Cancer, Water, Owls &; Crabs… ChatterLog July 2013

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Cancer, Water, Owls & Crabs… ChatterLog July 2013

Cancer, The Crab

Greetings everyone – and welcome to the July ChatterBulletin and the Watery sign of Cancer! Speaking of Water – consider how much rain we have had recently, and when I say rain, I mean rain, as in torrential, tropical rain. And now that we have moved into the season of summer the only Water most people are concerned with is either in the ocean or the local swimming pool! And yes, I am happy to report that my local pool has already opened and I am enjoying swimming outdoors again! Interestingly, I recently received an email promo from Steve Bloom Images, and the theme for their July newsletter was simply “Water, Water, Everywhere” and I wondered if they even realized that they were directly referencing Astrology by choosing Water as the theme for this month?

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Cuban Fried Pork Chunks – ChatterRecipe July 2013

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Masitas de Puerco or Cuban Fried Pork Chunks

Masitas de Puerco/Cuban Fried Pork Chunks © Steve Giralt

For this month’s recipe I asked last year’s July ChatterArtist and food photographer Steve Giralt to share both a recipe and an image with us. And the timing was perfect since his brand new and very own First Generation Cuban-American Cookbook will be available from July 15, 2013! And the tasty recipe that Steve shared with us from the book is Masitas de Puerco, or Cuban Fried Pork Chunks, which serves six. Ironically (or not) when I asked Atlanta-based food photographer and another Cancer, Iain Bagwell to do the same thing last July, he too gave us a dish with “pork” as the main ingredient! Coincidence… Or not…

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Tips using Chalk – ChatterTip July 2013

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Tips using Chalk

© Louisa J. Curtis

In case you hadn’t noticed, I love researching home remedies and useful tips that utilize natural ingredients or items found in your kitchen pantry and around the home (I have done since I was young) and, that I also tie in the tips with the Astrological sign for each month. It’s not just about finding natural cures – it’s also fascinating to me when the cure or remedy uses an unexpected item, just like with the mayonnaise last month! So this month for July and the sign of Cancer, I decided to go with unusual Tips using Chalk.

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David Hockney – ChatterQuote July 2013

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David Hockney:

A belief is like a guillotine, just as heavy, just as light.

David Hockney Photo: UK Telegraph © HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY

David Hockney is a British Painter, Draughtsman, Printmaker, Photographer and Stage Designer – a Cancer, who was born on July 9, 1937 in Bradford, England, the fourth of five children. Now in his mid seventies, he currently splits his time between his homes in Kensington, London and Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire. Plus, he also maintains two additional residences in California.

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J.D. Scott – ChatterArtist July 2013

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Our ChatterArtist for this month is Atlanta-based photographer J.D. Scott – a Cancer, born on July 19 – a “late” Cancer making him close to the next sign of Leo. When you are born on the “cusp” between two signs, you will naturally take on some of the characteristics of the other sign, as well as your actual Sun sign. So with J.D., for example, we see the “nurturing” Cancer in much of his work, which is all about education, family, healthcare, humanitarian issues and so on. And then the Leo comes out in his love of the creative arts, and his ability to have fun with what he does, which in turn allows his subjects to have fun too.

Self assigned work documenting senior citizens in Atlanta. © J.D. Scott

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Bill Bernstein – ChatterClient Profile July 2013

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I decided to do something different in the ChatterClient section featuring a client born under the sign for that month along with a quick profile and sampling of their images. Plus I also wanted to share a little bit with my readers about how I work with each client. For instance, I always ask a new client when their birthday is, simply because by knowing their Astrological sign it already gives me a lot of information and helps me determine how to best to communicate and work with them. So for this month, I am featuring a recent client I have really enjoyed working with, portrait-photographer Bill Bernstein.

© Bill Bernstein

Knowing Bill was a Cancer, I knew I could talk as much as I liked and tell him this, that, or the other, but the bottom line was unless he “felt”good about the work, the process and the edits, it didn’t matter. Simple. We knew we were making progress when it simply felt right, the “flow” of the edits worked (very important for a Water sign!) and if there was a problem image, we worked on the edit until it was either fixed or eliminated.

Now, if this client had been an Air sign, for example, then I would have approached things differently. For Air signs it’s all about intellectual communication, so I would use my words to appeal to his/her mental thought process. What also became apparent as we narrowed his image library down was a recurring theme, a magical gift that Bill possesses to make his subjects “feel” good so they in turn are relaxed and take a better picture! Bill is also a devoted father and husband, so “family” is important to him, another trait of the Cancer,and why we see great emotional moments in his Healthcare work, for instance.

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Gemini, Sport and the Number 2… ChatterLog June 2013

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Greetings everyone – and welcome to the June ChatterBulletin and the “dual” sign of Gemini!

Gemini, The Twins

Why dual when it is the 3rd sign of the zodiac? Well, look at the Symbol for starters and we have a pair, The Twins, and with the Glyph the duality is expressed by two Vertical Lines, along with two Horizontal Lines. Now, they say that things come in three’s, and they do, but with Gemini, they come in two’s, they just do. They say things twice, they have dual personalities, they eat two helpings of their food and if they’re smart, they will always buy two of everything because once the first one is gone or broken, they wish they had that second one! So what’s the theme for this month? I’m going with Sport and the Number 2.

So, speaking of pairs, there are some sports that require two people to compete against one another – tennis, Ping-Pong, pool, boxing, fencing, darts and badminton, for example. Why is this interesting, because the Ruler of Gemini is Mercury, and it was Mercury, or Hermes who gave us boxing, gymnastics, track & field, tennis, and the invention of weights & measures. And speaking of tennis, I would be remiss not to mention that while preparing the Gemini newsletter, I watched some of the French Open Tennis Finals, in which Rafael Nadalwon the Men’s trophy for an unprecedented 8th time – he is the first man ever (as in ever) to win the same Grand Slam tournament that many times! And, he did it after being out of the game for 7 months due to injuries. He is truly remarkable.

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Jill Waterman – ChatterArtist June 2013

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Our ChatterArtist for this month is Jill Waterman, who ironically introduced me to last month’s ChatterArtist Linda Rutenberg, and they both like to photograph at night! Jill is a Gemini, born on June 5thand we first met when I was still working at PDN and PhotoServe. We immediately became friends, and I will never forget when my back went out and I was stuck in my apartment for several weeks, it was Jill who came by to see me and bring me some of my work from the office!

FYI – I chose this beautiful image of the Aurora Borealis to head Jill’s article because it fits the Gemini theme so perfectly – Gemini is connected with Electricity and your Nervous System!

Nightscape: Aurora Borealis, Iceland © Jill Waterman

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Bob Monkhouse – ChatterQuote June 2013

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Bob Monkhouse:

When I said I was going to become a comedian, they all laughed. Well, they’re not laughing now, are they?
Growing old is compulsory – growing up is optional.

Bob Monkhouse 1928-2003

You may (or may not) have noticed that my quotes for the last several months have all come from funny people – which is ironic really since now we have arrived at the sign of Gemini, who is truly the jokester of the zodiac! So I would be remiss if I did not continue the trend and bring you a quote (actually two since Gemini is a “dual” sign represented by the symbol of the “twins”) from yet another funny person! Last year I chose Joan Rivers (who turns 80 this month!), so this time I decided to go with a British Comedian I grew up with, Robert Alan “Bob” Monkhouse, OBE (Order of the British Empire), a Gemini, born June 1, 1928 in Beckenham, Kent, England, and who died on December 29, 2003 aged 75 in Eggington, Bedfordshire, England.

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