John & Anne Wiley

2011/08/02

Scratched

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:41

When we don’t fly for a few days, we get itchy feathers. Even though we flew Friday, today was so clear that at 2pm or so we decided to fly again. Of course, by the time we got airborne it was 4pm but we decided to go out for a look at Anacapa Island before it gets completely dried out. Too late for that, it turns out, but we saw such beautiful vistas! But before I start posting those, I wanted to share a different angle on the Edhat item I mentioned yesterday. I thought it was landscaping and a new driveway being added to an estate, but from the North side it looks like a whole new mansion is going in.

2694 Earthmoving

2694 Earthmoving

Judging by the vacant slope shown on the satellite image of this spot, having homes and presumably wildfire-resistant landscaping there will probably be popular with neighbors. I enjoy looking at big construction projects like this, probably for the same reasons I used to like playing with earthmover toys as a kid. I also enjoy looking at how people with more money than I, spend it on their castles. SB is home to some of the most spectacular and beautiful estates in North America, so that aspect makes flying here even more fun. But tomorrow maybe I’ll post some aerials of the even more spectacular scenery we relished today.

2011/08/01

Hugette’s Quiet Courtyard

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 21:56

I had an aunt with a mansion in Hollywood, and for some reason the quiet mood and smell of stillness is evoked when I look at aerials like this of the Hugette Clark mansion near the bird refuge.

2426 Hugette's Sheltered Pond

2426 Hugette's Sheltered Pond

The whole place accurately conveys the impression of having been frozen in time many decades ago. It’s been kept in good condition by the caretakers even though Hugette never made it back to her childhood playground. With her recent passing I seem to glance at (and snap) it more often when we fly past. Every time, it brings back that mood and smell of my aunt’s mansion of similar vintage. Maybe some day soon it will be opened to the public, and we can pause to gaze on the reflecting pond contemplating past, present, and future.

2011/07/31

Old Town

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:26

Our brief flight yesterday brought nostalgic touches of Old Santa Barbara. Near our place I spotted these two horses standing motionless on a grassy knoll all but oblivious to the newfangled machine passing a quarter mile above their sleepy heads.

2405 Urban Horses

2405 Urban Horses

They reminded me of the horses our family had when I was little, and of the massive Fiesta Parade coming up here Friday the 5th. The largest equestrian parade in the West as I recall. We’ve gone a few times, and it’s such a delight to see the exceptional horses and riders. Feels like we’re back in the last millennium before cars, watching the seemingly endless stream of people moving up the street with the help of single-digit horsepower.

An item in Edhat about sidewalk stamps included an old one with my name, and citizens may vote it Photo of the Day. This is the first place I’ve lived that had someone else with my name, and there are three of us! All of this gives our town an older impression than we get cruising Altered State Street.

We also saw the old mission framed by the Riviera hills with a cloud garnish, and that’s where many of the week-long series of Fiesta events other than the parade are held.

2409 Mission & Hills

2409 Mission & Hills

The air was hazy because the coastal low clouds that keep our town comfy in the SoCA summer had just dissipated, and that gives the photo an older look that would probably add “age” in sepia. I still like it in color tho. 🙂

2011/07/30

Quiet Campus

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 03:23

We were delighted to get a few minutes of flying today, and for some reason the waterfront SBCC main campus looked especially peaceful and beautiful.

2460 Peaceful SBCC

2460 Peaceful SBCC

This college is one of our first positive impressions of Santa Barbara, before moving here. We drove along Cabrillo (bottom-right) and were amazed at the idyllic setting, imagining students walking across the street and broad sandy West Beach to go surfing after class. Anne even worked for a time in one of the offices just above the grassy area lower-left. We once watched July 4 fireworks from the East end of the campus overlooking the harbor (just left of the Los Banos Pool you can see just left of the harbor, top-right).

Not only does our community college have a spectacular setting, it boasts a remarkable world-class faculty. We know several professors who left UCSB jobs to teach there, and the quality of instruction is generally top-notch. The fact that the college also has one of the premier Continuing Education programs in the world seems to be cause and effect. Adult Ed provides the exceptional faculty, and the grateful community is exceptionally supportive. I love this town! 🙂

2011/07/25

Notice

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 07:28

Discovery has magic for me. Certain discoveries add an element of magic and surprise, brought simply by noticing.

A familiar view for us is the nearby mountains that endlessly entertain us with changing light and often a fluffy dash of mist or cloud. Sometimes a dome of elegantly painted sky at sunset. Often a circling hawk or a cackle of crows. On a nearer hillock is a snag that draws the eye, and frequently harbors hawk or crows, woodpeckers or smaller birds. Imagine the surprise then to discover a medium-large tree standing alone on a ridge not a mile from our daily vantage point.

2398 Fog Featured Tree

2398 Fog Featured Tree

That’s it to the left of the snag, brought into stark relief by the fog just beyond. That same scene an hour later looked as it usually does, and that same tree is all but invisible.

2400 Vanished Fog & Tree

2400 Vanished Fog & Tree

With the fog gone, the hill beyond camouflages the tree and even seems to shift the shape of the ridge it stands on. This disappearance got me thinking about what and how we notice. Our minds are wired to ignore most of the information flooding into our senses. We’ve evolved to pick out what’s relevant or different. Anything that stands out in some way. If we could build a robot with eyesight no keener and brain no simpler than ours, would it notice the tree in the second photo? Would a mindfulness guru notice it? How many things in our lives go unnoticed? How many of those are relevant or different, but we pass them by either because we lack the presence to notice or because they don’t stand out? Why do I sometimes want to notice and remember more? How does noticing such things somehow stimulate serene happiness? Would that tree stand out in the second pic if my father had planted and cared for it? How relevant will the most important thing in my life be, in the context of ten thousand years?

Anyway, here’s a larger slice of the same scene more as we normally see it, inviting us to notice the tree even less.

2400 Tree Diminished

2400 Tree Diminished

Still, having now seen it our eye is drawn to search for it daily, a familiar face in the sensory crowd.

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