John & Anne Wiley

2010/11/02

Walk in the Park

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:10

We enjoyed a varied walk in SB’s Oak Park this evening. First clambering along the creekbed, then across the grass where the trees framed a magnificent view of the mountains still in the sun.

3119 Mountain Light

3119 Mountain Light

Ever playful, Anne clambered inside a hollow tree to vamp for the camera.

3128 Tree Goddess

3128 Tree Goddess

In the quiet shadows of Oak Park with sun still glinting on treetops beyond, we huddled at the footbridge to enjoy the old tree it frames so nicely.

3141 Bridge to Branch

3141 Bridge to Branch

Talking quietly, we recalled this same bridge on bright summer days flowing with people coming and going at one or another of the annual ethnic festivals. A whiff of fine cuisine wafting among the branches at the French Festival. Memories of paradise.

2010/11/01

Spooks

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 05:22

A year ago we were in New Orleans. Yes, for Halloween! Since that town knows how to party through grief (including the ghosts of Katrina) it was of course the experience of a lifetime as we shared in a post then. Here’s a snap of the scene.

9788 New Orleans in 2009

9788 New Orleans in 2009

This year we’d thought about going to Isla Vista as we had in 2008, for another flamboyant if more mellow celebration. Instead though, we downshifted another gear to just cruise some neighborhoods and Altered State Street. On the way into town I snapped this black cat sitting between carved pumpkins, so motionless we wondered if it was part of the decorations. When these kids arrived, it instantly transformed from menacing to coy and everyone delighted in the interaction including the old couple watching from their car. For a moment, the kids completely forgot about candy.

3067 Black Cat

3067 Black Cat

On the street downtown, small kids who’d been collecting candy from merchants had mostly gone home for dinner and the older revelers were coming out. We wondered about the story behind the nun’s adjusted habit, because she was quite proud of it and got the others to pause and pose.

3094 Nun & Friends

3094 Nun & Friends

I’ve sent other pix to Edhat and will probably post at least one on my Photo Page, but here’s a last one from our drive home through another neighborhood. This whole area for several blocks was alive with families and groups of teens enjoying some elaborately decorated homes. You can’t tell at this size, but the car in the driveway is belching “smoke” and is filled with mangled “bodies.”

3105 Hood Decor

3105 Hood Decor

2010/10/31

Into the Sunset

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:46

We flew to Santa Paula for a visit with friends today, and saw some fun stuff along the way. It started immediately with this crisp view from the airport past UCSB to the Channel Islands.

3034 SBA UCSB CI

3034 SBA UCSB CI

The sky was clearing from an overnight storm, so the mountains were hiding their heads trying to sleep late. That’s “upper” State Street across the bottom, and our “voting” bridge over Stevens Park just left of center.

3036 Upper State to Mtns

3036 Upper State to Mtns

You remember: every time we drive across it going to/from town, we pause the conversation to feast our eyes in both directions and then vote on the best view. North toward the mountains usually wins, but today it would have probably been South toward the islands. Beyond Summerland there’s a polo club condo where we recently saw horses chasing a little ball. Today was quite a contrast.

3046 Condo Polo Cars

3046 Condo Polo Cars

Looks like antique cars, this is only about a quarter of what was on the field, and it looked like they were still setting up. A bit further East, on the beach near Carpinteria is a place locals call the Taj Mahal. I’d never noticed it until a mention and photo on Edhat, and I’ve sent them a different version of this photo asking for more info.

3049 Carp Taj

3049 Carp Taj

I didn’t get photos of the old planes we saw during a stop in Camarillo, including a B-25 that looked really cool flying. I sent Edhat a photo of the sunset in Santa Paula as we prepared to take off for home.

3050 SZP Sunset

3050 SZP Sunset

Sure was a lot of fun in three hours!

2010/10/29

Magic

Filed under: by Anne,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 08:22

I found one of Anne’s pix from our airport sunset that she didn’t share, and it overflows with magic that more words would only delay.

0749 Magic

0749 Magic

2010/10/28

People Power

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 23:39

Politics is amazing. Our work with the Citizens4sbcc group trying to save our Community College has been more intense lately. For one thing we’ve attended several events and fundraisers.

2846 Montecito Fundraiser

2846 Montecito Fundraiser

This fundraiser Anne is surveying as we arrived, was at a posh ocean view estate in Montecito. Beyond the pool is a lower level with magnificent rambling tea garden. Behind her is the sprawling mansion, and you can get a small glimpse from this later photo looking back up the yard.

2851 Uphill

2851 Uphill

The campaign has a decidedly uphill quality to it right now, as the incumbents go for broke. They’ve hired (with taxpayer funds) a campaign consultant, and are investing thousands in misleading ads and opinion pieces. The negativity of their approach is overwhelming! The thing I find particularly discouraging is their use of “doublespeak” (accusing our candidates of the despicable things their campaign is actually doing). I celebrate that they have their own opinions, but get upset when they espouse manufactured “facts” that are exactly opposite of reality. sigh…

Some of the events we’ve attended have helped refresh our hope and resolve, like this fundraiser (for a Parent Child Workshop, not our campaign). It’s a large group of parents and children working together on Parent Education, that was in one of the programs Anne supervised as SBCC Director/Dean.

2924 1/3 of a Fundraiser

2924 1/3 of a Fundraiser

Two thirds of the event is beyond this frame to the left and right. At the right is a live band, and to the left is the close-to-100 year old ranch with more action. It was so heartening to see the Carpinteria community pulling together working on the future of our world: raising conscious children. I hope when these kids grow up, the era of dirty campaigns has passed and we can focus on peaceful coexistence.

We went over Montecito couple of days later while taking a friend on his birthday flight, so I snapped this aerial view of the now quiet estate we visited in the first pix of this post. From above where political tactics don’t show as well, you can better see the beauty of our world.

2992 Montecito Estate

2992 Montecito Estate

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