“Hi Ed! Hope you had a safe return to ABQ Saturday. Miss Julie and I made it back to DFW this morning. We had a great trip! Thanks so much for letting us participate in the process at the foundry. Including yourself, you have a great team there! I want to make sure you get a copy of the pictures from Saturday. There are some good ones …  Thanks again, Ben”

This past weekend I accompanied my clients Ben and Julie to Chinle Arizona to patina their bronze piece they purchased from Hueys Fine Art. We all had a wonderful time both at work and at play. Ben and Julie were kind enough to allow me to tag along for a guided tour through Canyon de Chelly.  We explored many historic and pre-historic sites there. Examining both Anasazi and Navajo history and legends. One place we visited which was significant to me personally was ‘Fortress Rock’. It was a well known stronghold of the Navajo during the 1860’s when Kit Carson and the Calvary were trying to round up the Navajo for the ‘Long walk’ to Bosque Redondo in Ft. Sumner New Mexico. 300 Navajo lived atop this plateau resisting the armies attempt to subjugate them during the 1864-1868 campaign. Surrounded by military troops, Carson hoped to outlast the Navajo assuming eventually they would run out of food and water and have to surrender. However, secretly at night,  Navajo warriors would quietly climb down the mountain using ropes made of yucca when the soldiers were sleeping. They would gather water and whatever food stuff they could without the military ever knowing. I plan on using the image of ‘Fortress Rock’ in a future sculpture. Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed my visit to the canyon. Full of history and beauty. I hope someday that you too will be able to enjoy it’s magnificence. Pictures of ‘Fortress Rock’ Below