Massachusetts

Color Palette for Spring Using Astrology

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color palette for spring with astrology

Here in New England, solar spring and meteorological spring have passed. The only thing left is the real deal. Astronomical spring (aka the spring or vernal equinox) arrives in two weeks on March 20th. Yay! I am loving all the daylight now. It’s such a mood lifter.

On Twitter, I saw a meme that lets you create your own personal color palette for spring using your astrological placements. Since I love Pantone colors, spring and astrology, how could I not try it?

The meme uses the “Big Three” (your sun sign, moon sign, rising/ascendant sign) and Venus signs. If you want to find yours, you can easily do your chart for free on Chani Nicholas’ website. Generally our sun sign is considered our zodiac sign, but there is far more to astrology than that.

I’m a Virgo sun. Taurus rising, Scorpio moon and Venus is in Leo. The picture above shows my color palette for spring! I prefer the taste of peach and smell of lavender. For clothing, I have a lot of forest green and some of that shade of yellow. Not as fun (or frustrating) as Wordle, but I like it!

Will you try it?

Solar Spring Arrives!

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solar spring sun on Feburary 5 2022

Have you heard of solar spring? Since weather preoccupies most of us New Englanders, I follow several meteorologists on Twitter. Early this week, I learned from Eric Fisher that today is solar spring!

Today, Dave Epstein followed-up on Boston.com with an article about solar spring’s arrival. He describes this “happy astronomical marker” as the first of three spring markers. Meteorological spring is March 1st and astronomical spring, which I think most of us consider the real spring, will bless our timeline a little after 11:30am on March 20th. Happy happy joy joy!

Finally, the first of all the springs start today! The winter months are tough and for me January is the worst. It’s a long month and we’re usually getting snow for real. Like many feet of snow! It’s literally freezing and dark all the time. The mornings are dark. Late afternoon is dark. It’s just downright gloomy.

February has another vibe. I used to think it was the hardest month. But really it’s not. It’s still cold and snowy, but the light is different. You can see the change. It’s brighter and melts the snow quickly. It’s lighter longer too. There’s light after 5pm and the sun rises earlier in the morning. We get a visible hint of spring. We know in our New England bones that our long cold dark winter will soon end!

According to Epstein, we get more than four more hours of light between now and early May. It’s a big win and plants and animals start acting accordingly. I was thinking that I had more time to decide what I want to grow on my balcony. The plan is to have a small container garden with flowers, herbs and some vegetables.

With Mercury no longer in retrograde, and actually no planets in retrograde for more than two months, it’s a great time to start setting my garden plans in motion. The Mercury shadow period lasts until February 23rd, but after that, it’s all systems go!

The Blizzard of 2022!

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snow on balcony

For those of us who are of a certain age living in the Boston area, the Blizzard of ’78 has been the reference point for all snow storms. I’ve seen the generational shift happening in many ways, but it was even more apparent today when someone tweeted that 2015 was the year to reference. Really? I think of 2015 more as a series of storms over a month and not just one storm.

Today’s storm was a whopper though and will be remembered for years to come, so I thought it was worthy of a post. I measured and marked the snow totals by feet on my balcony window. Close to four feet because of the wind and drifts! That’s a whole lot of snow and I wonder how long it will take to melt.

Luckily I kept power through the storm, so I did a bit of blizzard baking. Oatmeal, chocolate-chip and butterscotch-chip cookies for the win!

Home – Outside The Box

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new home

No more boxes! I’m officially unpacked and settling into the new place. It’s been just over three weeks since I moved. Things are still being arranged and it will take a while to really be used to being here, but it’s feeling like home.

I’ve always wanted a balcony and finally have one! The unseasonably warm temperatures provided a bit of time to sit outside, enjoy the space and the view. The balcony faces lots of trees, so it’s like I’m looking at my own tiny forest!

Overall the place is bigger and the layout is better, but the kitchen is smaller. Can’t have it all! But I’m making do and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Then I switch up the way I’m using the space, so it’s more comfortable and efficient. I moved the coffee maker around a few times, but think I found a place that works. It was such a relief when I finally found it in the mess of boxes at the beginning!

Even though I’m still in Quincy, I’m in a new zip code! Goodbye 02170 and hello 02169! Before I was closer to Milton and now I’m closer to Braintree. It’s nice exploring new places, especially the food related ones!

As much as the world can be full of turmoil, it feels good to create a sanctuary at home. I’m very grateful.

Free Yoga On The Library Lawn

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yoga on the libary lawn

Over the years, I’ve read about many free yoga classes at public libraries in Massachusetts and in other states as well. This morning, I was finally able to attend a free yoga class right here in Quincy, outside on the lawn at Thomas Crane Public Library. This class was the first in a series of community classes taking place each Wednesday morning in September on the library lawn.

It’s hard taking pictures and enjoy the relaxing vibe, but I managed to snap a few.

There was a nice breeze — and lots of bees. Four or five bees hovered over blades of grass in front of me. A few ants made their way onto my mat too, but no stings or bites!

I was beneath a large tree, so there was some shade and bright sun streaming through the branches. There was a mostly clear blue sky with a few wispy clouds floating by. Even though the class was in the morning, it was warm and a tiny bit humid. Perfect weather and a reminder that summer is still here.

There was a good turnout and new arrivals kept showing up through most of the class. We were mostly an older crowd, but there was young woman who arrived towards the end with the cutest little girl. They both got on their mats and dove right into their practice.

From conversation I heard, a few people said this was their first yoga class. Our teacher, Rhiannon Skolnick of Humble Roots Yoga, was enthusiastic and has a gentle soothing way about her.

This might have been my first yoga class since the pandemic started. Possibly the second, but the first this summer. Because I’m vaccinated now and there was a lot of space to spread out on the library lawn, I felt comfortable not wearing a mask. Hopefully the weather will cooperate next week for another wonderful class.