Denise Rushing

As the fire rages in South Lake County, we find ourselves once again praying for friends, neighbors and firefighters, checking our own "defensible space" and wondering if people, animals and precious places are okay. Today, my partner Loretta and I decided to run errands together to take our minds off the news.  At Safeway there were long lines, but everyone was walking about slowly, as if in a daze.  I was told by the clerk that throughout the day, many evacuees were there because they got out of their home with nothing... and this gave them something to do. No one was in a hurry.  We just all meandered slowly about, leaning on our shopping carts. I found myself loving everyone there.  Every single person.   Each held a story... all were strangely calm and subdued.   Maybe in shock.  But a resigned, peaceful shock.   Whatever the stories, whatever the struggles now, we are all on this round planet, our "blue boat home," hurling through space together and w

Nature is designed for abundance. 

The whole incident took maybe 10 minutes—yet is etched in my mind as hours.   Time was suspended. I wasn’t thinking about my grocery list, or getting my car repaired.   I want thinking about the money in the bank.   I briefly thought about would happen if I didn't get this right—and very quickly dropped that thought for one singular focus: fly the airplane .   My priority was crystal clear. Every bit of training and skill helped me land the plane that day.   It was part skill ingrained by training over and over again, and part luck that I am here to tell the tale. The maintenance crew later discovered that a cotter key had worked loose from the throttle control linkage bolt, and the bolt worked itself out, leaving me with only partial power and no power control at all. I had too much power to land, but not enough to climb. Recent emergency flight training (and possibly a few angels) saved the day. In the final analysis, I was able to land because I had

Celebrating the dance of life.  This painting is of Earth, our home, in the cosmic sea, in a dance with the energies of the cosmos and within.  In some sense, Earth is the "biggest why" of all.

"S" in the the Reclaiming Tuesday series, this painting highlights the permaculture principle: start small then expand. The entire series is a celebration of the wonder and awe at the heart of the Universe.