John & Anne Wiley

2012/11/09

Up & Down

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:59

Some people don’t like going up. That phase of flight when the nose tips up and a moment later the ground drops away and the view expands, for some people it’s uncomfortable or even scary. Not for us! We love the feeling, and even more we love the view. A few days ago as we were going up, I again enjoyed this old bunker left over from the days when SBA was a Marine Air base.

1252 Hunkered Bunker

1252 Hunkered Bunker

Maybe it’s the contrast between a structure so bound to the earth, and the lightness of being we’re getting with our first gulp of flight. Because it’s on the airport property, I often don’t even notice it amid such an expanse of wonder and lift of excitement. Most of our takeoffs are South from Runway 15, so my first gulp is East toward downtown. When we take off West from the less common Runway 25, UCSB is on my side of Tripp so I have lots of pix like this.

1254 UC, IV, & CI

1254 UC, IV, & CI

On clear days like this, my view past the airport grounds expands to include UCSB, IV (Isla Vista), and across the water to the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. After a short flight out to El Capitan area and back, we were still Up long after coming down to land. Even after such a short time in the air. Maybe that’s why our evening meal prep looked so especially delicious, I paused to snap this.

1248 Dinner Colors

1248 Dinner Colors

Farmer’s Market Organic produce along with some steamed rice and an avocado from our tree, provided a Perfect way of bringing our bodies back to earth while extending our Up time.

2012/11/07

Other Side

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 21:10

Sometimes I’ve wished you could see more pix from Tripp’s other side. Though she takes fewer pix, it’s always fun to see things from Anne’s side of the plane. There’s also a fascinating contrast from the other side of our gender orientation. Maybe some day she’ll get more motivated to post her perspective, but meanwhile here are some of my faves among her pix from two recent flights.

4387 Hill To Islands

4387 Hill To Islands

On many flights, she gets this view as we obey ATC’s directive to “follow 101 to the harbor.” That’s “TV Hill” at the bottom-right, SBCC in the middle, and “our” spot on Shoreline Park just to the right. I like how she captures the wave texture in this view of East Beach where we used to walk daily when we first moved here.

4421 Wave Sweep

4421 Wave Sweep

Lately she’s been fascinated with all the construction on the Mesa, and I like how this view puts it in context with downtown at the top-right.

4431 Mesa Construction

4431 Mesa Construction

Last up is this view past Hope Ranch to the West, taken the next day with her polarizing filter. I’m going to post a larger version of this one to my Photo Page.

4473 Hope To West

4473 Hope To West

2012/11/02

Random Surprises

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 06:07

I’ve missed posting lately, and decided to start catching up. I’ve been helping with a free new Android app for pilots, named Avare. Click the link to check it out if you’re into aviation, or just want to see what I’ve been up to. Anyway, here are some random surprises, starting with a view that greatly surprised us the first time we saw it.

1139 Tucker's Grove

1139 Tucker’s Grove

We’ve been to the Tucker’s Grove park at the north end of Turnpike many times, and hiked the trail up toward the hills from there a lot too. On the trail it feels like we’re in a wooded wilderness along the creek, but as you can see there are lots of homes on both sides. The park entrance is at the bottom-center, and the trail goes to the right and then up into the mountains. I’ve made this pic bigger than usual if you’d like to click it for a better look. Next up is a more recent surprise.

1163 Oprah's Cottage

1163 Oprah’s Cottage

When we fly past Montecito, it’s fun to glance at Oprah’s modest SB cottage. Recently there’s been major construction work there, and that’s surprising given how beautiful it was before. I think she’d already done major renovations when she bought it a few years ago. Will be fun to see this latest work finished and compare with how it looked before. Last up in this random set is a familiar building that surprised me.

1179 California Light

1179 California Light

We thought the California Hotel was going to be demolished, but seeing it from State Street we thought the project hadn’t started. I was surprised to see that it’s hollow inside except for a stout steel framework, and even more surprised at the translucent back wall. I guess they wanted it to look substantial, and maybe offer the neighbors an impression of how it will look with windows where the black areas are painted on the tarp. Next time we’re down in that area, maybe we’ll go by for a closer look.

2012/10/29

New Light

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 08:03

Flying SB it’s always fun to see old familiar places in a new light. On another recent clear air flight we enjoyed old favs like the Mission Hills area.

1145 Mission Hills

1145 Mission Hills

From the mission (bottom-right) up to the peaks, this part of town still looks much like it did years ago. The development has been relatively slow above our beloved “Stevens Bridge” towering over Stevens Park at the bottom-left in this pic.

1146 Pale Substitute

1146 Pale Substitute

Sometimes when we can’t fly, driving across that bridge gives us a hint of the vista and the fun of voting for mountains or coast. Lately the coast has won out sometimes, because the islands have been fairly clear. Still, it’s a pale substitute for the vistas we inhale on flights like this. Last up in this batch, another look at the Courthouse.

1152 Popular Spot

1152 Popular Spot

Most people in town know this is a popular spot to take tourists for a great view from atop that clock tower bottom-center. The building and sunken garden lawn beyond is also popular for weddings, including a couple cementing their bond eleven and some years ago in a quiet private ceremony. When we see people enjoying themselves and each other there, we smile. 🙂

2012/10/26

Contrasts

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 08:01

We got a fun surprise today: another chance for a quick SB flight in clear air. I’ve been wanting to try a polarized filter to see how a similar scene compares when taken with and without that filter. So today before we took off I put the filter on and shot some pix around town. Here’s one with a view of the harbor similar to the one I shared yesterday.

1232 SB Postcard

1232 SB Postcard

I really like yesterday’s view, but this one’s better to my eye. First off, it has more contrast and that gives it more punch. So much, it looks to me like a postcard of our beautiful city by the sea. Guess I’ll be snapping more pix with the filter occasionally, even on clear days rather than only on hazy days as I did on our AB Joy adventure. Anyway, by way of contrast here’s a pic from a few days ago when it was hazy but I didn’t try the filter on this one.

 

1136 Soft SB

1136 Soft SB

To me this could be another sort of postcard. Almost air brushed, with the layer of cloud giving a soft accent. A quieter mood with the faintest whisper of lapping waves in the rustling sand. A hint of sea air, with an impression that the clouds are slowly drifting along with my eye. Yes, it seems I like this one too. 🙂

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