John & Anne Wiley

2013/02/28

Green & Blue

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 01:37

Green is an earth color, and a shade like this nurtures the eye.

4713 Nourishing Green

4713 Nourishing Green

It’s also nourishing those happy cattle down there. It’s also quenched by that sparkling blue sea, with a dash of warm sand. This expanse is so close to town, yet worlds away in a distant simpler era.

4711~14 Color & Shape

4711~14 Color & Shape

The shapes eating down into the green from the beach are painterly to me, so maybe some day when I’m too old for flying I’ll attack this memory with a brush. This next one, not so much. It’s about people and our collection of Things, huddled in service of a humble quest for another $ort of green.

4715 Tidy Tools

4715 Tidy Tools

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2013/02/26

New Views

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 09:25

“My eyes more and more, like a sea without shore, continue expanding, the heavens commanding.” Blake

Every time we fly I see new things, and familiar things look new. Like how the control tower at SBA that I’ve flown past many hundreds of times, looks against the sinews of our furry green hills.

4692 Tower Anew

4692 Tower Anew

We took a tour and met some of the controllers so now Anne sometimes waves as we pass, though I doubt they ever notice. They’re a great bunch of people, and we very much appreciate the many ways they and their colleagues across the country have contributed to our enjoyment and safety in flight. Thank you!

Out past the Bacara hotel I noticed for the first time some features along the coast we’ve flown so many times. Like this beautiful grove sandwiched between freeway and beach. We need to walk there!

4698 New Grove

4698 New Grove

How did I never notice the cool shapes made by this bike track being traversed by two surfers returning from the beach?

4709 New Shape

4709 New Shape

Extra-terrestrial visitors might hover over that shape trying to decode the meaning. To me it is a pattern in the sands of time, left by humans enjoying motion to be enjoyed by me moving across the horizon.

2013/02/22

I ♥ 2 Fly!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 21:48

One Minute Or Less: The time it takes for me to be in Bliss after takeoff.

I’m that guy. The one in a commercial airliner with his face mashed against that foggy little window for the entire flight. The one walking down the street who looks up at the sound of a passing plane. The one who built model airplanes as a child. The one who looks at this pic from yesterday’s brief flight and takes a deep breath.

4677 Deep Breath

4677 Deep Breath

No matter that there was a light haze in the air. While it made this less a postcard photo, the Heiligenschein was accentuated and a certain softness of the light added to my bliss.

I also enjoyed looking at the surfers who themselves were enjoying the surf around Coal Oil Point in this same light.

4682 Surfing the Point

4682 Surfing the Point

Though far away, this crop and zoom came out well enough that someone might recognize the surfboard. From my days as an avid body surfer, the right hand stroking the wave shoulder is really dreamy.

4681 Touching Bliss

4681 Touching Bliss

Sometimes I can “feel” the gentle waves of air around Tripp, and it’s like surfing. Or watching a hawk effortlessly ride the sky.

2013/02/20

Memory

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 00:15

I remember many times as a child, gazing wistfully at the sky. Not just when an airplane happened to pass or to watch a bird, or even to look at clouds like these.

4410 Both Sides

4410 Both Sides

Having flown all over the continent now, I’ve looked at clouds from both sides. Though I still often look at them from the ground like this, my memory of those childhood moments is expanded by having flown among them. I wonder what Lulu will remember of her visit here. If for some reason she didn’t see me again, would any of her memories include me? Moments like this one looking at me lovingly watching her?

4356 Childhood Moment

4356 Childhood Moment

My own grandfather died when I was about her age, and I have only a few dim memories of him. Might she remember the long visit we two had with ducks at the zoo while everyone else was buying lunch?

0865 Out of Sight

0865 Out of Sight

I realize now in looking at our zillions of pix, that I was out of sight for her most of the time. With the ducks I was mostly that hand tempting them with tidbits of bread, and occasionally a few quiet words behind her. Memories of me that are reinforced or formed by family photos will be few, since I took most of them and thus am the invisible man. Like those old black and white pix of our family, where Dad was just the photographer’s shadow most people don’t even notice. This is the way of human history, as we each pay the love forward outside of memory. Except when those we love leave a sweet note of appreciation that we can reflect on.

0966 Message in the Mirror

0966 Message in the Mirror

2013/02/17

Change

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region,White North Adventure — John @ 03:51

It’s quiet. No musical little voice babbling as she toddles from this room to that, and from one set of loving arms to another. No conversation about what we’ll do tomorrow. Another change is that we flew after several days on the ground, taking off just before their plane. I heard their pilot talking to ATC as I snapped this view of their airliner climbing with the lush green hills behind them.

4462 Takeoff

4462 Takeoff

After watching Lulu blow us kisses as they walked thru the TSA checkpoint, being already at the airport we decided to take Tripp up for a few minutes to get some air in our hair. I flew the “pattern” around the airport once for a change so we could watch their plane taxi and take off, and got this view past UCSB to the islands that’s much like what they saw if looking out the left.

4440 SB Winter

4440 SB Winter

Looking at it now, I’m remembering them talking this morning about the temperature here (about 80F) and the change they were headed into (Edmonton forecast is -14C). I’m remembering what we saw about this date two years ago when we visited them there.

5433 Edmonton Winter

5433 Edmonton Winter

Yes, that’s a frozen river. This is one of our most colorful aerial views from that trip. Most of the city and countryside is a study in black and white, since anything not covered in snow looks black by contrast. It’s a beautiful and fun city, but of course we hope their taste of SB Winter will draw them here again. 🙂

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