John & Anne Wiley

2011/03/17

New Day

We were up early and walked outside to enjoy the sunrise. As I stood there watching clouds wash over the mountains, a realization also dawned.

6192 Cloud Surge

6192 Cloud Surge

Short sleeves and sandals in the warm gusty air, and the way this fluffy tsunami evaporated as it sped down-slope all conspired to wake me up.

6193 Ripe Bounty

6193 Ripe Bounty

Turning to admire the orange tree next to me, I reached out and plucked a ripe ball of juicy bright color to enjoy with breakfast. Looking back toward the mountains, I admired the brilliant yellow of some delicious lemons and smelled the sweet bloom of the various citrus flowers.

6194 Lofty Lemons

6194 Lofty Lemons

Some of my neighbors might feel guilty, living in such a remarkably bucolic place. Others might dread the inevitable quakes and possibly even tsunamis, the wild fires, floods, mudslides, and other potential perils of this place. I’ve recently stood in barren snowy sub-zero air in Canada. I’ve sweltered in my youth on the edge of the desert. I’ve walked alone on a sleepless morning with no warm place to go.

On such a beautiful new day as this with Anne by my side, all I could do is enjoy as if for all life on the planet.

2011/03/14

I Love Airplane Noise

The title of this post is on a bumper sticker our pilot friend Jo has. I thought of it from watching one of the mini videos from Anne’s compact still camera shot during our “back-taxi” on the Lethbridge runway. The dominant sound on that video is Tripp’s trusty engine, and I noticed in my heart a flood of warm enjoyment of the healthy “noises” made by that reliable Lycoming 0360.

It also got me thinking again about pix from our recent flight out to the Channel Islands, and that in turn moved me to share a few more. This time, of our approach to Ventura on our way to the fun little Santa Paula airport.

6078 High Approaching Ventura

6078 High Approaching Ventura

We were high, in several ways, as we neared Ventura. First in altitude, because though typically we fly there at around 2,000 feet this time we were probably up at 7,000 or so on a very gradual descent from the crossing. When I fly over water, I like to add the extra safety skipped by most pilots, of being high enough that in event of problems I could glide to land. Even though it’s not much of a safety issue where there are so many people, boats and rescue resources nearby and the water is relatively warm, it would break my heart to watch Tripp slipping beneath the waves after we were rescued. Also high of course, on the joys of flying and the particular magnificence of flying over the islands. This time of year when they’re so lush with plant growth and the beaches and water are alive with pinnipeds added a lot to the elevation of our spirits. Flying this high here, Ventura is spread out below and Lake Casitas shimmers in the distance.

Looking down, the harbor shapes and colors make for interesting colors and shapes, and also remind us of being down there enjoying maritime activities and probably not even noticing the music of Tripp’s engine passing above.

6081 Safe Harbor

6081 Safe Harbor

A few minutes later, I enjoyed the textures and shapes created by agriculture mingling with suburban housing tracts.

6085 Land Use Textures

6085 Land Use Textures

Human activity on our planet creates some beautiful quilts that interact with the natural terrain. What did this spot look like to a soaring condor 300 years ago?

2011/03/09

SB Delights

Today dawned warm, clear and calm after winds yesterday, so my guess was it would make for good flying. I love being right. 🙂

Taking off on runway 25, UCSB shone with a crisp island garnish that evoked gasps from the flood of colors caressing our Winter eyes. We’re solidly back in the verdant land of Spring!

5917 UCSB Spring

5917 UCSB Spring

We decided to fly out and visit the Channel Islands, but mostly just toured San Miguel after we decided to go back sometime soon and maybe take a friend.

6008 San Miguel Stripes

6008 San Miguel Stripes

Descending toward San Miguel after climbing to 8,000 for the crossing, the sandy stripes stood out as Santa Rosa slipped into the mist. I liked how the waves were crashing on the tiny rock islet off the West tip of San Miguel.

6017 Water Meets Stone

6017 Water Meets Stone

Oh, the colors! 🙂

We took hundreds of pix, and maybe we’ll share more after looking through them, but there’s one more I have to share because it resonates with our strong feelings of Home. Descending serenely over SB after an exceptional flight, I noticed the bucolic outdoor farmer’s market. People strolling around in shorts under gently waving street banners with the sweet sounds of street musicians wafting among the quiet conversations. Much as I was enjoying still being aloft, part of me was riding that electric trolley just turning back onto Altered State Street at the top of the frame after the detour around the two blocks closed for the market. So delicious to me, it’s almost unbearable!

6168 Altered State Farmer's Market

6168 Altered State Farmer's Market

2011/03/08

Here & Back

 

Snug in our home, it’s tempting to just cozy in for a few days. It’s probably good that we’ve had little errands to take care of around town, because getting out helps us feel even more here. Among today’s stops was a nostalgic visit to Tripp, since strong winds were forecast and we wanted to check her tiedown lines. Walking back to our fun and friendly FBO (Atlantic) we paused to admire the new KSBA terminal building that’s gone from a frame to a building shell in the month we were gone.

1741 New KSBA Terminal

1741 New KSBA Terminal

If you click to see the larger version, you can make out the copper balls astride the main entrance that complement the copper dome atop the building. When we left for Edmonton, that dome was shiny copper and now it’s already wearing a “penny patina.”

Looking further back, I found more pix from the trip home to share. First our quick tour of Spokane on our morning drive back to the airport.

5817 Snow Remnant

5817 Snow Remnant

Guess I’m used to beauty, because the thing I noticed most looking at this just now is that tiny lump of snow at Anne’s feet. Such a contrast to where we’d been the day before! This was the first of several bridges we paused to look at in downtown Spokane, that make it such a river-connected city. This bridge crosses just below a power plant and striking rapids, with a great view of several more bridges upstream.

5819 Water Power

5819 Water Power

Here’s another view of that bridge, from a little upstream. On the large version you can see the gondola rides that are probably great for people with no access to small planes, or who just like being close to white water while keeping dry. I wonder if the windows get all covered with the spray, since it got on my lens when I walked out on the bridge.

5825 Gondolas Under Bridge

5825 Gondolas Under Bridge

Just a little further upstream there’s another view we liked, that offers an eclectic mix of things to look at. We hoped to find the bridge that’s in the moving last scene of the film Smoke Signals, with a version of Dick Lourie’s powerful “Forgiving Our Fathers” poem that evokes for me so many feelings and memories about my father and daughter.

5826 River City

5826 River City

Standing on this spot I felt closest to what spoke to me in that film. Protected by the broken fence with my feet in the slumbering grass of generations. Just a few minutes later, the kind folks at the main airport’s Tower let us get amazing views of the same spots. Slivers of the moment captured above still lingered when we were above it moments later. There is a magic about flying that simultaneously remembers a mouse in that grass and a hawk in the sky.

5833 Spokane's Heart

5833 Spokane's Heart

I love how the bridges radiate out from the small island, as if connecting the entire world to the secret heart of this magnificent city.

5861 City Surround

5861 City Surround

I’d thought of Spokane as a small city, but it stretches for miles in every direction. Well, enough for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll look for some interesting snaps from our flight toward San Jose.

2011/03/06

Colors

It started when Anne looked out the window this morning in San Jose and shouted “There’s so much Color!” Then she turned to me, and pointing to her eyes said  “My rods and cones are flooding!” She was talking of course about seeing bright colors for the first time in weeks, because snow covers and dims colors as do overcast skies. After a warm time with sisters, brother-in-law and niece in San Jose, we got a late start and flew Tripp relatively fast (120kias) and high (7.5kagl) to arrive abeam Lompoc just as the sun slipped into the relatively warm Pacific.

5906 Sunset Welcome

5906 Sunset Welcome

Coming out of San Jose, ATC asked me to make a rapid climb to help another pilot, and Tripp so easily obliged he was startled (not knowing when I told him she’s a 172, that she’s a Q model and that makes a big difference when we want to go up quickly). Most people familiar with planes have never heard of a 172Q, so it’s fun to show her off. Two pilots casually looking her over at the Spokane airport asked about the “Cutlass II” logo on her side. “Isn’t that a retractable?” “No, the nickname for that type is ‘Gutless’ due to all the extra weight of the landing gear mechanism.” It was fun watching their eyes get big when I quoted them some of Tripp’s performance statistics. Then they looked at her again with admiring expressions, imagining having that performance and the 172’s frugal operating expenses.

Now our Trusty Tripp (as we sometimes call her) has brought us home to SBA. Driving home from the airport felt familiar, as if today’s flight were just around town. It was great to see our place all tidy and welcoming thanks to friends. We’ve turned the gas, water softener and assorted electronics back on, the fan’s running to air the place out, and we’re having fun doing the first round of unpacking.

Though tired we’re energized with an inner glow. Our hearts, minds and eyes are overflowing with colorful memories of people, places and flying. Now the notion of flying into hard Winter no longer seems exotic. Like having flown from San Diego to Maine to Florida and back on our Big Adventure, or from here to Sault Ste. Marie to Alaska and back on our NxNW Adventure, such things seem almost as familiar as a hop over to look at Neverland Ranch.

Which is better: to go on an adventure, or to arrive home from one?

Seems to me each is made more wonderful by the other, and both gain immensely from sharing with the Perfect Partner. 🙂

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