Getting My Hippie On

 

Friday night when we talked, Tiffy and I did a new thing and had cocktails over Zoom. She made some elaborate concoction of frozen bananas, Kahlua, and cream in the blender, while I had Tahitian Treat spiked with Bad Man Jimmy rum that our former chair brought back from Belize. Was it good? It was drinkable. She kind of freaked out, because she remembered years ago when I had a glass of red soda and then had four more glasses of it and then went clinically insane for a few hours. "You can't drink that Red #5!" she said. But I assured her that it was the fake vanilla that sets me off, not the red dye, and she conceded that I only acted a bit buzzed, not like a rampaging warthog.

Travalon and I have been married for seven years now, and only last weekend did I find out he likes that Age of Aquarius hippie dippy side of me, so today I dressed full-on hippie.

I found this out when we were in Galena, and he thought it was adorable that I bought a crystal and a hemp hat and Buddhist prayer beads and a Capricorn necklace, and then the next day a book about Capricorn. Of course, it says Sagittarius and Capricorn are not a good combination, but we've been very happy for like nine years now. It did say the Sagittarius exuberance could annoy the Capricorn, who would then try to squash it, so instead suggest something more reasonable. This is actually what we do, like last summer when we were coming back from up north and were already going to get home at like eight at night, when Travalon suggested we stop in Wausau and check out the riverwalk. 

"Is there a riverwalk?" I asked, but he didn't know. I said not tonight, we didn't have time, but I would do some research when we got home. Sure enough, there is one, and it took us the whole day to explore it, so while his idea was good, his timing was just a little off. So I put the kibosh on his timing but affirmed the idea, and that is why we are a happy Sagittarius and Capricorn couple. Anyway, my Grandpa was a Capricorn, and my grandma was a Sagittarius, and they were married for decades until she died. (My other grandparents were both Cancers and even had the same birthday. Wonder what the astrology book would have to say about that?) This book (written by someone with the highly probable name of Stella Andromeda) is somewhat discouraging, because it says Capricorns always have Instagram-worthy houses (which anyone who knows me knows is not true of my house!!) and we're always so organized and ambitious. My only ambition is to enjoy life. And I do!

I also love crystals, more just for their beauty than because I really believe they have any particular powers. My readers may remember a whole week ago when I posted this photo of the amazonite crystal I bought in Galena, only because I loved the sea foam green color.

But I was curious to see what they say its power is, and the thing is that no two crystal websites say the same thing. One said it was good for stress, and that it was associated with the sign of Virgo, so when I showed it to Tiffy, she said, "Obviously you should give it to me." Sorry, already got you a fridge magnet of Galena. But I would be happy to go to Galena with her so she could buy one of her own. She has never been there, and I think everyone should go to Galena. I talked it up so much that the professor formerly known as Banjo Player went there to check it out for herself. And loved it!

After Mass and coffee in the back garden of the Fair Trade Coffeehouse, Travalon and I went on a hike on Governor's Island. This mourning cloak butterfly kept flying ahead of us, landing long enough for us to think we could take a photo, and then flying away again. Travalon didn't have his good camera with him, but he did get a decent photo with his iPhone. The butterfly is so pretty, black with iridescent blue.

Then we went to our neighbor's birthday party, and that was a ton of fun. I had a gin and tonic made with lavender-infused gin, and later the neighbor I walk with gave me a whole bottle of that gin. It was so good that I can see how it was the go-to drink for people in old movies. Another neighbor and I were talking about astrology, and I said that Handy Woman said women often marry men whose sun signs are the same as their ascendant, and in fact I do have Sagittarius rising. (And my moon in Leo, so I really just want to be ADORED.) She said she had Scorpio rising, but her husband is an Aries, so there goes that theory. I said I had just found out Travalon thinks all that New Age stuff is kind of cute, and she's REALLY into it, but her husband thinks it's flaky. But then, she's like wayyyy more into it than I am. Then this flaming gay guy arrived and was hugging the birthday girl, and I almost asked, "Are you a Gemini too?" but I bit my tongue... and then he said, "We always have joint parties since we're Gemini buddies." But not birthday twins - his birthday will be later this week. Of course, these people are all older than I am, so they might have actually been around when all this Age of Aquarius stuff was all the rage. Richard Bonomo was, and he thinks it's all bunk, even though he will concede that he is the most Aquarius person ever, according to the descriptions. True story: once Kathbert and I found a list of "Twenty Signs You May Be a Nerd," and Rich had nineteen of them, but he didn't wear glasses. Now he wears these cheap reading glasses all the time, and they're always crooked, so he's the complete deal. He went to a conference about alien and artificial intelligence, and it was so popular, you couldn't get a nerd in edgewise! It was actually called something like, "Non-Human Intelligence," but they weren't considering animals, which really cheesed me off. Did I blog about this already? I can't remember. I think that lavender-infused gin is still in my system. Hopefully at least some of the above makes a modicum of sense.

Famous Hat