John & Anne Wiley

2013/04/28

Friends, Family & French

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 06:03

We started the day surrounded by dear friends and Ed’s family for breakfast, all of whom now are our friends.

3532 Friends & Family

3532 Friends & Family

Ed then drove we four on a fun and fascinating tour of his beloved Montreal, including of course a drive up Mount Royal for the stunning high view.

3542 High View

3542 High View

Tho the light angle wasn’t as good for pix a little later, we got what for me was an even more impressive high view as we passed the same area on our way to Quebec City.

3633 High Again

3633 High Again

We notice odd shapes below as we flew along near the river, finally figuring out they were large flocks of birds making such magical shapes of dots the eye connects.

3676 Connect the Dots

3676 Connect the Dots

Walking down into the old city after a warm and tasty dinner, it felt both like being in Europe and for me even more powerfully as if we were walking back several centuries in time.

3776 Into the Past

3776 Into the Past

We spotted what looks like a path down toward the river into the really old part of the city, said to be the oldest European city in North America.

3791 Gateway

3791 Gateway

Tomorrow we’ll probably find out.

2013/04/27

North With Friends

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 04:08

We flew from New York to Montreal with Bob & Enid to meet their dear friends Ed & Claire. Many beautiful sights along the way of course. Sky reflected in innumerable lakes.

3511 Lake Sky

3511 Lake Sky

Lake bottom shapes and colors emerging from the depths like one of those old magic 8 ball toys.

6916 Deep Shapes

6916 Deep Shapes

Mountains still wearing streaks of winter snow, melting and glistening on ancient glacier carved rocks.

6926 Snow & Stone

6926 Snow & Stone

Descending across the border were many larger lakes and waterways that look more Canadian.

 

3515 Oh Canada

3515 Oh Canada

In one large lake there is a row of trees marking what used to be a road, and a house trying to resist the rising waters.

3516 Story of Battle

3516 Story of Battle

Looking at the photos tonite, I can see that the war is lost.

3519 Paradise Lost

3519 Paradise Lost

I can image not long ago when a family lived here and enjoyed a beautiful view with easy access to water. Still firewood stacked next to one building, but also some of it floating around inside the submerged wall.

6941 Water Power

6941 Water Power

There are many hydro-electric dams feeding power to other areas of the U.S. and Canada, like this one we saw as we landed. A wonderful day of flying capped with a delicious meal and warm conversation. Life is Good. 🙂

2013/04/26

A Camera

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 04:11

Today we only took Anne’s little red camera. It was nice having no backpack on our long day, and it started at the colorful Nyack farmers market with Enid.

0857 Nyack Farmers Market

0857 Nyack Farmers Market

I think of them as outdoors like Santa Barbara, but here it’s in this cozy building with nice music. A’s camera then rode with us to Bob’s workplace in Manhattan and walked to the P.O. across from Madison Square Garden.

0861 MSG PO

0861 MSG PO

Yes, that’s my head wearing a cheapo toque we bought on a prior adventure (it was cold!). You’re beginning to see the theme: A’s camera looking at me while I’m looking at our Places of the day. Next of course was inside the PO where we felt transported back a millennium to a time when all correspondence was on paper like this missive to May.

0862 May Day Missive

0862 May Day Missive

Then to save time getting across town we took the subway. It was an adventure in many ways, but being newbies we would actually have taken about the same time and had more fun just walking the thriving street to get across town.

0866 Subway Serenade

0866 Subway Serenade

With the clatter of noisy trains, other sounds were drowned out but we appreciated the effort these musicians were making. At last we reached the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

0867 Massive MetArt

0867 Massive MetArt

This place will richly reward several full days of exploration by art lovers. As you’ve guessed, we were there for a somewhat shorter visit. Maybe a bit over half an hour, much of which we invested on Tara’s suggested Street. It’s a sloMo shift into the dance of city streets accompanied by enchanting guitar. By the time we were back outside, we’d learned to momentarily switch the sights and sounds into sloMo. Our walk thru Central Park was especially magical.

0872 Park Spring Enchantment

0872 Park Spring Enchantment

Later when we passed Radio City Music Hall where there was a monster media sports draft event going on, the psyche was still permeable and the deafening din barely concealed a substrate of total silence with a hint of guitar.

0880 SloMo

0880 SloMo

I confess that even before viewing the art film Street at the museum, my head was occasionally back in yesterday’s air over the city.

3491 Yesterday's Air

3491 Yesterday’s Air

I’ve looked at Life from both sides now.

2013/04/25

Again With Feeling

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 04:56

We flew NYC again today, with more good feelings.

6853 Central Park

6853 Central Park

This time we took god-daughter Tara, who lives in and loves NYC, and her enjoyment increased our feelings of fun and delight.

6842 Tara Is Happy

6842 Tara Is Happy

Again we were cleared to cross Central Park, and this time I managed to capture an angle I like even tho it was pretty hazy compared with last time.

3497 Across The Park

3497 Across The Park

In a way the haze makes it more real than those rare crystal clear days, giving depth and complexity to what is a truly thrilling view of this fabulous city.

2013/04/24

Shift

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 04:07

I noticed a shift in the city today. My first visit to NYC was thrilling, scary, and overwhelming. The second time I fell in love with the teeming Life and the intense diverse culture, but was off balance due to a powerful impulse to see/do it all. Today the city flowed through me, and I was contentedly calm in creative chaos. We started out at the Gug.

0735 MIB

0735 MIB

For some reason the Men In Black movie chase scene up that spiral ramp fit perfectly with the water and poly tube art installation. Enid was the perfect intelligent and playful companion for the art we strolled here, as with the entire day we unfolded together.

0767 Shakespeare Garden

0767 Shakespeare Garden

We walked most of the length of Central Park, and a highlight was the explosion of color in the Shakespeare Garden. We paused at Belvedere Castle to enjoy a serene view of the tumult all around the park.

0772 Belvedere Perspective

0772 Belvedere Perspective

We ended at Times Square as dusk settled and the mood of this delightful beast shifted to Night.

0818 Night Lights

0818 Night Lights

A policewoman was bonding with her newly assigned horse and acclimating it to become a soothing presence amid all the stimulation and excitement.

0822 Quiet Eyes

0822 Quiet Eyes

A silent moon slipped out from behind a skyscraper over the din, reminding us of green grass between our toes in dreams of other times and places.

0829 Silent Moon

0829 Silent Moon

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