John & Anne Wiley

2011/01/05

Two in a Row

Filed under: by Anne,Flying,Has Photos,Nature,Random,SB Region — Anne @ 08:41

After such a rainy month, we delighted to see clear skies, and treated ourselves to flying two days in a row.  John explained our transponder problem, so Monday we took a quick 15 minutes to check it out.  ATC sent us out over the ocean, so we flew higher and got different views than usual of shore.  I like the clouds sitting in stacks on the mountains:

1208 Clouds Grabbing Hills

1208 Cloud Smoke Stacks

Tuesday we settled on our preferred plan to replace the transponder and headed to San Luis Obispo to purchase and get it installed. On our way I got the snowy background of the Sierra Madres, beyond Cachuma Lake.

1243 Cacuma Lake & Snow

1243 Cacuma Lake & Snow

The sun was setting on our flight home, so soft pink skies and twinkling lights through the green Santa Ynez valley accompanied our flight, made even more pleasant with our new transponder.  I dreamily enjoyed the shimmering SY valley, the ocean view as we came over the mountain, and approaching the city lights of SB.  I felt, as I so often have, so very lucky!  And grateful & inspired that John pursued his dream of flying, and went through the rigors of getting a pilot’s license. I’m glad his dream included flying with me too!

by ~Anne

2011/01/04

Rainbow Halo

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,Random,SB Region,Tripp — John @ 03:12

We finally got up for a short flight today, and saw a magical rainbow halo around a little cloud. We climbed high trying to get our transponder to work. That’s a little box that sends an ID number to ATC so they can tell at a glance who we are, to more conveniently distinguish us from the other planes flying around SBA. It was working perfectly since we bought Tripp, but coming home from Christmas in San Diego it decided to stop working when we landed to see friends in LA. Tomorrow we might fly to SLO for a replacement, but today while testing it one last time we got this treat.

4262 Cloud Rainbow Halo

4262 Cloud Rainbow Halo

The cloud was about over Hwy.154 in the Santa Ynez Valley, and rain falling on the slopes beyond made a really cool rainbow behind the little cloud. We’d thought about flying in that direction to see snow on the higher slopes of the Sierra Madre, but as you can see they’re all covered in clouds. Just as well, since without the transponder our preference was to stay closer to home. Sure was nice to fly again, because it’s been more than a week!

2011/01/03

Fresh Snow

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 06:54

This morning there was fresh snow on the local mountains, but we couldn’t see it until the clouds lifted. The wind was ripping the trees around and clouds were marching past the slopes, but we saw several gulls and crows doing aerobatics as if to mock our inability to go flying in Tripp.

4258 As the Crow Flies

4258 As the Crow Flies

It seemed as if the crow was returning from having created the storm and capped the hills in white. In reality, he was just flying down to join his friends in the stark branches of a dead tree on a small knoll.

4251 Murder of Crows

4251 Murder of Crows

Can you make out the “murder” (group) of crows at the bottom center of this pic? Well, turns out Anne couldn’t either so here’s a cropped version.

4251 Cackle Choir

4251 Cackle Choir

They seemed to be quite enjoying the weather, and were bragging loudly about it. We saw them fly around noisily celebrating, arguing, chasing, or whatever it was they were excited about. Then they’d glide back to perch there watching, with an occasional eruption of “crowing.” Tooth Rock (aka Cathedral Peak) looked especially mystical in the dark of thickening clouds.

4259 Tooth Rock

4259 Tooth Rock

It’s the pyramid-shaped rock on the right. Can you make out the caves in the face? There’s an especially big one at the base, though they’re all fairly shallow. I like to imagine ancient people living or at least having ceremonies in them, and some day it would be cool to find a way of reaching them. I’ve yet to see a good trail, despite flying all around it several times. I wonder if the crows visit it.

2011/01/01

Muddy Waters

Filed under: Flying,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:17

We’re finally feeling better from PHFP syndrome (post-holiday food poisoning). We’ve decided it was a bad egg, and we’re not recommending this as a weight loss plan even though I’m down a cool ten pounds. Instead we’re enjoying a look back at photos, and preparing to venture out and join the fun of New Year’s Eve. Maybe that will produce some new pix that we’ll share whenever we recover from tonight. 🙂

Meanwhile, here’s one I liked from offshore of Huntington Beach on our flight to Sandy Eggo.

4074 Human Footprint

4074 Human Footprint

A few generations back, what is now the concrete-captured Santa Ana River meandered through the desert marshes into a pristine blue Pacific. Nowadays it’s mostly dry, but after a storm the accumulated toxic runoff rushes along picking up topsoil from denuded lots and strip-mined industrial farming. The shape of this edge reminds me of the yen/yang circle, here mingling life and death.

As you can see, I’m in a cheerful mood from the recent days of discomfort. OK, off to join some revelry!

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