Check that horoscope!

MsOlga -- Three of my favorite family members (my mom, my only brother and my mother-in-law) are or were all Pisces. They are the kindest people in the entire zodiac.

Going now to find Clary's travelogue.

O, don't flatter me, Clary; what I've written is bombast and of little importance. I enjoyed reading your thoughts .

Mount Saint Helens blew up? When/how did that happen, Piffka? It seems that people are referring to E.D. a lot, compared to usual. She's come up at least fifteen times over the last week. I do not know the reason why, though. Does anything particularly make the Olympic mountains special to you?

My horoscope for to-day:

Be careful of how you use your words today, Drom, because people are more likely to take things to heart. This is a great opportunity for success as well as failure. Understand that you have the power to either make someone's day or crush him or her to pieces. Be sensitive to the needs of others and listen more than you normally would. You may see a part of someone that you've never seen before simply because you were too busy talking about yourself.

But I dislike talking about myself very much! I prefer to listen (apart from when it comes to taking control !)

*Mutters about the pigeonholing of Geminis.*

Mt. St. Helens was an inactive volcano that blew up in the early 1980's. That link tells the whole story. It was a shock because it had been so beautiful and peaceful... one of those perfectly-shaped cone mountains -- whenever I think of it as it was, the colors are white, blue and green. After the eruption(s) it has become a dirty reddish-brown color and not yet recovered its glory.

From where I live in the Puget Sound near Seattle, I am surrounded by mountains. The Olympic range is towards the sunset, the Cascade range, dominated by Mt. Rainier, is toward the sunrise. I prefer to hike around Mt. Rainier because I can get up higher and faster, but the Olympics seem to rise right out of the water and are a nicely connected group of peaks:





This is Mt. Rainier... absolutely gorgeous, several thousand feet taller, but sort of lonesome.

HEre you go... delivered last night:

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): While visiting relatives in Fort Collins,
Colorado, I borrowed a ten-speed and rode down the most delightful urban
bike path in the world. As I pedaled for miles past parks, wetlands, and
fields of wild flowers, I felt gratitude for the visionary planners who had
created such a sanctuary in the midst of a city of 120,000 people. I hope
you can be like that bike path in the coming week, Gemini: a source of
relaxing beauty at the heart of the hubbub; a calming yet inspiring
influence that motivates the people around you to act with maximum
integrity


SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): *New York Times* rock critic Jon Pareles
bemoans the withering of the Beastie Boys' comic feistiness. As they've
become politically aware and socially responsible, the white hip hop
artists have toned down their anarchist braggadocio and shameless
troublemaking. Now the fun is almost gone. Pareles says it has been "like
having the Three Stooges decide they want to become a panel of appellate
judges." I wonder if it might have been possible for the Beastie Boys to
evolve a more positive and compassionate outlook without losing their
deliciously scandalous spunk. I pose a similar question to you, Scorpio:
Can you imagine becoming both kinder and wilder?


SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): It's time for you to intensify your
levels of Sagittariusness--to become even more of a Sagittarius than
you've ever been before. Here are a few tips on how to proceed. 1. Always
keep your basket overflowing with options. 2. Don't laugh unless you
really mean it, and then unleash a belly laugh. 3. Embrace optimism for
both its beauty and its tactical advantage. 4. Be fiercely allergic to fraud
and injustice. 5. When pursuing a goal, crank open your peripheral
vision and be prepared to get from A to Z in an A-J-C-X-E-Q-R-B-Z
fashion. 6. Add new stamps to your passport regularly. 7. Know how to
have fun even when life sucks. 8. Remember that you'll regret adventures
you didn't do more than those you did do.

<Oooh, Clary... does this sound good or what?>


PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): It's your Unbirthday season, Pisces--that
upside-down, backwards, yet oddly full-of-grace time halfway between
your last birthday and your next. I can't buy each of you an Unbirthday
present, but if I could, it would be a gift certificate to the Pirate Supply
Store in San Francisco. There you could buy Jolly Roger flags, eyepatches,
plundered treasure chests, lessons in how to whistle while eating
saltines, tubs of lard (good for hair-styling and skin moisturizing as well
as cooking), and a broadside featuring the text, "The Journey of the Fishes
Overland." Believe it or not, all these would be quite practical. They'd
inspire you to cultivate a devil-may-care mood, which would be perfect
during your Unbirthday season. (A Web version of the store is at
www.826valencia.org/store/, and no, I don't get a kickback.)

<Happy Unbirthday, MsOlga! Yo-ho-ho>

Perhaps we should hold an unbirthday party, with a pirate shaped cake?! But Unbirthdays sound unusually unpiscean, somehow.

Kinder and wilder? Um.... how's this, "You're the prettiest magical pixie I've ever seen!"

Very kind and very wild... good going, Fortune.

MsOlga -- I went looking for an unbirthday or a half-birthday cake
for you and I found this, instead. Thought you'd like it (Why was this cat in with the half-birthday cake images?):

It's amazing what one can find on the Internet! I know a couple who don't celebrate their birthdays; they celebrate their half-birthdays instead... an unusual custom.

(What was the Xclus thing meant to be?)

Xclus? I dunno. Where is it?

That's a whiz of a horoscope for us Sags, isn't it Piff? Wonderful to know we should be being even more like us than usual! I like things that are easy
Re this meeting on Sep 6th - how do I find what time it will be in Thailand? I shall be halfway through my fast but there are Internet cafes all about the place, on the beach...

Oooooooooooooooh! It's un-birthday time!!! Time to be un-Pisces , eat some of that yummy cake & get up to un-Pisces things! Free at last! This should be interesting! Thanks Piffka!

Can a hungry Scorpio join you in a slice of cake, Msolga?

Oh, yes! Have 3 slices, fortune!

Oh, yes! Have 3 slices, fortune!

You water signs - probably as thin as laths, whereas large and fiery people like me can't even think about cake without putting on a kilo.

A chocolate cat cake mmmmmm

Utter rubbish, Clary! I saw your photograph in the Gallery. A wondrous sight to behold! You have my full & sincere admiration, my dear .... You can survive the worst & STILL look great. (I want to know your secret! )

... Now would you like some of Piffka's delicious cake?

Aw, what a cute cat-cake! I'd feel sorry to eat such an adorable cake-creature. (I'll stick by that excuse ;D.)

And, Piffka, there is this thing underneath your first cake-picture, flashing 'xclus.com' ...

Clary -- It's wonderful being us, isn't it? <grin> But, halfway through a fast? Good lord, how long IS this fast? Are you going to a beauty spa? Neato.

I'm wondering, MsOlga, does that mean MsFortune gets SIX pieces of cake??

Sad, but true, Sags, tend to be... well... saggy. Too much fire in their belly? Too much belly in their fire?

Drom -- I can remove those images... but I can't see the flashing xclus thing.

MsOlga didn't even notice that darling closeup of a kitty. <sigh>

MsOlga, p'raps you should be checking out the Virgo 'scopes now that you've a Virgo unbirthday?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your life will always be unfinished business,
Virgo. From now until the day you die many years hence, you will be a
work in progress. There will never come a time when you have
everything figured out. I urge you, therefore, to find a way to feel at peace
with this incompleteness--or better yet, to love and celebrate it. Luckily
for you, the coming weeks will bring you some of the sweetest, juiciest
imperfections ever.