When I bought my first car, suddenly I started noticing lots like it on the road. After flying through Monument Valley I started noticing lots of fascinating rock formations. Maybe it’s the time of year, but right now I seem to be noticing ponds.
1230 TV Pond
The neat rows of grape vines somehow recall the old TVs that used lines to make up pictures. It also has a matrix quality reminiscent of a computer chip. I like how the dark shapes beneath the water speak of the life within. I mention the time of year, because it’s been a long while since we had rain and in the valley the weather’s warm so it makes for interesting growth in most all of the ponds.
1231 Filet Pond
In a way the ponds are filets cut into the landscape. Many shapes and sizes, and each an ecosystem reflecting the unique qualities of each as seen from a perspective that enables a clear view beneath the surface.
1233 Shapes Pond
The shape of some ponds is quite unusual, creating a geometric dance with the surrounding land uses. I like how part of Tripp’s wing structure mixes into this one at the bottom-left corner. Do the shapes of these ponds get chosen partly by the planned use, evolved over time? Why are some more striking on the surface?
1234 Surface Pond
The undulating lines of vines on the right seem artistically designed to accent the pond. This next one has it all: surface and depths, a friendly tree, placement shapes of road with patches of untouched dry grass, and the grizzled fur of surrounding reeds.
1236 Ideal Pond
But maybe it’s too small to offer the complexity one would find in the perfect pond. Maybe larger ponds that people swim in hold the imprint of summer memories.
1240 Swim Pond
But of these ponds collected in the part of our flight that was over the valleys from Lompoc to Cachuma, my fave pond integrates features of the others.
1244 Life Pond
Surface shapes and colors, complex depths, canoe and rowboat afloat in memories, reeds and bushes, and most of all a tree of life struggling on a mystical island. Noticing them now, I wonder what kept me from noticing all these ponds every time we’ve flown over that area. Even though total awareness would probably lead to overload and incapacitation, I enjoy expanding Consciousness. By noticing something, do we really notice even more somethings every day, or do we simply shift our focus from one thing to the next ignoring all others?
John & Anne Wiley 
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