John & Anne Wiley

2011/08/09

Last Five

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:44

Today I’ll post the last five of my fav pix from Fiesta. Yesterday we enjoyed a Perfect Ten flight to Oceano, but I haven’t looked at those pix yet because today was meditation during a root canal. Though the procedure went fine, maybe it would have helped to meditate on yesterday’s flight or the colorful parade.

2761 Equestrian Bouquet

2761 Equestrian Bouquet

The dresses sometimes created an effect like slow moving floral arrangements. Some of the horses had amazing long wavy manes.

2778 Mane Event

2778 Mane Event

One of the groups in the parade represented the people who service our National Forest up in the mountains, both routinely and (to enthusiastic cheers when the sideline announcer mentioned it), during wildfires.

2786 Forest Servicers

2786 Forest Servicers

I was surprised how many mules were in the parade and, like the ones pulling the wagon below, they all seemed quite patient.

2792 Mule Wagon

2792 Mule Wagon

Maybe there are new good-tempered breeds or new tricks that belie the cliche, “stubborn as a mule?” As you can see at the bottom-right of that pic, an equestrian parade produces ample reason to watch your step. I was reminded of that as the end of the parade passed, and thousands of people surged into the street to walk up State Street.

2813 People Parade

2813 People Parade

Everyone was in high spirits, including the girl bottom-left who just walked through a memento. Guess these are all horse people.

2011/08/07

Equestria

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 08:58

We watched “Secretariat” before the parade, and it added to our enjoyment of all the equestrian variety in Friday’s parade. There was also some welcome diversity in the riders, and a variety of period costumes making it more interesting.

2722 Variety

2722 Variety

There was also a variety of wagons and carriages, plus I noticed a lot of mules like the one riding escort here.

2724 Mule Escort

2724 Mule Escort

Of course there were also a variety of musical offerings, including this marching band. I liked the expressions on the guy lofting a horn and especially the drummer behind him.

2739 Band Expressions

2739 Band Expressions

We were pretty far along the parade route, so they must have been hot and tired by the time we saw them. I was pleased to see that most everyone was still looking happy and enthusiastic by the time they reached us, and I wondered if this friendly group was in one of the stagecoaches that used to make the arduous climb from SB up to Cold Spring Tavern.

2747 Stagecoach

2747 Stagecoach

In addition to the equestrian magnificence, many women were wearing beautiful dresses of the period that I’m imaging were hand-made.

2756 Period Dresses

2756 Period Dresses

2011/08/06

Viva!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region,Tripp — John @ 03:34

We took a break from helping at a shop working on Tripp, and drove downtown for the Fiesta Parade. We took quite a few pix, but here are two favs.

2736 Colorful Fiesta

2736 Colorful Fiesta

The costumes and decorated horses make it so colorful, and everyone’s having such a great time.

2742 Rope Trick

2742 Rope Trick

Many of the riders put on a show, prancing their horses, having them show off tricks like walking sideways or backward, and several like this guy did rope tricks. One of them even threw a lasso around a photographer standing in the street. After the parade we walked over a mile back to the car to finish up Tripp. Then of course we had to take her on a test flight, so we went over the city and saw big crowds everywhere and several more colorful events. Downtown there’s a mercado.

2849 Mercado

2849 Mercado

Maybe you’ll notice the vertical row of blue umbrellas near the center-top as I did, and want to check out whether that’s seating for a restaurant. Across the street in the downtown outdoor walking mall there was a dancing performance in the courtyard.

2850 Dancers

2850 Dancers

So we’re happy and tired. Part of my happy is that a few minor problems with Tripp are now fixed, thanks to a new mechanic who had more time available to tweak her than our regular mechanic who’s swamped with work. Now we need to dream up somewhere to fly this weekend…

2011/08/05

The Croc

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

So I sent some pix of our Anacapa flight to Edhat, and then found this snap of the crocodile that I like better.

2636 Anacapa Island Croc

2636 Anacapa Island Croc

In case you don’t get my name for it, to me this looks like a giant crocodile. The camera was overexposing most of the wide shots like this for some reason, so it’s lucky I’d set it to underexpose by .7 stop. Anyway, after some tweaking in Pshop this one came out not too far from what we saw. Snaps of the beaches and caves came out better.

2539 Quiet Beach

2539 Quiet Beach

There are so many beaches and caves to explore when the sea is calm, but it’s often quite different on the North and South sides of the island. It can also change quickly, and then you could have a challenging time getting to shelter. On a day like this though, it sure looks inviting.

2541 Faux Monolith

2541 Faux Monolith

I like this pic, because the slice of sunlight hitting a sliver of the cliff base creates the effect of a rock monolith standing alone on the beach. When I first looked at this pic, it was fun to imagine ancient peoples carving and setting a stone sentry there that has survived a century or more. In this next pic you can better see the overexposure problem, but I like how the shot puts the lighthouse in perspective.

2584 Anacapa Light

2584 Anacapa Light

If you click it to see the full-size version, you can probably make out the buildings in the center of the shot. Also the white concrete that was probably for collecting rainwater into a cistern, and now appears to be used for storing trash between visits from the tender boat. Here’s a closer view of the lighthouse that evokes impressions of ferocious storms pounding the rocks, and furious gales blowing across the light. Maybe a disconsolate maiden bereft of her beloved lost at sea, contemplating a leap.

2588 Anacapa Light

2588 Anacapa Light

OK, over the top, so to speak. But here’s a last snap in an attempt at my redemption.

2605 Inner Light

2605 Inner Light

Maybe it doesn’t show in this pic, but there’s a luminous quality to the water in the shadows inside the cave mouths. They are lit from within, as if inviting us to a mermaid gathering.

2011/08/04

Oil & Water

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 00:38

Preparing this photo I heard a loud sizzle a moment ago, when Anne put some water in a pan with hot oil (she’s fine). Got me thinking about the ways oil and water get along – or not. It seems to me there are many more offshore oil platforms in our channel than when we moved here 20-ish years ago. I do like the colorful lights on chilly winter nights, and it’s interesting to fly over them like this.

2643 Offshore Oil Platform

2643 Offshore Oil Platform

One of my various “careers” was a Summer diamond drilling job on a Yukon mountaintop, and this reminds me of it a little. I wonder what it’s like for the crew to live out there for a shift. Unlike my mountain drilling though, they can see the city lights. It’s been years since I’ve seen the poetry I wrote up on the mountain, and maybe this will motivate me to look for it. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy all the action in this snap as I do.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com.