In NEQUA I am reading about the Ice King, which is frozen in the ice near the north pole. The weather here in Kansas City has been perfect for providing a background for this chapter.

When it snows I just stay in, except for keeping a hole open in the fish pond. No reason to drive out the driveway and mix with the loonies sliding to work. (Incidentally there is a piece of Canadian money called a loonie.)

In the book there are several very creative endeavors undertaken by some of the crew of the Ice King while they are stuck in the ice.  The dialogue reminded me of my Swede relatives talking about a fellow relative who seems to have a little bit more creativity than the rest of us. In a half whisper, under their breathe, they say “he’s real sharp,” to describe a young person with a little bit of their creativity showing.

Personally I thought that probably the young person has a little bit better ability to focus their attention than most people. Maybe their retention of previous situations is superior. It could be they have developed their ability to recall a previous similar situations and with some minor readjustment they can use the old answer to solve the present problem.

It seemed to me that usually there is a lot of luck involved with real creative solutions. At times it seemed that the usual intellectual answers  were rejected with perhaps a cessation of the human involvement, a little spaced out glazed look in the eyes, a seemingly brief period of silent prayer. I even concluded that there was a little repartee with the higher sources. My relatives always came down on the side of  “sharpness” which in my opinion obfuscates the actuality of what creativity, true creativity really is.

The two most creative persons on board the ICE KING, other than Jack Adams are Scandinavian. Maybe there is some genetic answer.