A small but very big trip to share with all of you: Last evening I was invited into the home of a neighbor, the son (age 74) of a chief (his mother, now deceased) of the Raven Clan to view and touch her Chilkat robe-blanket which was near 100 years old. And with it I was shown a button blanket from the 1800s that carried authentic Russian buttons, several more contemporary dancing blankets, and a twined Sitka spurce root gathering basket which was at least a century old. James brought out a photograph of his mother as a 3 year old youngster wearing the dancing robe; it was child size. Her mother, then chief, stood beside her wearing her own Chilkat robe. Behind them were the totems at the entrance to their lodge, carved by his grandfather, and a whaling harpoon. The warp in the child's robe had been spun with cedar as is typical of hip spun warps of Coastal weavers, and I could smell the lanolin still within its fibers. I was surprised by the somewhat bas relief of the raven image in the center, the result of the weaving method. The colors were natural white, black; and it appeared that Oregon grape had been used for the yellow. He did not know what was the source of the aquamarine blue; it was so clear and even that I wondered if it may have been synthetic sourced way back then. I had taken along vinyl gloves (to put over my hands that were stained from the day's gardening) in the event I was invited to handle the robe, which I was. It was such an honor to have had this experience. I gave James an eagle feather a molting eagle had dropped to me on the beach last spring. (It is against the law to possess an eagle feather unless you are authorized (by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, I think). James will give it to someone in one of his people's ceremonies.) Jim is trying to figure out what to do with these artifacts to protect them, both in storage and for posterity. He is afraid to put them in a museum because, as he says, these things get "lost" in museums. You may be aware of the theft of First Nations artifacts that occurs. The child's dancing blanket has been appraised by the Smithsonian at a quarter of a million. But James and his wife want people to be able to see and enjoy the beauty and culture of his people. So we shall see what they decide. I will forward a photo to Weavolution that James took of the child's dancing blanket for me, if I can figure out how to transmit photos.