John & Anne Wiley

2014/03/02

Life But A Dream

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 20:17

Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am the tree planted by the river,
Which will not be moved.
I, the rock, I the river, I the tree

1702 Oasis

1702 Oasis

Wandering again through images from our moments wandering in Palm Canyon, Maya‘s words come to mind. The song and dance of the water in perfect harmony with the rustling trees. In this enchanted oasis, gazing into the face of each rock etched with eternity.

1705 Face of Time

1705 Face of Time

Strolling in silence our eyes caress each rooted stone. Safe in the shadows at their feet our hearts are lifted from the water past the trees toward stars beyond the blue.

1713 Pulled Up

1713 Pulled Up

2014/02/27

Island In Time

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 21:49

Today I revisited our flight with friends out to Santa Cruz Island, and was fascinated by this building I snapped as part of a scene near the southeast end. It’s an old church with cemetery, all but untouched by time.

1552 Island In Time

1552 Island In Time

Each of those grave markers represents a life story that ended here, so near the bustle and constant change of SoCA yet so very far. A time capsule from the previous millennium in some ways, of a very different lifestyle from our Hollywood freeway culture. Moving minutes backward in our own time to the climb West for the crossing, this long look to distant Point Conception carries my mind back even beyond the abandoned buildings by that lighthouse to the Chumash people who inhabited both places.

1513 Looking Back

1513 Looking Back

Though only a couple of minutes before that, our takeoff looking past UCSB to the island seems a lifetime ago.

1512 Further Back

1512 Further Back

The drought-ravaged wetland next to the airport hints at the marsh once there when a Chumash band lived on a hillock that was once an island.

Falls, Rides, Dots

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 01:22

Swimming and wading in wilderness waterfalls is a major sport for SB hikers, many of whom probably know where this patient playground awaits the rain.

1413 Waiting Waterpark

1413 Waiting Waterpark

I uploaded a larger version you can see by clicking the image, and in that one you can more easily make out the one tiny pool still containing water. Not far away is this large and fancy horse ranch where many great rides await.

1433 Equestrian Acres

1433 Equestrian Acres

Not far from that on our way back to SBA are these hills dotted with orchards, with a large water tank and another swimming pool.

1444 Green Dot Patterns

1444 Green Dot Patterns

2014/02/26

Rock Bands

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 19:27

People sometimes discover totally new fascinations, and the subjects of these fascinations can change. For me flying isn’t a new fascination but as regular visitors to this blog well know, it has triggered several new fascinations. A big one is the rock bands in our mountains. Bands of rock that protrude from the scrub and rubble, revealing sculpted shapes.

1383 Three Splits

1383 Three Splits

Maybe this fascination is new because flying over these shapes provides an immediate 3D sense impossible from these photos, or from the ground. Another reason is probably that many of these sculptures are far from trails and thus invisible to all but the hardiest hikers. Or aviators. How is it the three massive boulders above are each somewhere in a process of splitting right down the middle?

1319 Texture Tales

1319 Texture Tales

The texture of this rock band peeking from the garnish of brush tells timeless tales of wind and water, begging to be touched even if only by the eye of a passing pilot. Then what about this fascinating dry waterfall? How many people even know it’s there, and fewer still have ever seen it much less found a way to explore it on foot. Maybe as time and technology continue making it easier to see and even stand in such places, there will be ever fewer unknown fascinations for people to discover.

1402 Fascinating Falls

1402 Fascinating Falls

2014/02/24

Brown Coast

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 23:13

Sometimes it’s fun to do a slow climb along the coast toward the West, taking in all the shades of brown nibbling at green and blue in dry times like this.

1297 Etched Field

1297 Etched Field

This scene has it all: the eroded etchings in the flat brown field at the upper left; deep greens just to the right, in the trees and lawns of Brad Pitt’s beach hideaway, orchard and dry creek arroyo bottom left, pond and horse corral moving to the right. With some Photoshop work, this could be transformed into a painterly image I’d quite like. Adjoining this scene just out of frame to the right is my next pic on this flight.

1299 El Cap Canyon

1299 El Cap Canyon

Starting with popular El Capitan Beach at the top it includes the campground, then across the freeway the new RV park and on into El Capitan Canyon where tiny cabins line the currently dry creek up into the hills. The swimming pool partway up shines like a turquoise gem in the dry brush. Then as we start a 270 degree turn to continue climbing toward the mountains the whole scene comes into this one pic.

1300 Brown Coast

1300 Brown Coast

Looking back toward SB the brown coast reveals its shapes, textures, and colors from predominant brown dancing with green and rippling blue. A friend asked me how it is I never tire of flying SB. To me these pix are tiny fascinating windows into moments cut from living and moving 360 degree panorama that I could enjoy for hours. How much more thrilling for me then, to Be there. 🙂

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