Butterfly Flurries

Living on the Gulf Coast of the United States can, for reasons, be risky business. It's something this mid-west born and raisedsouthern Californian learned first hand this past summer when hurricane Rita came to visit. In the eight years I've lived in the Houston area, I've seen these tremendous dynamos of nature skip close by, but never as close as Rita did. After our neighbors in New Orleans were hit by Katrina and many came to Houston, a good deal of the population learned a new appreciation of the ambivalent sides of nature.

I and my husband live in what is the third tier of evacuation zones in the Houston area, which meant that we were to leave in the event of a category 4 or 5 storm. In fact, we did come under mandatory evacuation. Instead of evacuating, however, into the parking lot masses flocking to the Dallas area, we waited to take stock of what we really wanted to do. It was a stressful experience, to say the least, waiting, watching, boarding the windows and packing up. Eventually, based on the slightly diminished strength of Rita (down from a 5 to a 4), the crowds on the freeway, and her slight veering to the east of Houston, the word came down for our evacuation zone to stay put. We, however, decided to head south and west to Corpus Christi the day before Rita arrived, where the city was coming to life again after Rita started moving towards Houston. There, we and our three cats ironically spent Rita's landfall in beachfront hotel in almost perfect (but hot) weather. We fished, shopped, and walked on the beach, relieving our stress by not over-focusing on the disaster that may have befallen us.

One of the most amazing things that happened to us was the evening after Rita made landfall as we walked to a restaurant near our hotel. Across Corpus Christi Bay and farther across the Gulf from Mexico, a dark flurry started drifting past us, speckling the clear sky. We put out hands to catch them…a storm of small butterflies…orange and black. They weren't monarchs, and may have even been moths. Needless to say, I've never seen anything like it. As the western edges of Rita sucked dry air into it, it provided just the right conditions for another storm to migrate, and our little friends gifted us with their migration dance. It was a beautiful dance.

Hurricanes remind of the destructive side of nature, a force we have mixed feelings about. In this issue of Earth Stories, a number of pieces explore our thoughts and emotions surrounding the storms of nature, which in essence mirror the storms of our own human lives.

Let me introduce our contributors, beginning with Patrick J. Murphy from Belfast, Ireland. His contemporary artwork can be found on pages 1, 2, and 7; Butterfly, Storm, and Wind Chimes respectively. Of his work, Patrick shares that he paints emotion, pure and simple. It is not the motivator, nor the energiser of subject ~ it is the subject itself. In his contemporary works of art, Patrick uses the medium of oil paint to present to the viewer the quintessential moment of human affections, passions and pains of our existence.

Patrick exhibited and sold his work extensively throughout Ireland during the 90's and has also sold work to buyers in England, Scotland, Canada, France and the United States. The new millennium began with a major exhibition at the Agora Gallery on Broadway in New York. Patrick is currently showing at the Karen Taylor Contemporary Art Gallery, England and the ArtPic Gallery in Hollywood, California.

If you like his work and are interested in learning more about Patrick or ordering prints, his web site is: www.artwanted.com/patrick.

Ed Tick (Hurricanes R Us, pg. 2) is not new to Earth Stories. An excerpt from his newest book, The Golden Tortoise: Viet Nam Journeys, can be found in the Winter/Spring 2005 issue of Earth Stories. Ed, a psychotherapist who uses mythology in his healing work, presents a different perspective on how to view the storminess of nature.

Jason Dean (Earth Sadly Knows, pg 4) is also a former contributor to Earth Stories. Jason is currently in the Australian Defense Force on deployment in Iraq. Of his poem he shares, "I have been keeping a chronicle of my experiences over here through my poetry. 'Earth Sadly Knows' is a story of my journey into this theatre, some scenes I observed, the job I do here, and my intuitive feelings of how Earth must feel about this conflagration…the poem its more to do with empathy with the Earth mother for the sadness she feels." Jason's piece is illustrated with photos he sent.

Stacy Matthews shares her picture (Family Time, pg. 8) of a new arrival in the family, a baby donkey named Pacino.

Baby Pacino, a miniature donkey, is the offspring of Tallulah, a five-year old jenny and an unknown jack. He was born 7/18/05 at Fair Sky Farms in Alvin TX. Pacino is very affectionate and