The Oriental Lunar Calendar marks the Year of the Metal Rat as beginning with the new moon on January 25, 2020. As you probably know, each year is symbolized by one of twelve animals and each of those animal years cycles through affinities to the five elements – fire, earth, metal, water and wood. WeContinue reading “YEAR OF THE RAT – 2020, PART 1”
Category Archives: Random Thoughts
A SHORT YEAR OF THE DOG RETROSPECTIVE
The Year of the Dog is officially over and we have begun the Year of the Earth Pig. I asked our dog, Darcy, if she had any words of wisdom as we move on. First, she said that she would like to think that this is now the Year of Groundhog (earth=ground, pig=hog), so weContinue reading “A SHORT YEAR OF THE DOG RETROSPECTIVE”
YEAR OF THE PIG – 2019
WHY BOB DYLAN MATTERS
Richard F. Thomas, a professor of the Classics at Harvard University and a big Bob Dylan fan, has written a book called Why Bob Dylan Matters (2017). Why Bob Dylan Matters is an interesting title, one that presupposes that Dylan does matter. Certainly he matters to this author; and in some 300 easy to readContinue reading “WHY BOB DYLAN MATTERS”
YEAR OF THE DOG – 2018
Late on February 15, 2018, in the United States – February 16 in much of the world – the new moon will mark the end of the Year of the Rooster and the beginning of the Year of the Dog on the Chinese and other Oriental calendars. As you probably know, each year is symbolizedContinue reading “YEAR OF THE DOG – 2018”
REAL ID Act
It is hard to believe that Donald Trump has only been acting as president for about two weeks, and it is already getting tedious to think about his attacks on civil liberties and his actions making travel unnecessarily difficult. Of course, Trump is not the first president to infringe on our rights in those areas.Continue reading “REAL ID Act”
YEAR OF THE ROOSTER – 2017, PART 1
The new moon on January 27, 2017 (in the United States, which will be January 28th in many parts of the world) marks the beginning of a new year under the Oriental lunar calendar. As you probably know, each year is symbolized by one of twelve animals and each of those animal years cycles throughContinue reading “YEAR OF THE ROOSTER – 2017, PART 1”
YEAR OF THE ROOSTER – 2017, PART 2
The new moon on January 27, 2017 (in the United States, which will be January 28th in many parts of the world) marks the beginning of a new year under the Oriental lunar calendar. As you probably know, each year is symbolized by one of twelve animals and each of those animal years cycles throughContinue reading “YEAR OF THE ROOSTER – 2017, PART 2”
A POETRY PRIZE
Wouldn’t it be great if this blog was written by a prize-winning poet? Wouldn’t that give it a little bit of class, perhaps a sense of gravitas? You bet it would. So, I would like to say that Nobel laureate Bob Dylan will be writing several ….. Oh, never mind. I would like to sayContinue reading “A POETRY PRIZE”
MOSE ALLISON
After recently writing about Leonard Cohen’s passing and some thoughts about the recent presidential election, it is appropriate that I should mention, too, the passing of a unique musical talent, Mose Allison, who died on November 15, 2016, four days after his 89th birthday. Although his work has been called too bluesy for jazz andContinue reading “MOSE ALLISON”
Ralston Creek Review 