John & Anne Wiley

2011/07/17

Why SB

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 06:23

Here’s another illustration of why we live in Santa Barbara. Despite the “Carmageddon” in LA that was predicted to bring the End of vehicular movement (everyone seems to have stayed home and averted that), the smog in the LA basin was about normal for a Saturday.

2279 Carmageddon

2279 Carmageddon

That’s the 405 “free”way running diagonally southbound from the bottom of the pic, starting at the Sunset Blvd. overpass. It did feel like a scene from “On the Beach“ with us the only survivors, to see that chronically jammed pavement devoid of cars.

2011/07/16

The Other Day

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 05:29

I wondered as a kid exactly what that meant: “The other day.” Clearly not today or even yesterday or tomorrow, but some other day. So the other day as we flew out to gawk at the royal polo gathering, we saw paragliders at Ellings Park near Hendry’s (aka Arroyo Burro) Beach.

1723 Hilltop Launch Area

1723 Hilltop Launch Area

This is reputed to be one of the best launching sites in North America because the soft grassy slope is just right, there’s usually a steady uphill breeze off the beach, and it’s fairly easy to glide across the street (out of view at the bottom) to the Wilcox (aka Douglas Preserve) and soar the updraft along the beach bluffs until you tire of that and land near the road where your chase car conveniently picks you up. This next pic was taken a moment later with more zoom, and I like how it shows the stages of takeoff.

1724 Ascent Of Man

1724 Ascent Of Man

I’m hopefully no more sexist than the next White Male, but if you click to view the largest version maybe you can tell as I kinda can from the full-size original that they’re all men ascending into the breeze. Anyway, coming back from the polo thing we saw what we’ve been told is Tom Cruise’s place near Oprah’s, and in the full-size of that one Anne can tell four women are in or sunning next to the pool – so maybe it is his place?

1791 Tom Cruise?

1791 Tom Cruise?

Then we climbed up to visit Tooth Rock (aka Cathedral Peak), and I caught one of my fav pix of this fav local rock.

1797 Tooth Rock

1797 Tooth Rock

2011/07/10

Mamarazzi

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 08:34

My little royalty junkie wanted to fly over Kate & William’s charity polo match near Carp today, so being an aviation junkie I quickly agreed. We got some great pix of other stuff, and flying around the area provided a bounty of glorious views. But in case anyone else share’s my better half’s fascination, here are a couple of our event pix. First, the scene from offshore.

1729 Polo Field

1729 Polo Field

The white flat-topped awning on the left edge is probably where the VIPs watched, and you can see the horses leaving the field (top-left) just as we arrived. I think the “cheap” $400 seats were on the right side. Presumably residents of the condos at the top and their guests got to watch for free.

Here’s one that we think is Kate (see the larger view on my Photo Page for Notes).

1785 Kate?

1785 Kate?

Completely impossible to tell from the air, but this maximum zoom snap from half a mile away does look like her. Maybe someone who was there can corroborate.

2011/07/08

Happy Thursday

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 05:55

This is a fun town. Tonight we got a full measure, starting with friends at the free Summer concert series – http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/Visitor/Things/Arts/Concerts_in_the_Parks.htm – at  Chase Palm waterfront park. The playful, easy mood included dancing, singing, clapping, cheering, and conversation. It began at six in muted evening light under a high overcast that didn’t dampen the festivities.

1616 Chasing the Gloom

1616 Chasing the Gloom

Before long it seemed as though all the frivolity had brought out the sun again.

1642 Sunny Times

1642 Sunny Times

I didn’t take any wide shots, but the crowd was quite large, a few hundred happy folks, come dancing as you see in the pic below.

1635 Tiny Slice

1635 Tiny Slice

Then we strolled the First Thursday – http://www.santabarbaradowntown.com/go.asp – starting at La Arcada where we were so busy sampling free goodies and enjoying all the people, art and beautiful Stuff… Well, we didn’t think to snap any pix for you. Then to our surprise, a horde of cheering cyclists rode up State Street and tho we didn’t have a camera I snapped with a cellphone.

51_661 Bikes Blank Cars

51_661 Bikes Blank Cars

We loved how the bikes were so numerous they blanked out the cars like this for at least three blocks, taking over the entire lane of traffic with playful people power. It’s part of a local fitness craze called Night Moves –  http://www.runsantabarbara.com/nite_moves.html – As we strolled more shops, they came by again riding back down.

36_725 Free Fun

36_725 Free Fun

It’s so heartwarming to live in a town where so much fun is available, with the price of admission being simply Being.

2011/06/26

Slightly Somber Solstice

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random — John @ 00:59

One of our fav SB events is the annual Summer Solstice parade. It’s fun for all ages, starting with chalk art on the street while the patient crowd waits for the festivities to arrive.

1416 Small World

1416 Small World

Unlike most people who stake out a prime spot somewhere along the route, we like to counter-walk it starting near the park. A drawback is that by the time it reaches us some of the people pushing heavy levity (all floats are human-powered) up State St. are starting to wear themselves out.

1443 No Horsepower

1443 No Horsepower

Brightly-costumed kids in some of the floats had wilted a little too.

1446 Faded Fun

1446 Faded Fun

Some observers were perhaps more removed from it all, watching from their balconies.

1453 Academic Interest

1453 Academic Interest

Anne seemed quite interested in the Tarzan float, perhaps because his physique reminds her of me.

1458 For Jane

1458 For Jane

Mostly we love the kids, both in the parade and on the sidelines, because it’s all so fanciful.

1459 Radiation Cautionary Tale

1459 Radiation Cautionary Tale

Each year there’s a “theme” and it can be fun figuring out what a particular parade float or performer is trying to express. Of course, some are familiar characters like this airplane circling Kong when he danced with the Empire State as part of the ensemble above.

1461 Red Baron & Kong

1461 Red Baron & Kong

At the end of the parade is a giant inflated abstract shape, often with a dancer inside, that leads everyone from their seats along the parade in a musical dancing procession up to the massive park. The audience becomes the parade.

1490 People's Parade

1490 People's Parade

It’s all play, dance, music, colors, shapes and performance. An exuberant feast of art with everyone an artist. At the 3-block park complex there are several excellent musical performances with floats parked around the perimeter where people can interact more closely with them and any performers who haven’t yet mingled into the festive crowd milling around the booths, crafts, displays and food/beverage/snack offerings.

1501 Greeting Her Fans

1501 Greeting Her Fans

At the most distant of the three parks people rest on the lawn at the pond where fish, turtles and ducks entertain the kids at a more relaxed pace.

1507 Slowing Down

1507 Slowing Down

So did this year’s parade have a slight somber note, or is it that we’re a little tired still from our trip?

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