Risa D'Angeles

When I was in college at UC-Santa Cruz, I thought that she was following me because her astrological writings every week in The Good Times paper were so relevant to what was occurring in my life each week. I love her writing because it has a more spiritual component and she asks the reader to think, to grow...not just see if they should buy a lottery ticket this week. Her new column is published every week on Thursday: http://web.nightlightnews.com/OverviewfortheMonth/WeeklyHoroscopes/index.html

Here is my horoscope for this week:
CANCER (June 21-July 20): As Cancer is all about family; Saturn will bring that issue forth with even more force and vitality. You’ll seek to live close to loved ones, unable to separate from them, teaching them new ways of understanding the world. For Cancer professional, home calls more and more often. Some will seek their roots, relatives and genealogy to establish a deeper sense of self through understanding family history. Include the nation presently lived in. What is its ray and purpose?

Inspiration...

As an artist, if I am feeling in the need of inspiration...I can go to a museum or a gallery and it doesn't take long for me to feel like I need to hurry home and create something myself! Today however, inspiration actually came by just talking to another artist. In the Saturday bulletin, there was a flier for All Saints' Day that included a lovely watercolor of two children playing dress up in the attic of a house. Our priest mentioned that the painting had been done by the church secretary. Today, when I saw her (I am creating an archive for the church-it is the oldest in Carlsbad, built in 1894...so they have a few items :) !), I told her that she had been given away at the service. We began to talk about art after I told her that I have my degree in art and also paint (okay, I haven't for awhile, but I have painted, but I still consider myself a painter!)

We have made plans to do some plein-air painting together in La Jolla, as well as go to the Watts Atelier on a Friday night to do some figure sketching!

Most importantly for me, in this time...is the inspiration I received from talking about art with a fellow artist. Tonight, Lauren and I created assemblage & collage art cards...and have created even more inspiration for the both of us....we are going to do more! It was so fun...Lauren plans on keeping hers...I'll be using mine! A side benefit was the together-time that Lauren and I had the chance to have tonight, creating and talking and sharing...."priceless!" and I am thankful for that! :)

Jerome, Arizona

The town of Jerome, Arizona was considered a ghost town when I visited it in 1979 with my family and my uncle, aunt, and cousins. My cousin, Joe, who was at the time about 15 years old, wanted to find a tarantula to keep as a pet. It was their mating season and so there were lots of them around and the males were especially colorful and beautiful! We drove slowly around the area, us kids hanging out the back of the truck looking for a perfect specimen. When we spotted one, Joe hopped out the back of the truck. He located a large rock to drop in front of the tarantula to prevent it from crawling any further while he got a container to put it in. The tarantula was absolutely beautiful...like the sun or sunset...red, orange, and yellow. Unfortunately, it got crushed when Joe dropped the rock...We were all pretty upset at witnessing that, but none more than Joe who was responsible... He did capture the next one he saw and we drove back to Prescott, victorious!

From the Oceanside Blade, Sept. 17, 1898: The town of Jerome, Ariz., was almost totally destroyed by fire Sunday morning. About twelve lives were lost while the property loss will reach nearly a million. A gasoline explosion was the cause.