John & Anne Wiley

2012/10/25

Clarity

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 19:10

I like clarity. Between people when there’s understanding, compassion and rapport, my heart soars. When pondering a problem, I love that moment of clarity when a solution emerges. There’s another sort of clarity that gets me excited, and that’s when the air is free of haze, smoke, dust or anything else that limits our ability to see far into the distance. Recently we’ve enjoyed each of these forms of clarity, and here’s an example of the latter.

1088 Home Free

1088 Home Free

When our hometown is free of anything that reduces clarity, pix like this are possible. Interestingly, our eye sees it this way on most flights. While you can improve clarity with Photoshop, it can be quite a bit of work and still not come across with the punch of a clear day. This one was back on 10/14 when we flew sweet Sarah, and we flew yesterday for another clear day that I’ve sent pix of to Edhat (see link in the right column here). She also got to see our peaks from the air for her first time, and one of my favs from those pix are the shots of Tooth Rock (aka Cathedral Peak).

1118 Tooth Rock

1118 Tooth Rock

The light was just right for a good look deep into the “cavity” at the bottom as we passed. How many people have lived in this over the ages?

1121 Cathedral Cavity

1121 Cathedral Cavity

2012/10/20

Everywhere

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 20:32

I love flying, especially here in the SB region, which begs the question: where have we flown that I have not enjoyed. After a moment the one place I think of, is out of El Paso headed home from a Big Adventure. I thought 500′ would make it more interesting, but it wasn’t. After a few miles I climbed to 4,000′ or so and then it was fun again. Just as I love flying Everywhere, here in SB it’s fun looking Everywhere.

1083 Hope to Hills

1083 Hope to Hills

No matter which SBA runway we lift off from, or which way we turn, SB is a wonderland of magnificent vistas like this. Often while flying along the coast from runway 15 when ATC will grant us a “left crosswind departure” toward the harbor, I’m looking mostly at the mansions. Some of the most beautiful estates in North America are on the bluffs of Hope Ranch overlooking the Channel out to the islands and beyond. But glancing up on this flight, I enjoyed the line up past Laguna Blanca to the base of the hills where we live and up to the mountains. Maybe because of so many warm memories there, the attractions around Hendry’s Beach (Arroyo Burro) often catches my attention.

1084 Hendry's

1084 Hendry’s

I didn’t notice it during the flight, but on this pic I got curious about writing in the sand at the right edge. Flipped over and cropped from the original, here’s a better look.

1084 Wilcox Wife

1084 Wilcox Wife

Apparently, some enterprising suitor prepared this message in the sand and then proposed from the trail up on the Wilcox (Douglas) preserve. I wonder if the pranksters who changed the “RR” to “BB” had done so before the proposal. I guess we can assume her answer was “Yes” and that she’s soon to be a Wilcox Wife, joining the women before her proposed to or wed there. In this last pic for this post, is another popular proposal and wedding spot.

1085 Shoreline

1085 Shoreline

I know this, because we celebrated our impromptu marriage with a re-enactment for family and friends at Shoreline Park. It’s the sliver of waterfront grass with walking paths and trees right on the bluffs overlooking the water.

Everything about flying is evocative for me. The flying itself resonates with countless dreams, watching birds, and my lifelong fascination with aircraft. The new places I see from the air resonates with my delight in discovery and my enjoyment of views from high places. The familiar places we fly over resonate with memories. Yesterday we were talking about our good fortune in finding a partner who shares our love of flight. In a sense, for us flying is Everything.

2012/10/18

Variety

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 08:13

Unusual amount of variety for us today! If you live in SB, you know one source of variety. If you live elsewhere, maybe you’re among those whose local news sources reported the evacuation of SB. If so, rest easy because the evacuation was 100 homes in the tiny community of Painted Cave up on the mountain. Here’s an annotated still pic the NBC LA news chopper got over the fire that greeted us this morning, when it was finally knocked down this afternoon with no homes damaged.

Fire Aerial

Fire Aerial

Another source of variety in our day was the new free Android aviation GPS app named Avare that our friend Zubair and I are donating to aviators and app programmers. Anne’s helped too, so it’s added to our daily variety for a month now. We also have a weekly Skype call with our daughter and family, and that’s always a delightful distraction. Today I added several hours’ effort setting up Google Talk in case that’s more reliable for our future video chats. Then there’s looking at pix to share, and I like this one Anne got on our short 10/1 local flight.

4325 Sunset Rush

4325 Sunset Rush

This little boat rushing toward the sunset looks courageous to me somehow, even tho the seas are calm and weather clear. Last up is another view from our local 10/14 flight with Sarah. There was a variety of activities going on at UCSB’s Campus Point, from tide pool exploration and beach strolls to kayaking.

1080 Beach Variety

1080 Beach Variety

I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Maybe a quiet day, so I can post only pix from 10/14’s flight and explore more from that variety of scenes between sea level and our nearby 4,000 foot peaks.

2012/10/15

Generations

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 07:44

We took our sweet and serene Sarah on a short flight in the clear air today, and it began a memorable time together. She’s a recent UCSB grad, so we got permission from ATC for a flight past her old haunts starting with this look East from Devereaux.

1072 To UCSB & Beyond

1072 To UCSB & Beyond

Like her we have many fond memories of that campus, going back years before she was there. We of course also feel fondly about the airport next door. 🙂 Passing the beach, this group of surfers in the clear shallow water (can you see the faint ripples?) took me back to my own youth.

1075 Surfers In Shallows

1075 Surfers In Shallows

When we reached this scene, the contemplative look on Sarah’s face was wonderful to behold.

1079 Looking Back at UCSB

1079 Looking Back at UCSB

After the flight we had dinner together at our place and watched “My Afternoons With Margueritte.” It fit so poignantly with our day, and the love we have experienced with family and friends lately. After the movie we spoke briefly of “Us-ness.” That field of mutuality we experience with kindred souls, that’s not about “me” or “you.” A warm glow of togetherness that transcends personality. It somehow triggered these words in me, as I realized that such moments have always carried forward across the millennia.

May the magic of our Us-ness
Linger in our hearts silent spaces.
May we ever remember
To pass their essence
Onward down the generations.

2012/10/14

Local Wander

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

We went on a local wander flight at the end of last month, and I thought you might like to fly along. First up is this different angle than you typically see of the Mission.

1035 Mission Side

1035 Mission Side

Nearly all pix you see are facing the front and featuring the twin bell towers. From this side you can see the smaller bell tower (center bottom), and the twin courtyards. Just out of view to the left of this pic is the Garden Street Academy K-12 school that we (not being Catholic) didn’t know about until several years after moving here. We thought the tower that’s visible from the Natural History Museum across the creek in the background, was part of the mission building. It was probably when we started flying seven lucky years ago that we thought it was a seminary. Only recently did we learn it’s a non-denominational school.

1034 Garden St. Academy

1034 Garden St. Academy

Next up is this puzzling pic of a greenhouse in Carp. What is causing those white arcs on the gray roof? Maybe sprinklers inside, leaving an accumulation of hard water rings?

1039 White Puzzles

1039 White Puzzles

Heading back to SBA the city lay before us in the sunset glow, stretching lazily out to the harbor out to the islands beyond.

1041 Warm Invitation

1041 Warm Invitation

My last offering from this day is the sort of fireworks we often see over SB. We love how lush our town is with trees and greenery, and the flashes of color like this from flowering trees that pop up into the slanting sun with a last giggle of daylight over the quiet neighborhood.

1043 Sunset Giggle

1043 Sunset Giggle

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