Astrological new year is coming to a close

               We'll soon step out of the cave and  into action. The cave has been good to us this year. We were warm, stayed fed, and managed to work hard at that which we do. We have four new lots to plant or tend. One needs only cleaning and to trim away mulitflora rose so that it doesn't take over. It's covered already in native wildflowers, so we only need to put up a bit of a fence and clean debris and take steps to protect it. Another will wait until another season to begin its work, but the other two, and the homeplace need quite a bit of cleaning up and tending.
               This winter, I could not complain. In comparison to our Saturn-return year in 2013 and the winter of 2012-13, this winter was cozy and sweet. Our house is shabby and the pipes let us know that the place has not been used since the 1980's, as one after another, they are needing care. Not having enough money to do the job right in the beginning, we are having to rig it up as we go along until we earn the money to make major changes. After all, we moved in here only three weeks before Mark had his heart attack and we didn't make it back in here until cold weather had begun to set in once more.
             Our personal future is looking bright, even as our planet's future is looking bleak. With people more interested in dollar signs than in clean water and healthy produce, we're looking at some hard times ahead as a planet. It's easy to think our small part is not going to count. So, we plant a few lots in bee gardens, so we write a few letters, attend a protest, talk to people about the problems when they'd really rather we'd "stay positive". It's not much. It's something. A drop of water. Alright then, that's what it is, a drop of water. And if it isn't enough, at least it's that much. So, we'll move with that, with what one old Sage and one old Crone have to offer. With possibly twenty years at the top end still there to be lived, we'll move ahead with a better definition of what it is to live and thrive and do what we can each day to see that we leave something behind us better than wrecked lots of material baggage.

Come on Aries! Come on Spring!