John & Anne Wiley

Somehow I missed the rock climbing craze. Maybe it caught on just after I started turning away from thrill activities. The last big thrill thing before flying, might have been the time I swam out thru 10′ surf breaking over boulders to go a mile offshore of Maui for a brief swim with a basking Humpback whale and calf. But that’s another story. Rock climbing is pretty mainstream now, with fake training rocks & climbing walls indoors and even featured in college sport complexes to attract students. One of the first drives we took after moving to SB was up Gibraltar road, where we saw this cool rock wall next to the road.

1285 Gibraltar Wall

We often see climbers there when driving by, and once even spotted some in an aerial pic (pretty much impossible to spot them from the air by eye). As with so many rock outcrops in our mountains, these have lots of recesses that have probably been used by humans going back to ancient times.

1284 Zoning Change

Now rather than temporary shelter, this magnificent area is for sport. With some adaptation (maybe a basketry floor & overhang), many of the recesses could be cozy places for sleep. Bottom-left, top-right and middle right could be good candidates. I wonder if anyone ever spends the night here these days. Speaking of which, in this last pic you can see people chilling on top. Pretty good view I’ll bet.

1286 High Hang Out

What might it have been like to spend the night up there? Imagine the effort to reach it from the valley, when game trails were probably the “easiest” way. At least an arduous all-day climb. I like to daydream about what their experience was. Maybe like the contrast between driving there vs. scrambling up the back side from the road, or riding a whale watching boat vs. a difficult and dangerous two mile swim. Part of the value we derive from an experience can be in the “wall” we have to climb. Still, I love flying even tho the walls (aside from getting a license, and some expense) are vanishing small.

Flying makes the familiar unknown. Not just the fact that it’s almost impossible at first for most people to figure out what familiar landmarks they’re looking at. Everything just looks so different from a quarter mile up. But there’s also the fact that few people have followed every road in their familiar territory. So it is that we discovered this beautiful “unknown” farm in an area we’ve flown over many times.

1235 Paradise Nearby

Tucked into the trees, it’s a restful retreat amid the fields and nearby hills. Despite many flights to Lompoc, we’d never noticed this area.

1228 Lompoc Lakes

How many times have we flown over or driven past this farm house sheltering from the winds in a huddle of trees that also filters out the whoosh of cars passing.

1238 Huddle

Not far away a hacienda crouches among sweeping hills and rolling vineyards, blending amiably with the terrain in homage to past centuries.

1239 Compatibility

Yes, flying offers an invitation to wander and explore not just the familiar. Flying intimately with the earth at an easy pace can lift you effortlessly into the unknown.

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?