Happy New Year, dear blog readers o’mine. Before I continue with the story of my medicine walk, a few amazing things have come through my inbox that I’d 
like to share with you:
First is a mixed media music video by cartoonist Doug Savage (music by Laura Veirs), a friend of a friend from writing school. The linked page describes a few incredible things about how the images were created. I like the forest theme with lots of my favourite animals in it. The sequence with all the animals actually reminds me of a dream I had on the vision quest trip I’ve been writing about, which I may describe later. The music is haunting and the images are hypnotically archetypal. Anyway, check this out:
Another cool thing that has come into my inbox is some pictures from a reader named Amy, showing claw marks on a tree. Amy lives in Willamette Valley, Oregon, and found this tree during a hike with her family in the hills on the edge of town. Amazing! I’ve never seen such a group of regular marks. And I love the power of the cell phone. Where would we be without those mini cameras?! Thanks Amy! They could be cougar scratch marks, but I’m betting on the Sasquatch, myself!
Erotic Fantasy Seminar
As a final bit of news, I am varying a bit from the theme of this blog, but I wanted to let you know I will be teaching an evening workshop on erotic fantasy on Monday, January 11, 7:30 PM at the Art of Loving, 1819 West 
5th at Burrard. The cost is $30. Here is a link to the details:
Start the new year with some juicy energy. Come alone, or with a partner. I’d love to see you there!
Hey Karen!
Thanks for puzzling over these marks with me.
The width of the marks varied from 3.5 to 5 inches, averaging about 4.5. We counted 12 rows of marks. The tree was about 23 inches in circumference. From the close-ups you can see that some of the marks look like they were clawed upwards.
I also noticed that on an informational sign in the area it warned of cougars and bears. It said that cougars are more of a threat but that black bears are 5 times as numerous. I had no idea there were that many bears around here. Here’s what Wikipedia says about madrone trees: “Many mammal and bird species feed off the berries, including American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Band-tailed Pigeons, Varied Thrushes, Quail, Mule Deer, Raccoons, Ring-tailed Cats, and Bears.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Madrone
How these marks were made is really a mystery to us. They are really regular and even. It’s hard to imagine that a person would make them, but madrone does seem like a fairly easily carved wood.