John & Anne Wiley

2011/11/22

Valley Vineyards

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 18:06

On a quick Tripp trip to Santa Maria, we were startled by the Fall colors of these vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley.

7742 Colors & Shapes

7742 Colors & Shapes

That first one seemed to stand alone in a vast brown SoCA Fall landscape, but soon we saw others closer to Lompoc.

7744 Yellow Slices

7744 Yellow Slices

I guess a vintner could tell us why this field is predominantly yellow, when many nearby have more reds and oranges. Different grape varieties, or climate and soil?

7746 Grape Glory

7746 Grape Glory

I like the “glory” effect of the light where Tripp’s shadow would be. It’s making that yellow field at the far edge of the vineyards look brighter, even though the glory spot itself is further in the distance and a little to the right. You may notice the sun’s lower in this one because we’re on our way home to SB. This last one for today adds in some green shapes, and that mirror effect on the pond that still water sometimes gets from reflected sky when you’re flying.

7747 Patchwork

7747 Patchwork

2011/11/21

Last Look

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 08:13

When I posted Connection a few days ago, I’d not yet seen Anne’s pix from that spectacular sunset landing. She caught Lake Los Carneros reflecting the deeper colors just before we touched down, and it’s interesting to see how much the sky had changed in the minute or two since the last snap I posted.

1255 Anne's Sunset

1255 Anne's Sunset

I enjoy her perspective: her choice of subject, the different angle than I saw while flying, and of course stuff she can capture while I’m busy flying. Most of all, her artistic sense. Though the low light and relatively rapid motion from being so close to the ground for landing creates some blur of the freeway lights, the overall impression in this pic is relaxing for me. Her balance of subjects, light and dark with radiant sky… these things that moved her to choose this instant and framing to snap. As a team we see the world in stereo.

2011/11/19

Over Venice

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 10:53

I’d love to fly Tripp all over Europe, but probably the closest we’ll get is our recent detour over Venice. The one in L.A., that at least from the air has some of the romance found in Venice, Italy.

7659 Canals 'n Condos

7659 Canals 'n Condos

From what I’ve read (links in my Edhat article), this is quite an enchanting little corner of L.A. Hopefully someday soon we’ll get our tweaky tandem bike greased up and fly to Santa Monica for a ride along the beach to this little oddity of a housing tract.

7664 Up On The Roof

7664 Up On The Roof

We sang Under the Boardwalk once with friends on the sand below Santa Monica pier, and it looks like Venice would be a great place to practice Up On The Roof.

As an example of how much variety we see from the air, only a few minutes later as we passed Camp Pendleton this Apache helicopter passed far below us headed out to a ship offshore.

7709 Apache

7709 Apache

Flying is such a flood of delightful surprises and memorable moments!

2011/11/18

The Wheel

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random — John @ 12:49

Flying along the coast to L.A. usually provides us a look at the wheel on Santa Monica pier. I think this current Ferris wheel is a replacement for an older one that was bought and moved somewhere else. I’m glad it’s there, because any glimpse of that pier usually conjures images of all the times we’ve visited their airport (SMO); or the waterfront; or the Promenade.

7646 SMO Fun

7646 SMO Fun

The colors and activities there are a feast for the eye, so you can almost hear all the hubbub and laughter.

7648 The Wheel

7648 The Wheel

I recall as a kid the first ride on a Ferris wheel felt thrilling. Breathtaking to be so high, and feel the vertical motion. Now of course, it looks dinky. Still, looking down at one now is looking back into time from a different perspective that retains the thrill inside a much expanded vessel.

7652 Back In Time

7652 Back In Time

The big wheel turns anew for some child down there as we slip quietly past on wings of memory.

2011/11/17

Why Kuai?

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 02:17

Because it’s on the way to LA, we often fly near one of the quirkier estates in these parts. It’s over the hills South of the 101 freeway in an area often called Lake Sherwood. There are plenty of notable and unusual features to the property, but one in particular stands out for me: The River Kwai. Now for a billionaire I suppose it would be possible to haul enough water from Thailand to say that your estate has the Kwai on it. But the story is that this guy hired a helicopter to fly low and slow along the river, so he could point out his fave rocks. Then an expedition packed and shipped them to his California wonderland.

7618 Kwai Accents

7618 Kwai Accents

Lots of rocks. I think that’s one in the lawn at lower left. Sure he has pagodas with ponds and oriental bridges, a massive arboretum and orchid house, race horses and all that. But does anyone else in the world have a private collection of uprooted boulders from a spot across the planet?

7620 Ventura Farms

7620 Ventura Farms

The place is named Ventura Farms, though it’s pretty far from both the city of Ventura and what one typically associates with a farm. Why Kuai, I wonder? The book and or movie perhaps made a deep impression on David, who owns this place? Maybe he was involved in that WWII event in some way? Just likes how cool these sculpted stones look? More to the point though, why is this so fascinating to me that back in 2008 I’d already posted a different and larger aerial of it with links for info?

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