Monday, December 22, 2014

 
Metaphors...
and 'Me; therefore's
 
 
Renowned Life Coach and best-selling author Anthony Robbins believes the metaphors we regularly employ in our daily lives reveal a great deal about our personality, character and self-awareness. Or possibly lack thereof.
 
By observing another's key metaphors, similes and linguistic patterns, we gain a useful tool to more quickly understand where a person is coming from. And going.

This revelation can be the equivalent of 'reams' of analysis and 'ages' of time in assessing the likelihood of the individual achieving their goals; partly by understanding their metaphors. Along with body language queues, Tony claims he can gauge a person's state through the façade.

I have come to agree. That's a 'slam-dunk'... Metaphorically speaking.
 
So what about me; therefore?

My 'Me; therefores'?
 
True Home...
 
Since the day I moved into my townhome; nearly three years now, I've been blessed with a pastoral view from my back door. Bluebird and I...
 
 

I oriented my writing desk to keep this in front of me and from this vantage I've enjoyed  a continually changing, seasonal stream of beautiful and amazing sights. Inspiring sunrises, a couple Carolina snowstorms, super moons Spring blooms and Fall colors...there to enjoy for the cost of an outward gaze...
 
And I'd be remiss if I did not acknowledge the enjoyment and stimulation my 'significant other' has garnered from this vantage...
 

 
From my first pumpkin patch to frosty mornings, fawns, feathered friends and Tommy Tortoise...
 
 
 

 










 
 
 
 
 
 
 My yellow finch...sharing my view...now of a past time. Locked in memory...in spirit.
 

Flown away.
******
 
 
"TrueHomes... and visions obscured.
A change prescribed;
a new path; unknown...
Once again
to be cured.
To be traveled down...
to be flown."

 
 
Really?
 
I see the new homes of others. For others... Not mine here, any longer. And that's ok. It's a metaphor of mine. A revealing metaphor.
 
The changes. The new construction. The broken ground and noises and sounds of forms arising from paper plans.
 
The architect's designs manifesting...

The builder's hands erecting...
 
I'm going to miss the trail by the creek. My metaphor for Gossamer Trail. My 'Walden Pond'.
 

 


 
I have lines out to discover an airport. Maybe in the Carolina's. Maybe in North Dakota or Utah. Doesn't really matter right now. 
 
A small airfield that can use a former flyer/business guy/dreamer like me to manage it. I believe one of those lines will catch and I'll be off to a new home. Soon. And a new view from which to orient my writing desk. My view... My visions and musings. My next, new TrueHome.
 
My 'writing desk'... now there's a major metaphor of mine, like the spider web, Charlotte A. Cavatica (she's sooo RADIANT) and Gossamer Trails...
 
Ok; 'like' technically makes it a simile.
 
And I know "X" marks the spot. Metaphorically speaking, that is...   ;)
 
 
Somewhere up there...
 
-That's a metaphor.
 
My reason to be brave.
 
And me; my
 
Therefore...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, December 20, 2014

 
Sometimes...a single guiding reign...in hand
As simple as a spider's fine strand.
 
That is where the Act of Leadership and Journey begins...
 
A Vision with a voice.
 
There are times where we must find one...
and take it.
 
Lightly and firmly.
and Boldly.
 
For it is stronger than we can imagine. Like ourselves.
 
From this sentiment, the following stream ensued this morning:
 
 
 
"Of Logic and her Wisdom

Silken lenses that do so sift
Illusions into Visions
and worldly weights do Lift
 
Up 'Portals strung to Heaven'
 
Tears pierce the  misty veil
Divinity cups her rapture
in God's own Holy Grail
 
From Job and Psalmist Poets
 
with their sparks like sprits; fly
into the words and letters sailing near
and always so close by...
 
The heavy burdens will abate
the silence broken in the end
Attend your senses this entails
 
the Logic
and the Wisdom
from along her Gossamer Trails..."
 
 
Don't give up...
Get up.
Don't give in...
Get in.
 
You are loved...
 
The ultimate 'Weight-loss' diet:
 
Throw off the weight of the world...
 
and you shall learn to Fly.
 
-words from a reluctant Flight Instructor


 


Friday, November 14, 2014

"You will find out about it just in time... 
 

 

Make your sun come out and let it shine..."
 
 
 
Close Encounters of the 'bird' kind.
 
 
I'm not quite sure just what it is about the sunrises and sunsets here in the Carolinas'. They are, far and away, among the most spectacular I've seen anywhere in the world. And so frequently; especially in the Fall.
 
This morning was an exquisite one, as I rolled out for a 4 mile run.
 




 
 


Ideal running conditions ... again. I do like running in the heat but it is also nice for transitioning out of the heavy, sweaty...soak-the-shoes season... at least for the next five or six months. The I-pod headphones don't swim in my ears after mile 1 and every piece of fabric I'm wearing no longer clings to every part of my body. More clothes to launder with winter running, but hey, it's all trade-offs!
 
Finishing up in the brisk, clear air...nearing the 3.5 mile point where the usual downhill says' 'almost home', I opted for a right hand turn onto the creek trail. Add a half mile and a couple little hills and enjoy the sights and sounds of the rock-studded stream as I wind my way along it on the gravel path;
 
 
 


...now nicely padded with fallen leaves of all sizes and shapes. A few maple leaves strung up in spider silk seemingly dancing in mid-air. To the sides and over-head; russets and crimson, brilliantine oranges and soft, matte yellows... a virtual Crayola color-wheel of tints and hues against the azure blue roof.
 
Cruising along... noting a couple new 4" trees; perfectly felled into the creek by the beaver I've yet to see, but clearly aware of...
 
When there came...a fluttering and ruffled sound... out of the ordinary.
 
A big black feathery winged 'something' lifts up off the creek bank and hovers, spins, twists...FLUFFFS... and comes to rest a short distance down the creek; On a tree limb hanging over the water.
 
I stop. (runners my age can do that)
 
What is THAT?
 
Through a maze of branches and leaves I peer through, and it's looking at me too. Head bobbing...neck extending...cocking left and right... back and forth. Trying to make me out... 
 
And there we were; two creatures attempting to get a better view of each other.
 
I moved forward a few steps to get a better vantage and it shuffles along the 3 " thick branch sort of clumsily. I remark to myself...This bird is probably better in the air.
 
I'm staring at a Turkey Vulture (I'm pretty sure. I do know that they are a protected species here in the Carolinas). Imagine a monster, mutant Raven on steroids. She's a big bird. What's she doing hanging out on the creek? I've never seen one down here...after a couple hundred creek runs. So this is a first. And we are still eyeing each other.
 
Surprisingly, it continued the stare-down with me. I focused on relaxing my body posture. Stilled my mind and let things get 'real'. Hard to do but I felt I succeeded somewhat. Seemed she did, too.
 
For a second or three...time stopped.
 
 
 
Slowly, in my best Steve Irwin stride, I moved down the path about 20 feet. She, in her best Dumbo the Elephant imitation bounced up off the branch and elevated to a higher perch that was not intended for her size. Looked she was actually going to fall of the little twig. A comic are you? Or a klutz?
 
It took her a moment to gain her balance; flapping and using her beak and talons to stabilize herself best she could. Ha ha... exceptional to watch animals have a bit of cartoon behavior once in a while...I sensed she realized I was chuckling at her.
 
Maybe she's a juvenile? Probably, I concluded. She turned her head funny at me.
 
God knew I was enjoying the connection. The blessing. Could I be getting through to her? And just what might that be? Hey...We're all connected?
 
And ok... I sort of tipple like that on occasion when my foot get's caught pulling on my skivvies...
(Especially when someone moves the opening!!!)
 
My running has taught me a number of valuable life-lessons; among which is the ability to stop; literally and smell the mimosas... especially here. It took me a while to get the ego in the right place but I practiced stopping and finally got good at it. It was being affirmed, this morning. Again.
 
Yes; stop and smile at the Turkey Vultures when the opportunity presents itself, too. You never know.
 
Ok... reality check, Gary, I finally thought, mind coming back into play. Conference call to place in 30 minutes. So back into an easy jog, I continued along the trail that winds back to my home. 
 
Thought about looking back but realized I did not have the need to. I felt no sense of issuing  a farewell. There was a timelessness to the encounter that was more a continuation than something new, or old, for that matter. I did not choose to peer backward because I noticed myself choosing to look forward... to some kind of eternal desire... and a sense of an eternal recurrence of something much more principled than my current challenges and short-comings...
 
Yes; timeless. And principled.
 
And winged.
 
 
 
I finish with a little stretch down the street and cul-de-sac that run alongside my townhome. In the ear buds...the last chorus of Chicago's 'Caroline' have me flowing with magic that transcends decibels and megahertz. 
 
I hear it as Caroline-a... a personalization applied by me...making it unique and special. I started doing that well before I came down here...While I was still listening to that up Minnesota way. Modified it in my mind and made it one of my 'Moving forward' anthems. Helped me get ready for a big transition... Possibly, THE big transition.
 
-Perfect timing.. I was in need of that motivation and inspiration... to keep moving forward... through catalytic cycles...acknowledging and embracing it all as Universal good. Working on it, anyway.
 
"And you know... it aint easy...
so Girl you got to let it go..."
Caroline...
Caroline...
Everything will be just fine"
 
... something from behind...?
 
...from behind... whiiiifffftttttt... 50 feet above...

a bird soars over...and  then ahead of me.
 
A BIG BLACK bird...
 
"You can work it out this time
you will find out about it just in time..."
 
THAT big black bird.
 
I know that bird. What the...?
 
She followed me?
 
She floated with ease over the empty field in front of my home. I stood and watched with the morning sun at my back.. She lifted up over the tree line at the end of the field and made a lazy right bank a short distance to the bend in the creek where we had our encounter. Circled three times over it without so much as a flap or flutter and leveled out westward bound... soaring out of sight like she had somewhere to go...somewhere to be... on purpose... and I was envious for a moment.
 
I apologized for laughing at her footwork in the tree. Her flight skills were impressive, all right. Equally so, her 6 foot wingspan and graceful style. A well-developed juvenile. (Mature TVs have the distinctive red upper beaks and the younger birds are mostly black)
 
I turned to the cloud-filled eastern sky to find a hole that was quickly filling with flowing, golden light... and my lesson took on clarity.
 
"Make your sun come out and let it shine
You will find out about it just in time...
 
Caroline...a
 
Let it shine."
 
 
 
"When one tugs at a single thing in Nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."
                                                                                                                                    -John Muir
 
 
 
 
( Postscript//; next day/today 14 Nov)

I took the camera out on trail this afternoon to take some scenery pics and with some hopes I might come across my winged friend again. Well...lo and behold... in the same spot on the creek, look who I peered up to see? For perspective, that dead tree top is about 75 feet high.

 
She sprung up after a few minutes just to show off those magnificent wings and her more agile lines...  ;)

 
 
 
 
 
 
And then ...I also came across an Angel...



 
 
 
 
And who says the stars don't come out in the daytime???

 
 
 
 
 
 
And not to be out-done; "Holy Bat Leaf" Batman!!!

 
 
 
Ahhhh yes... the power of one little tug...
 
All the way to God's Heart-strings... and back.
 
 
I feel the pull of the Forward Sky... Again.
 
 
 
 

Saturday, November 8, 2014




With the setting of the full moon in this morning's cool, crisp air, I set free my 'Eight Eyes'...

(Note: The moon appeared to get stuck for a while. Can you believe that? With a couple deep breaths and spirited blows, I set IT free, too!)

I figured 'how appropriate' in my usual, and sometimes half-clever rationale.

After-all, It's the 8th.

And so at precisely 8:08 and yes... 8 seconds... I hit LAUNCH.

Take THAT Universe! Nothing like a well-timed KICK!     (give it a 'click' to tour)


Kickstarter
Congratulations! Your project is officially live on Kickstarter. It’s time to get moving.


The Eight 'Eyes' of SpiderLogic... A Gift of Webs & Wisdom


KickStarter has a new kid on the scene... and for the next 40 days and 40 nights, a big portion of my heart and soul is on display.





Do I still need to give the moon wings?

No, Gary.

The moon knows how to fly perfectly fine, thank you.


-Just like the Eagle... that just happened to fly by... God!


"Hath the rain a Father?"

My SpiderLogic has shown me the answer to that, too.

Yes. And so do you.

Thank you for that.

No... thank YOU.

OK. YOU are welcome!



I can already tell that today's run on the trail is going to feel different...




Postcard to You: Greetings from Catawba Hills; 8 November 2014
 


Lighter...

Though there are a number of heavy issues I confront, I will keep them off my shoulders; reserving their carrying powers to lift that which keeps me moving forward...toward the Light.

That's the best kind of 'lightness'.

Now, my book effort, in earnest, has been released out into that Light. That is very humbling.
And a revealing test of my faith.


 
 

Time for my "40 days and 40 nights"...

Forward.











Thursday, October 9, 2014

 
 
Concealed... and Revealed
 
 
 
"From the fog that,
your eyes
concealed...
The webs of your life
were
revealed..."
 
 
The other morning, the fog rolled in just before sunrise. Made for great web-seeing... for those of us so inclined.
 
On the way to the office I had to remind myself to focus on the road and not upon all the wondrously constructed and strategically placed webs that appeared to come from 'no-where'. The heavy dew-laden silks made webs clearly visible; on the phone lines, road signs, bushes, trees, fence posts...everywhere. Some hedge-rows looked as if, straight from a Halloween set, hundreds of webs had been spread about.
 
Everywhere...
 
And... they were there yesterday.
 
And they did not dis-appear after the sunlight lapped up the water droplets.
 
Seemed like it though. 'Looked' like they were gone. And I could 'hear' so many thinking
 
"Where did all those spiders come from?" and "Where did they all go?"
 
(Just because you'd like to know: On average, you are never more than 10' away from... an eight-legged marvel!)
 
Concealed and revealed. A provocative paradox...
 
Sometimes God gives us aids to 'see' better with. In many forms and fashions. Always a common thread, I think; our eyes need help. Especially in the fog.
 
Be wise about how much you 'determine' when they are used in isolation.
 
 
                                         
                                               

 
 
 "A tear of wisdom
there for thee...
 
Her web of Life
for they who see"
 
********
 
 
 




Saturday, September 20, 2014

And this our Lives...
 
 
"Sweet; the uses of adversity, which
Like the toad
Ugly and venomous
Wears yet a precious jewel in it's head
 
And this our lives...
Exempt from public haunt, finds
 
 
 
 Tongues in trees...
 
 
 
 
 
Books in running brooks...
 
 
 
 
 
Sermons in stones...
 
 
 
And Good in all things."



 
                                                                  -William Shakespeare
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

'Realing' me in...to myself

"Let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit." 
                                                                                                                            - 1 Peter 3:4

Last evening, Keeli and I were finishing our evening walk and it was just after sunset... which seems to be now arriving sooner and sooner. Fall Classic sky scene; collage of oranges and blues and grays washed with cottony-white cumulus and wisps of high altitude cirrus for good measure, escorting the reclining sun to it's relative resting place before another revolution. Another evolution...



I noticed what I first thought to be  a contrail of sorts against the dramatic western sky but quickly realized that couldn't be.

The undulating movement; like a tight braiding of milky-white, smoky fibers that were now apparent to me just ten feet from my eyes; not in the distant sky, was in reality, a length of spider silk. Wafting lazily in the wind, extending across the street to my right. To my left, about five feet to it's source..  a healthy garden spider; Neoscona Crucifera to be more precise. Boulevard tree firmly in hand... and feet. Her's.

I was purely captivated by the ethereal dancing line. The rather blurry-appearing end of it compared to the finely-focused and tight line that connected directly to her. I had to share this!

Neighbor and dog-walking partner Catherine lives across the street from the spectacle so
I went over and got her and niece Heather to confirm I was not hallucinating. After all, I had been introducing her to spiders for about the past year along many of our walks with our dogs. She had gotten hooked on what used to be a creepy topic.

As they came out of their door, I had already gone back down to where the line was and they were wondering what the heck I was looking at. I made sure hey did not walk into it and pointed out the floating line with the western sky in the background. They were captivated by a few moments of mystery and wonderment until I had them follow it all the way over to Ms. Neo on her leaf.

So there we all stood; in amazement of the long line of super silk, dancing and putting on a gravity-defying show of grace and divine wonder. At times, the end of the line appeared to be grasped by something and brought upward, only to slowly drop back down. I put my finger against the line directly in front of me at about eye level and showed the ladies the stickiness of the silk. It clung to my finger though the contact area was no more than the head of a pin...

Miss Neo was not bothered by us in the least. Maybe she was fishing for gnats? Guess she did catch a nut...

And then she did something that I had not seen before. All of a sudden, the dancing end of the wonder rope starting moving in toward the tree. She was reeling it in! I had just broken contact with the silk and in a matter of seconds, all our six eyes followed the end of her line as it was balled up the size of a poppy seed. She promptly stuck it onto the backside of a leaf she was standing on.

And that was that.

I think we all sort of felt a privileged sense for collectively experiencing that. A connecting moment? For sure. Three captivated humans and a brilliant 'little' spider. This is the Universe affirming our human ascendancy by virtue of our abilities to comprehend such acts while reminding us of our roles as masters of the earth. Oh yes; the responsibilities that come with it, too. I just have to believe the spider has an innate awareness of that. Along with all her nature-mates.

She continued her show by traveling the nearly invisible lines she had already placed and proceeded to develop the framing of her evening web. And as if on queue, after explaining how these spiders will drop down  up to 10 feet with an anchor line and zip-line right back up, she spread all eight legs out wide and nearly pointing upward... and down she went! 

Weee! All the way to the sidewalk.

I also witnessed something never before seen by me; a jet-stream of that same wispy line went out nearly horizontal on her way down to the ground. It looked like it fell in line with the anchor line she set as she went back up. Incredible. Maybe reinforcement? There is so much more I'd like to learn about the finer points of web mastery and silk work. As I've pointed out in earlier blogs, many spiders have up to 5 distinct silks dependent upon the function and desired application. Pretty fascinating stuff, for sure.

And just as quickly, up she came; putting in place some more framing.

I am again reminded how joy can be generated and shared in the simple observance of Nature's creatures through out God's Universe.

"The ways that Lead to You - the ways that Lead to me...
The Light that is within me - is the Light I need to see."


The vision of the spirit is what truly illuminates our souls. It provides the light of wisdom for life's darker nights.

The lantern is within us. The contrails of wisdom waft in front of us, backlit by the setting sun and rolling clouds, reminding us that another revolution brings another evolution... closer to what is real...further from the illusions...closer to the oneness with our Creator. Closer to ourselves.

And to myself...
 
"Open my eyes...that I may see wondrous things from Your law."
                                                                                      -PS 119:18




Pictured above is Ms. Neo's 'Day hut'. She uses her silk to shape the cone and fill in the gaps. Wonderfully ingenious.
 
 
 
Equally so is her picturesque web work; anchored to the ground and to points across the tree.
She has a series of lines she can navigate to reach her hut.

"In tragic life, God wot,
No villain need be.
Passions spin the plot...We are betrayed
by what is false within."
                                        -George Meredith
 
 
 
 Larger orb-weaving spiders can dispatch anchor line silks over 20 feet, though they do not always catch a desirous anchor point.
This line was nearly 25 feet from a large oak tree, across a pathway and clear area to the bushes on the other side.
 
 "He opened their understanding... that they might comprehend..."
                                                                                       -Luke 24:25