Tibetan Spoked Wheel Made of Stone
There's a never-ending supply of obstacles in any life. Take, for example, the minor-seeming task of repacking a few largish black plastic containers filled with my collection of sandplay miniatures, putting them into cardboard cartons suitable for shipping by bus or train from NY to AZ.
It should come as no surprise that dust will collect, even in closed containers. But who would have thought a fleet of bicycles and lawn chairs would be stashed in the space between those plastic tubs and the door of the barn in which they were stored? Who would have thought?
I had somehow missed the fact that the crashing hurricane - last year, was it? - had dropped some heavy tree branches on the aluminum shed behind the barn, the shed in which all the wheeled things had been stored, rendering it a leaky affair offering no worthy shelter to anything rustable. My lack of observation meant that the wheelies' shed was not repaired; when grandson needed to stash his bicycle, his girlfriend's bicycle, his girlfriend's parents' bicycles somewhere, of course he thought: Why not in the barn? Why not, indeed?
Fortunately an old pal of mine took pity on my situation, came running, spent a long day helping me clear a path to the plastic bins - which BTW turned out to be nine in number rather than the four I had remembered. Once found, another dear pal, an artist who saves useful things like assortments of packing materials, came to lend a hand.
With such help I did manage to transfer the contents of those 9 bins, put them into 25 cardboard cartons, banker boxes and other containers suitable for shipping.
Elder son drove me, with Guide Poodle, and all them there boxes plus the 2 suitcases of more sandplay stuff, into the city. They all went by train, Amtrak Express, NYPenn to Flagstaff: 27 items in all for a total of $250.25. Amazing!
It goes to show what it can take to get an apparently simple task done, yes?
That was a few weeks ago. Guide Poodle and I boarded a passenger train a few hours after the packages were shipped; we got to see family and friends in MD, IL and NM, interview Arcosanti architect-builders along the way. When we got to Flagstaff - imagine! - all those boxes and bags of toys, all that gear for sandplay-as-a-projective-test-at-Arcosanti, was awaiting us at the Amtrak station when we arrived. Kinda felt like the Universe might actually be in alignment with the project.
A trip to Phoenix yielded up a fine truckload of wood for curved (!) shelves for the miniatures, new trays, plus all the hardware odds and ends needed for the trays to lock into place or roll nicely across the floor of the Red Room if need be.
To all those who are helping to make this happen, to bring it about, I say: Thank You. May it be of benefit.
It should come as no surprise that dust will collect, even in closed containers. But who would have thought a fleet of bicycles and lawn chairs would be stashed in the space between those plastic tubs and the door of the barn in which they were stored? Who would have thought?
I had somehow missed the fact that the crashing hurricane - last year, was it? - had dropped some heavy tree branches on the aluminum shed behind the barn, the shed in which all the wheeled things had been stored, rendering it a leaky affair offering no worthy shelter to anything rustable. My lack of observation meant that the wheelies' shed was not repaired; when grandson needed to stash his bicycle, his girlfriend's bicycle, his girlfriend's parents' bicycles somewhere, of course he thought: Why not in the barn? Why not, indeed?
Fortunately an old pal of mine took pity on my situation, came running, spent a long day helping me clear a path to the plastic bins - which BTW turned out to be nine in number rather than the four I had remembered. Once found, another dear pal, an artist who saves useful things like assortments of packing materials, came to lend a hand.
With such help I did manage to transfer the contents of those 9 bins, put them into 25 cardboard cartons, banker boxes and other containers suitable for shipping.
Elder son drove me, with Guide Poodle, and all them there boxes plus the 2 suitcases of more sandplay stuff, into the city. They all went by train, Amtrak Express, NYPenn to Flagstaff: 27 items in all for a total of $250.25. Amazing!
It goes to show what it can take to get an apparently simple task done, yes?
That was a few weeks ago. Guide Poodle and I boarded a passenger train a few hours after the packages were shipped; we got to see family and friends in MD, IL and NM, interview Arcosanti architect-builders along the way. When we got to Flagstaff - imagine! - all those boxes and bags of toys, all that gear for sandplay-as-a-projective-test-at-Arcosanti, was awaiting us at the Amtrak station when we arrived. Kinda felt like the Universe might actually be in alignment with the project.
A trip to Phoenix yielded up a fine truckload of wood for curved (!) shelves for the miniatures, new trays, plus all the hardware odds and ends needed for the trays to lock into place or roll nicely across the floor of the Red Room if need be.
To all those who are helping to make this happen, to bring it about, I say: Thank You. May it be of benefit.
