Happy 3rd Birthday, red Ravine!, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 7th 2010, doodle © 2010 by Lizzie Bee. All rights reserved.
It was November 2006 when ybonesy and I started planning and writing for red Ravine, fruit from a seed planted in Taos, New Mexico at a writing workshop with Natalie Goldberg. In April 2008, red Ravine celebrated her 1st birthday with the post A Year Of Living Dangerously. When I saw that ybonesy and I were approaching our 3rd birthday, I went back and read some of the comments from 2 years ago. One of the most fun, from Sam, about red Ravine’s Zodiac sign (Aries) sparked a whole conversation:
QM, I looked up a make-shift chart for red Ravine. I went back to the April 7th post, and didn’t see a timestamp, so I used 9am, with San Francisco (WordPress) as the birthplace. That put the Moon in Sagittarius, Mars and Mercury in Pisces, and Venus in Taurus.
But I’m betting that you and YB have more accurate data. You should swing by Cafe Astrology for a free natal chart, AND you can get free compatibility readings while you’re there, too. Then, let us all in on the results.
In astronomy, the zodiac (Greek: ζῳδιακός) is the ring of constellations that lines the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the sky over the course of the year. The Moon and planets lie within the ecliptic, and are also part of the constellations of the zodiac. In astrology, the zodiac denotes those signs that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude.
When I was in high school, I belonged to a Tri-Hi-Y named The Zodiacs. My Sun is in Cancer, with Taurus Moon and Taurus rising. My ruling planet is the Moon. ybonesy and I haven’t done compatibility readings, but after 3 1/2 years of publishing red Ravine, I’d say our Gemini/Cancer combination seems to be working.
I thought it might be fun to take this opportunity to poll our readers (as ybonesy mentioned in the comment thread on the 2008 post) and see what signs they are. ybonesy thinks we have a high percentage of Gemini readers on red Ravine. But I’m not so sure. What sign are you?
In Gratitude: Here’s to another year of red Ravine. With much appreciation to our readers and guests. You keep the community energy flowing, and help us keep going. Special thanks to ybonesy, my blog partner, an inspiration. And to Liz, my partner in life (who also created the doodle in this piece). I could never have kept going on this project without the two of you.
-posted on red Ravine, in celebration of her 3rd Birthday & Blogiversary, Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Happy Birthday, I’m new here, but I’ve enjoyed my stay so far.
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Happy Birthday!
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Congratulations and thank you for providing three years of inspiring posts from the two of you and your long list of guest bloggers. I look forward to reading many years more. Your eclectic mix of art and writing forms keeps the blog fresh and new every day.
Write on!
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Happy 3 Years, redRavine!!!
Thanks for creating this format for sharing so many people’s creativity and talents.
How does it feel to be a toddler? 🙂
Looking forward to many more years of growth and inspiration!
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red Ravine makes a difference in my life. Thank-you for your work, effort, passion, and commitment to produce a top-shelf meeting place for so many people.
Lizzie, nice graphic! Very festive.
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Happy Birthday!
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QM, YB & Liz,
A very Happy Birthday! You are only getting better and better…ageing quite gracefully, I’d say. I have decided that when I am having lunch at my desk in the Archives,
I will “tune in” to redravine, as I don’t want to miss a single day :^)
Such creativity lifts me up and inspires me. I wish you many more B’days and may each and every day be a celebration! (and of course, you know I’m a Gemini.)
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Happy 3rd birthday!
You’ve got a lot to glow about!
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Happy blogday, QM, and thanks all for the birthday wishes. I’m trying to remember why April 7 was an auspicious day, the one we decided to do the “hard launch.” I do recall that we wanted to have a good number of posts under our belt before we went live, and I guess that November to April was amount of time it took to feel ready.
I do know that we’ve gotten better over time. In the early days we did a lot of posts, short and fast, and speaking for myself, not terribly deep. Now we do fewer posts, but we’re consistent. And the blog has done something truly amazing, surely for us and hopefully for others, which is to inspire that reaching toward and meeting goals. Wow, has it ever been central to my creative life in that respect.
It feels good and right, and I’ll tell you, after having just gone through a serious medical scare with my husband, I realize how rich my community has become thanks to this blog. I have deep friendships thanks to this blog, plus an entire other family out there (QM, Liz, and members of their families). Deep gratitude to QM, Liz, and all of the people who write and read and become with us.
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p.s., what a vibrant, fun doodle, Liz! I love it!
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It was fun to doodle for redRavine’s birthday! Glad I could be a part of the celebration. It’s good to take a moment to reflect once a year, so I am glad you took note of date. It is great to honor all the good work you two have done. Thanks for creating such a vibrant community!
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Wow, I just had a minute to catch up on the birthday comments. They lift my Spirits. I appreciate everyone who stopped by today. Carolyn, thank you! oliverowl, I’m so glad you are tuning us in over lunch in the archives (that just makes me smile). Thank you, Christina and Kathy and Gunnar (I like the name Gunnar. Is it a family name?) Teri, thank you. And thanks for your contributions over the years. They mean a lot to us. Sharon, thank you. How have we all been able to keep going in the blogosphere for so long? Anne, I never thought of it that way — I guess we are toddlers. Thanks for your kind words!
ybonesy, very eloquent. I feel the same way. I feel connected to people I didn’t know before we launched red Ravine, and in ways that are deep and meaningful. I also feel like I know more about my own family and Liz’s and yours from the conversations we’ve had on red Ravine over the last three years. You can learn a lot about people when the comments get going. I agree with you, that red Ravine is pivotal to my creative life and reaching toward new goals. It gives me a place to state the goals, have others bear witness, follow through (and it’s even okay if sometimes I don’t).
I don’t remember why we chose April 7th either. Was it a Full Moon? Was it the number 7? I do remember we thought it out carefully. In fact, we had quite the detailed project plan. It sure paid off over the long haul. It feels good to have done something collaborative for this many years. For me, it’s such a good practice.
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ybonesy, did you notice we have no Pisces or Virgo people reading our blog? 8) Or at least, none that voted. I know quite a few Pisces but next to no Virgos in my personal life. I wonder why that is, that we seem to be attracted to certain signs.
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Happy Birthday, Red Ravine! I so vividly remember how you saved my sanity three years ago. You were brand new. I was alone in a lake cabin, in a freak blizzard (think sideways snow, drafty windows, me wrapped in a blanket trying to type). I had just read my whole book-in-progress out loud to myself and it sucked. The pacing didn’t come close to working. Parts I had written years earlier were so rough they embarrassed me. I wanted to hire a lawyer and get a divorce from the project. Or commit book-icide by drowning it in the lake. Having the opportunity to take a break and write “25 reasons why I write,” for Red Ravine, and then having the comment thread to respond to afterwards, saved both the book and my mind. I felt connected to other writers. That gave me hope. And a much needed feeling of being supported.
I haven’t entered that kind of writing despair since. And Red Ravine keeps getting better and better too.
Thank you for being there and for keeping on.
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I don’t know…
But I’ve been told…
Someone here is gettin’ old
HAPP-PEE BIRTH-DAYYY
😉 H
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by red Ravine. red Ravine said: QM: celebrating our blogiversary & the work of blogging. Happy 3rd Birthday red Ravine: http://wp.me/p3qMC-4GP […]
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Ooops! Sorry to come late to the party. Happy Birthday red Ravine! Thanks for three years of solid inspiration and good fun. One of the rR highlights of the past year for me was having Clark Strand comment on Daily Haiku.
And QM, a surprise for you: I’m a virgo!
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Better late than never – Happy Birthday QM, Ybonesy, Liz.
It has been my pleasure to read here for three years now and to thrive on the creative impetus you have provided so generously. may there be many more birthdays ( and I am being totally selfish here )
Does being a Libra count? G
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QM and yb,
Thanks for bringing me closer to my family and opening up your creative process to us. I have enjoyed learning more about my sister and her blog partner over the last few years in her blogging voice and value the friendships I have made through rR. Thanks for giving the guest writers another forum for their voices to be heard. Here is looking forward to many more years of blogging.
Oh and regarding the poll “Go Capricorns”
R3
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Wow, what a diverse group of stars on the blog! These comments have been heartwarming. Heather, you’re in. (Get it? Urine? Ha!)
QM, thanks so much for holding down the fort. We’re doing much better over here. Wow, but such an emotional roller coaster. R3, I’ve thought of you much over the course of the last few days. Your life story gives me strength.
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I just knew PEE wouldn’t get by you…
Ya know yb…wordpress really should add some sound effects. A proper “honk” or “whoohoo” or even a tasteful “bahahwa” would come in nicely. Of course, I’d probably over-use the “Moo-ha-hawww”!
BTW…SAG RULES (Ask Jim) and we got a bow and arrow to back it up! 😉
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I agree. A range of fart sounds would be perfect, along with something swishy and wet. Definitely the various laughs. And I’ll be asking Jim about SAG. He’s been living with me for a while and is becoming quite familiar, unfortunately, with SAG.
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HOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKK!!!!
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Thanks to all who have stopped by this post. Sure means a lot to me. The Aries and the Capricorns have done quite well in our poll. Where are the fishes?
breathepeace, didn’t know you were a Virgo or forgot! I guess I do have one strong, constant Virgo.
Jude, I will always love that story about how you felt connected through red Ravine that day by the lake. It always gives me a warm feeling inside. Especially, since yb and I were so new at it back then. Three years seems like so long ago!
G., Libras rock. I know a ton of them!
R3, my favorite Capricorn, thanks for stopping by red Ravine. It’s great for me to see members of my family here. I have had the pleasure of getting to know them better on red Ravine, too. It goes both ways! Love you.
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[…] couple of weeks, we’re allowing ourselves to be free from the pressure of posting on the blog. red Ravine turned three a few weeks ago. We find it’s good for us to take a break from the work of blogging, to […]
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i dont know why i looked up this site
it is amazing how little links and thoughts lead to different paths of searches
some good comments happy birthday we only have today
it will be over before we know it time waits for no one we should decide what is important to each person
wink bassa
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[…] poetry with a Postcard From Billy Collins — Kicking Off National Poetry Month. Year three explored the range of horoscopes of our readers. Here we are at the end of year four. I saw my first butterfly this afternoon […]
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