John & Anne Wiley

2011/08/06

Viva!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region,Tripp — John @ 03:34

We took a break from helping at a shop working on Tripp, and drove downtown for the Fiesta Parade. We took quite a few pix, but here are two favs.

2736 Colorful Fiesta

2736 Colorful Fiesta

The costumes and decorated horses make it so colorful, and everyone’s having such a great time.

2742 Rope Trick

2742 Rope Trick

Many of the riders put on a show, prancing their horses, having them show off tricks like walking sideways or backward, and several like this guy did rope tricks. One of them even threw a lasso around a photographer standing in the street. After the parade we walked over a mile back to the car to finish up Tripp. Then of course we had to take her on a test flight, so we went over the city and saw big crowds everywhere and several more colorful events. Downtown there’s a mercado.

2849 Mercado

2849 Mercado

Maybe you’ll notice the vertical row of blue umbrellas near the center-top as I did, and want to check out whether that’s seating for a restaurant. Across the street in the downtown outdoor walking mall there was a dancing performance in the courtyard.

2850 Dancers

2850 Dancers

So we’re happy and tired. Part of my happy is that a few minor problems with Tripp are now fixed, thanks to a new mechanic who had more time available to tweak her than our regular mechanic who’s swamped with work. Now we need to dream up somewhere to fly this weekend…

2011/08/04

Oil & Water

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 00:38

Preparing this photo I heard a loud sizzle a moment ago, when Anne put some water in a pan with hot oil (she’s fine). Got me thinking about the ways oil and water get along – or not. It seems to me there are many more offshore oil platforms in our channel than when we moved here 20-ish years ago. I do like the colorful lights on chilly winter nights, and it’s interesting to fly over them like this.

2643 Offshore Oil Platform

2643 Offshore Oil Platform

One of my various “careers” was a Summer diamond drilling job on a Yukon mountaintop, and this reminds me of it a little. I wonder what it’s like for the crew to live out there for a shift. Unlike my mountain drilling though, they can see the city lights. It’s been years since I’ve seen the poetry I wrote up on the mountain, and maybe this will motivate me to look for it. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy all the action in this snap as I do.

2011/08/02

Scratched

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:41

When we don’t fly for a few days, we get itchy feathers. Even though we flew Friday, today was so clear that at 2pm or so we decided to fly again. Of course, by the time we got airborne it was 4pm but we decided to go out for a look at Anacapa Island before it gets completely dried out. Too late for that, it turns out, but we saw such beautiful vistas! But before I start posting those, I wanted to share a different angle on the Edhat item I mentioned yesterday. I thought it was landscaping and a new driveway being added to an estate, but from the North side it looks like a whole new mansion is going in.

2694 Earthmoving

2694 Earthmoving

Judging by the vacant slope shown on the satellite image of this spot, having homes and presumably wildfire-resistant landscaping there will probably be popular with neighbors. I enjoy looking at big construction projects like this, probably for the same reasons I used to like playing with earthmover toys as a kid. I also enjoy looking at how people with more money than I, spend it on their castles. SB is home to some of the most spectacular and beautiful estates in North America, so that aspect makes flying here even more fun. But tomorrow maybe I’ll post some aerials of the even more spectacular scenery we relished today.

2011/08/01

Hugette’s Quiet Courtyard

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 21:56

I had an aunt with a mansion in Hollywood, and for some reason the quiet mood and smell of stillness is evoked when I look at aerials like this of the Hugette Clark mansion near the bird refuge.

2426 Hugette's Sheltered Pond

2426 Hugette's Sheltered Pond

The whole place accurately conveys the impression of having been frozen in time many decades ago. It’s been kept in good condition by the caretakers even though Hugette never made it back to her childhood playground. With her recent passing I seem to glance at (and snap) it more often when we fly past. Every time, it brings back that mood and smell of my aunt’s mansion of similar vintage. Maybe some day soon it will be opened to the public, and we can pause to gaze on the reflecting pond contemplating past, present, and future.

2011/07/30

Quiet Campus

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 03:23

We were delighted to get a few minutes of flying today, and for some reason the waterfront SBCC main campus looked especially peaceful and beautiful.

2460 Peaceful SBCC

2460 Peaceful SBCC

This college is one of our first positive impressions of Santa Barbara, before moving here. We drove along Cabrillo (bottom-right) and were amazed at the idyllic setting, imagining students walking across the street and broad sandy West Beach to go surfing after class. Anne even worked for a time in one of the offices just above the grassy area lower-left. We once watched July 4 fireworks from the East end of the campus overlooking the harbor (just left of the Los Banos Pool you can see just left of the harbor, top-right).

Not only does our community college have a spectacular setting, it boasts a remarkable world-class faculty. We know several professors who left UCSB jobs to teach there, and the quality of instruction is generally top-notch. The fact that the college also has one of the premier Continuing Education programs in the world seems to be cause and effect. Adult Ed provides the exceptional faculty, and the grateful community is exceptionally supportive. I love this town! 🙂

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