Cars, Coins and Corps Values...  Part I

My earliest memories include special trips with my mother and sisters to Southdale Shopping Center in Edina, MN; a short distance from my childhood home in Minneapolis. As one of the first 'malls' of modern design in the U.S. with anchor stores, indoor shops and open-air commons, this was the time and place where a mother could tell her eight-year-old (Cub Scout!) son to watch his two younger sisters and stay by the goldfish pond while she went into a nearby shop. I was happy to watch those fish for hours, often sneaking a penny or two out of the water while loosing track of my sisters. And there were those two, life-sized wooden children on stilt-like poles stuck in the plant-filled gardens; real enough for my imagination to want to join them. There were live birds in these very tall caged areas; almost free. Indoor nature at it's best. It was clearly imprinting upon me in ways I was scarcely aware of... A unique setting of people and animals amidst natural environment and conceived structure.

(Lot layout courtesy Dustincropsboy)

(Courtesy Greg Villet; Life Magazine 1956)

 

(Courtesy of eBay)

(Courtesy nreinonline.com)

When it was time to leave, often after a special treat from the Fanny Farmer candy store or a sausage stick from Delaurio's Deli, it came down to me finding the car. I always could. You see, Southdale was innovative in that they used animal signs to designate areas among the massive, multi-level parking lots which could be very confusing. There was the Tiger lot, the Elephant, Giraffe, Camel, Owl, Bear, Alligator etc. I had a knack for seeing those signs and remembering it. I also learned early that I had a gift for finding things. Like money. I have always and still do find coins, bills and wallets yet to this day. One of these finds was for thousands. I took special pleasure in re-connecting that billfold with it's rightful owner. (It held a half-inch thick stack of fresh 100's for an international business trip he was about to leave on. He had 'forgotten' that he put his wallet in a partially zipped bike bag that didn't stay put after a fateful bump on his last ride. I came upon it on a run.)

I once found a five dollar bill. That doesn't sound like much after the wallet story above but it was 1962. Five bucks filled up a big gas tank, a bag of groceries or 3 months of daily paper delivery! I was seven and Dad and a friend took me to a Minnesota Vikings game at the old Metropolitan stadium. We were walking in to the game and I can see it like it was yesterday; there on the ground saying "Gary... here I am...pick me up!" I did. Gave it to my Dad and he said "I'll be damned..." in an endearing tone. He gave it back to me and said "That's yours, son. Finders keepers.". I wanted to know where it came from...especially if I was the 'keeper'. My father was a Marine and he also taught us that what's yours is 'earned' as opposed to 'given'. I look back and can see the set-up for understanding much of what I became and how I was formed in those first ten, critical years.

Fast forward 20 years and I'm doing landscape work as a part-timer digging holes and planting bushes. Picture this; it's early spring and there are still snow banks and frozen areas along the edge of this property. I noticed something that didn't seem to belong in the frozen snow. After breaking it out; yep... it's a wallet! When I brought this to the attention of the associate I was working with, he told me he had lost his wallet on this job the fall before. I opened it and viewed the owner's driver's license in the front of it.You got it. It was his and he had never expected to see that again.

In very subtle ways, I was taught to look. I was rewarded for it and so it caught and stuck with me. I was aware that I just saw things. I didn't know that. But I felt it.

'We spin...we weave...we then believe.'

Access.

Now there's a word that elicits thought. It's an opening. I think of clarity, focus, vision, direction, opportunity. How about for you? Is it something you 'want' or 'need'? Do you feel it lacking?

Access.

A pathway, a nudge, a timely piece of chocolate fudge?   ;)

Do you provide it or is it given to you? Do you see this as a gift or a reward? Is it something that others seem to get but not you? Is it reserved for only the 'rich'?

We are all looking for more 'Access'. But Access to what? To where? To who?

The other morning with Keeli I came across something I had never seen before. Quite special and extraordinary. A pure and brilliant gift...

                                                        A Frozen Wisp of Gossamer...

The conditions had to be just right. The temperature; about 10 degrees F, the humidity, breeze, lighting. And the timing for me to see it... have access to it... Suspended there from a branch that overhangs a meditative spot I frequent. Right there... a 5 foot line of micro-coating ice crystals on a fiber one tenth the thickness of the finest of human hair. Hanging but giving more a sense of being suspended vertically.

The cell phone picture makes it appear thicker than it really was (click the pic for a little better rendering). And perfectly smooth...How can that happen with 'ice' that coats so finely and evenly? This is a function of some of the most amazing qualities of spider silk; it's composition of an amino acid/protein-based matrix. (Did you know that spiders can deploy their silks to move water droplets in a desired direction?) The science of what occurred there over the Catawba Creek holds unlocked keys to innovative nano-technologies and curve-jumping solutions. We will be seeing some of them soon.

'A frozen wisp of Gossamer...

We met one frosty morning.

A broken thread or lifeline...

To access a prize or warning?

 

So fine a strand of silken ice...

It swayed in silent stature.

Who's maker left a tell-tale line...

For me who did walk past her.'

We are all, in some form of awareness, looking to access those 'Portals to Heaven' that resonate with our hearts and our spirits. The smallest and finest of threads can lead and connect us to those portals.

Like Forest Gump would have said: "Access is what access does".

Watch for the connections. The access points.

They will point out for you the real and direct access to what matters most; like from where that 'frozen wisp of gossamer' really came from.

A combination of events seemingly un-related? I think not.

Looking at perfection...

In the words of Bruce Lee: "It's like a finger pointing the way to the moon.

Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the Heavenly glory."

With SpiderLogic, we learn to discern Portals to Heaven; views, glimpses and glimmers that inspire, guide and connect.

I came across this marvelous work one dewy summer's morning last year. I was not looking for it specifically but was on a grander search. And so there it was.

"If thou seekest her as silver
and searcheth for her as hidden treasure,
then shalt thou understand...
and find the knowledge of God."
                                          -Proverbs 2:4

Seems mastery of all forms and fashion find themselves woven into the Web of Life.

Amazing...

How 'Big' is Wisdom?

Maybe a better question: 'How small'? The Book of Proverbs (30:24) says

"There be four things which are little upon the earth but they are exceedingly wise..."

Not just four things, of course. But four that are on the smaller side of the ledger.

I think sometimes, our human-referenced processes do not always align with universal principles and concepts. This is the 'space between the bars'. The vernacular for dealing with this is an interesting topic on it's own.

In his best selling book Blue Zones by Dan Buettner (fellow Minnesotan who may recall the reflective gear I provided his team back when he was trekking the globe on two wheels) found that in the cultures where longevity and health are exceptional, there is a vocabulary in one form or another; usually simple, that deals with a "sense of purpose".

As Dan discovered in his studies; "The reason for which you wake up in the morning."  He found that the Okinawans, one of the world's longest living cultures, have a word for it: ekee-guy.

Ekee-guy. I love that. I want to be an ekee-guy guy! (Sorry; I'm probably not spelling that correctly)

I would venture to say that those 100+ year-old Okinawans never lost their connection with their nature and their environment and the spiritual connections that weave it all together; large ways and small...while living to experience it a long time.

Blue Zones found that observing a weekly "24 hour Sanctuary in time"; a spiritual Sabbath of one form or another that emphasized nature walks and family time, added years to the average longevity and quality of life for men and women.

We all are on that same web of life whether we are aware of it or not. Our awareness can make a big difference in how we can experience it, use it and find our greater joy from it. I believe it all leads us to the same place.

"...the spider taketh hold with her hands and is in King's Palaces."

And she be one of the four.

I am so impressed with E. B. White, author of Charlotte's Web along with The Trumpet of the Swan and Stuart E. Little, his first book.

I came upon some quotes of his that both motivate and inspire me to press on. I believe his humility to be as sincere as it is refreshing:

"It has been ambitious and plucky of me to attempt to describe what is indescribable, and I have failed, as I knew I would. But I have discharged my duty to my society; and besides, a writer, like an acrobat, must occasionally try a stunt that is too much for him."

With or without a net, E. B? The fall isn't so bad...but hitting the ground isn't much to look forward to... I guess that's where the courage and faith come in.

"I arise in the morning; torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world."

E. B., my goal for SpiderLogic is help show the way to do both... After all, I do believe the spider and her surrounding cast of nature's own are here to help lead the way if we are willing to listen and learn. It's all around us. It connects us to everything; the light, the air, the vibrations of sounds...

"...whatever light is generated, whatever excitement, whatever beauty, must come from original sources - from internal fires of professional hunger and delight, from the exuberance and gravity of youth. It is the difference between planetary light and the combustion of stars."

Yes! That most original of sources; the Creator of those very stars and planets - and of ourselves. It all ties in... and is inside every one of us; that combustion of light and beauty.

Out deepest intuitions tell us this.

"Heaven's heartstrings
Spider's thread
Lift my spirit
   Something said...
 
Something to me
Through me - wound
Something spoke
   Without a sound..."


Re-reading Charlotte's Web after 50 years or so, if that counts as 're-reading', I'm struck by the fact that it is simply not just a kids book. It is a work on many layers and levels. Author E. B. White is brilliant in his metaphors and allegorical vignettes. I'm in awe of his insights. Recall when Fern's mother is concerned about her daughter supposedly talking to the animals, including Wilbur, the pig and also the mysterious, word-spelling spider; Charlotte? So like a good mother, she consults with the family doctor.

"Well, do you understand it?" asked Mrs. Arable.
"Understand what?"
"Do you understand how there could be any writing in a spider's web?"
"Oh no," said Dr. Dorian. "I don't understand it. But for that matter, I don't understand how a spider learned to spin a web in the first place. When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the web itself is a miracle."
"What's miraculous about a spider's web?" said Mrs. Arable. "I don't see why you say a web is a miracle. It's just a web."
"Ever try to spin one?" asked Dr. Dorian
"No," she replied.
"But I can crochet a doily and I can knit a sock."
"Sure," said the doctor. "But somebody taught you, didn't they?"
"My mother taught me."
"Well...who taught a spider?"
"I never looked at it that way before," she replied.
"Still, ...I don't understand it, and I don't like what I don't understand."
"None of us do," said Dr. Dorian.
"But I don't intend to let it worry me and doctors are supposed to know everything."

"Do you believe animals talk?" asked Mrs. Arable.
"I never heard one say anything... but that proves nothing," he said.
"Children pay better attention than grown-ups."
 
"Perhaps if people talked less, animals would talk more."

I can assure you of this;
When we talk less, we most definitely hear more.
And see more...

You'd be surprised where it can come from.

Thanks, Charlotte!

"Radiant..."
Your word, not mine.   ;)

 

Quaint and unassuming, this musty bookstore in downtown Lincolnton, NC held copies of three E. B. White classics including... Charlotte's Web. I was on the look-out for a broken-in version when I just happened to spy the shop on an un-related visit to the small town, 50 miles northwest of Charlotte.