I mean losing one’s mind. Constant texting-even when I didn’t reply- sent me to cloud cuckoo-land. More below.

I believe in Musk. I believe he will actually make the change which wraps all this garbage up into a spaceball and flings it into orbit to join all the other spacejunk circling ever circling out there till it falls…

In 40% of hacking cases, the target is older, newcomer-friendly, artistic, feels socially responsible to help humanity and therefore, almost invariably will respond to the long-reaching arm of a complete stranger asking intimate personal questions with a view to “helping out”.

Generation Gap Plus Factor—More Oldie+Goodie Vibe

The older the target, the greater likelihood of receiving off-the-wall personal questions amicably. This sole fact of difference in age producing a different response on a thorny subject has been a miracle catalyst in the whole “false-coin” issue. Hackers already know who the best targets are: they’ve usually well beyond middle years. They’ve had their life. It’s okay to help another out, especially if they’re only just past the starting gate.

One pill makes you larger / And one pill makes you small / And the ones that Mother gave you / Don’t do anything at all
Go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall

And if you go chasing [White] Rabbits / And you know you’re gpin’ to fall ——— Tell them a hookah-smokin’ caterpillar / Has given you the call

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead / And the White Knight is talking backwards / And the Red Queen’s lost her head / Remember what the dormouse said:

Feed your head / Feed your head

courtesy Gracie Slick 1967 & Jefferson Airplane/Starship White Rabbit

‘Advice from a Caterpillar’ from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll illustration by Arthur Rackham d. Sept. 6th 1867-1939 (71) via his dau. Mrs B. Edwards

‘Sixties: Biggest, Most, Best, Weirdest—all the Superlatives

Sample text (below right) received by new Insta ‘followers’, with emphasis on revealing your own pet project, so that #superfriendly lady hacker from Birmingham or Wolverhampton can encourage a ‘sale’

If you were assured a sum of 50 thousand [take your pick, Euro, Yen, Roubles], how would you spend the money?

• New car
• New house
• Cruise liner vacation abroad
• Help relatives
• None of the above

I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality by not dying

Woody Allen

Music holds the space as underlying influence in all 20thC generations. The earlier the group, the more likely are they to be controlled by addiction of choice. Twenties and Thirties: booze, including illegal venues. Forties: war-restricted, but booze and cigarettes. Fifties & early ‘Sixties: heroin, cocaine, opium. Late ‘Sixties: everything including hard drugs, heroin, cocaine, synthetic and natural coca, ayahuasca, methamphetamine, opiate morphine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) & recreational ganja.

Closing the StarGate: Full Harvest Moon ends Twin Flame Month

So what do the ‘Sixties and 21stC 2022 Full Harvest Moon post-8/8-Lionsgate Twin-Flame month have in common?

For several generations of moviegoers/big screen watchers, film production invariably features as a growing-up medium. Less so is the attitude of Millennials, 16-year old Gen-Zs and 20-year old iGens to anything that smacks of Media, television news, man-made hype. They are, as a rule, only interested in one person aka self.

This generational trait surfaces in art, film, media presence, social interaction, text and creative identity.

Google the first of the bigtime internet-friendly outfits has warned Google Chrome users of the security risk posed by “friendly” hackers.

Twitter, as we’ve seen above, is responding to the threat with appropriate action.

Writing All the Way to the End

For us (Insecure) Creative types, writing fills the gap between empty memory Muse-infused hippie cabin in Redwood country and 21st Century internet wobble from a system of bots who will control our cyber-future.

Stargates are familiar. We’ve all been here before. As all the best ‘Fifties & ‘Sixties beat generation know, Reggae and Boyband Dance Moves are just playful repeats of an age-old message. This one’s REALLY the last time round, this time. Maya gate-keepers confirm.

p.s. Rainstorms over Pacific and gates of Balmoral; yet HM managed to hold an audience with new Tory PM Liz Truss to form a goverment, before she died Weds/early Thurs—like her daddy Geo.VI— in her sleep. Royal Family members William, Charlotte & George had flown north from Norfolk to Ballater and Balmoral on Monday, to be by her side as she rested on advice of doctors. She asked Tory appointee Liz Truss in her official capacity as Monarch to form a government Tuesday. Died peacefully in early hours of Wednesday a.m.

Ticking all the boxes, Your Majesty. Stay cool, Ma’am. We love you.

Like Her Majesty, tapping her riding crop with an impatient dig at the Almighty B4 the Pearly Gates: Open the Door brother: Immortality here we come.

Or words to that effect. Writers write. Bloggers blog. Gardeners plant gardens and the rest is in the hands of Fate. Go ask Alice. She knowz. ©2022 Marian C. Youngblood

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