What a bloggy year. Out of hundreds of posts, & mountains of statistics, here is 2010…by numbers.

We started collecting stats in March & I was overjoyed to see 14713 hits. WOW! This has now grown to around 34000 per month. Way too many of these are still spam, but hey, people are reading!

The Questions You Ask

The top 10 search words/phrases for the year:

1. Venus in Cancer
2. Venus in Cancer Man
3. Venus in Scorpio woman
4. Venus in Scorpio Man
5. Venus in Scorpio
6. Scorpio rejection
7. Scorpio obsession
8. Scorpio sex
9. Taurus Man
10. Uranus transits

My favourite repeated search questions/phrases- seriously, these come up month after month:

1. How to annoy an Aries
2. Aries men lose interest after sex
3. Venus conjunct ascendant
4. Taurus man cheating
5. How to talk to an Aries man
6. How to keep interest of Gemini man
7. Will Scorpio Moon man ever forgive
8. Jupiter 7th house transit means divorce
9. Pisces fickle
10. Will Libra man leave his wife?

Your Favourite Blogs:

These are the blogs which scored the most hits- not necessarily the ones with the most comments. Strangely your faves don’t match mine!

1. Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights & Venus in Scorpio
2. Relax Take it Easy, Mars in Virgo
3. The Castle, the Perfect Parmi & One I Prepared Earlier
4. Jupiter Transits of the 10th House
5. Great Expectations
6. There’s Only So Much You Can Learn in One Place
7. This is How It Feels- Mercury in Cancer
8. Hello Hello- Gemini
9. Read My Body Language- Venus in Taurus
10. When You Say Nothing at All- Mercury in Pisces
11. Holding Out For A Hero- Venus in Aries
12. Revenge is Sweeter Than You Ever Were- Mars in Scorpio
13. Put it in a Lovesong- Venus in Gemini
14. Breaking Free- Venus aspecting Uranus
15. Jealousy- Venus in Scorpio
16. Is Bigger Better? Jupiter Transits of the 1st house
17. Pandemonium- Aries Sun
18. So Does This Mean We Are Getting Married? Venus in Cancer
19. Watch Me Come Undone- Jupiter Transits of the 12th House
20. La Vie En Rose- Venus in Pisces

 My favourites? With venus in Aries & Mars in Scorpio how could I resist my Aries or Scorpio posts? But my absolute favourite is Pandemonium- it reminds me of a few of my favourite, albeit most frustratingly irresistable people in the world.

Thanks to all those who have made comments about the titles- I love to name my blogs after songs that strike a chord with me, so to speak. Thanks also to those who enjoy the occasional recipes.

But mostly, thanks to everyone over the past year who has read the ramblings of my chaotic Pisces mind.

Bamboo on Bintan Island (off the coast of Singapore). Pic by me.

HTF did I forget about Pluto? Or more specifically the annual Sun/Pluto conjunction?

Anyways, I did, & it is exact right about….now.

What does it mean? Intensity, growth, rebirth, transformation. I intend using the transformational energy on that closet of mine, or perhaps to move a plan from my head into a concrete goal. This conjunction nicely aspects Mars & the nodal axis for me, so it’s a great time for that type of energy. You may choose to use it another way…

I have just made a fruit slice to take up the Coast to visit my brother & his wife & kids. One of the kids has a nut & egg allergy, so this slice has neither- is sort of a mix of sweet biscuit base with cocnut, dried fruit & condensed milk (how very kiwi ) & a lemon icing (another Annabel Langbein recipe- this time from her Savour the Pacific book)- but something that I know the kids can eat without risk of anything nasty happening as a result. How very Virgo Moon of me.

If you are interested in the recipe, here it is, with great thanks to Annabel Langbein:

• Melt together 100g butter & 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk. Stir this & keep an eye on it, cos the mix can turn to caramel (or at least nasty little brown bits on the bottom of the saucepan) like “that”.
• Crush 250g pack of plain sweet biscuits.
• Chop 2 cups of dried fruits. I use at least half apricots as it cuts down on the sweetness a tad, but also use mango, pineapple, papaya. Save 1/4 cup for the icing.
• Mix together the crushed bikkies, dried fruits, 1 cup desiccated coconut, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice & the condensed milk/butter mix.
• Press it all into a tin (about 30cm x24cm) & bung it in the fridge until set.
• For the icing- mix together 50g melted butter, 3 tablespoons of boiling water, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice & 3 1/2 cups icing sugar until it is a smooth paste & spread over the slice, sprinkling the leftover dried fruit bits.
• Throw it back in the fridge until set.

A little bit of downunder summer!

© Saje | Dreamstime.com

With the gym closed yesterday, after putting away the Christmas presents, I spent the day cleaning out the closet in my spare room.

Regular readers may recall that I painted this room a few weeks back with a view to chaning its’ main purpose from Craft Room to TV/Hang Out Room. The paint job is one thing, but the crap in the closet is an entirely different thing! I have this vision of a crap free area with the sofa bed/lounge thing visible from beneath piles of books & photos & a closet which can be opened without fear of decapitation.

Actually it is this last point that inspired my efforts yesterday- on a whirlwind trip to Canberra to see my Scorpio mother in law before Xmas, she sent home boxes of photos & yet another album of photos of people which mean nothing to my husband. My husband took possession of them because she said the boxes fall out of her closet & hit her on the head every time she opens the door…and because I married the only Scorpio in existence who accumulates stuff. I call it a rubbish transfer as now they can fall out of my closet & hit me on the head.

So when I opened that door I found not only all the other stuff she has sent up over the years (her idea of Scorpio elimination is to send it to my house where his Taurus Rising then attaches imaginary sentimental significance to it), but a sort of carbon dating of every hobby I have had over the last 20 years or so:

• paint from when I was doing folk art (circa 1989-1992)
• Textured paint & other mediums from when I moved onto pots & paint effects (1992-1995)
• Watercolour paints (on & off from 1994- 1999)
• pastels (short lived 1997-1998)
• calligraphy pens (used once)
• watercolour pencils (a brief flirtation with fashion drawing)
• sketch pads of various shapes & types- mostly unused 
• lead lighting pattern books (the tools are still in the garage) (2001-2004)
• Scrapbooking  supplies (1998- 2007…but I still dabble a little)
• Reams & reams of mounted slides & negatives plus the accessories for numerous SLR cameras- filters, slide viewers, tripod remote switches etc (1995- present)

Phew! And that doesn’t count boxes of photos, boxes of cards (I found every card that my hubby & I have exchanged over the last 22 years), plus 7 years of art, school stuff & reports from Five Foot Nothing (who at last back to back measurement must be at least 5ft 3 3/4 now because she is taller than me). And all the crap from Mother in Law.

So yesterday under a detached everything in its’ place Virgo Moon I sorted & I analysed & I threw out. I took photos of daughter’s art & turfed all but a few favourites. All her schoolbooks, all paints older than 5 years, all non working camera parts, all half finished craft projects. I have a pile of brand new scrapbooking supplies & papers for listing on ebay. My slides have all been slid into plastic sleeves & filed in a folder. Negatives have all been stashed in negative boxes & photos containing people that we either don’t know the name of or have never known were thrown out (my argument being that you can’t have sentimental attachment to a photo of someone or something you have never known actually won out for a change). Old cassette tapes have been thrown & the room is starting to look like somewhere you can hang out in. I still have more work to do in there today, but am definitely getting there.

Yesterdays Virgo Moon was perfect for that. My neighbours spent their day cleaning out rooms to prepare for painters, my husband wrestled for 5 hours with wires & leads for the new home theatre speaker system I bought him (so he can watch his high quality Steven Segall movies in surround sound) & our daughter even cleaned her room…properly. It was either those activities or watch the cricket…and with Australia all out for 98, I think we made the right choice!

Today the Moon is still in Virgo and will move to oppose Jupiter & Uranus by early evening (Sydney time). Which brings me neatly into New Year Resolutions (which we will talk more about tomorrow)… The Moon opposing Jupiter is a great time to put some structure around your blue sky dreaming…just in time for New Years Eve.

Anyways, back to the closet for me- have a great day!

New York Municipal Buildings

From so many great photos this year, my favourite- taken in New York in February- from 40C to below zero in just a plane flight!

The tree at the Lions Den before the kids get into it...

Some things about Xmas are easy to predict. At Chez Tracey our usual Christmas goes something like:

• Get up,  pop Xmas carols on the ipod, turn the tree lights on & open the bubbly
• Open pressies. Drink some more bubbly.
• Brekky of smoked salmon & tattie scones (hubby makes these Scottish potato pikelets called tattie drappits). And bubbly.
• Jo takes the dog for a walk to sober up (Jo, not the dog)
• Over to the Lion’s Den for Xmas lunch- my Mum & Dad do the traditional roast- even if it is 40C outside.
• The kids hit the Xmas tree in a major way & my sister watches anxiously to see whether I have given her boys toys of noise or destruction (my personal fave was still the drum kit… & I was talked out of the paint ball guns this year)
• A swim & another walk to move lunch along a little.
• Prawns, oysters & more bubbly in the evening at friends

This year the Moon is in playful & generous Leo. Not only is the joy really in the giving, with Leo also about the mane, I reckon I may be able to get through the day without my Mum making her customary comment about how my hair looked so much better & controlled when it was super short.

Leo is also about the family & pride. Xmas can be a time of charged emotions, so be as generous to yourself as you are to others…particularly if faced with family arguments & grievances. With Mercury still retrograde think before you speak & allow extra time to move between everywhere you need to be moving between. The day is usually stressful enough without adding to it with time pressures.

Wishing everyone a happy, safe, healthy Christmas…may the jolly red suited one be good to you & may peace be with you.

Love & Light

Jo