John & Anne Wiley

2014/10/09

UC Moon

Sometimes when you fly at night, you see moon. The night after full moon (and eclipse), we flew around the airport and thrilled to scenes like this we’ve not enjoyed since our last full moon flight.

6412 Moon Over UCSB

6412 Moon Over UCSB

The stadium lights blaring at the left contrast with gentle shimmers on the water and twinkling lights of many colors. Passing offshore of UCSB, the campus so familiar in daylight seemed mysterious though everyone familiar can find landmarks like Storke Tower and figure out where they are.

6417 UCSB Moonlight Magic

6417 UCSB Moonlight Magic

From a different angle we looked past Goleta to the lights of distant Santa Barbara adding a pleasant glow to the haze and fog forming there.

6395 Distant Glow

6395 Distant Glow

Sometimes flying at night U.C. Moon.

2014/10/05

Water Colors

I’m fascinated by light. Especially the way light changes depending on the angle of view. For example, here’s the same water off East Beach viewed from different angles.

6360 Oil Barge

6360 Oil Barge

The lobster boat at the top is tending to the traps as seals on the large white buoy watch contemplating the catch. When we first moved here someone told us that blue barge is a fish farm, but recent visitors told us it’s for oil spill response and that looks much more likely. But right now I’m noticing the blue color of the water, compared with this same scene a few seconds later looking NW rather than NE.

6366 Lobster Boat

6366 Lobster Boat

The lobster boat has left the buoy at the top and circled back toward the oil barge off to the left, perhaps headed for another trap or back to the harbor. The same area of water now appears green because we’re looking at a different angle in relation to the sun. Nearby a “live aboard” sailboat in the (risky in stormy weather) anchorage bobs in a different shade as we look SE.

6376 Home Afloat

6376 Home Afloat

Years ago I lived briefly on an old wooden 33′ fishing boat, and all those romantic memories come flooding back when I glance at a scene like this. We even considered a floating home moving here where housing is so expensive, but managed to find something we can afford on land. It’s still fun to stroll Stearn’s Wharf, and huddle under the umbrellas at Moby’s watching boats, fishing, birds, and the occasional seal or dolphin.

6359 Huddled Red

6359 Huddled Red

Water colors can be pleasing to the eye up here, just as the sounds soothe the soul down there.

2014/09/27

Mystery

Art is a mystery. I glance at some contemporary art and move along unmoved. I stand and stare in awe of other art, ancient and contemporary. Art holds not just the mystery it often evokes, of the true nature of things far beyond where words and ideas can reach. It also presents the mystery of what is art to one person at one moment, yet not to another. So I asked on this local news site submission whether this scene is Art, and whether anyone can guess the location.

6354 Eye Of Beholder

6354 Eye Of Beholder

This version has extra context for people wanting to guess the location. After a while I’ll post a Comment with some details on the location.

 

2014/09/22

Over Carp

Flying along the coast here is one of our greatest delights. On this flight there was a finger of fog caressing the hilltop above La Conchita, emphasizing the interplay of air and water.

6199 Air & Water

6199 Air & Water

The area around Carp also boasts many nurseries, and the ones like this with colors in bloom are always sweet treats from above.

6206 Nursing Colors

6206 Nursing Colors

Nearby an informal soccer game offered us ant-like figures scurrying about on a dappled green with intricate lines secretly signaling the heavens.

6201 Stop Action

6201 Stop Action

Beyond the baseball diamond to the left of this action is the open space where Carpinthians go to wander the plain, stroll the line of trees, or admire the sea view from quiet bluffs beyond the railroad tracks above whispering surf.

6203 Carpinteria Bluffs

6203 Carpinteria Bluffs

2014/09/17

Scary Beauty

Filed under: Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:46

We live in a paradise that’s scary beautiful. Like this view from the waiting room of a medical clinic downtown.

142223 Everyday Beauty

142223 Everyday Beauty

Almost scary how beautiful this is. But there’s another way this view can be scary for locals on days like this. Here’s a pic of those mountains from May 5, 2009 not long after some volunteer with a weed whacker was clearing brush from one of the myriad great local hiking trails.

5895 Jesusita Fire

5895 Jesusita Fire

In only a few hours, thousands of acres had burned and many homes destroyed. This was during one of our hot dry wind events that make fires more likely, more destructive, and more difficult and dangerous for firefighters. Today, with the whole region in Exceptional drought conditions, we’re having another such wind event. This is a type of scary beauty.

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