Acá otra placa del mismo suceso. El Quecha antes estaba mamado, pero conoció el trago... y su vida cambió. Je je. Y el Aster siempre ha tenido cara de Aster. :p. Y el César, nunca pierde la cara de mamón. Je je.

Una foto muy linda, de algunas chicas de nuestra generación. Ah que tiempos Je je (voy a poner todo el post completo porque creo que vale la pena ver todas las fotos de una vez en la portada del blog).

Ahora, una foto de la mascota oficial de la generación, Agapa, que siempre estuvo ahí, hasta que la pinche perrera sádica se la llevó, y ya no se supo de su paradero. Tan linda perrita. La recordamos con cariño.

Una de cuando el Quecha trató de saltar un arbusto, quesque para que Chepe tomara una foto chida, pero el muy wey se tropezó con la planta, y terminó dándose un chingado madrazo que hasta ahorita le duele. Nótese el barrote a punto de hacer erupción. Je je.

Una foto del contexto generacional. El Aster camina hacia Óscar para hacer un saludo de aquellas épocas... ¿Le gustará todavía Coldplay?

Acá, una secuencia de un paseo por el Centro. Chepe sacaba las fotografías a la mitad del tamaño, por economía, por eso se pueden ver las dos, la primera en donde el Quecha pregunta el precio de algún oaxacan curious, aproximadamente en el año 2003. Y una vista del reloj de la catedral. Ése que tiene un "IIII" en lugar de un "IV" romano.

Finaliza esta entrega de la nostalgia con otra secuencia, en donde se puede ver a Marco, aquel que ponía locas a las chiquillas porque decían que "estaba bien bueno", lo que le hizo ganar el apodo de el "estúpido y sensual". Ja ja. Por otro lado, algunos participantes del concurso de baile, en donde el Cobao 01 Pueblo Nuevo obtuvo el penúltimo lugar.

Saludos!!! Comentar es agradecer!!!

That's the hard part of being a novelist with a day job--keeping the momentum. I would have liked to write during the week, but work and the stock market really distracted me. Mainly the stock market. My brain became so caught up in analyzing the situation and deciding what to do, that it pushed thoughts of my ms right out of there. By the way, I've decided the thing to do about the stock market is to buy, buy, buy.

I spent last night and this morning dealing with the buy, buy, buy thing. Then I mowed the front lawn, bagging the grass/leaf mixture and dragging it to my compost heap in the back yard. That wore me out, and I think I came back in sometime between noon and one to rest. Now it's almost three-thirty, and other than eating four hot dogs, I'm not really sure what I've done with the past couple of hours. And I want a nap.

On an intellectual level, I'd like to work on my writing. I want this ms done, and soon. My thoughts are already turning to the next one, so I want to be free to focus my energies in that direction. But on a "this is my weekend" level, I just don't wanna right now. I really want that nap. Which bugs me, because I really want my novel done too.

If only I didn't have that pesky day job to worry about! But such is life for most writers. Very few people earn a living writing fiction. So this is how it is, and somehow I will find the discipline to do at least a little writing this weekend. Maybe not until Sunday evening, if other weekends are any indicator.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures I meant to upload the other week. Bumblebees finally swarmed my goldenrod en mass:

There was also a day or two when some other bee-like creature half-heartedly swarmed the asters, but it was nothing like I usually see. I didn't get a picture on that day, but here's a picture of a single bee on the same day as the bumblebees were swarming:

It's also interesting to see what other people are going to get excited about.  I have lots of unusual, hard-to-find plants that I've hoarded over the years.  My sources for the unusual and hard-to-find include Sugar Creek, ebay, and even seeds, but what had everyone excited was the plain old aster 'Purple Dome.'  Although, rightly so, when in full bloom there's not much plain about it.  I only cut it back in August when I saw it was budding up, and other than that, it sort of takes of itself.  I have it tucked up next to my Daydream rose, and the pink and the purple make a nice combination.

There's a ton of native asters that are hard to distinguish, as I discovered after spending easily a confused hour pondering my wildflower book. I finally decided that it's Heart-Leaved Aster overflowing in my back yard with huge plumes of pale lavender-to-white flowers feeding lots of happy bees.

Except one of them is a syrphid fly that is not a bee, but an incredible simulation. It's amazing how much it looks exactly like a honeybee until you get close enough to see its head. Apparently it's a bee mimic, Eristalis tenax.

Of course, most of the bees on the asters are the usual suspects.

More often than not, I've found this trinity of bees: honeybees, bumblebees, and shiny green sweat bees, Agapostemon virescens. Sure, there are other, seasonal bees, but these gals really hang in there. I wonder how much longer?

Today was a nice day to visit the Little Red Schoolhouse of Willow Springs, IL. There is a lot of construction going on around here, a two story educational building is being built right next to the schoolhouse. Parking is a little limited, but still manageable. I am a little concerned about the new siding of the schoolhouse, it's not red, but burgundy or wine colored. The Little Burgundy Schoolhouse???

Growing a few feet from the schoolhouse, I found some beautiful aster. I'm not exactly sure which kind....I'm guessing Flax-Leaved Aster, only because my Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers book has a similar picture with variate heads of yellow and purple just like mine. I think I'll have to do a sketch of this soon!

Here we can see how the heavy rains have effected the trails. There is still some flooding by the bench. This lookout oversees Long John Slough. The lily pads are turning a mustard color, for autumn is clearly here. I welcome it and so does my little friend:

Can you spot my little friend? He was very brave to let me creep up for a picture!

I hope you enjoyed the Little Red Schoolhouse hike for today. Remember, autumn is here and gone in a quick flash, if you want to enjoy the season do it now. Don't put your hike off for another day, before you know it the leaves will pass...they won't wait for us!

I went back yesterday and got some annuals to help dress up the garden, which seems to be in a bit of the doldrums right now, at that awkward stage where many things have finished blooming and the latest bloomers are just getting started.  This time I got a (perennial) Liatris aspera, about the latest bloomer of the Liatris clan, as well as three African daisies, three creeping verbenas, another aster, a heuchera, and a Marguerite daisy.  You may recall that earlier this year, I planted two African daisies, two creeping verbenas, and two Marguerite daisies.  The African daisies did not bloom at all this summer, but they survived, and are starting to bloom again.  The creeping verbenas did much worse this summer than last summer, and while they survived, they are looking pretty sad.  One of the Marguerite daisies is still blooming away, but the other one was killed by the summer. All three of these are pretty frost-tolerant for annuals (if creeping verbenas have Canadian verbena as one of their parents, sometimes they'll even survive overwinter), and I wanted to get more cool-weather color into the garden.

It turned out (according to the nursery's youngest staff member) that the tiny pots of asters are actually allegedly not hardy, though I find this entire thing very suspicious - they look like hardy asters, not like the pretenders known as 'China asters' (though they are not actually asters) - and my main explanation is that they were forced in growers' greenhouses for fast fall color like most chrysanthemums and thus, are putting too much energy into blooming to be as likely to survive.  (Yes, technically chrysanthemums are hardy too.)  So while I'm not going to count on the tiny potted asters returning next year, I won't be overly surprised if they do, just happy.  It did make me glad, though, that I got an actual bona fide hardy aster as well as the tiny pots of asters.

Then this past weekend was the annual local plant sale, made up mostly of donations by area gardeners.  I got six perennials and two houseplants.  For the front garden, I bought a division of lavender (unknown cultivar, but I wanted to get one that was definitely hardy here), a perennial geranium/cranesbill, penstemon 'Husker's Red,' and another bellflower.  For the back garden, I bought another bergenia (bergenias are amongst the few things that seem to actually thrive in the tree-root-riddled back garden instead of just sadly surviving) and something else I'm currently forgetting.  For the house, I got a Christmas cactus and a miniature aloe cultivar.  I have recently become enamored of miniature aloe cultivars and of haworthia species.  Earlier this summer I got an aloe cultivar known as 'Tiger Jaw' - and when you see it, you immediately know why that's its name - and a second haworthia to place beside my first.  Unfortunately I can't recall the name on the tag of the newest aloe, as it was less self-explanatory than 'Tiger Jaw'.

So today I planted the five tiny asters (two white, one lavender, one deeper purple, one rich magenta), the three African daisies, the Marguerite daisy, the three creeping verbenas (two royal purple, one magenta), the medium-pot-sized liatris, and three plants in huge pots - Russian sage, scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue', and aster 'Wood's Pink'.  The 'Wood's' series (Pink, Blue, etc.) generally prefers more moisture than what either the front or back gardens generally provide, so I planted it near the downspout. I also transferred the three miserable ornamental peppers to a new location and planted two things I've had for a while, a cinnamon basil I bought already in flower to provide nourishment for bees (who love basil flowers) and my last attempt this year at a heliotrope (also an older, just unplanted, purchase).  Both of them were still flowering when I planted them.  I'd ideally wanted to do more - plant another tray's worth of actual plants and get the last of the fall-flowering bulbs in the ground - but I ran out of energy. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, like today, so hopefully I'll be able to do some more tomorrow.

I wanted to take some pictures to post, but alas, my camera had technical difficulties yet again.   I really need to get a new camera.  Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures tomorrow.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Internetowy Serwis Konfiguracyjny (ISK) to hostowana usługa umożliwiająca konfigurację telefonów komórkowych. Serwis Konfiguracyjny udostępniony dla klientów ASTER, automatycznie wykrywa nowe telefony w sieci i wysyła do nich odpowiednie ustawienia. Dzięki temu rozwiązaniu, abonenci ASTER w ciągu kilku minut od uruchomienia telefonu mogą korzystać ze wszystkich usług telefonii komórkowej. Dodatkowo, abonenci mogą zamówić poszczególne konfiguracje na stronie WWW lub skorzystać z dostępnej tam szczegółowej instrukcji i samodzielnie skonfigurować telefon.

Konfigurator telefonów komórkowych w ASTER obejmuje cztery usługi: WAP, MMS, dostęp do Internetu oraz transmisję wideo dla ponad 500 modeli aparatów telefonicznych ponad 20 marek. Dzięki bliskiej współpracy DCS z producentami telefonów komórkowych oraz operatorami, usługa co miesiąc wzbogacana jest o obsługę kilkunastu nowych modeli telefonów wprowadzanych na rynek.

Dzięki Serwisowi Konfiguracyjnemu DCS, klienci telefonii komórkowej w ASTER mogą w pełni korzystać z zaawansowanych usług telekomunikacyjnych, np. WAP, MMS, dostępu do internetu oraz transmisji wideo – powiedział Janusz Arciszewski Prezes Zarządu ASTER.

Bardzo cieszymy się, że zaufał nam kolejny duży operator telekomunikacyjny. Konfigurator nie tylko pozwala podnieść satysfakcję klientów ASTER, ale także znacząco obniża koszty związane z obsługą abonentów chcących korzystać z zaawansowanych usług - powiedział Michał Szafrański, Dyrektor ds. rozwoju DCS Computer Consultants Group Sp. z o.o.

Oferowana przez DCS od 2003 roku usługa, została zaimplementowana dotychczas dla Orange (ustaw.orange.pl), Grupę Onet.pl SA oraz MNI SA. Rozwiązanie ISK zdobyło nagrodę TMT Mobile Award 2005 i zostało wyróżnione Certyfikatem Telekomunikacyjnym tygodnika Wprost.

Wdrożenie w ASTER objęło jedynie część funkcjonalności ISK. Poza konfiguracją WAP, MMS, dostępu do Internetu i transmisji wideo, obsługiwane są także ustawienia zaawansowanych usług takich jak technologie SyncML, UMA, Push-toTalk, e-mail, IM i pozwala na automatyczne konfigurowanie telefonów pojawiających się w sieciach komórkowych operatorów.

Co to jest ISK?
Internetowy Serwis Konfiguracyjny to usługa WWW, który umożliwia abonentom konfigurację telefonu komórkowego w taki sposób, by możliwe było korzystanie za jego pośrednictwem ze wszystkich usług udostępnianych przez operatorów, takich jak dostęp do Internetu, transmisja wideo, synchronizacja kontaktów, poczta e-mail oraz VoIP.

Do czego służy Internetowy Serwis Konfiguracyjny?
Zwykle, gdy abonent włoży kartę SIM do telefonu, może jedynie wykonywać rozmowy telefoniczne i wysyłać SMS-y. Bez dodatkowej konfiguracji nie może wysyłać i odbierać wiadomości MMS, przeglądać stron internetowych, ani tym bardziej korzystać z zaawansowanych usług oferowanych przez operatorów. W takich przypadkach, gdy nie otrzyma od operatora poprawnie skonfigurowanego telefonu, korzysta z aparatu nabytego na rynku wtórnym lub po prostu przywrócił telefon do ustawień fabrycznych, musi sam zmienić ustawienia w telefonie. Niestety jak dowodzi praktyka, próby samodzielnego, ręcznego konfigurowania parametrów telefonu kończą się zazwyczaj niepowodzeniem. Powoduje to niezadowolenie abonentów i dodatkowo obniża przychody operatorów (klienci nie posiadający właściwie skonfigurowanego telefonu nie korzystają z zaawansowanych usług). Dlatego najprostszym rozwiązaniem jest skorzystanie z serwisu ISK, który wszystkie ustawienia wykonuje w telefonie w sposób automatyczny.

Jak działa ISK?
Korzystanie z ISK jest bardzo łatwe. Abonent wchodzi na stronę WWW, gdzie wybiera producenta, a następnie model swojego telefonu. Następnie wybiera usługi, które mają zostać skonfigurowane i podaje numer telefonu. Chwilę później otrzymuje SMS-em konfigurację, która po jej akceptacji przez abonenta, automatycznie prawidłowo ustawia telefon. Alternatywną ścieżką konfiguracji telefonu jest ręczna zmiana ustawień w telefonie, zgodnie ze szczegółową instrukcją „krok po kroku” udostępnianą w serwisie ISK.

It was far too beautiful to stay inside today, so I took the opportunity to organize a meager attack on the football field of grass we have near the road (the previous owners tell us it used to be a bunch of pine trees that died off).  With more time and money, I would have gladly done a 'proper' larger scale prairie installation here, but in the meantime, this tiny prairie will have to do.  I'm an amateur gardener, so I wanted to start small.

I laid down water-soaked newspapers under cocoa-shell mulch, then used a natural limestone border that was chipped away when they poured the foundation of our house over 30 years ago.  The idea is that the paper and mulch will kill the sod and make for easier expansion and growth next year.

I don't recall the variety of grasses (there are 3), but they're all native to Wisconsin, as are the Purple Coneflower, Indigo, Prairie Smoke, purple Aster, butterfly milkweed, and 2 others I can't recall (I'd go check the tags, but the mosquitoes would carry me off during this time of day).

The next attack will be a rain garden near the culvert you see in the photo below, per my friend Paul's suggestion.  It gets plenty wet to support it, and attracts a whole new variety of wildlife to enjoy.

Oh, and for what it's worth, the honeysuckle, garlic mustard, buckthorn, touch-me-not attack has been temporarily suspended, as the wildwoods has become a veritable romper room for the mosquitoes and deer flies (yeah, its that bad).  I'll have to focus on that effort in the spring and fall.  I've also refined my attack plan to concentrate on smaller areas and work outward radially rather than just hacking away at it.  I might still try to carve a trail (more like a tunnel) through it, then gradually work my way outward from the trail.

We'll see!  I'll keep you posted...

Carnation flowers are a common flower used for ceremonial events and symbolism. According to Christian legend, carnations first appeared on Earth as Jesus carried the Cross. The Virgin Mary shed tears at Jesus' plight, and carnations sprang up from where her tears fell. Thus the pink carnation became the symbol of a mother's undying love, and in 1907 was chosen by Ann Jarvis as the emblem of Mother's Day, now observed in the United States and Canada on the second Sunday in May. Coming mainly in shades of white, red and pink, the carnation was once used as a ceremonial crown in certain events of Ancient Greek Society.  The carnation is a long time favourite for cutting and adding to certain home floral arrangements and bouquets.

FEBRUARY- The Iris

Iris express peace of mind, Friendship, Faith, Hope, and Wisdom.

Iris is a genus of flowering plants with showy flowers that takes its name from the Latin word for rainbow. There are many species of Iris, widely distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone. Their habitats are very varied and range from cold regions into the grassy slopes, meadowlands, stream banks and deserts of Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa, Asia and across North America. Elevation is of not much importance.

MARCH- The Daffodil

Daffodils, the flower symbolizing friendship, are one of the most popular flowers exclusively due to their unmatched beauty.  Daffodils belong to the genus Narcissus.  Daffodil flowers have a trumpet-shaped structure set against a star-shaped background

Often the trumpet is in a contrasting colour from the background. The name Daffodils includes the cluster-flowered yellow Jonquils and the White Narcissi.

Daffodils are native mainly to the Mediterranean region, in particular to the Iberian Peninsula, as well as Northern Africa and the Middle East.

APRIL- The Daisy

The Daisy is the flower bringer of good fortune and blissful pleasure.

It is thought that the name "daisy" is a corruption of "day's eye", because the whole head closes at night and opens in the morning.

The most common characteristic of all these plants, is that what in common dialect might be called a "flower", is an inflorescence or flower head; a densely packed cluster of many small, individual flowers, usually called florets (meaning "small flowers").  Often considered a weed on lawns, though many also value the appearance of the flowers. Several cultivars and hybrids have been selected with much larger flower heads up to 5-6 cm diameter and with light pink to purple-red ray florets.

MAY-Lily of the Valley

Lily can mean many things including purity, majesty, beauty, sweetness and humility. The stems grow to 15-30 cm tall, with one or two leaves (10-25 cm long), flowering stems have two leaves and 5-15 flowers on the stem apex. The flowers are white, bell-shaped, and sweetly scented; flowering is in late spring, in mild winters in early March.  The flower is also known as Our Lady's tears since, according to Christian legend, the tears Mary shed at the cross turned to Lilies of the Valley. Traditionally, Lily of the Valley is sold in the streets of France on May 1. Lily of the Valley became the national flower of Finland in 1967.

JUNE- The Rose

Roses are ancient symbols of love and beauty. The rose was sacred to a number of goddesses (including Isis and Aphrodite), and is often used as a symbol of the Virgin Mary. 'Rose' means pink or red in a variety of languages (such as Romance languages, Greek, and Polish).  The rose is the national flower of England and the United States.  Attar of rose is the steam-extracted essential oil from rose flowers that has been used in perfumes for centuries. Rose water, made from the rose oil, is widely used in Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. Rose hips are sometimes made into jam, jelly and marmalade or brewed for tea, mainly for their vitamin C content. They are also pressed and filtered to make rose hip syrup. Rose hips are also used to produce oil used in skin products.

JULY- The Larkspur

Larkspurs have laughter and relaxation energy, much like people born in July.  The flower has five petals that grow together to form a hollow flower with a spur at the end, which gives the plant its name. The seeds are small and shiny black.  The plant was connected to Saint Odile and in popular medicine used against eye-diseases. It was one of the herbs used on the feast of St. John and us such warded against lightning. In Transylvania, it was used to keep witches from the stables, probably because of its blue colour.

AUGUST- The Gladiolus

The flower of the Gladiators. Strength of character, sincerity, generosity, are traits symbolized in the Gladiolus.

The genus Gladiolus comprises 260 species, 250 of which are native to sub-Saharan Africa, mostly South Africa. About 10 species are native to Eurasia. The impressive flower spikes of Gladioli come in a wide array of beautiful colours.  Gladiolus flowers open beginning at the base of the spike and continue upward.  The Gladiolus flower signifies remembrance. It also expresses infatuation, telling the receiver that he or she “pierces the heart”.

SEPTEMBER- The Aster

The word Aster is of Greek derivation and refers to the Star like flowers that can be white, red, pink, purple, lavender and blue, mostly with yellow centres.  Asters are actually 1 - 1.5 - inch flowers. An Aster flower is actually a collection of very tiny tubular flowers, grouped together in a central disk, and surrounded by so-called ray flowers or petals, e.g., Sunflower. There are over 600 species of asters, the most popular being the Monte Casino. Ancient societies believed that the odour of its leaves, when burnt, drove away evil.

OCTOBER- The Marigold

Sacred affection is shown with the marigold.

A myth describing which seems to be creation of the marigold is mentioned in the story of Clytie and Apollo.  The marigolds, genus Calendula L., are a genus of about 20 species of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the daisy family, native to Mexico and Central America, the Mediterranean region and Macaronesia.

The leaves of this plant are 5-18 cm long, simple, and usually roughly hairy. The flower heads range from pale yellow to deep orange, and are 3-7 cm across, with both ray florets and disc florets. The petals of the Pot Marigold are spicy and are edible, added to dishes as a garnish.

NOVEMBER- The Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums were cultivated in China as a flowering herb as far back as the 15th century BC. The flower was introduced into Japan probably in the 8th century AD, and the Emperor adopted the flower as his official seal. There is a "Festival of Happiness" in Japan that celebrates the flower.

 Yellow or white chrysanthemum flowers are boiled to make a sweet drink in some parts of Asia. Chrysanthemum tea has many medicinal uses, including an aid in recovery from influenza.  Chrysanthemum plants have been shown to reduce indoor air pollution by the NASA Clean Air Study. 

DECEMBER- The Poinsettia

The December birth flower is the Poinsettia, which equals celebration, success, reassurance, and good cheer

A Mexican legend explains how poinsettias came to be associated with Christmas. Apparently, a child who could not afford a gift to offer to Christ on Christmas Eve picked some weeds from the side of a road. The child was told that a humble gift, if given in love, would be acceptable in God's eyes. When brought into the church, the weeds bloomed into red and green flowers and the congregation felt they had witnessed a Christmas miracle. 

"Il Ferengi" è un vecchio barone, grande d'età e incapace di svolgere da solo le normali attività quotidiane; Aster è una persona del luogo in cui si svolgono i fatti (Massaua - Eritrea - colonia italiana nel '900) che si prende cura di lui. Subisce violenze, umiliazioni la donna fino a quando una notte...avviene qualcosa...

Per chi volesse conoscere ultiriori dettagli, ma non troppi, visto che si tratta di un giallo, segnalo questo link dove è presente una breve recensione: Recensione di "Ferengi" - Carlo Lucarelli (link). L'inizio del libro, invece, è possibile leggerlo qui: Incipit di "Ferengi" - Carlo Lucarelli (link).

Idag har vi fått flera ganska rejäla skurar, just nu regnar det på rätt bra (och Ron gick just ut med hundarna....). Det är fortfarande ganska varmt ändå så det är skönt att vara ute mellan skurarna. Jag har "dead headat" pion häcken som började se lite ledsen ut. Många blommor som blommat över och nattens regn gjorde att den såg minst sagt hängig ut. Nu är den fin igen.

Sjärnflockan på framsidan har slagit ut.

På framsidan har också en liten Alpaster som kommit väldigt fint i år igen. Förra året blommade den knappt alls. För några år sedan tog jag frön och lyckades odla upp några nya plantor som jag planterade på baksidan i väldigt soligt läge. I år har de kommit starkt.

For asters to be nice and full in the fall, you must cut them back now.  My rule of thumb is to cut them back twice, but never after the 4th of July.  This year I just did them about 4 days ago, so I think that will be it for this year, I won't have time to cut them again, or they won't bloom until October.  Here's a photo of my tall New England asters behind the lavender bearded iris (which I just planted last fall to hide the aster's lower foliage, which gets a fugus every year.  I try to control it with a garlic oil spray, which does help, but the lower leaves still turn brown).  The photo below is when I am half way done cutting them back, the front has been cut, the back is still tall. The last step will be to put a grow through system in. Mine have gotten too big for store bought grow-through hoops, so I put 4 stakes around them and criss-cross some green string around and through them.

© Anthony E. Larson, 2005

The Keys to Prophecy VII:

A New Heaven, a New Earth

Our culture knows nothing of the incredible changes wrought in the heavens anciently.  This is so because of our ‘scientific' view that there have been no significant changes in the solar system's arrangement during recorded history.

But the scriptures and the prophets are insistent, in spite of our ‘scientific' beliefs:  The heavens have repeatedly changed throughout ancient history.  This is a primary message the ancients and the prophets sought to convey to us across the millennia.

The result: Our modern ignorance of the true past blinds us to the unanimous declarations of our distant ancestors.

The concept of sweeping changes in the sky and the earth are found everywhere in the scriptures.  For example, in the Doctrine & Covenants we read: "And the end shall come, and the heaven and the earth shall be consumed and pass away, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth.

"For all old things shall pass away, and all things shall become new, even the heaven and the earth, and all the fullness thereof, both men and beasts, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea." (D&C 29:23, 24.)

Also, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1.)

Perhaps the apostle Peter said it best when he spoke of the Deluge, explaining that it was the defining event that changed the ‘old heavens' into the sky we see today.  "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."  (2 Peter 3:5-7.)

Then, he went on to further explain that a similar change was in store for us in the last days.  "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."  (Ibid. 3:10.)

We read the same sort of language in the texts of all ancient cultures, where we find the pervasive, ever-present fear that something terrible that happened in the past would repeat itself in the future.  Indeed, all ancient cultures relate that there have been dramatic changes in the heavens, calling the epochs in between "ages" or "suns."  The Greek philosopher Hesiod associates these ages with various metals, as does Daniel in his Old Testament vision of the statue with a head of gold, a torso of silver, belly and thighs of brass and legs of iron.

These fearsome changes were universally attributed to stars or planets in the form of gods, goddesses, beasts or serpents.  Surely, then, Joseph Smith was correct to call these images of the ancients "stars" and "planets," as we have seen.

Even our language retains this key.  The words for world-changing cataclysms are catastrophe (cat-astro-phe) and disaster (dis-aster).  Both bear the same ‘astr' root as the goddess-stars of antiquity: Aster, Astarte, Ashtoreth or Hathor.  In fact, one interpretation of the word "disaster" is literally "from the star."

This the ancients feared above all: destruction from the stars that changed everything.

No wonder they were fiercely dedicated sky watchers, including prophets like Abraham, preoccupied with the motions of planets and stars.  No wonder they endlessly adorned their texts, temples and tombs with symbols and metaphors of star gods, goddesses and beasts derived from the appearance of those planets.

But because our culture and science turn a blind eye to these declarations, Latter-day Saints frequently fail to appreciate the many statements by Joseph Smith that echo the beliefs of the ancients: Planets and stars are the origins of almost all scriptural and prophetic imagery.

 Stars and planets on the Salt Lake Temple reflect an ancient, customary obsession with the heavens.  On the west wall buttresses, near the bottom of the photo are Sun Stones.  In the middle are the stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Big Dipper.  Immediately above those is a repeated pattern of circles within a ring, called Saturn Stones by Brigham Young.

That's why those images dominate the exterior of LDS temples, just as they did their ancient counterparts.  Our temples reflect both realities, the past and the present heavens.

The prophets, both ancient and modern, understood this key.  So should we.

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© Anthony E. Larson, 2005

 The Keys to Prophecy V:

Stars and Planets

Up to this point in our examination of the many clues to the extravagant images of prophecy, we have learned that we need not look to mystical texts or veiled mysteries for our answers.  Nor have we found that the answers lie in interpreting prophetic imagery with modern eyes.

Instead, we have found the answers in a more mundane source, in the scriptures and in ancient history-evidence that has been hiding in plain sight all along.

We discovered that the dragons, man-beasts, women, kings, angels, stars and other extravagant images encountered in the scriptures are but descriptive word pictures of the images that the ancients worshipped, the same icons seen in ancient temples, tombs and monuments.  We have seen that the imagery of prophecy and mythology spring from the same, ancient source, hence their similarities.

The next step is a bit larger leap of logic, but a crucial one: What do those images represent?

Looking at the Egyptian gods, we often see large circular icons on their heads, what scholars call "sun disks."  The juxtaposition of the disks and the gods is extremely meaningful.

A common Egyptian theme, Ra (Re) is pictured seated in a bark or ship with a disk above his head.  This same scene can be seen on Facsimile No. 2, Figure 3, in the Book of Abraham.

Scholars explain that the ancients were sun worshippers, so those disks must represent the sun.  However, Joseph Smith contradicted that assumption when he gave us another key, and it has been before our very eyes for generations now.

Those disks and creatures, as Joseph repeatedly asserts in his explanations of the Pearl of Great Price facsimiles, represented planets and stars, not the sun.  The only exception is in Figure 5 in Facsimile No. 2, first called by Joseph a "governing planet."  He then adds the comment that the Egyptians called it the Sun, which is true of the late, corrupted Egyptian traditions his papyrus represented.  But according to the earliest beliefs, her name designates this cow goddess as a star.

The cow depicted in Figure 5 was called Hathor, as we have seen.  Along with her equivalents in other cultures-Astarte, Aster and Ishtar-her name bore the root ‘s-t-r' sound of our word ‘star' (the ‘s' and ‘t' were pronounced with the ‘th' sound in Hathor.) 

Keep in mind that the ancients' designated all celestial objects as stars.  The word ‘planet' (derived from the Greek ‘planeta,' meaning ‘wanderer') is a recent invention, thanks to the telescope that allows us to differentiate between stars and planets. 

Hence, Joseph Smith's designation of a ‘s-t-r' goddess as a planet is symbolically consistent and extremely meaningful.  He thus implies that the stars they worshipped were actually planets, the very thing the juxtaposed disks suggest.

Putting both the creature and the disk together-common practice in early Egyptian religious art-was symbolically accurate and a proper way to emphasize that they both represented the same thing, a planet or star.  In fact, this was a functional way to label the figures, since most people were illiterate.  Instead of text that read "star," those pagan gods often carried or wore a symbol that bespoke their astral origin.

Some of the more elaborately rendered disk images, painted and rendered in relief, look to be nearly virtual snapshots of planets, a few complete with a sun-lit crescent.

Joseph Smith's explanation of disk images such as these was that they represented planets, which is what all such Egyptian disk images resemble.

Let's look closely at how emphatic Joseph Smith was in his explanations of these disks and creatures.

Kolob is said by Abraham to be "the greatest" of the stars (Kokaubeam), but it is represented in Facsimile No. 2, Figure 1 by a figure Egyptologists identify as Amon-Re or Khnum, the creator-god, thus implying that the god was an astral body.

The baboons on either side have what scholars call "moon disks," presumably because of the crescent beneath the disk, placed over their heads in the traditional Egyptian manner.  But these disks do not represent the moon any more than others represent the sun.  Joseph insists that they are stars in his explanation of Figure 5.

What becomes clear is that the objects the early Egyptians called stars would be called planets in our time.  What we see in the disk illustrations are not stars, but planets.  Additionally, only planets have sun-lit crescents, as depicted in ancient art, not stars.

Joseph Smith understood.  He did not confuse the issue, as do modern scholars.  Indeed, one can suggest that what looks like confusion at first blush was no mix-up at all.  By freely substituting the two terms, Joseph honored the ancient tradition.  He acknowledged the ancients' reality that some of today's stars, now mere pinpoints of light, were actually great, nearby planets in antiquity, which dominated Earth's heavens and were worshipped by their ancestors as gods.

Indeed, this hypothesis fits much better with Abraham's vision of the ancient heavens and Joseph Smith's explanations of the facsimile images than any current view.

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If starting a garden seems like more work than it's worth, read on because square foot gardening will change your life. And if it doesn't change your life, it will make gardening much easier and more fun.

I first learned about Square Foot Gardening from a PBS television series in the 70's hosted by Mel Bartholomew. I picked up Mel's Book years ago but only recently put his techniques to practice.

"Square foot gardening will save you at least 80 percent of the space, time, and money normally needed to garden, and at the same time will produce a better and more continuous harvest with less work."

-Mel Bartholomew

Why it works so well:

1. Garden design is simple...just fill in the squares.
2. Weeds do not overtake a square foot garden.
3. Soil is not compacted by foot traffic...plants flourish.
4. More plants in less space.
5. Most important: You will actually enjoy and succeed at vegetable gardening.

Those of us who love gardening can't wait for Spring. We have high hopes of planting a variety of vegetables, perhaps some flowers, and maybe even a few odd-looking vegetables just to see how they turn out (last year it was purple carrots). I've always taught my kids that gardening is an adventure. We may be doing battle with some pests, or encounter a few setbacks, but we will be rewarded as well. The square foot gardening method eliminates the drudgery of rototilling and grading each year lets get right into planting.

The three basics steps of square foot gardening are:

1. Build a box
2. Fill with planting mix
3. Make a grid

I covered the box-building in my earlier post. Today I want to touch on the planting mix and dive into the grid and planting techniques. While I have been purchasing bags of "garden soil" buying bulk garden mix, Mel Bartholomew suggests the following mixture:

Mel's Mix

• 1/3 blended compost
• 1/3 peat moss
• 1/3 coarse vermiculite

I'll probably give it a try next year in one box and post the results.

The magic is in the grid. Start with a 4 foot by 4 foot raised bed. divide the box into 12 inch squares. You must do this to make it work. In the box above, I painted a few old wooden stakes and cut them to size.

Now you just plant according the the specs on the seed packet EXCEPT that you plant in a square foot rather that a row. For example, you can fit 4 lettuce heads per square, 9 bush beans per square, 1 broccoli per square, 2 cucumbers per square, 16 carrots per square, 1 eggplant per square, 1 muskmelon per square, 16 onions per square. Are you getting the picture? You can pack a lot of plants in that small space.

In the garden box above, we planted:

4 watermelons (4 squares against trellis)

Scabiosa (1 square)

Zinnias (2 squares)

Chocolate Flower (1 square)

16 lettuce (2 varieties, 4 squares)

Pansies (1 square)

Aster (1 square)

18 spinach (2 squares)

In this box...

We planted:

6 cucumbers (4 Straight Eight, 2 Japanese Soyu Burpless)

2 vining squash (Trombetti di Albonga)

2 acorn squash (Table King)

8 Thai Basil

4 Italian Basil

4 Purple Basil

4 Savory

32 Carrots (Tondi di Parigi)

32 Carrots (French Baby)

Since larger plants require more than a single square , cut your grid markers into one and two-foot sections so that you can improvise like this.

Back Row: We've got sugar snap peas on the fence. I just planted pole beans in there (Scarlet Emperor) to take over when it gets too hot for the peas.

Next Row up: Tomatoes require 2 square feet, so I've planted two of them in that 3x2 area.

Next Row: Eggplant (Rosa Bianca & Black Beauty) requires 1 square foot, so we planted one on either side of the bush beans (Tavera).

Next Row: 2 strawberries (everbearing) and 1 zucchini (Clarinette Lebanese). This squash actually requires 3ftx3ft, so I'm pushing it with the 2ftx2ft space. We'll see how it goes.

Front Row: 3 everbearing strawberries

For more information, planting guides, trellis ideas and more, pick up Mel's Book. If you have any square foot gardening tips, tricks and success, please share them.