My cousin Dale Brotherton is a master traditional Japanese carpenter.   I am in awe of his work and truly inspired by his craftsmanship.   Dale and his company, Takumi, builds homes, temples, tea houses, residential and commercial spaces and landscape features like gates and fences.    Most of his projects are in the Seattle area  but he has done projects throughout the NW and down into California.   Check out his website and imagine what it would be like to live in or around his work.

http://japanesecarpentry.com/index.htm

Dear friends,

We reached our target! In just 7 days over 1 million of us have signed the petition calling for human rights and dialogue in Tibet--the fastest growing internet petition in history. As the crisis continues, it's time to deliver our petition and make sure Chinese President Hu Jintao hears our voices.

An International Day of Action has been declared for Monday, March 31st. On Monday, thousands of people in cities across the world will march to Chinese embassies and consulates, and stack hundreds of boxes containing our petition outside them. 1 million signatures makes a mountain of boxes--it will send a powerful global message.

We have just 4 days left until the petition delivery. Could we get to 2 million signatures in 4 days? We can do it--if every one of us recruits at least one more friend to sign the petition by forwarding the email below.

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Dear friends,

After decades of repression, the Tibetan people are crying out to the world for change. The Olympic spotlight is now on China, and Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama is calling to end all riots and violence through restraint and dialogue.

China's hardliners are lashing out publicly at the Dalai Lama--but many Chinese leaders believe dialogue is the best hope for stability in Tibet. The government is right now considering a crucial choice between repression and dialogue that could determine Tibet's--and China's--future.

We can affect this historic choice--President Hu Jintao values China's reputation, and he needs to hear from us that the 'Made in China' brand and the upcoming Olympics in Beijing will succeed only if he chooses dialogue over the hardliners' repression. An avalanche of global people power is moving to get his attention. In just one week, over 1 million people have signed our petition, which will be delivered in rallies at Chinese embassies worldwide on Monday--click below to join the global outcry, and then forward this email to friends and family right away:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/71.php/?cl=67074984

China's economy is dependent on "Made in China" exports that we all buy, and the government is keen to make the Olympics in Beijing this summer a celebration of a new and respected China. China is also a sprawling, diverse country with much brutality in its past, so it has good reasons to be concerned about stability--some of Tibet's rioters killed innocent people. But President Hu must recognize that the greatest danger to Chinese stability and development today comes from hardliners who advocate escalating repression, not from those Tibetans seeking dialogue and reform.

The Tibetan people have suffered quietly for decades. It is finally their moment to speak--we must help them be heard.

With hope and respect,

Ricken, Pascal, Graziela, Iain, Paul, Galit, Milena, Ben and the whole Avaaz team

Here are some links with more information on the Tibetan protests and the Chinese response:

Reuters reports unrest continues:
http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSPEK369654

China allows first journalists back into Lhasa, monks speak out:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/local%20news/tibet/2008/03/27/149167/Tibet-monks.htm

Europe and the US step up calls for dialogue:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/27/europe/27europe.php

Prominent Chinese Intellectuals call for fair approach to Tibet:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/24/asia/chinasub.php
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ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace pages!

683,641 have signed the petition in the last 4 days. Help us get to 1,000,000

...  100's more photos to come but just a few more here then I'll get them all uploaded to my online gallery and provide the link.   Took another 100+ in the last few hours.

This afternoon I began my trip from Santa Fe to Canyon de Chelly.   I wanted to make a pilgrimage to a place where I had a significant spiritual experience 36 years ago in a kiva.  I arrived in the small village in New Mexico this afternoon at about the same time of day and very near the same date as I arrived there in 1972.   Not a lot has changed.  Most roads in the town are still dirt rodes.  There are more houses but unless you had been there 36 years ago you would now know it.  Most adobe or psuedo adobe.   I immediately felt the same energy in the air, the same magical feeling.  It even felt like a storm was brewing just as it had been then.    I was aching to wander beyond the edge of the village and into the wash then downstream a ways and up the other side and along the top in search of the kiva.   I soon discovered there was no way to get out of the village on that side.   There was no longer acccess to that wash.  All property was fenced and 'No Tresspassing' posted everywhere.   On further inquiry I discovered that  the wash itself was now on private property and there simply was no access to that land.  I was bummed.   I wandered around the village for a while longer breathing in the charged air of this place  - a place that will remain the starting point of so much else that happened in my life. 

it was almost sunset and I decided to catch a few photos and return to Santa Fe for the night.  Tomorrow I will drive to Canyon de Chelly.   Here are a few of the photos I took at sunset from the Turquoise Trail:

Due to water level and flow I was unable to check out the petroglyphs when I was there.  I may stop by on my way back next week and try again.













In attempts to hike across this meadow we sunk in up to our hips and decided the view from here was good enough!

I am on my way today to my geographic spiritual home.  I grew up in the SW and the connection I feel for this part of the world is deep in my heart and bones.  There are many regions in the four corners states (AZ, NM, UT and CO) where I feel a very heightened sense of awareness and deeply at peace as if I have lived there for an eternity.   The veil is very thin there for me.  This trip I will get to visit 3 of the friends I have known for the longest in my life, in Tucson, Flagstaff and Santa Fe.   During this trip I will be doing some training.   I'll be in Sedona for 7 days taking courses in Myofascial Release but the real highlight will be that I will be camping in an area called Red Tank Draw and have half days each day to explore.  I will also be visiting my friend in Flagstaff and we will likley take hikes on the weekend into the Clear Creek Canyon area.  I will take photos and post them here.  I'll update this entry or add new ones as the trip progresses.

Here is some info on Red Tank Draw.

This is the place to go for petroglyphs that are off the beaten path. In a ½ mile section of a 50 foot deep wash you can discover hundreds of petros carved into the dark patina of the red rock cliff walls, smooth river rock boulders, and huge boulder sections of the cliffs that have fallen into the draw. Getting there is a relatively easy 45 minute drive from Sedona. You’ll need to hike 10 to 15 minutes to the petroglyph site itself depending on where you park. You can park a lot closer if you have an SUV or 4x4. A visit to Red Tank Draw could easily be the highlight of your Sedona vacation if archaeology is important to you or you just love to hike and explore.