No, no, no. I am not a “crabby” blogger.
Read that title more carefully, please.
It says I’m a “crab blogger”.
Which means someone of the Cancerian persuasion, born between June 21st and July 22nd. Our sign is that of the little sea and sand creature, the crab.
Peaceful freezing river
Laurie, over there at Speaking from the Heart, has been sharing Astrological Signs with us recently. Yesterday, finally, she reached the Crab Month. I’ve been waiting impatiently to see if anything applied to this personality.
She says Cancerians have these traits:
The ability to feel and intuitively know
Emotional and loving
Intuitive and imaginative
Shrewd and cautious
Protective and sympathetic
You can read more by clicking here. Or click on her blog and scroll to your appropriate sign and see if it sounds like you. (You may have to check back later if you’re born after July 22nd. Lucky for you, she posts every Tuesday and Thursday.)
OK, Laurie, it sounds good. I put checks after most of the traits. I–who have always thumbed my nose at Astrology–may now be–almost–a convert.
Except for that shrewd and cautious part. (Although am extremely cautious in a physical sense! Ask anyone who has been skiing with me. Very cautious.)
Then Laurie adds this line and I’m hooked:
Water signs need time to withdraw, to process emotional experiences, and then to reemerge into the world.
Hear the lapping of the tiny waves. Feel the rhythms of the water.
You guys who have been reading for three or more years know that my pattern involves coming on full force in the blogging world (sometimes for a long time) and then temporarily scuttling away to my shell to turn inward and retreat.
Yep, that’s what we water signs do.
It’s because we’re so darn emotional. We have to turn inward as much as we turn outward, or we start to shrivel and feel disconnected. (Although I’m suspicious that perhaps we ALL must do this. There is a natural rhythm in life of moving out and in, in and out. If we’re sensitive, we pay attention.)
OK, Life, I’m paying attention.
It seems to be saying, “C’mon, little Crab, it’s time to go into your shell for a while again.”
Sea creature. Not a crab. But close enough.
However, I don’t want to do the Big Escape this time. You know, the Big Escape where you simply disappear for ten days to two weeks.
No. We’re going to try something different this time.
I am going to ease off. Go into the shell, but peek out occasionally and add tidbits to the blogging tide.
So, here’s the sandy scoop. For the next while, I will be only posting once or twice a week.
Not seven full-blown days of memoirs and photography and Mish-Mash thoughts and ghost stories.
Once or twice a week.
That’s all.
Here's lookin' at ya, kid.
P.S. Laurie just responded to my comment over at the crab blog with these words:
Kathy – I know you’ve been waiting. You’ve got a lot of “checks” and for that I’m glad. As to “cautions” — looking before you leap in physical things is a good idea. And if you look up “shrewd” in your online thesaurus and you’ll find: “astute, sharp, on the ball, smart, perceptive, insightful, and wise: You’re shrewd as the day is long 🙂
As for that “shell” — I see it a bit differently on you. I see it as somewhat of a mantle, or beautiful cloak. Sometimes the wind blows the fabric away from you, but when it’s still, it covers you a bit more.
OK. Cool… this crab blogger is shrewd. If you say so, Ms. Laurie. And she’s wearing a beautiful cloak…but the wind is saying, “Blog once or twice a week for a while, Sea Creature! You don’t have to be a Hermit Crab this time, but you can be a ghost crab for a spell…You can do it…”
Yes, Mistress Wind. Time to listen to the deep inner rhythms once again.
We’ll see you, dear readers, as the tide flows in and out. At least during this holiday season. We’ll see what 2012 brings…
P.S.S. People are always saying I don’t need to explain my comings and goings. But, you know what? That’s what we Cancers do. We explain our comings and goings. I’m sure we do. At least this Cancer does!
Lake Superior Spirit 
Wow, Kathy, that’s got me summed up too… I’ve just scuttled on over to Laurie’s post (thanks muchly for the helpful link), and nodded my way through her description. Nod, nod, nod, yes, tick, yes, nod, uh-huh, yep, that’s me, yep, gosh-darnit-that’s-me-too… 🙂
Really? Are we the same, then? I am thrilled that gosh-darnit-we’re-the-same! **grin**
Yep 🙂 I am thrilled too, Kathy! *grinning from ear to ear*.
I love your scuttling ways and find you so tolerant and accepting of others’ “ways” … We Aquarians need all the acceptance we can get! Ha! Love you, My Crab Friend of the North Woods.
Susan D, I thought there was a photo somewhere of me with a horseshoe crab. I looked high and low. It did not present itself. I am glad you think I am tolerant of the ways of others. I try. My deepest self knows there is no division. My more shallow self sometimes gets alarmed. LOL!
Very good! I don’t believe in horoscopes either but everyone who knows me says I am a total Gemini so – I guess that is another wild coincidence huh? 🙂
A TOTAL Gemini? My goodness! That means you are a Twin, right? So that means you’re probably split in half. (I forgot what Laurie said about Geminis, but I thought she described HALF of Barry. The other half was probably the polar opposite. Same with you?)
I’m a total Gemini too Nicole 😀 and feel somewhat cautious to put much into horoscopes. However, when Laurie told about the Geminis, it was right on the money for me and for my Mom (who was also a Gemini). As far as people who didn’t fit the horoscopes there was a Pisces that didn’t fit and a Cancer that didn’t fit. Now, Kathy…I would say the Cancer description fits you perfectly and I LOVE Laurie’s comment to you. She is so perceptive! ♥ Yes indeed Kathy…you wear a beautiful cloak for a shell and your comings and goings are part of what makes you unique and I admire how true you are to yourself ♥
Love the “looking at you kid” picture…sooooooo cute!
Enjoy your quiet time away my friend…♥
It’s weird, Brenda, I used to read generalized horoscopes about the astrological signs and didn’t think I fit into a Cancer pattern at all. Wonder where Laurie has discovered these traits? I so appreciate when you say I am true to myself–it is something that hopefully we all discover as we “grow up”. It is good for me to take these breaks…I discovered that my meditation was being totally interrupted because there were constant story-lines running in the head. A good nudge that it’s time to re-center. Hope your have a good ten days before Christmas.
Kathy – This was so much FUN to read with the the photographs woven in for good measure. The face on the last one — Here’s lookin’ at you kid — is incredible!
Thank you for pointing to Speaking from the Heart 🙂
Thank YOU for the inspiration, Laurie, and….here’s lookin’ at you, kid!
I often wonder where you find the energy to post every day, and I’m retired.
I bopped over to check out Laurie’s Blog. I’m still not convinced about astrology as we all can find what we want to in it. Traits mentioned can be common to all of us.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to ponder …
Love your photos today, especially the last one. Happy New Year !
I guess I find the energy to post because I have loved it, Sybil. You know how–when you love something so much–it feels like it’s easy, and no trouble at all? Writing has always energized and rarely depleted. But, like all good relationships, there is a time for togetherness and time for separateness. Thank you!
Hey Kathy, I quite believe you have most of the cancerian traits – emotional & loving, intuitive & imaginative. I often read about astrology – just for fun though. I wobbled onto Laurie’s blog hunting for my sign – capricorn! And Laurie mentions capricorns are most compatible with cancerians too 🙂 do you feel good about it? 😉
Sonali, I have ALWAYS especially loved Capricorns! My first best friend was a Capricorn, born on Christmas day. My daughter is a Capricorn, too. I am utterly thrilled that you are one, as well! (I hope your card has found its way to you by now…)
I certainly understand the need to take a step back and catch your breath once in a while! I get overwhelmed sometimes, and then after I’ve had a bit of a break, that’s when the words start coming back.
Sounds like you have a good system going, Ms. Holly. I have at least two parts of myself. The part that would love to post every day for the rest of myself, and the part that prefers silence. (Usually I listen to the first part.) However, sometimes the second part gets very insistent. Like now. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season filled with many photographs and no overwhelm.
I never have written even half as often as you, and I’m still taking a break! Enjoy your respite, and thanks for these pictures. I love the freezing river and the layers in the picture of the not-crab especially 🙂
I hope you are enjoying your break, Heather. I keep peeking over there to see if you’ve written or posted anything else. Glad you liked the photos here! I may be going into daily blogging withdrawals today and may need a support group today….lol!
I think this is a fine plan. I’ve cut back drastically of late. I started posting daily, then cut back to 5 days a week. Now I’m in a Monday, Wednesday, Friday pattern. For me, like you, it’s the memoir stuff that is exhausting. I’m an aries, but stil feel like I, too, need to retreat to my shell at times–like to nap for a week or two.
Kathy
Smiling–wondering what it would be like to nap for a week or two. My meditation teacher once said that when people start meditating sometimes they need to sleep for weeks. (Isn’t that strange?) I wonder if memoir-writing simply opens up that inner space as well, and now sleep can rejuvenate the areas which were perhaps held too tightly by unresolved memories. Hmmmm….
The plan sounds good, and if you decide to revise it in either direction, that will be fine, too. Plans should be revisable whenever possible. You showed us commitment with “Opening the Door,” so you’ve earned the right to be flexible now. I love the shell!
Pamela, I like the permission you give to revise plans! Sometimes I’m really good at commitment…other times, not-so-good. Sometimes too flexible, other times not-flexible-enough. Gosh, we humans have such a balancing act not to fall off our high wire! Wishing you exquisite balancing…
I like to remember the French verb ‘balancer’ and its meaning, ‘to swing’ or to go up and down. A teeter-totter is a ‘balancoir.’ So is some other piece of playground equipment I forget at the moment. The idea, though, for me, is that balance is not stasis. Big difference. Going back and forth IS balancing! Doesn’t that put a smile on your face?
I love the idea that balance is not stasis–that it’s about continual re-adjustment! That puts it into words so perfectly, Pamela. Thank you!
I think we have our birth sign, but a bit of other signs get mixed in there too. I am a Sagittarius but I do the pull back into my own safe harbor thing when I feel overloaded. I need to be alone and silent to process. I had a Virgo friend, married to a Sagittarius, who said Virgo spends its whole life picking up after Sagittarius. Hmph!
Yep, Carol, just as I suspected. (Most of me suspects that we have characteristics of ALL the signs. That, in our largest sense, we’re the entire spectrum of the horoscope.) I was going to offer advice about what Virgo and Sagittarius SHOULD do to reconcile this situation, but, on second thought, will let these two signs figure it out. 🙂
I am a crab blogger myself, Kathy, and I’ve always found that typical “Cancer” traits sum me up just about perfectly! I truly understand the need for retreat, and I wish you luck being a ghost crab blogger for the next little while. 😉
I am always thrilled to meet another crab blogger, Dana! I am looking forward to this ghost-crab spell…although another part of me might need a ten-step program. 🙂
It’s just because you’ve progreeeeeeeeeessed Kathy!
I’ve progressed, Elisa? Really? **grinning mightily**
Well Kathy I must say I am so glad to hear that you are not going to do a complete disappearing act this time 🙂 I have always found those hard as I get so darn attached. Not that I mind you disappearing. I am all for breaks but I want to know when you are coming back even if it is a month. Best of the holidays to you and I look forward to your blogging company in 2012.
No complete disappearing act this time, Terrill. My son just said, “You like to quit things, don’t you?” I said, “Yes! Simplifying is something I dearly love to do.” It’s hard when we get so attached, isn’t it? I get terribly attached, too, to some things and people and places. I am actually coming back once or twice a week. Just not blogging every day like the bloggin’ fool that I usually am. 🙂 It’s good to see you again, Terrill.
Thanks very much for the link to Laurie’s site. I enjoyed reading the posts and comparing the traits to people I know. Even though I don’t put much credence into a “daily horoscope” I’ve always known I’m a true Taurus, and Laurie’s description rings very true for me.
I love the “here’s looking at you” rock! How great that you saw that.
I’m glad that you aren’t going into full blog retreat – one or two blog posts a week seem to be about all I can manage when I am not on a break from school, so that seems pretty normal to me! 🙂
I am glad you enjoyed visiting Laurie’s site, Karma. Isn’t that rock great? I love how he looked. (Hmmm….wonder why I just called him a “he”?) I like your perspective that my blogging retreat is your blogging normality. If we just change our perspective we learn so much! Thank you.
I checked the link but it looks like I’ll have to wait as I saw no sign (ha) of Sagittarius. I think Laurie’s description of Cancerians sounds very much like what I know of you.
I agree with you about how we all need to retreat once in a while. It does a body, mind, heart, and soul good. Enjoy your small retreats. I will likely be doing the same soon. 🙂
Yep, Robin, it looks like you’ll have to wait a big for Sagittarius! I am enjoying this small retreat already. I also feel more energized to read the blogs of others–as well as to spend more time simply relaxing without the constant arising of words. Enjoy your retreat when it announces itself to your heart.
“Time to listen to the deep inner rhythms once again…”
There’s some of that going on here as well… Love the peaceful freezing river. Yesterday I watched a documentary, “Nature: Christmas in Yellowstone.” Besides the stunning nature photography it was interesting seeing how the different animals behaved at midwinter. Mama Grisly Bear was hibernating and while in that state gave birth to two cubs. She continued hibernating but the little ones were lively, playing safely around her in the den. I imagined what it might be like to withdraw and conserve strength without having to worry about the little ones!
That documentary sounds so interesting, Barbara. My friend, Jan, has been watching documentaries lately and she makes some of them seem so appealing. Interesting that hibernating behavior can look so different depending on perspectives. Thank you, dear friend-who-listens-to-deep-inner-rhythms.
I”m a water sign to (Pisces). This year I have lapsed into a pattern of visiting and commenting my friend’s blogs and then disappearing for long stretches. I feel I am trying to keep up with too many Internet things and need to refocus and get control.
I think your current idea is a good compromise for you. I do like a firm schedule because I know if I do not have one, I will eventually stop. I need those weekly blogging goals to keep me going.
So, in the near future, I’ll be around and will find my stride again in the blogging world.
Scott, I know that feeling of trying to keep up with too many Internet things…and then the need to find a balance. It’s almost as if we have an internal setting that warns us when things are getting too lopsided, and then we must readjust.
There is a part of me that wants to blog every day until I die. Another part thinks this is way too much. It’s interesting trying to find one’s stride when we have different parts of self that wants different things. Then it’s more like a tightrope balancing act.
Thinking now about how our stride becomes different at different times. Sometimes we’re walking with great energy and gusto, and sometimes (like in my husband’s case) a tiny tottering step is what is required next.
Merry Christmas, Scott!
What better time to take a little break than during the holidays? I wish I could do that, but noooo, I have to have a new post up every day, AND I feel guilty when I can’t keep up with my friends’ blogs (I’m three posts behind on some of them!!!)
I’m an Aquarius, and what Laurie wrote on her blog sounds somewhat like me.
Enjoy your little break… looking forward to your return 🙂
Hi Michaela! Do you think you’ll continue to do a daily blog next year? I know what you mean about being behind on blogs. I usually catch up with folks on the weekend. Can’t imagine how people who work full time do it! Oh, and you’ll think this is funny…I woke up dreaming about writing a blog this morning! Isn’t that hysterical? Now I’m writing blogs in dreams!
I wish there was a tool to organize how we visit and reply to our friends’ blogs. I have not come up with a good system.
Actually there is, at least on wordpress. You can utilize links or follow. You do not have to make the links public, to show up on the side of your own blog. You can mark them private and then choose to visit at a scheduled time. If you choose to do subsciptions, that come in email about blog updates from your friends, on wordpress you can schedule them to mail to you when you want, in the way you want. Hope this helps!
Tammy, the only system that works for me is following commenters back to their blogs. I have a list next to the computer (such as December 1st). Then, when a moment opens up I’ll click on the commenter and whiz over to the blog and say Howdy and comment back. (I’m not sure it’s a perfect system. But it makes sure that I do not miss the blogs of any commenters, although sometimes I fall way behind.)
I am also the little crab sea creature, born in July. I tend to spend more time in my shell, than out. I don’t think too many of the adjectives apply, but who am I to judge?
Hi, Bonnie! I am glad you scuttled out of your shell to say hi. (I suspect some of the adjectives apply to some of the people some of the time. But who knows? Trying to keep my mind open…)
Me too…I’m a crab, and fit the description quite well. I once took a reputable personality test and found myself sitting on the fence in regards to social/withdrawn, meaning, I MUST withdraw for periods of time, especially after especially heavy social events. The opposite is true for others; some people re-coup their energy by being with others; I, however, re-coup my energy by being alone. Great post, especially the falling snow!
Gosh, Monica, we’re alike! I took a similar test and was sittin’ on a similar fence, too. Weirder than that, I sometimes recoup my energy by being with others and sometimes by being alone and silent. Gosh, go figure. I wish there was an easier and more consistent formula… (Wishing you could have Blog Falling Snow too.)
Kathy, this is my sign too. And looking back, it’s always been a fit, even though I used to privately think that being a Leo or an Aries would be much more interesting 🙂
I wonder if we unfold into our signs as the years go by…….or maybe it’s the other way around. There are so many ways to look at this and understand it…. or not, but for me It fits in a way that no other sign does.
Hey there, dear Colleen! OK, OK, let’s call ourselves Closet Leos. LOL! (You know what most of me thinks? I think we travel AROUND the astrological calendar, learning and encompassing traits from each of the directions.) We may start as little crabbies, but pretty soon we’re the Twins. Or maybe–if we’re open–we encompass each of the zodiac signs in a single day. What do you think of this?
I think being married to a Crab has rubbed off on my Centaur-ean sensibilities! I often feel a pressing need to explain my comings and goings too 😀
You are married to a Crab? Ohmygoodness!!! I am sure Barry could commiserate with you. As could my children. They do not understand my need to explain comings and goings. They roll their eyes a lot.
Ohmygoodness indeed! It’s a challenge alright! 😛 I’m only sticking with him cos Linda Goodman convinced me we could make it work!