John & Anne Wiley

2012/07/17

Air & Water

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 04:02

We enjoy swimming, and before my shoulder got cranky I used to love the Butterfly stroke. It’s a way of “porpoising” through the water with a “dolphin” kick and it feels wonderful. In my youth cetacea (whales & dolphins) inspired a clumsy poem with their ease in mixing air and water. No surprise then that we watch for them when flying over water, and today we saw this pod feeding. They blew bubbles under water, feasted on the fish they’d corralled, then came up for air as they raced to rejoin the pod.

1389 Breath Sequence 1

1389 Breath Sequence 1

Top-left is the first aerial I’ve snapped of a dolphin exhaling as it surfaced for a breath.

1390 Breath Sequence 2

1390 Breath Sequence 2

It was back beneath the water so quickly I missed the actual blow before it inhaled and dove, but some of the blows we saw were probably 15 feet high.

1392 Breath Sequence 3

1392 Breath Sequence 3

I did manage to catch this middle one just after it blew and was nosing down. You can just make out the mist of the blow above it in the pic. I like this last shot Anne got after they’d reformed the pod, and but for some motion blur I’d have posted it to our Photo Page.

3203 Dolphin Pod

3203 Dolphin Pod

The ripples of light on their backs has an ethereal beauty for me. Imagining a serene family closeness as they chat about the meal and what to do next. Similar yet so different from our family experiences. Completely untethered by things, always on the move, and able to “see” right through each other with sonar. Immersed in a translucent universe of air and water.

2012/07/15

Ever New

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:58

Maybe people flying in the Sahara find it ever new, changing not just with the seasons but continually. We enjoy the desert, but for us the constant newness of flying the SB area is sometimes almost overwhelming. I enjoyed a deep delicious sigh just now, simply from thinking about how much we like it. 🙂

1017 Toward Carp

1017 Toward Carp

This view toward Carp from offshore of Summerland is a case in point. The colors and shapes, the raw nature punctuated by human activity, and the way it nestles beneath the sky… It reminds me sometimes of a magical living slice from the colorful marbles I used to play with as a child.

1020 Waters Near Touching

1020 Waters Near Touching

With so many fascinating things spread before your gently moving gaze, new details always emerge. Like how the creek colors change as it no longer meets the sea. Our eyes and hearts stretch to take it all in, triggering an endless flood of memories from familiar places we’ve stood looking up. As with all beauty, it is the complex emotional response within us that distinguishes it from other perceptions. There, I just sighed again… 🙂

2012/07/14

Later

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 07:56

Often I see something from the air that’s interesting for some reason, so I snap it to look at later. Well it’s much later than June 30th when I snapped this one, but it now looks like some sort of rodeo. I’ve sent a copy to Edhat in case someone there can tell us more about what it was exactly.

0994 Rodeo?

0994 Rodeo?

It’s near the river in the valley west of Santa Paula. Another pic I’m enjoying later is this one from the flight home. The darker point in the distance is Santa Barbara, and the dim one beyond is Point Conception.

0996 Coast Home

0996 Coast Home

It’s such a delight flying in this region because you have ocean, islands, mountains valleys and deserts all within a short flight. Oh, and the usually glorious pleasant weather. 🙂

2012/07/13

Maturity

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 01:36

When I was younger it was refreshing when parked in a traffic jam, to see a small plane fly past. I’d imagine myself up there effortlessly going somewhere in the cool air, looking at grand vistas, and oblivious to the frustrated drivers idling on hot asphalt. Now I’m living that dream, except I’m not oblivious to the highway. Instead it’s common for me to smile or even smirk at the traffic jams. Somehow my maturity hasn’t advanced to the level of keeping an impassive demeanor. 🙂

3117 Gaviota Traffic

3117 Gaviota Traffic

You can find more words and pix about this on Edhat and my Photo Page, but I wanted to also mention here that we were actually on that highway four hours before. This morning we rode with friends out to the cute little blueberry farm just this side of Buellton.

0123 Berry Patch

0123 Berry Patch

A few years ago a very nice man cut an inch square piece out of my cheek. Basal cell I think he called it, and though it healed with no scar it did leave a scary memory. Since I detest sunscreen, I avoid sun whenever possible, wear a hat, and when doing activities like this cast aside any vestige of pride and take a beach umbrella.

0116 Solphobia

0116 Solphobia

It may seem surprising, but only one person commented on this goofy looking fat man trying to blend in with the normal berry fans. It was the gal at the pay booth who said what a great idea it is. Of course, she was just being nice. 🙂

0117 Granite Berries

0117 Granite Berries

I overhead a mom tell her friend who was enjoying watching a toddler, “He’s been picking up rocks and eating those too.” Maybe he was inspired by the fact I was showing a similar level of maturity by sampling prodigious numbers of blueberries from my own bucket every time it started to fill up. Maybe if I could reach the age of this tree, I’d not only achieve maturity but even wisdom.

0102 Wise Tree

0102 Wise Tree

2012/07/12

Tar Babies

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 07:55

California is a car kingdom. Without a car in many parts of this state, mobility can be a major hassle. Of course, the “free” ways are often at a standstill too so in some ways mobility can be a major hassle even with a car. Here in SB it’s not a big deal for most people, but those who commute to and from here can face an unpredictable drive. Many locals don’t know how much our car culture literally arose from the ground around here. Here’s a remnant by way of example.

0935 Petro Past

0935 Petro Past

Black gold used to literally bubble out of the ground in many places. This tar seep from the sandstone bluffs near More Mesa used to be joined by many more before most of the petroleum was drained by countless wells. Walking the beaches still often ends up with your feet dotted with tar babies. I recently started enjoying the shapes and textures of these big tar blobs, so you’ll probably see more like this here in the future.

0936 Beach Blob

0936 Beach Blob

If you look closely on the beach to the right of the blue towel, you might make out some people to show the scale of these blobs. They look like sleeping giants that could rise up and swallow those beach goers, and maybe ooze up the hill to go rampaging through town gobbling up SUVs. Thankfully, they seem content to slumber.

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