John & Anne Wiley

2010/12/06

Sweet Pies

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 00:27

Our delightful friends Nancy and Dave were over for a DVD a few nights ago, and in going through my photo folders just now a rush of sweet memories was triggered. Right now my mouth is watering from looking again at this.

0897 Sweet Fluffy Delight

0897 Sweet Fluffy Delight

As I recall, the four of us finished it off that night. Part of my diet plan for the holidaze. It was delicately-flavored meringue with whipped cream and fruit on top.

Guilty pleasure, not just because of the calories. See, we dearly love these two people and time with them is always a treat. At the same time they most often share hand-made chocolates,  home-made bread (lately including the chardonnay yeast sourdough they invented), and always some new insanely delicious treat. Back in the early days of psychology a guy named Pavlov found that ringing a bell when feeding a dog would soon lead to the dog salivating whenever the bell was rung. When we see them, or even think about them, I salivate. Am I a bad person? Does it help that when thinking of them, warm feelings of closeness and shared discovery spread through my consciousness with memories of delightful and meaningful conversation?

2010/12/02

La Arcada Holiday

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:45

Every year about this time, the La Arcada next to the Art Museum has a mini festival with free music, food and fun. We went early and enjoyed it yet again, and though this year’s “santa” seemed a bit depressed there was still a long line of families waiting for their photo op. We started with a small jazz band doing seasonal favorites, then strolled past the fountain where kids were turning their backs on all the entertainment to play in the water and watch the fish & turtles.

3814 Free Fun

3814 Free Fun

Soon enough they’ll be ripping open a pile of gifts, and perhaps spending more time playing with the boxes and wrappings than the expensive toys. Past an acapella choir and another jazz band we enjoyed a choreographed performance by a lively group of girls.

3824 Girls Choir

3824 Girls Choir

2010/11/27

Fre-More

Filed under: Flying,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 09:05

We flew over Fremont’s likely “slippery rock” spot again, and since Anne doesn’t seem moved to share some of her pix from the flights here’s one I find interesting.

3521 Fremont's Groove

3521 Fremont's Groove

So if this groove was made prior to Fremont’s trek, were those tracks there too? Are they as seems the case, worn into the sandstone? What created those perpendicular lines? Maybe added for traction? Can you tell I like this sort of thing? 🙂

2010/11/24

Flock

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 09:58

When I was a kid, on one or two years we had a “flocked” Christmas tree. In case you don’t know, it’s basically a cut tree that’s been sprayed with asbestos or something to give the appearance of being covered with snow. Well looking at cropped versions of my zoom pix from Monday’s flight in the mountains, I found this one where you might be able to see “flocked” trees at the top. Click to see the largest version, or better yet visit my Photo Page by clicking the link in the right column ->

3471 Snowy Trees

3471 Snowy Trees

This year we’ve been contemplating and talking about what this season means to us. Maybe that’s why the flocked trees stood out to me. Fun to remember the good times I’ve enjoyed walking in terrain like this, looking up at the trees, and hearing the song of a small plane humming in the distance. The more places we’ve been, the greater number of perspectives we can embrace where we are.

2010/11/14

Art

Filed under: Inner World,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 22:37

Well maybe you’d already guessed that this might be another short inward ramble, but I really thought today would be a standard photoessay. Here’s the deal: we watched “Smoke Signals” last night and having managed to refrain from zipping it were delighted by the ending poem, so I’m sharing it here with this “Their Father’s Daughters” link to the original poem from which this poem ending the film was adapted.

How do we forgive our Fathers?
Maybe in a dream
Do we forgive our Fathers for leaving us too often or forever
when we were little?

Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage
or making us nervous
because there never seemed to be any rage there at all.

Do we forgive our Fathers for marrying or not marrying our Mothers?
For Divorcing or not divorcing our Mothers?

And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness?
Shall we forgive them for pushing or leaning
for shutting doors
for speaking through walls
or never speaking
or never being silent?

Do we forgive our Fathers in our age or in theirs
or their deaths
saying it to them or not saying it?

If we forgive our Fathers what is left?

-adapted from “Forgiving Our Fathers” in a book of poems
titled Ghost Radio, by Dick Lourie
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