Jupiter - in the 'natal chart' for the U.S. (a diagram of the heavens on the place and time of any given event) - is conjunct the Sun and Venus.

It's, moreover, in home-oriented Cancer - the sign in which Jupiter is said to be exalted (as its qualities are best expressed).

Had the U.S. been a person, that combination would've brought him or her luck, popularity, talent and success - as well as a relatively happy, prosperous home.

And whatever this nation's faults and foibles, we've certainly had more than our share of all those.

Hey, it was 1976.

I have no memory of 19 of those songs. And there's probably at least that number that I never need to hear again.

There's some good stuff in there, too, though.

What always amazes me about old playlists is the variety of songs that everyone knew. There are a number of songs and genres represented where I don't really even like the song or artist, yet I know almost every word. So different from the Balkanized music world we live in now.

But a couple were iffy.

Figured it would be when I saw Sir Cliff, then Boney M, in the mix. All the songs I didn’t know were UK/Euro hits.

That was a fun stroll down memory lane. I remember almost all of those songs. The 70s had such a huge variety of music.

I got stuck with the crappy one 😞.

But nope, we just had to have the fucking asshole back in power, who turned it into a celebration about himself and his twisted version of... whatever the hell he wants America to be, and we got this bullshit instead.

Gerald Ford. So...

People hate Trump!

on July 3/4th '76, Winston-Salem NC. Tickets were something like $12 bucks for the whole shebang!

from across the river in Arlington.

Everyone was using the Reflecting Pool to pee in. Yeah, those were the days.

I didn’t ski, but I’d been wanting to experience it anyway, so took a ski lift to the highest accessible point. Saw skiers in summer attire, adding to the surrealism of the day.

Beautiful Seattle area mountains!

Mostly in Oregon, and even though I could see Mount St. Helens when conditions allowed, sometimes hovering just on the horizon, an eerily symmetrical cone reflecting the sun with the brightest white light imaginable, I never suspected that half of that cone would be gone the year after I left the PNW.

Living with gf in an A-frame built as a fishing cabin built on a steep slope. There was a path to deck and front door from parking. The bank above the path was blackberries, rocks and other wild vegetation. Hauled in river silt with PU and wheelbarrow. Built terraces out of rock to retain the soil. The flower bed was about 30 feet by 15 feet. Planted red, white and blue petunias for the stripes and field for the stars. Used marigolds for the stars and to form gold border. Started in the Fall. Planted and pretty well filled in by July 4. The work was almost like penance as slowly progressed. Gf helped too but reminded me as work progressed that it was my idea. Wish had a photo. darn.

Walter Cronkite reporting

more of 'what was taken from us' by the monster at 1600 right now ....

He was about 60 years old and owned a junkyard.

He had a plan to get rich slow. He was going to buy thousands of bicentennial dollars and save them for the tricentennial, then sell them as souvenirs.

I occasionally wonder whatever became of that old coot. He's only got 50 years to go!

I worked on Lower Manhattan in the Trade Center area. The entire group I worked in walked to the South Street Seaport area to see the tall ships in the harbor.

Now, THAT was bipartisan.

... but in the red shirt, blue shorts and white tube-socks way!

Though not since the alterations to Pier 17.

I was 14 years old. We were camping up north, near Baldwin, MI. We drove to Ludington on the 4th, my stepdad bought us ice cream, which was a rare thing. We watched fireworks over Lake Michigan. The whole town seemed like one huge party, everybody was happy. Don't have a lot of happy memories from my childhood, but this was one.

and it was spectacular!! We spent two weeks in Philly taking it all in and then down the shore to cool off! Great times.

Trump can shit all over everything but he can't take our collective national pride and our fellowship of community that we have with one another. Let's celebrate THAT!

Our country is so awful now and I'm not celebrating on Saturday.

I'd just moved to NYC from SoCal in time for the Bicentennial celebrations. Like the Tall Ships down the Hudson to the Statue of Liberty and Macy's first annual fireworks over downtown. It was big and splashy and filled to the brim with joyous people (despite a really bad economy I was completely unaware of.)

We: my dad, my sis and I, my cousins, aunts & uncles walked downed to under the bridge parkland near the Little Red Lighthouse to watch the Tall Ships sail by!

Sooo fun to see all the different types of ships. They sailed up past a bit, then turned around and came back down. I don't have my slides any more.

Then that night we went down to the southern area of Manhattan to see the fireworks.

my high school band on July 4 ‘76 and it was an awesome experience!
One band from every state got to go with expenses paid for the trip and fortunately we were the #1 band in Florida that year!
Still have great memories of that trip and how impressive the city of Philadelphia was with the old statues, monuments and buildings.
Made a big impression on this 16 year old kid!

There was very little antipathy or anger. We were very proud citizens that year. Nixon was gone, the Vietnam War was over and other than economic issues which always plague us, there were no national negatives, at least for the celebration. Now we have a carnival barker as a tinhorn Mussolini destroying the holiday.

Or, rather: Assume things you don't personally like are a national crisis, and try to fix them.

=======================

Man, we did debates, mock election... It was lovely.
He was also my home room teacher, heard morning announcements... Good times 🥰