John & Anne Wiley

2012/05/07

Mountain Castle

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:37

If you were a superheroine, could you choose a better mountaintop fortress than this one above the now-pricy settlement of Topanga Canyon?

1787 Mountain Castle

1787 Mountain Castle

You stand at the rail on the little rounded second floor balcony next to the saucer and survey your realm. You wander those private paths and walking trails. Entertain guests in the gardens or the great rooms. This is your castle. Your sanctum in between heroic deeds, sheltered by the massive boulders with their immovable sandstone softness. But in my comic moment the image pops in of that saucer detaching like the old Men In Black movie, and whirling our heroine off into space. 🙂

2012/05/06

Super Moon SB

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 05:05

I got a new camera from my Dad this evening. Though he passed many years ago, I’ve had his pickup truck (named Tonk) as a memento. I sold it a few weeks ago, and now the money from that has bought a Nikon D5100. So tonight we flew over town to snap the Supermoon and check out the remarkable low light capability of this camera.

0036 SB Supermoon

0036 SB Supermoon

Looking at the pix from the flight, I was enjoying how much better they came out than any ever taken with my old D40. But there was still quite a bit of grain and color noise, which surprised me. Then I looked at the camera and discovered I’d picked up a D3100 by mistake! Still better than the old one, but the 5100 is reputed to be remarkably better. So tomorrow maybe I’ll take it back and see what Dad really bought me. 🙂

2012/05/05

SoCal Glacier

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 22:16

Most times when we fly past La Conchita, I glance at the quiet little enclave near Carp and recall the headlines about the fatal landslide that took out some homes. The day of this pic I was also looking at the distant snow-capped peaks.

1778 La Conchita

1778 La Conchita

You can see the slide area at the bottom-right, in the missing rows of homes in the rectangular grid pattern. The distant snow got me pondering glaciers, and the glacier-like aspects of some landslides. Rather than race suddenly down the slope, many SoCal slides happen over several minutes, hours, or even days. This one was relatively fast, perhaps due to the fact it happened after a long period of heavy rains and was at least partly a mudslide. Looking at the aftermath, a heavy feeling in my heart mingles with a serene sense of the inevitable. Each of us and all our possessions will be buried in time, and I hope the examples set by our fathers will help me greet the end with a peaceful and dignified spirit.

2012/05/04

Seeing Eye

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,SB Region — John @ 03:30

I hope someday soon we’ll have cameras that see as the human eye does, and creates photos that can evoke the same bliss in the human heart. Standing on the bluff looking at Torrey Pines and La Jolla yesterday brought back many fond memories of past times there.

2149 Mixed Use

2149 Mixed Use

The bike route ended here, but this guy didn’t mind. There were people jogging, walking and sitting along the dirt path. Others were doing the same things down on the sand. A few more were swimming, skimboarding, sufing and body surfing. Across the road all sorts of critters were flying, wading and swimming as occasional trains rolled by. Dabbling her feet in the water was a beauty who delightedly pointed out another popular activity here.

2157 Anne & Cessna

2157 Anne & Cessna

She literally squealed with delight as she noted what we’d be doing today. Sure enough, we passed quite near this spot at a similar height to the Cessna she’s pointing at near the top of the pic. Sadly, the weather wasn’t as good when we went by so this pic of a similar scene out Tripp’s window looks hazy.

2179 Breath Trigger

2179 Breath Trigger

Fortunately for us, this pic triggers a deep delicious breath as we recall how moving and magnificent this view was in person a few hours ago. Our hearts completely remove the haze, and the pulse quickens with immeasurable joy in the memory of a flood of moments on our journey home. Life is Sweet!

2012/05/02

More Mesa Manses

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 05:02

On the beach by the nursery just West of More Mesa are some manses I really like. Isn’t this a great yard with a trail winding down to the beach?

1754 Yard Wander

1754 Yard Wander

The triangle in this next one is interesting, and the pool on the left is a really cool shape.

1757 Manse Shapes

1757 Manse Shapes

Gazillionaires sometimes just find a manse they like, and pay whatever the owner can’t refuse. They should fly around in helicopters and pick out the places they’d like to buy, because we sure see some remarkable manses.

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