John & Anne Wiley

2014/01/05

Rock Art

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 09:16

The mountains are overflowing with rock formations sculpted by time and elements. I like how the shapes on this low ridge stand out against the shaded canyon beyond.

0588 Ridge Art

0588 Ridge Art

Some rocks have ancient art on them, put there by people thousands of years ago. Other rocks bear the mark of more recent human activity.

0595 Art, Politics, or...?

0595 Art, Politics, or…?

I wonder who marked this stone high in the mountains, and when. I wonder how many people have seen it, and what their reactions have been. I wonder if the person(s) who put it there have ever gone back, and where they are now.
Followup: I submitted a version of the peace symbol pic and it led to an interesting discussion in Comments there.

2014/01/02

New

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 05:24

To launch a new year, we took a brief flight with our new friend Monica. As we lifted off UCSB looked much like it has on so many flights. In a word, magical.

0537 UCSB Uplifting

0537 UCSB Uplifting

The nearly dry slough. The eclectic mix of architectures. The blue beyond. The centers of learning and exuberant celebration of students liberated from high school and discovering their first tastes of freedom (and concomitant responsibility). Then on to a pleasant surprise.

0538 Surprise Sunset

0538 Surprise Sunset

It’s rare to snap toward the sun and produce anything other than a hazy and unpleasant image that captures none of the magic we see aloft. This one was a rare surprise, showing some of what we enjoyed. Then up to the mountains, for a glimpse of one in the innumerable rock formations that provide endless fascination for flyers here.

0540 New Year Rocking

0540 New Year Rocking

This rock fan spreads a palette of stone shapes with the power to intrigue. Well, me at least. 🙂

Happy ’14!

2013/12/31

Happiness Is

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 22:42

We took Molly to the fascinating SB Historical Museum during her visit here Saturday, and I sat a moment with a quiet 90-something man named Carl. At one point I asked what he’s learned in his years and he replied, “I choose Happiness.”

0535 Happiness Is

0535 Happiness Is

He said that by consciously choosing happiness, his life has been greatly enriched. Especially in aging as his contemporaries increasingly chose to focus on decreasing capacity and grumble about encroaching aches and pains.

As we glided down into SBA from one of our flights north this week for fun with family and friends, I thought about happiness noticing the people gathering to watch the sunset atop the peak. Here at the popular Lizard’s Mouth we’d discovered recently (see below), there’s a certain celebration of passages. The end of each day, the start of the next, engagements, solstices and equinoxes, birthdays and memorials, probably even some weddings are celebrated here. Coming here is one of the countless ways some people choose, create and celebrate their Happiness.

May we help each other remember
to choose Happiness,
and may we celebrate together
the joys we have shared,
and anticipate with delight
the coming surprises we welcome.

Happy 2014!

🙂 🙂

2013/12/23

Sisses, Bros, & Phone Religions

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 22:30

Sisters
We’re lucky. Anne and I are among those who enjoy warm relationships with our sisters. This is especially nice during the holiday season, when so many of our friends dread difficult times with family. Plus we get to enjoy brief forays into the enchanted realm of Flight, going to visit.

0039 Over LA

0039 Over LA

After so many tormented drives on LA “free” ways to/from San Diego sisters, it’s such a contrast to be truly Free as we happily look down on all that smog and congestion. Occasionally we fly along the mountains, but usually we enjoy the coastal route where people have built dream mansions on the outskirts of the LA nightmare.

0085 Beach Billions

0085 Beach Billions

Not far from Laguna Niguel are mansions (surely very expensive) with private salt water swimming pools on the bluffs.

Brothers
I mentioned Bros in the title because although we each have three sisters and no brothers, we’re lucky in this regard too. First because we have great brothers in law whom we enjoy. Secondly because I had the great good fortune to enjoy a few years with Chris, my “brother” in the wonderful BBBS program.

Crazy With Chris

Crazy With Chris

We had so many fun times during those short years before he sadly moved away. We got to experience the deep caring of brothers we’d both missed out on. So it was delightful to hear from him today that he has a new “Smart” phone and might now be able to be in touch more again. That is, if he can figure out how to work what might actually be a more frustrating model than the ones Anne and I just got.

Religion
In texting with him about it today I realized that smartphones are a new religion.  Smartphones teach us patience and submission, and the fact that an all-powerful entity knows our every thought and action. It seems that Chris, Anne and I are not devotees. 🙂

2013/12/22

Home Lights

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 04:17

Old stories of flying sometimes touched on the heartwarming sight of lights burning to guide pilots home at night. With considerable skill and a good helping of luck, they’d navigate rickety and unreliable biplanes across empty darkness for hours. Literally kept alive as night descended by brief glimpses at compass and chart by a tiny red light kept dim to preserve night vision, and self-checking constantly without allowing fear of being lost as night crept in.

0037 Creeping Night

0037 Creeping Night

So very different for us winging home in Trusty Tripp from San Diego across the LA basin tonight, with familiar lights and myriad crowded freeways to guide us safely on past enchanted cloudscapes. Not to mention radio naviation aids those early pilots could only dream of. But even those are now far obsolete as we enjoy the latest GPS devices that turn night to day, in terms of knowing exactly where we are. So we have plenty of relaxed time to enjoy the sights, as Hwy.1 to Malibu slips twinkling past.

0039 You Are Here

0039 You Are Here

After the last light fades, we’re treated to the lights of home as we look across downtown Santa Barbara with the colors of business accented here and there by especially bright seasonal home lights.

0070 Santa Barbara Sparkle

0070 Santa Barbara Sparkle

But even without mentally traveling back a century to an open cockpit over a lonely black expanse, lining up to land at SBA brings a warm rush of comfort with her home lights burning brightly.

0073 Home Lights

0073 Home Lights

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com.