Regarding home food, I virtually never serve it. If I am cooking it is invariably for a man and since I am a man’s woman I cook whatever they want to eat. I cook their home food. And if I am eating with a woman, we go out! But my home food is pasta, which was odd because I grew up in the desert and there were no other Italians, anywhere. And I mean, not even one so where I grew up… and when I grew up, no one knew what pasta was.

So when we were kids we learned to say “spaghetti” when we went to school, or better yet, not to bring it up. But then in the early 90’s everything changed. I wrote this blog about it in 2001: Continue reading Jupiter In Sagittarius - Let’s Eat, Redux: Various Cultures and Trendy Food

Denis and I were talking about the Aquarian in Gemini clothing…

Yeah, well he said I had a secret admirer, Denis. And I told him, I don’t want to know about it. I want a man with a heat-seeking missile. What’s he doing talking to you? He should be talking to me. I can tell you right now, whoever he is, I’m not interested.”

“You told him that?”

“Of course I told him that,” I said. “Please don’t waste my time. He was interrupting my workout with this. To chat about this as if it’s going to be fun or interesting or engaging in any way. As if I am going to care about some dumbass in the locker room who thinks I am cute. Is this high school?”

Denis laughed. “You don’t want that, do you. Ilsa? You want a man who is in your face. Not a man who is talking behind your back.”

I laughed. “Yes, that is it exactly. Can you imagine what kind of lover a guy like would be? I can. Thank God I’ll never have to actually endure it in real life. If a man is afraid to talk to me, how the hell is supposed to be in a bed with me? I guess he’d run screaming from the room in terror.” I snorted. ‘Anyway, that’s that. We’ll see what happens next. The saga continues.”

“Yes, Ilsa. Life goes on, doesn’t it?”

“And this is how these women end up with lousy men… men who don’t please them, you know. They don’t pay attention in the beginning. As far as I am concerned whoever this guy is, he’s already shown himself to be inept. For some women they’d like that but for me?” I laughed. “They should probably stay away from me for their own safety. Because I am so annoyed with this kind of thing there is no telling what I might say if approached.”

Do you pay attention in the beginning?

My scooter and I went to see Denis from Cameroon and his autistic charge, 23 year old Brad, who Denis calls “Brat” because of his accent. Brad is not actually a brat though. He is a happy young man who cannot talk, but can get his point across. For example he stomped his foot down HARD and Denis said, “That means Brat is hungry.”

Denis cooked Brad and I his home food, which was rice, ground dried shrimp, ground beef and onions all tossed into a pot and cooked in coconut milk. I’d never had anything like it, but scarfed it down as did Brad.

Denis’s house was immaculate and I watched as Brad, who can dress but not bathe himself, carried his plate and his glass into the kitchen when he’d finished eating.

“Is he a picky eater?” I asked.

“Brat? Not so much,” he said. “But sometimes I fix something he doesn’t want and he let’s me know about it.”

“How’s that?”

“Usually he just picks up the plate, walks over to the trash and dumps it.”

I laughed, as Brad came back in the dining room and picked up the two wooden coasters from his place setting, one for the glass, one for the plate and tossed them into the sideboard cabinet next to the table and took off. Denis and I talked for another half hour or so and then he wanted to ride the scooter. I picked up plate and my glass and Denis took them from me.

“I know where these go,” I said, picking up the coasters.

“See, Elsa? Brat taught you that.”

I grinned. I like how Denis is. “Yep, I learned this watching Brad…”

~~

Yesterday I was on my way home from the gym and I was thinking about the food he’s served me. His home food. And I was remembering the taste that was so distinctive and I realized I felt very nurtured by this gesture. It makes you feel good when someone invites you into their home and serves you the food they grew up with, whatever that might be.

When you have guests do you serve them home food, or company food? Where is your Moon?

I had message for Denis last night, “Ilsa, it’s Denis. I am cooking. Will you call me back? Please, if you have a few moments.”

I rang him up and got a strange voice mail. I realized I was either calling his home phone for the first time, or I had dialed wrong because it was a young girl’s voice. I hung up and tried again, this time listening through the entire message… “to leave a message for Dr. Denis -..” Yeah, Denis is a doctor. I’m not surprised and I bet you’re not either. “Denis, it’s Elsa. You’re cooking, call me back when you’re not.” Continue reading Elsa and Denis: Capricorns Young When They’re Old…

Denis from Cameroon is a mega-Capricorn with a Sagittarius Moon. Capricorn supports and the Sagittarius offers perspective and an optimistic philosophy. This stuff is textbook.

My friendship with Denis continues to grow and he calls me pretty every day now. I’d call him except I’ve had a supremely lousy week and have not felt inclined to get it on people. But if you call here on your own volition? Well, then you take your chances.

And he always asks how I’m doing, or what I am doing and I always tell him because I know intuitively this is what he wants. He’s not asking to be polite. He’s asking because he has a Scorpio Mars and he knows if he probes (me) he’s very likely to hit pay dirt. Now I’ve got several kinds of dirt that pays for Denis and I’ll leave that for another blog, because this one is about him and his attitude.

“How are you doing, Ilsa?” He calls Ilsa because of his accent.

“Like crap, Denis. Very low energy. My daughter is sick.”

“She’s still sick?”

“Yes. It’s been 8 days now and it keeps getting worse. It’s just… it’s become something off the page by now.”

“Oh, I bet that’s wearing on you.”

“Yeah. I feel very low energy. Very low.”

“I’m sorry. But there is an old English proverb, Ilsa. A man who is down can fall no further.”

I was out of my body, so he had to repeat that. His accent is heavy and I have to concentrate if I want to understand him. He repeated his statement.

“Yeah I get that. Denis. But I don’t think I’m down like that. It’s more like hovering 8 feet above the ground and thinking you’re going to drop, BAM! Crash to ground,” I said sounding very Capricorn.

“Ah, but then you have to bounce, Ilsa. You must bounce back up.”

As soon as he said this I knew this is exactly what would happen so I shook my head and chuckled. “You’re right again, Denis. I guess that’s what I’ll do. I am sure I know you.”

“You do know how, Ilsa. You are a person who knows how to bounce”

Are you bouncy? Where’s your Jupiter?

Denis and I, working out alongside each other on crosstrainers tell stories and share our impressions of various things and people. A man who works at the gym walked by…

“Now that guy I like,” I said. “Do you know Doug?” I asked.

“Yes. Doug is good man.”

“I’ll say. Do you know I have been going to write about him for five years? For five years I’ve had the intention but I never can seem to find the words. I can’t capture him for some reason.”

“I’ve only seen him get upset… one time,” Denis said, holding his index finger up for emphasis. Continue reading Jupiter In Sagittarius - Sharing Perspectives Via Storytelling: Denis and Doug

I finally asked Denis for his birthday. I’ve known him for several years. He hesitated but not for long. Are you curious?

He’s a Capricorn with a stellium in the sign along with his N. Node which is conjunct my ascendant. He has either a Scorpio or a Sagittarius Moon but I am sure it must be Sadge because he’s very upbeat and he’s here from Cameroon, right? Sadge travels!

He also preaches a good deal. He lets you know what he believes and he consistently champions candor and refers to a person’s right to be happy and need to be free.

That said, he’s got a Scorpio Mars, conjunct Saturn. And he does probe like you wouldn’t believe. He knows right where to stick the knife to pop the thing open and when he finds things are more complex or intricate than he initially imagined, his pleasure is apparent.

So there you go. Based on this, I think I’ll be knowing Denis for a very long time. Another year or two, I may ask him for a birth time.

When you meet someone do you ask for their birth data?

The comments on the Ugly Pants Fun blog asking what you bring to other people’s lives were freakishly interesting to me. What we offer others is so incredibly unique to each individual.

And I was talking to Denis last night about a third person who I like quite a bit. He doesn’t like the person so much and we wound up defining what it is we want from relationship and finding our requirements are wildly different.

Denis likes things to roll easy. He’s smart and personable. Denis from Cameroon is very upbeat and energetic and he likes people who are pretty much similar. I on the other hand like a little brood in my life.

I also like an edge and a curiosity. I like ups and downs and curves… I even hairpin curves in relationship. And I explained to Denis, I valued these outer edge things so highly there was no question I was going to continue to try to invest and forge a relationship with this person I’ve met who is so challenging.

“It’s worth it to me,” I said. “Or it could be. Do you know my editor, HQ? We’re good friends now but boy it sure wasn’t easy getting there. I thought we’d kill each other for sure. We spent probably a year getting bloodied, just trying to learn how to deal with each other. Believe me, he drove me right up a wall. He drove me out of my mind and it’s not like he had it any easier. In fact, he had it much worse, I think. He’s Japanese, you know. He’s polite. And you know… I was constantly swearing and he just didn’t know what to do.”

Denis laughed.

“Yeah, it’s funny now. But he told me… well, you know. He’s got one heck of a position and he can talk to anyone. But he told me when we first met he had to take like 20 minutes to center and brace himself so he could call me. He had to get his nerve up if you can believe that. Meanwhile, I’d get off the phone with him and I would be just crazed. I would want to bang my head against the wall and not even especially know why.”

“But you muscled through it?” he asked.

“Yeah. And it was worth it, by far. So I’m just saying if you want to know some of these weirdoes… super creative people, artists, eccentrics or whatever they are. Well sometimes you just have to hang in until you can see for sure what is going on. And this is how I feel about this guy,” I said. “I am going to try very hard to forge a relationship with him. And I think he will probably do the same because there is something to glean in both directions, I’m pretty sure. But I can also see why you’d take one look at this and run for the hills.”

“Uh huh.”

And why? Do you have a philosophy when it comes to relationship?

More from the conversation with my daughter around what to expect if she spoke to Denis from Cameroon..

“But honey. If you’re talking to Denis?”

“Yeah?”

“And you tell him you got a bad report card?”

“Yes?”

“Well he’s not going to be too impressed, believe me. He is not going to like that,” I said.

A couple weeks back, the soldier called on that phone and my daughter started talking to him. She wound up telling him she got a bad report card which meant I found out about my daughter’s report card from the soldier. So this is the kind of thing she does. She’s just talks to whoever about whatever is going on. And I can’t imagine where she got that… but anyway, I saw an opportunity here, so I took it.

“Yeah, Denis doesn’t think much of bad grades the people who get them,” I said. He’s got two daughters… they’re both in college. He does not believe in scrimping when it comes to education. That’s what he says, in fact. You should never scrimp on your education. He said that to me. It’s his belief.”

Education and a person’s beliefs are both Jupiter / Sagittarius ruled, as is “foreigners”.

“Scrimp? What is that?”

“It means be cheap. It means, not do your best. Denis thinks you should always try to learn as much as you can at all times. He doesn’t think much of people who do otherwise.”

“Oh,” she said, getting the message.

My daughter tests in the 99th percentile. She may be ill but with an intellect like that; there is no excuse for a bad report card.

What were you taught about education?

I don’t have a land line anymore. My home phone is a cell phone which my daughter takes with her on weekends when she goes with my ex.

When I get a call on the weekend, she handles it so deftly people always remark. She’s a Gemini with Jupiter in Sagittarius and she can definitely talk to anyone. She is 11 but she has no problem chatting up my friends. I try to keep her up to speed with my life, and what’s going on with what is essentially her phone.

“There is a new person calling me,” I said. “His name is Denis, he’s from Cameroon.”

“He’s from Cameroon? Cool.” Continue reading Jupiter in Sagittarius - Friends From All Over The Planet