John & Anne Wiley

2012/03/17

Thoughts

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 19:52

Our thoughts about Dad today are warmed by learning that he’ll be honored for his skateboard pioneering at the next IASC conference.

On a recent flight with friends, I noticed this unusual rock formation (I’m a rock hound!) that stimulated several thoughts.

0634 Rock Shelter

0634 Rock Shelter

First I wondered what caused the large boulder at the lower-right to break off a large chunk. Had ancient people been involved at all? It seems like a great little shelter. I wondered what it was like there when the recent fire swept through the area, and noticed that the trees near the rock seem to have survived. Just now looking at a closeup of the rock, another thought came to mind.

0637 Traces

0637 Traces

Those look like traces of human activity in the boulder at the upper-left. About the right size for acorn grinding holes. So I thought about people sheltering in the big boulder and chatting as they prepared food in the other one. Enjoying the spectacular view of the villages scattered below and the islands beyond. Pausing to watch a passing hawk taking it all in.

2012/03/14

Permanence

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 22:21

What would I do if money were no object? I’ve known a few people in that position, and the answers vary quite a bit. Most want some basic things like a cozy place to live and some toys: cars, boats, antiques, innovations, and for some like me also planes. I’d like to have a hangar at SBA with a “tricked out” Tripp, and a cozy 2 bedroom place with lap pool and a view. Many want to help others and make a positive difference in the world. We get to see indications of the answers people come up with by flying over neighborhoods. Some are in expensive areas like this Beverly Glen area next to Stone Canyon Reservoir.

0595 Stone Canyon Res

0595 Stone Canyon Res

When I look at scenes like this, sometimes the notion of permanence comes to mind. I believe everything in life is transitory, and the only constant is Change. So even if I had the money to buy a mansion or estate somewhere, there would always be the chance of unexpected change. Living beneath a dam seems to increase the chance. Economic considerations are omnipresent for everyone, and one nearby manse seems to represent that variety of change.

0597 House On Hill

0597 Paradise Paused

This owner seems to have stopped work on the back yard. Maybe the economic change we encountered in 2008 brought a sudden halt to the yard work. Looks to me like there was to be a jacuzzi adjoining a lap pool with a spectacular view. Here’s a wide shot (with arrow pointing at the manse) for a sense of what that view is like.

0598 Terrain Talk

0598 Terrain Talk

The reservoir, the hills, downtown L.A., at least part of Santa Monica, and probably also a slice of coastline on nice days. Great view. Another thing I see relates back the the notion of permanence. This neighborhood seems to me subject to flood, landslide, wild fire. To my eye, the possibility of earthquake may be relevant too. Those long ridges and furrows extending toward Santa Monica look very much like the terrain we see when flying along the San Andreas Fault.

This all brings to mind the way I hope to respond to Change. May the permanence of Love steadily bubble to the surface of a serene awareness, providing an anchor for weathering Change and a source of endless joy in difficult times.

2012/03/12

Elevation

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 20:51

After a few days without flying, we realize that ordinary happiness differs substantially from the bliss induced by the dreamy dance with terrain known as low and slow flight. That magical and impossible to define realm between ground level and about 1/4 mile up. Some pilots call the effect of this experience “vertical therapy,” in recognition of its calming and healing effects. Maybe a single word applies: Elevation. We notice powerful Elevation of our spirits during and after each flight. Often on the days between flights we get a momentary lift simply from the sound of a small plane passing overhead.

Can mere photos capture some essence of Elevation? Probably not, yet it’s fun to try. While looking at these, may your imagination drift into some hint of Elevation.

0424 Wrinkles of Change

0424 Wrinkles of Change

Walking one of those paths is evoked by this view, along with a sensory flood of impressions from land contours and the “wrinkles” the passage of life makes on them. Let your mind wander into an impression of what it’s like to move over this scene in a three-dimensional dance that surrounds your soul. The paradise palaces people build often add splashes of color to the canvas.

0428 Palace of Colors

0428 Palace of Colors

The variety of shapes and textures on the planet each add elements to the endless story we read from above.

0429 Spread

0429 Spread

The magic of Spring that spreads before our gaze mingles with the other seasons to invite us back to the domain of hawks ever again.

2012/03/10

Bouncing Bettys

Filed under: Aviation,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 05:47

As a kid I loved movies that had airplanes in them. I liked jets of course, but the WWII prop planes were my faves. Well imagine my delight in learning soon after we met that Anne’s Dad is a real-life hero pilot for 1942-44 actions in the Pacific. Lately we’ve been scanning stuff saved from that period, and I came across this official Navy photo of him being presented the Distinguished Flying Cross 6/8/45 while then working as a test pilot at Patuxent River, MD.

45-6-8 John F. Humphrey DFC

45-6-8 John F. Humphrey DFC

One of the actions that won him the medal was using his PB4Y-1 (B-24) heavy bomber to chase and shoot down a smaller Japanese “Betty” thought too fast for him to catch. After his success, other bombers of the type he flew managed to shoot down Bettys, but he held the record after bagging several more. Another one, though badly shot up and almost certainly unable to reach base, managed to escape despite literally impacting the ocean surface twice. This highly improbable incident led to a later book about the war having a chapter titled “Bouncing Bettys.” Here’s a fuzzy photo from a book about the squadron, of his bouncing Betty taken by one of his gunners.

2/14/44 Bouncing Betty

2/14/44 Bouncing Betty

Here’s one from a book written by his commanding officer in the Pacific, with his crew in front of their plane that was later destroyed (he obviously did manage to fly the battered bomber back to base).

43 VP-104 crew 12

43 VP-104 crew 12 – John Humphrey top 2nd from right

Before that he flew the beautiful PBY Catalina amphibious search & rescue aircraft, and of course was also commended for heroic deeds in that. Here’s a pic of him with that VP-71 Squadron.

40 VP-71 Squadron

40 VP-71 Squadron – John Humphrey bottom 2nd from right

I love how young and bright he looks, presumably happy to have earned command of his own PBY and crew, and freshly assigned to the squadron. After the war this adventurous and courageous guy raised a family, moved them from CT to CA, started a very successful packaging company, and even briefly produced skateboards in the 1960s. He named it the Humco Surfer, and at age 92 he’s being considered for inclusion (hopefully with correct spelling) in a skateboard documentary. Here’s a pic they took of him last year holding one of his boards.

2011 Humco Skateboard

2011 Humco Skateboard

Interestingly, he married two different women named Betty and outlived them both. Quite an amazing life, eh?

Update – after his passing we created a memorial website for him here:
http://humco.wordpress.com/

2012/03/07

Clear!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 08:15

Starting every flight after glancing around to make sure nobody’s standing close to the propeller the pilot generally yells, “Clear!” That way when you start the engine, there’s less chance of startling anyone nearby with the sudden noise. Maybe I yelled it especially well a few days ago, because the air was SO clear!! Look at this shot past the Mission to the Santa Ynez Mountains!

0395 Clear Mission

0395 Clear Mission

Our mission on that day was clear: snap some scenic long shots. So we did, and the next one I like is this view from downtown SB toward Ventura along the coast.

0398 SB to Ventura

0398 SB to Ventura

One particularly long view was of this little Goleta park on the way back to the airport. Years ago I joined my friends Bob and Steve one afternoon when they brought their young boys here to play.

0410 Distant Playground

0410 Distant Playground

The kids are now grown, and dear Bob passed away suddenly only a few months after the sounds of that playground romp had faded – soon joined by his wife Catherine. So for me, this is a long and thoughtful view very like the one I get flying over the waterfront SB Cemetery where B&C are resting together.

After the moment of reverie I noticed a Goleta housing tract with many courtyard homes. I can imagine a brisk morning wander out into that sheltered and private opening to the sky, hugging a cup of coffee and watching a small plane sliding past in a quiet descent to the airport.

0411 Courtyard Homes

0411 Courtyard Homes

For one last long view, how about this one from that neighborhood past the freeway at Patterson, beyond Hope Ranch and More Mesa out to the islands.

0412 Goleta to Infinity

0412 Goleta to Infinity

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