Back in the day, Darrell Martinie, “The Cosmic Muffin” (for those of us with a more outer space orientation) would provide astrological information on, yes, wait for it, WBLM radio. His presentation was always an event with a legendary signoff: "It’s a wise person who rules the stars,it’s a fool who’s ruled by them. Over and out.” For what it's worth, Mr. Martinie provided some obtuse suggestions regarding how things might go, given particular extraterrestrial alignment. It was a glimpse. A small segment of what could be in store for us at any given moment. And when Mercury was in retrograde, you’d better watch out! 

Recently, regardless of Mercury’s location in the sky, things for me got pretty sideways. Maybe becoming 76 this summer has something to do with the way things unfolded. Where’sthe “Cosmic Muffin” when you need him?

It all started when I found the TV remote control in the refrigerator. I have a habit of picking something up in one location, carrying it about for a bit, setting it down, then forgetting where I left it because I became distracted by something else. Now, I know that there are other forces at work here, but there is no need to share my psychological profile at this time. Suffice it to say that my darling eldest sister, who taught elementary school for over 30 years, once told me, had Attention Deficit been “invented” when I was a child, I would have had a serious shot at being the poster child. It wasn’t pretty as reviews of my family’s home movies well documented. I was a holy terror! 

I digress. Just after finding the TV remote in the refrigerator, I lost my wallet. For me, losing things is very traumatic because it’s all but impossible for me to retrace my activities. I don’t know why this is but when I misplace something it's like someone has erased the chalkboard.  

But after completely turning the house and cars upside down, I was on the verge of canceling my credit cards and contacting Motor Vehicles for a replacement driver’s license. That is, until I moved clothing from the washing machine to the dryer, and there it was! Clean as a whistle, soaking wet with contents perfectly glued together.     

Then I lost my phone, and this was just after spending several days looking for my wife’s cell phone which may have been lost at the Boothbay Center public restroom or at the dump. We were able to trace the phone’s location with a setting on another phone but eventually her cell phone battery died and there was no longer a signal from somewhere off Back River Road. It was an old phone. Verizonstore solved that problem and salvaged stored information!  

I had left my phone at a friend’s house after a casual fun meeting discussing the use and complexities of her new digital camera. I can’t blame forgetting my phone on anyone or anything. But I will say that my friend was very nice to note a multitude of calls to my phone as we tried to locate it at home.  

This all leads me to the photo I am sharing today which is of a pre-blooming very old variety iris shared by my mother and my wife’s great-grandmother. This photo reminds me of how I could be helped by doing one thing to completion rather than six things to incompletion. How cosmic is that? Over and out.