Posts by Alex Miller

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House Diary: Late Summer Wrap-Up

 

[Cover photo:  A late summer bouquet of zinnia, Maximillian sunflower, marigold, Shasta daisy and sedum brightens the dining table, already set for fall]

 

It’s been a long, hot summer, but at last the autumn breezes have arrived!  Prime time to look back and review the progress the garden has shown this first season on the property.

 

Over all, I’m very pleased with how things have gone.  I actually lost only a single perennial, one of those new ill-fated heliopsis cultivars in orange; everything else either thrived, or held its own.  And considering all the plants I plunked into this bit of soil, that’s pretty amazing.  Now, the big question is – what liked it enough to return next year?  But that’s an answer for next spring – for now, let’s just take an amble down memory lane, horticulture style.

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Sally Sashays Ashore

Moving at barely a walking pace of 3 mph, Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama as a Category Two storm at 4:45 AM CDT on September 16, 2020.  The storm promises to be one of the worst water-dumpers ever, with historic levels of rainfall expected and major flooding likely.  Up to 30” of rain is predicted in some locations, a devastating amount of precip as Sally slogs her soggy way across the south-east.

 

Astrologically, too, Sally promises to be a major event, fitting the pattern of her PNA (Personal-Named Asteroid) in major aspect to the Sun.  In this instance, we have asteroid Salli, an alternate spelling, which at 29 Sagittarius is squared the Sun, coming in just under the wire of 24 Virgo, at 23 Virgo 59 for her landfall.  A broad T-Square is created by Neptune, planetary ruler of floods, opposed the Sun from 19 Pisces, where it is accompanied by asteroid Achilles at 23 Pisces, a symbol of vulnerability, and asteroid Heracles at 25 Pisces, a symbol of strength and power.  In this case, vulnerability (Achilles) from water (Neptune), via a storm that already exceeded expectations for its strength (Heracles) at landfall.

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TRIUMF or Tragedy?

There’s a new point (to me) which has come across my radar recently – asteroid TRIUMF, which may have bearing on the 2020 election outcome.  An anagram for the Canadian national particle accelerator (originally called the TRI University Meson Facility), TRIUMF seems to operate well as its phonetic clone, “triumph”, an indicator of ultimate victory or success.

 

TRIUMF would of course have many applications not solely related to the political or career sphere, in theory pertaining to any successful endeavor.   But this teeny orbiting rock chunk does appear to portray a pattern of influence on US presidential nominees and elections, at least in recent times.

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Of Hearts and High Water

For those of you who may not have heard, my heart has been out of rhythm (again) and my basement was flooded by Isaias a few weeks ago.  While unrelated, I do like the alliteration of the title, so here goes!

 

My heart issues began with birth, when Kevin Mark Miller incarnated in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at 1:37 PM EDT on July 27, 1960.  (That’s my legal name still, and I use asteroid Kevin when tracking physical issues, as I do my self-chosen moniker of Alex and its variations, though we don’t like or use the K-word except for official business).  I was underweight as an infant and small child (a defect I have more than made up for subsequently, I assure you!), due to having been born with a hole in a ventricle of my heart.

 

If I’d had an astrologer then (well, one using asteroids, anyway), she would have been able to warn me that, with asteroid Kevin at 0 Leo conjoined the Sun at 4 Leo, and exactly opposed asteroid Valentine (symbolizing hearts) at 0 Aquarius, cardiac problems could be an issue.  Open heart surgery at age three in 1963, a time when this was still new territory, effectively solved that congenital problem, and I was untroubled by heart concerns for 40-plus years.

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A Tale of Two Nominations

Now that the Democratic and Republican conventions are safely behind us, and their nominees are official, we can take a look at the acceptance charts for those nominations, as a preview of what to expect for the campaign and the upcoming election in November.

 

Joe Biden confirmed his Party’s nomination by uttering “with great honor and humility, I accept this nomination,” at 10:49 PM EDT on August 20th, 2020, from a largely empty school gymnasium in Wilmington, Delaware, with himself, his running mate, the spectators and crew observing current CDC guidelines on mask-wearing and social distancing.

 

Donald Trump’s statement that “with a heart full of gratitude and boundless optimism, I profoundly [?  did he mean “proudly”?] accept this nomination” occurred on August 27th at 10:28 PM EDT, in front of a crowd of 1500 people, largely without masks, packed check-by-jowl on the White House lawn. 

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The Wrath of Laura

[Cover Image:  Laura was so massive, she filled virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico adjacent to the US]

The first major-impact storm (at least from the US perspective) of the 2020 hurricane season is Hurricane Laura, which made landfall in Cameron, Louisiana at 1 AM CDT on Thursday, August 27th.  Hitting as a Category Four storm, the strongest ever to make landfall on the Louisiana coast, Laura maintained her momentum until well inland, only dropping to a Category Two stage more than fifty miles from shore.

 

From the release of the World Meteorological Organization’s 2020 hurricane name list, Laura betrayed all the hallmarks of becoming a serious storm, from a celestial perspective.  First, she had an exact asteroid match for her name, like 2018’s hurricane Florence, scourge of the Carolinas; or Maria before her, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017; and Irma before that, inundating Naples, Florida earlier that year.  And also like these three, Laura would have a period of time during hurricane season when her PNA (Personal-Named Asteroid) would be interacting with the transit Sun.  Asteroids Florence and Irma had been conjunct the Sun when they wreaked their havoc, and asteroid Maria had been squared.  For asteroid Laura, that time was now, in opposition.

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