John & Anne Wiley

2011/08/12

Castles Made of Sand

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 02:12

As you probably know by now, I’m fascinated by rock formations and by creative homes & gardens. Flying provides exceptional opportunities for discovering them, and this snap has all three attractions.

2949 Shell Castle

2949 Shell Castle

Shell Beach area has many fascinating rocks and sea caves, and this is perhaps my fav waterfont estate there. I wonder if that was ever an actual lighthouse, and whether the people living in the neighborhood ever go up there for the view. Looks like under the green roof at the top is a massive open air jaccuzzi, but it must be something else because it seems to be made of bricks.

2011/08/10

Why We Fly

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 21:53

Flying to Oceano is a good example of why we fly. For about the cost of driving all day in mind-numbing freeway traffic to reach this beach, we did it all in a couple of glorious hours. The journey itself was refreshing, breathtaking… and far beyond what words (or photos) can convey are the array of much more powerful pleasant experiences during the flight. Even our precious memories of flights are vastly short of what it is to be there. Pick your fav photo from all our aerials, then remember it’s a tiny slice of what we saw at that moment and only captures a dim expression of what that little part really looks like. So after enjoying perhaps an hour of such scenes, here’s a slice of the dunes as we approached to land.

2893 Moment In Time

2893 Moment In Time

The shifting dunes of our perception take in the overwhelming beauty in ripples like these.

sigh…

So after dabbling in the surf we strolled the dunes. I picked up a plastic bag that had lodged in the grasses, and we started pausing to pick up trash. Felt good to honor one of our fav places by making it more pristine for others and perhaps sparing wildlife from harm.

2909 Color Me Happy

2909 Color Me Happy

It’s so sweet to share the glory of life, and the values that led us to clean up the swath of dunes along our stroll together. Back at the airport we saw a Piper Pacer taking off, and I mused about having considered buying one of those instead of Tripp. While it’s a cute plane, I’m very happy with our choice.

2916 Piper Pacer

2916 Piper Pacer

The paint is such a dark red that I had to overexpose the photo so it’s not mostly silhouette. Back in the air ourselves, we flew over Avila Beach before turning toward home. Avila looked so beautiful that even this photo that as usual doesn’t really convey the vista, still evoked in me the title of this post.

2929 Why We Fly

2929 Why We Fly

Imagine living in a time and place that permits ordinary people like us to share an experience like this!

2011/08/09

Just Right

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 20:11

Santa Barbara is the land of Goldilocks. Just Right. Not just the moderate micro-climate weather all year long, but the variety and mixture of micro-geology and city culture with open wilderness. On our Perfect Ten flight Sunday to Oceano, we chose a route along the edge of low clouds that keep Summer temperatures from reaching the uncomfortable levels common in LA.

2855 Air Conditioner

2855 Air Conditioner

It’s always a delight on such days, to climb quickly into clear blue skies and spot the beaches where sun reaches for sunbathers among the others, where quiet couples stroll in the cool quiet. The hills and reservoirs look all the more beautiful somehow, and usually the distant islands are poking their sleepy heads up for a look around.

On such days Vandenberg is often the last to clear up, though the curve of coastline out to low mountains at the North end can show a slice of water to complement the lovely rolling hills.

2882 Cloud Caress

2882 Cloud Caress

Just beyond, we crossed the coast at Guadelupe Dunes where clear skies opened beyond. I turned a lazy circle over the beach to look back at the mingling of colors and textures as we descended to fly along the waves toward Oceano.

2888 Dune Lagoon

2888 Dune Lagoon

2011/08/06

Viva!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region,Tripp — John @ 03:34

We took a break from helping at a shop working on Tripp, and drove downtown for the Fiesta Parade. We took quite a few pix, but here are two favs.

2736 Colorful Fiesta

2736 Colorful Fiesta

The costumes and decorated horses make it so colorful, and everyone’s having such a great time.

2742 Rope Trick

2742 Rope Trick

Many of the riders put on a show, prancing their horses, having them show off tricks like walking sideways or backward, and several like this guy did rope tricks. One of them even threw a lasso around a photographer standing in the street. After the parade we walked over a mile back to the car to finish up Tripp. Then of course we had to take her on a test flight, so we went over the city and saw big crowds everywhere and several more colorful events. Downtown there’s a mercado.

2849 Mercado

2849 Mercado

Maybe you’ll notice the vertical row of blue umbrellas near the center-top as I did, and want to check out whether that’s seating for a restaurant. Across the street in the downtown outdoor walking mall there was a dancing performance in the courtyard.

2850 Dancers

2850 Dancers

So we’re happy and tired. Part of my happy is that a few minor problems with Tripp are now fixed, thanks to a new mechanic who had more time available to tweak her than our regular mechanic who’s swamped with work. Now we need to dream up somewhere to fly this weekend…

2011/08/05

The Croc

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:03

So I sent some pix of our Anacapa flight to Edhat, and then found this snap of the crocodile that I like better.

2636 Anacapa Island Croc

2636 Anacapa Island Croc

In case you don’t get my name for it, to me this looks like a giant crocodile. The camera was overexposing most of the wide shots like this for some reason, so it’s lucky I’d set it to underexpose by .7 stop. Anyway, after some tweaking in Pshop this one came out not too far from what we saw. Snaps of the beaches and caves came out better.

2539 Quiet Beach

2539 Quiet Beach

There are so many beaches and caves to explore when the sea is calm, but it’s often quite different on the North and South sides of the island. It can also change quickly, and then you could have a challenging time getting to shelter. On a day like this though, it sure looks inviting.

2541 Faux Monolith

2541 Faux Monolith

I like this pic, because the slice of sunlight hitting a sliver of the cliff base creates the effect of a rock monolith standing alone on the beach. When I first looked at this pic, it was fun to imagine ancient peoples carving and setting a stone sentry there that has survived a century or more. In this next pic you can better see the overexposure problem, but I like how the shot puts the lighthouse in perspective.

2584 Anacapa Light

2584 Anacapa Light

If you click it to see the full-size version, you can probably make out the buildings in the center of the shot. Also the white concrete that was probably for collecting rainwater into a cistern, and now appears to be used for storing trash between visits from the tender boat. Here’s a closer view of the lighthouse that evokes impressions of ferocious storms pounding the rocks, and furious gales blowing across the light. Maybe a disconsolate maiden bereft of her beloved lost at sea, contemplating a leap.

2588 Anacapa Light

2588 Anacapa Light

OK, over the top, so to speak. But here’s a last snap in an attempt at my redemption.

2605 Inner Light

2605 Inner Light

Maybe it doesn’t show in this pic, but there’s a luminous quality to the water in the shadows inside the cave mouths. They are lit from within, as if inviting us to a mermaid gathering.

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