Now we're living in a rural Northwest community and loving it.

      Angela, General Manager of Operations, 

 Supervisor                                    for All Projects

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         and  Guardian Angel of Premises

This is my vision for an American Rural Renaissance:

I see a new America of thriving towns, villages and rural areas surrounded by prairies, plains, steppes, wetlands, deserts, forests and wilderness areas as diverse and fertile in plants and wildlife as were on the continent 200 years ago.

Larger urban areas are enlivened by urban forests, gardens, parks and other green spaces, and decentralized into smaller, self-governing towns with their own town hall meetings, local economic ventures, natural resources and community services. 

These smaller towns are linked to each other in a grass roots cooperative, consensual confederation that nurtures nature, values community, upholds shared power, honors fair livelihood and assures equality of all. 

Family owned small businesses, cottage industries, mini-farms, gardens and small orchards of ten acres or less within and around larger urban centers provide nearly all the agricultural needs for surrounding areas; whatever else is needed comes from the larger surrounding region.

This is a spiraling of de-urbanization towards a new envisioning of rural and nature.  It reflects the intent of local and regional citizens to see challenges as doable, creative opportunities, to be proactive for each other and the planet, and to live in peace....in short, to be the leaders they've been waiting for.  All lasting change begins with the power of one transformed life!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”            

                                                                    Margaret Mead

"People are aware that they cannot continue in the same old way but are immobilized because they cannot imagine an alternative. We need a vision that recognizes that we are at one of the great turning points in human history when the survival of our planet and the restoration of our humanity require a great sea change in our ecological, economic, political, and spiritual values."
                                                              Grace Lee Boggs
                                             Community leader, Author:  1915 -2015

The Depression and War, because most everyone my parents' age lived with painful memories of them, passed on to us.  The Dream, because as a nation coming out of war victorious, we were ready to take on the world and claim our right to a no holds barred "good life."
So my life was conventional and my beliefs likewise:  finish school, go to college, marry a good provider, buy a home, have children and support God, country and the military.  But life had other plans and adventures for me.
Since there's already been enough telling of my story over the years, I'd much rather talk about now and the future, although I will say that I've traveled my way into a solid, loving marriage and a delightfully rural life that delivers rich yet simple returns on a daily basis, in a beautiful valley on "The Wilder Side of Oregon" with its downright neighborly and helpful community.

I've truly come home, finding the country mouse that was hidden within as I moved around from city to city and from base to base across country and overseas as a military dependent, wondering why I felt isolated, disconnected and not quite in step with those around me most of the time.
It's been a long time coming, but now I know who I am, what I'm here for and where I'm going.  I'm committed to and headed straight for full integrity, freedom, peace and service to our Blue Planet and all life on

it, including me.  Small and simple is my game, nature is my frame and rural renaissance is my claim.  So if you'd like to play, check out my website pages and see where I'm headed on this harlequin's*** journey into renewal and revival of the human spirit and our good Earth.

***  I chose this website theme, since when I lived in Hawaii for 15 years I had ample opportunity to delight in the antics of resident chameleons...... those rainbow shimmering, shapeshifting chameleon clowns became my quintessential metaphor for transformative change.  It just took me thirty years to realize it!