Monday, February 2, 2009
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

I have to say, it's only been about 24hrs but I already feel so very welcome in Santa Fe. It's really all about people and the degree to which they are open and receptive to the world around them. In so many places I've been people have set themselves in their ways and tend, in their comfort, to be wary of strangers and potential 'strangeness', haha. Although I may appear strange from the outset, some kind of human turtle wandering around, home on back, blasting people with introductions and interview intentions, I'd say for the most part I'm fairly normal. For as much as I'm a vagabond I'm also a professional, an artist, a thinker, a seeker, and just another person looking for their way in this increasingly crazy world.

However Santa Fe is one of those places that instantly feels like home. This is in large part due to the people I'm beginning to meet but also due to an overall energy that seems pervasive here. People seem tuned in, although it could also be because I'm basically living out of organic food stores. Perhaps if I was living out of Walmart I'd feel differently. Maybe I should give it a try.

On the first day I was here I grabbed a Sustainable Santa Fe magazine and immediately started sending our feeler emails. The response was almost instant. A gentleman named Marc Choyt who works with fair trade jewlry gave me a call and by the end of the initial conversation had invited me out to walk his dog and have dinner with him and his wife Helen, who is a jewelry designer. You can learn more about them and what they do through these links,
But what turned me onto Marc was something he wrote and is working on called the Circle Manifesto.

As soon as I walked in his office Marc and I immediately hit it off entering deep intense discussions in all directions. Helen kept phoning to remind Marc to walk the dog, he'd hang up and say "I really have to go walk the dog... but I just want to show you this!" Another phone call another distraction.. and that was the way the night went. Finally we arrived back at the house whereupon I met Helen and the discussion catapulted into another layer of intensity with all three of us exchanging ideas and swapping stories over a beautiful meal of Elk and locally grown organic salads and beans.

I felt as though the whole experience was nothing but pure goodness and very healing for this wandering van-dweller. I am so very grateful for the meal and everything else. Marc and Helen also bombarded me with a few great interview contacts who have since emailed me and are interested in the project. In conversation Helen gave me the Golden Spruce to read and so far I'm loving it. And hey it's Canadian.

I'm so grateful for this couple that has become a wondrous doorway for me. I'm grateful for all that they have shared. And I'm grateful to our wondrous dogs who we did eventually get taken for a nice long walk and who are quickly becoming good friends.

peace,d