John & Anne Wiley

2011/03/14

I Love Airplane Noise

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region,Tripp — John @ 01:41

The title of this post is on a bumper sticker our pilot friend Jo has. I thought of it from watching one of the mini videos from Anne’s compact still camera shot during our “back-taxi” on the Lethbridge runway. The dominant sound on that video is Tripp’s trusty engine, and I noticed in my heart a flood of warm enjoyment of the healthy “noises” made by that reliable Lycoming 0360.

It also got me thinking again about pix from our recent flight out to the Channel Islands, and that in turn moved me to share a few more. This time, of our approach to Ventura on our way to the fun little Santa Paula airport.

6078 High Approaching Ventura

6078 High Approaching Ventura

We were high, in several ways, as we neared Ventura. First in altitude, because though typically we fly there at around 2,000 feet this time we were probably up at 7,000 or so on a very gradual descent from the crossing. When I fly over water, I like to add the extra safety skipped by most pilots, of being high enough that in event of problems I could glide to land. Even though it’s not much of a safety issue where there are so many people, boats and rescue resources nearby and the water is relatively warm, it would break my heart to watch Tripp slipping beneath the waves after we were rescued. Also high of course, on the joys of flying and the particular magnificence of flying over the islands. This time of year when they’re so lush with plant growth and the beaches and water are alive with pinnipeds added a lot to the elevation of our spirits. Flying this high here, Ventura is spread out below and Lake Casitas shimmers in the distance.

Looking down, the harbor shapes and colors make for interesting colors and shapes, and also remind us of being down there enjoying maritime activities and probably not even noticing the music of Tripp’s engine passing above.

6081 Safe Harbor

6081 Safe Harbor

A few minutes later, I enjoyed the textures and shapes created by agriculture mingling with suburban housing tracts.

6085 Land Use Textures

6085 Land Use Textures

Human activity on our planet creates some beautiful quilts that interact with the natural terrain. What did this spot look like to a soaring condor 300 years ago?

2011/03/12

Seal Spotting

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 04:32

I notice we’ve been sharing lots of pix from our brief flight out to the islands, so I hope you find them intriguing too because here are a few more. First another view of western San Miguel.

6048 Pinniped Paradise

6048 Pinniped Paradise

Now this is just the tip of a small island in the Channel Islands group, so the darker beige clumps along the water that are seal and sea lion colonies (and other pinnipeds) are only a small fraction of those using the islands. They scramble well inland, including on the rocky parts like the area at the left in this pic. More are offshore fishing at any given time.

6051 Beach Life

6051 Beach Life

It’s not easy to see what they’re up to while we’re flying, so I like to study the telephoto pix afterward for a closer look. We need to keep some altitude for safety, and there’s an extra height requested to ensure our presence doesn’t disturb the animals (and a few people) on the beaches. I haven’t yet noticed any researchers in this crop of pix, but often I’ll see a few after most flights because some intrepid scientists are often present. The one thing I seem to have a morbid interest in, is finding a shark or killer whale in one of my pix. From the nature shows I’ve seen, my impression is that the colonies are pretty safe on land and in open water. It’s the transition to and from the beach that’s most dangerous. At greatest risk are pinniped pups out for their first swim, unaware of the danger and ill-equipped to avoid it.

6052 Danger Zone

6052 Danger Zone

In one of my pix from this flight there are several things that could be sharks, but are probably just colony members. Could either of the two things I’ve circled be sharks, or perhaps they’re both fleeing from the black shark-shaped thing between and slightly below them in the pic?

Regardless of whether any sharks were there, the overall magnificence of the scenery sure did flood our senses with beauty and our hearts with joy.

2011/03/11

Channel Islands

Filed under: Aviation,by Anne,Flying,Has Photos,SB Region — Anne @ 10:00

I need to go through some of my SNOW photos from our White North trip, but for now I’m entranced with being home.  For us this week it included a trip out to the Channel Islands.  I like this photo from the south side of Santa Rosa for the force of the swirls on land and water.

1753 Santa Rosa Cove shapes

1753 Santa Rosa Cove shapes

Land configurations are quite different on each of the islands.  As we were cruisin’ over the many rolling mountains of Cruz, I noticed a canyon that runs pretty much lengthwise down the center.  There were also portions of red Sedona-like rocks at varied places, like on the bottom right corner of this photo.

1785 Cruz Canyon

1785 Cruz Canyon

Lovely day of flying!

~by Anne

2011/03/10

Dreams

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 02:22

We had a very active day today. In our dreams. We didn’t even go outside, being content to watch some PBS, throw open the windows for a while for air and light, and nap a lot. There’s some mixture in our dreams, of the invigorating Winter we enjoyed up North and the bucolic Summer (78F) here today. It looked a lot like yesterday, as in this shot back at the airport, UCSB and Our Town after we turned toward the islands.

5947 Idyllic Shores

5947 Idyllic Shores

I didn’t notice until later that the camera was set to maximum “ISO” speed, so until snapping San Miguel Island the pix are all a bit messed up. Still, hopefully you get the idea. Here’s another view, from far offshore looking back.

5968 View Back at SB

5968 View Back at SB

Then there was the view East along the island chain past San Miguel, with the coast from Santa Barbara to Ventura in the distance. Wish you could see it more the way we did, but again maybe this gives you some idea.

6043 San Miguel & Beyond

6043 San Miguel & Beyond

I take a deep breath looking at that. So many scenes like this permeate our dreams, after only a few years of flying. Wonder what my dreams would be like if I’d begun flying in high school as I so yearned to do back then…

2011/03/09

SB Delights

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 01:51

Today dawned warm, clear and calm after winds yesterday, so my guess was it would make for good flying. I love being right. 🙂

Taking off on runway 25, UCSB shone with a crisp island garnish that evoked gasps from the flood of colors caressing our Winter eyes. We’re solidly back in the verdant land of Spring!

5917 UCSB Spring

5917 UCSB Spring

We decided to fly out and visit the Channel Islands, but mostly just toured San Miguel after we decided to go back sometime soon and maybe take a friend.

6008 San Miguel Stripes

6008 San Miguel Stripes

Descending toward San Miguel after climbing to 8,000 for the crossing, the sandy stripes stood out as Santa Rosa slipped into the mist. I liked how the waves were crashing on the tiny rock islet off the West tip of San Miguel.

6017 Water Meets Stone

6017 Water Meets Stone

Oh, the colors! 🙂

We took hundreds of pix, and maybe we’ll share more after looking through them, but there’s one more I have to share because it resonates with our strong feelings of Home. Descending serenely over SB after an exceptional flight, I noticed the bucolic outdoor farmer’s market. People strolling around in shorts under gently waving street banners with the sweet sounds of street musicians wafting among the quiet conversations. Much as I was enjoying still being aloft, part of me was riding that electric trolley just turning back onto Altered State Street at the top of the frame after the detour around the two blocks closed for the market. So delicious to me, it’s almost unbearable!

6168 Altered State Farmer's Market

6168 Altered State Farmer's Market

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