Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

Beautiful— Mary Avenue Bridge
spanning across Interstate 280 from
Cupertino north to Sunnyvale, renamed
Don Burnett Bicycle-Pedestrian Bridge.

Webcam: Mary Avenue Bridge over Interstate 280, Cupertino

Don Burnett (1931-2010) Photo Sign Info Before Bridge

Don Burnett Bicycle-Pedestrian Bridge Info Bronze Plaque on Rock

The Mary Ave Bridge opened on April 30, 2009, and was renamed Don Burnett Bicycle-Pedestrian Bridge (July 19, 2011) after the Cupertino City Councilman and avid cyclist. This cable-stayed bridge over Interstate 280 near Highway 85 in Cupertino, California provides a bicycle and pedestrian route to Homestead High School in Sunnyvale. Time-lapse video of bridge under construction. Photo Sources: Mary Ave Bridge (cyclelicio.us); Don Burnett Photo Info (wisdomportal.com); Bridge Info Bronze Plaque on Rock (wisdomportal.com)

At the south entrance by Meteor Drive you would love Larry Shank's sculptures— Red-Tailed Hawk perched on top of a post ready to pounce on the baby quails below. Mary Ave & Meteor Drive Signpost before Bridge Red-tailed Hawk Sculpture Eyeing the Quails Below Red-tailed Hawk Ready to Pounce on Quails Below Sculptures: Five Baby Quails Following Parents Below Hawk Quail Sculptures Reinstalled at Mary Avenue Bike Footbridge (4-15-2010) by artist Tom Aidala & sculptor Larry Shank. The individual Quails were restructured with hardened stainless steel legs and body reinforcement to prevent the vandalism and theft that occurred soon after the bridge opening in May 2009. Photo Sources: Mary Ave & Meteor Drive (wisdomportal.com/); Red-Tailed Hawk Sculpture Eyeing Baby Quails Below (wisdomportal.com); Hawk Ready to Pounce on Quails (wisdomportal.com); Five Baby Quails Following Parents (wisdomportal.com); "S" sign on sidewalk leading to the bridge which Rudy surmised to stand for "South". Al drove us to north end on Homestead Road where we searched for the "N" sign to no avail. South "S" Sign on Sidewalk South Side of Mary Ave Bridge North Side View of Mary Ave Bridge from Homestead Road, Sunnyvale When seeing the giant "S" sign on the sidewalk near the bridge entrance, I thought it stood for "Stevens Creek" or "Silicon Valley". Rudy said then the inscription would be "SC" or "SV". Rudy surmised that the "S" sign stands for "South" since we were at the south end of Mary Ave in Cupertino, heading northward to Sunnyvale. Al drove us to the north side of the bridge on Homestead Road. Rudy and I walked around searching for the North "N" sign without success. Photo Sources: South "S" Sign on Sidewalk (wisdomportal.com); North Side View of Mary Ave Bridge (wisdomportal.com) I recalled Confucius in Lunyu 7.8— "If I hold up one corner and a student cannot come back with the other three, I no longer go on with my lesson." Confucius (551 BC-479 BC) Confucius sinarum philosophus (1687) Lunyu Book Cover Confucian Analects (475 BC) Confucius instructing students Disciples oof Confucius, Lunyu 7.8 In the Confucian Analects, Lunyu 7.8 (475 BC)— Confucius: "I only instruct the eager and enlighten the fervent. If I hold up one corner and a student cannot come back with the other three, I do not go on with the lesson." Image Sources: Confucius (ricci.bc.edu); Lunyu Book Cover (barnesandnoble.com); Confucius & Disciples (invisiblebooks.com) Based on our actions searching for "N" sign, Confucius would not accept Rudy and me as his students, since knowing the "South" sign, the other three are known— North, East, & West. North "N" Sign on Sidewalk South Side Mary Ave Bridge South "S" Sign on Sidewalk South Side Mary Ave Bridge East "E" Sign on Sidewalk South Side Mary Ave Bridge West "W" Sign on Sidewalk South Side Mary Ave Bridge On March 29, Rudy and I searched for the North "N" sign in vain on the northern end of Mary Avenue Bridge at Homestead Road in Sunnyvale. Several days later, I recalled Confucius saying in Lunyu 7.8 about "showing one corner", and realized how foolish I was. On Easter Sunday, April 5, while taking a photo of the "South" S sign, I stumbled upon the "North" N sign a few feet away. After crossing the bridge and returning, I noticed the East "E" and West "W" signs also to the side of the "N" and "S" sidewalk signs. These photos still would not gain me admission to the Confucian school, as Confucius would regard them as redundant— "One S is enough." Photo Sources: North "N" Sign (wisdomportal.com); South "S" Sign (wisdomportal.com); East "E" Sign (wisdomportal.com); West "W" Sign (wisdomportal.com); Al showed me the bridge lit up at night driving northward on Highway 85 parallel to Mary Avenue Bridge glowing sparkling dazzling diamonds in the dark. Mary Avenue Bridge Lit Up at Night By Tim Oey (May 3, 2009) Moon over Mary Avenue Bridge By Alex Baranda (May 29, 2010) Mary Avenue Bridge at Dusk By Jason Ozaeta (February 5, 2010) Al Guzman gives me a ride home after closing Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab at 9:30 pm, Monday-Thursday. On Wednesday, April 8, Al decides to make an extra excursion to show me Mary Avenue Bridge lit up at night. Driving northward on Highway 85, we passed parallel to the bridge looking like dazzling diamonds in the dark. Google Images showed 926 results for "Mary Avenue Bridge" but none captured the beautiful sight we saw. Only one photo showed full span of Mary Ave Bridge from Interstate 280. Best night photos are shown above. Sources: Mary Ave Bridge at Night (timoey.blogspot.com); Moon over Bridge (flickr.com); Mary Ave Bridge at Dusk (flickr.com) Al said "Isn't it beautiful?" I sighed "Yes!" Later, I recalled Robert Lax's "Poem 27"— "Life is not holy because it is beautiful. It is beautiful because it is holy." Robert Lax (1915-2000) Robert Lax and Thomas Merton met as students at Columbia University (my Alma Mater) in 1935 and became lifelong friends. In his old age, Lax lived on the island of Patmos (where John the Evangelist wrote Book of Revelations). Lax looked like Saint Jerome or Saint Anthony, one of the Desert Fathers. I love his "Poem 27" from A Thing That Is— Life is not holy because it is beautiful. It is beautiful because it is holy. — Robert Lax (1915-2000),      A Thing That Is, Poem 27      (Ed. Paul J. Spaeth, Overlook Press,      Woodstock, NY, 1997, p. 47 Photo Source: Robert Lax (wisdomportal.com) With Platonic Lambda Λ shape arches and number 55 "Soul of the Universe" in its address & zip code, Mary Ave Bridge is beautiful because its soul is holy. Platonic Lambda Plato's Timaeus 35b Platonic Lambda Λ Arches from North Side of Bridge Mary Avenue Bridge Lit Up from North Side of Bridge Plotinus (204-270 AD) The Enneads I.6.9     I was surprised that the address for southern entrance to the bridge is 10655 Mary Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014-1355. Since the number 55 is the sum of the heavenly & earthly numbers (I Ching II.9.1-2) as well as the double & triple interval series that Plato called "Soul of the Universe" (Timaeus 35b), I was surprised to find it in the address 10655 and zip code 95014-1355 of Mary Avenue Bridge. Since the soul is created before the physical body, Soul of the Universe precedes our physical universe.     The Platonic Lambda (Soul of the Universe), is the sum of the two series (Timaeus 35b): Sum of the double interval series (powers of 2) = 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 = 15 Sum of the triple interval series (powers of 3) = 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 = 1 + 3 + 9 + 27 = 40 Sum of the double & triple interval series (Timaeus) = 15 + 40 = 55 “Now God did not make the soul after the body, although we are speaking of them in this order; for having brought them together he would never have allowed that the elder should be ruled by the younger... First of all, he took away one part of the whole [1], and then he separated a second part which was double the first [2], and then he took away a third part which was half as much again as the second and three times as much as the first [3], and then he took a fourth part which was twice as much as the second [4], and a fifth part which was three times the third [9], and a sixth part which was eight times the first [8], and a seventh part which was twenty-seven times the first [27]. After this he filled up the double intervals [i.e. between 1, 2, 4, 8] and the triple [i.e. between 1, 3, 9, 27] cutting off yet other portions from the mixture and placing them in the intervals.” (Benjamin Jowett's translation Timaeus, 35b, F.M. Cornford, Plato's Cosmology, 1937, pp. 66-67).     Mary Ave Bridge is beautiful because it has "Soul of the Universe" in its arches (Λ shape) and its address ("55"). And the Soul is beautiful because it is holy (Plotinus, The Enneads, I.6.9). Image Sources: Platonic Lambda (wisdomportal.com); Platonic Lambda Λ Arches from North Side of Bridge (wisdomportal.com); Mary Avenue Bridge Lit Up from North Side of Bridge (wisdomportal.com) — Peter Y. Chou     Mountain View, 4-14-2015 | Top of Page | "Mary Avenue Bridge" | Poems 2015 | Poems 2014 | Poems 2013 | Poems 2012 | Poems 2011 | | Haikus 2015 | Haikus 2014 | Haikus 2013 | Haikus 2012 | Haikus 2011 | CPITS | Books | A-Z Portals | Home | © Peter Y. Chou, Wisdom Portal P.O. Box 390707, Mountain View, CA 94039 email: (4-14-2015)