John & Anne Wiley

2013/04/17

Home Again

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 04:55

Today we flew from Charleston to California in a little over three hours, and on takeoff I got permission to fly past the city.

2554 Fresh Look

2554 Fresh Look

It was great to get a fresh look at this part of town where we’d had so much fun. But we were surprised at how many interesting things we’d missed, like this park.

2558 More To See

2558 More To See

We also enjoyed another look at Cam’s boat, and it took me back in time as I imagined being one of the remarkable pilots who landed damaged planes on that tiny deck in heavy seas after hours of flying punctuated by intense combat. Coming home to that ship must have been pretty emotional when navigation technology was such that finding it was quite a life and death challenge in a massive ocean even on a good day.

2572 Time Machine

2572 Time Machine

We only took 170 or so photos on today’s flight, but one of my favs is this old farm house. Seems to me there’s something very powerful about the concept of Home that keeps the modern farmer from tearing down an old house like this to make use of the land it’s on. Vines cover the walls and have taken over the old bare tree, but the Presence of a home like this calls to us.

2612 Ancestors

2612 Ancestors

Well, in case you were curious how we managed a 3 hour flight from Charleston to California in Tripp, we landed at St. Mary’s airport in California, MD. This is next to Patuxent River and Leonardtown, big names in the Home category from our family history. A highlight of the day was being met at the airport by Joe & Linda, who kindly brought us to their Home after a great crab dinner at a restaurant on the water.

0505 Home Again

0505 Home Again

From our twosome time exploring Charleston for several days, it’s wonderful to be Home with family again. We’re curious what tomorrow will bring.

2013/04/16

Charleston Charm

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

We were charmed by this city again today, starting with a drive across this magical bridge.

2400 Ravenel Bridge

2400 Ravenel Bridge

To visit this historic aircraft carrier, where Cameron Briggs served as Executive Officer during what was probably the ship’s most dangerous passage.

2412 USS Yorktown CV-10

2412 USS Yorktown CV-10

This was already a special day for us, being the first anniversary of losing dear Dad the exceptional Navy pilot. By remarkable coincidence it’s also the 70th birthday of this ship so well known to the family from her importance to aviator “Cam” who went on to command the USS Boxer among many accomplishments before his final career as “Grandad.” His namesake sat in his chair today.

2458 Cam Command

2458 Cam Command

She ordered ahead slow, but grand old Y only responded with a flood of memories as the sound of recordings from wartime echoed through her trusty hull. The day brightened as we went back across the distant bridge to downtown for this giant salad.

0493 Too Big

0493 Too Big

Anne had chosen a top restaurant for a romantic dinner, and this salad I’m pointing at perched at the edge of a large dinner plate got us giggling. Until we tasted it. Such a garden of delights it was! We were less amused by this expensive salmon main course, guessing correctly that it too would be a sensory orgy of taste, aroma and texture.

0494 Lost In Translation

0494 Lost In Translation

Wish I could share a taste with you, because words and pix just don’t begin to convey what those tiny flowers do to differentiate each bite. Stepping outside in a food-induced altered state, I charmed this dove who was perched on a side path. When she startled at my approach, I imitated a dove cooing and she settled into stillness puffing up her feathers as I mentioned my own love of flight and we looked deeply into the space between us.

0498 Bird Man

0498 Bird Man

We strolled the Market, then drove around looking at old mansions in the gathering dusk. Then we stopped at the College of Charleston to mingle with the charms of that campus, starting with our discovery of the Philosophy Department in one of the smaller houses.

2469 Surprise Philosophy

2469 Surprise Philosophy

The indigo sky etched by bearded branches made the buildings very charming, and the students seemed affected by this atmosphere.

2503 Atmospherics

2503 Atmospherics

We took some time to explore the Center for Arts, and after taking in wonderful works in assorted media the charms outside were even more enchanting. We find that even a few minutes in the presence of art, transforms everything into art. People and places you might have taken for granted, each become masterpieces as this did.

2535 Masterpiece

2535 Masterpiece

The mixture of this beautiful campus with the life flowing through it made the perfect nightcap for a charmed day in the timeless cycle of Life.

2540 Fleeting Cycle

2540 Fleeting Cycle

2013/04/15

Old Town

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 05:05

We explored old downtown Charleston on foot today, and soon after beginning our exploration we chanced upon the occasional King Street Fair.

2279 King Street Fair

2279 King Street Fair

People, people watching people, music, food, dancing, and just a good old fun time for all stretching many blocks. Anne found an enchanted passageway that leads from all this life, to a very quiet and contemplative path that opens to this garden of memories.

2317 Church Garden

2317 Church Garden

We encountered others serenely wandering among the monuments, all of us enchanted by a power of Place. I paused to contemplate a flower exploding in brilliant blue in front of a name long forgotten and now erased from stone.

2326 Life and Death

2326 Life and Death

Emerging back into the lively street a young girl strutted happily in her oversized new shoes for an adoring father in the eternal rush of generations.

2329 New Shoes

2329 New Shoes

On a side alley leading toward the bay we stopped to look at the oldest surviving building in Charleston.

 

2348 Survivor

2348 Survivor

Across the street is an old fire station next to the slave market. There’s a depth to the story here that goes completely beyond words and pictures.

2349 Soul Sales

2349 Soul Sales

Walking out onto the new pier more music and life lifted us into a playful delight as we watched a wide spectrum of people enjoying the swing chairs under the long open roof.

 

2361 Swingers

2361 Swingers

Each swing entertained a constant rotation of couples, and families of all ages and races. Even a quiet couple who had flown in on a big adventure from California the night before. Walking back to explore a few more streets I took a moment to enjoy this choir of chimneys.

2387 Up On The Roof

2387 Up On The Roof

My last pic of the day was on this treed street where ancient branches harbor the stories of all who have passed here.

2395 Life Arching to Stone

2395 Life Arching to Stone

2013/04/14

Retracing

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 04:58

Memories are strengthened when we reinforce them. Looking at this, I remember this deep open pit quarry on our approach to land at Nashville.

1936 Deep Memory

1936 Deep Memory

I like how it cuts through layers of earth’s past to the green reflecting pool at the bottom. Then there are these two pix taken at the top of the Nashville street scene as it was ramping up at dusk.

1961 Flow

1961 Flow

1971 Ebb

1971 Ebb

The ebb and flow of people and cars provides theater for the music emanating from every door. Quite a lively part of town. We didn’t get involved, but the similarity to New Orleans made it tempting to seek out a little blues club. After a quiet evening with family in the outskirts of town we toured the historic suburb of Franklin and then took off to retrace our flight the day before.

2111 Leaving Nashville

2111 Leaving Nashville

Before long we were flying over the dam at Hartwell where we’d been enjoying time with a different side of the family a day before.

2194 Retracing Hartwell

2194 Retracing Hartwell

Then on to form new memories at Charleston, SC. We flew in just as it was getting dark, and the city looked especially magical.

2251 Anticipation

2251 Anticipation

We’re looking forward to some rest here while we wait to see what weather materializes from the forecast rain. This is a city well recommended by several family members, and the write-ups we’ve seen online are enthusiastic. It’s reputed to be very civil and welcoming, though this is where the Civil War started so there’s plenty of history.

2013/04/13

Frontier Scenes

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 04:23

After a delicious home made lunch with GA cousins we flew for dinner with a TN cousin. It’s such a delight to reconnect with far away loved ones we’ve not seen for decades, and so greatly enjoy the relatively brief journey between them. It was a somewhat bumpy flight due to last night’s storm, but less hazy from all the fires we’d seen coming into GA. Even so I used the polarized filter for a clearer look into the distance. In places like this it was like looking back into the past when this was all forest frontier with little clearings carved out by pioneers.

1880 Georgia Frontier

1880 Georgia Frontier

We passed this quiet cemetery far from any towns, and I wondered whether it had once been near a town that is now gone except for these former inhabitants still visited and tended by descendents who have moved away.

1901 Silent Memories

1901 Silent Memories

There were a few outposts like this where people heard some call to build on bluffs overlooking long valleys as we angled into Tennessee.

1904 Bluff Calling

1904 Bluff Calling

There were suspicious ponds with colors that made me wonder if land and water were being poisoned for generations to come.

1916 Unnatural Colors

1916 Unnatural Colors

1917Then there was this valley with many small plots rather than the vast monoculture farms that now dominate most of North America. I wonder what the story is, and why this one valley seems to have such diversity.

1924 Varied Valley

1924 Varied Valley

Our TN cousin treated us to a drive around downtown Nashville, and if I find some good pix from that I might share them tomorrow.

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