346 White Road

Estate
of
the
Art
&
Craft
Craftsman Home Graces Private Country Setting
OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY 1-3PM
346 WHITE ROAD, APTOS/LARKIN VALLEY
(CROSS STREETS EMERALD CITY/CALABASSAS)
FEATURED
PROPERTY
Contemporary Craftsman Design
3.1 Private Acres
Gated Entry
South-Facing Orientation
Circular Master Suite
Granite/Marble/Mahogany Master Bath
w/Jacuzzi Tub
Sweeping 'Eckerman' River Rock Fireplace
by TOM BREZSNY
Ok.
Let’s try this on for size
and see if it sounds
familiar... We live in an age of deepening depersonalization, increasing
alienation and more than a smidgen
of existential angst. People - us, we,
are searching and secretly yearning
for ways to nurture those parts of
ourselves that feel like they are
slowly slipping away, disappearing
into the great global morass of
meaninglessness.
Where do we look for our missing
parts these days? Where to we seek
to draw the line against the daily
attrition and dismantling of our
souls? Assuming of course that we
aren’t just burying our heads in the
sand dunes that rise to precipitous
heights along the banks of the river
denial.
Sometimes we find pieces of ourselves in righteous work. Sometimes
we discover a portion among a community of peers who share cultural
interests or heartfelt beliefs. Occasionally we experience intense
glimpses of inner light in the miraculous sights that surround us in
nature.
But most often, I think, we find the
best, most meaningful and lasting
parts of our own selves in the bastions of safety, refuge and sanctuary
that we carefully craft and fashion
around ourselves as homes - those
places that serve as magical re-creations of womb, chrysalis and exo-
Cedar Board and Batt Exterior
Redwood Finish Trim
Pozzi Wood Windows
Dramatic Beamed and Barrel Ceiling
Plaster Walls & Bullnose Corners
Hardwood Floors
Fir Doors/Accents/Moldings
Arched Doorways
Ceiling Fans/Skylights/Recessed Lighting
California Indoor/Outdoor Living Options
Covered Patios/Open Sun and View Decks*
Hidden Walkways/Secret Gardens/Orchard Area
Custom Rock Waterfall
Oversized Garage and Storage
Freeway Access w/Out Freeway Noise
Equestrian Trails and Beaches Nearby
OFFERED AT $1,249,000
FOR VIRTUAL TOUR AND SPECIAL WEBSITE: WWW.SANCTUARYTOURS.COM
(CLICK ON FEATURED LISTINGS)
skeleton where both the gentle holding and dynamic transformations of
our lives are allowed to unfold at
their own unique pace.
Today’s featured property is a
modern rendition and continuing
evolution of an old favorite - the
craftsman style home - a school of
form and function that seems timeless to many of us in as much as it
still resonates comfortably in some
deeper, subliminally satisfying strata of our souls. Craftsman homes
don't require an exhaustive effort to
grasp their meanings and decipher
their esoteric totems. They just feel
right.
Perhaps there is inherent synchronicity in the fact that the Arts
and Crafts Movement grew out of a
rebellion against the forces of industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a courageous
backlash of partisan resistance fighting to revitalize humanity’s waning
life force by actively advocating the
notion that useful things should also
be beautiful things, that the individual should be valued over the massproduced, that a spiritual connection
should be fostered with our surrounding environment - whether it
be natural or man-made and that the
tradition of fine craftsmanship
should be honored and over time.
If I go out to preview 100 homes
for sale in Santa Cruz County, it is
rare to find even 3 or 4 of them that
have an essence, an integrity, an
emotional harmony and prevailing
tone that provides a wholeness of
experience that far and away exceeds
the sum of the smaller, disparate
parts. We don’t have a lot of words
to describe what I’m talking about
and yet we all recognize it instantly.
There’s a soulful feeling that washes over you and lingers from the first
second you walk into a home. In
some mysterious way you are
changed just by entering the inner
sanctum of a truly special environment. Its not something definable in
terms of square footage or numbers
of bedrooms and baths. These qualities are measured in a different language. A lexicon of personal aesthetic built into and crafted through an
expression that is innately human
in scale and intimately connected to
the world.
So many of our homes are Skinner
boxes with just enough dirt on a
postage stamp lot for Pavlov’s dog to
have its own small house and salivate over its daily ration of kibble.
The notion of “sick house” is something that has come into our vernacular in recent years. Most of the time
if refers to hermetically sealed
homes so locked down with double
pane windows, chemically treated
insulation and unnatural construction materials that they can no
longer breath naturally or normally
in sync with the world.
But “sick house” is also a
metaphor for spiritually unhealthy
homes where people live more as
prisoners rather than engaged participants. People need to be able to
breath in their houses. Take big belly breaths full of relaxation and
absent of stress. Smooth mindful
breaths in appreciation of all that
is now. Breaths that contain the sigh
of contentment, Breaths of being
that match the rhythmic beat and
flow of blood in our hearts.
Stop by this Sunday. Remember
to breath. Remember what it is that
we appreciate most about the art
and the craft of those few special
places that we occasionally come
across on our journey home.
MONTEREY BAY PROPERTIES
This week’s
Sanctuary of the
Monterey Bay!
presented by
Tom Brezsny,
agent,
Monterey Bay
Properties,
464-5231, getreal@sanctuaries.com
Featured Home
Real Estate of Mind
For Tom’s other
articles or his weekly
Columns log onto www.sanctuarytours.com
Call if you are interested in
featuring your personal Sanctuary in
an upcoming edition of Santa Cruz
Sentinel SUNDAY PROPERTIES.