People | John & Anne Wiley

2014/01/17

Art

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 20:24

Some would say that at its most interesting, Art is just a nickname for Arthur. Looking at paintings or photos just doesn’t trigger for them what it magically awakens in me. In this glimpse, I see Art.

1265 Art Flow

It strikes me as silly to analyze Art, because it’s beyond understanding. But somehow images like this awaken not just my love of Art but my love of understanding and an associated yearning for learning. I enjoy the niggle of vertigo from this angle, the interleaved wedge swaths of color, the frozen action of surfers, and the subsurface billowing sand. But I’ll never know why this glimpse of Art moved finger to shutter in that moment, or choice of this for a longer look from among snaps, or posting this brief foray into analysis. Or wondering for a moment whether anyone seeing this will experience thought, boredom, or Art. 🙂

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2014/01/13

Totem

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 02:58

I’m not just fascinated by rock formations. I also harbor a fascination with that fascination. Why is it that when flying over areas seldom seen by humans, I’m entranced not just by the beauty of the entire scene?

0369 WildScape

Few people wander beyond the thin strand of highway winding from Santa Maria in the distance, through a pass to Cuyama visible out the other window (not in this pic of course). I like the gentle (plenty of flat open landing spots) wildness of it and the fact that just off the road are “totems“ only visible to hikers and aviators.

0371 Totem

This one is probably visible from the road, because I’ve seen cars parked at the curve apparently enjoying it from afar. A few hardy souls even apparently make the climb up to it because I could see some trails. But beyond it are more totems that may seldom be visited.

0403 Forgotten Totems

Did these formations once have meaning to bands of people or lone explorers wandering this region? How many people know of them now? What about this hidden collection of totems where water seems to have once flowed in abundance?

0406 HandHold Rock

That large rock at the bottom even has a row of what look like hand holds carved out. Maybe by hands, maybe by water?

What of this garden where several small boulders rest atop larger ones?

0410 Totems? (click=Larger)

Did people place these in the last few years, centuries, millennia; or were they somehow deposited there by natural forces? Do many of us find such totems evocative of our relationships with self, other, ancestors, and nature? Does my enduring fascination with such things reveal mingling in my nature along with modern and scientific consciousness, some mythopoeic quality?

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2014/01/07

Salt Shapes

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 20:29

Soda Lake is a four or five hour drive from SB, but a happy half hour in Tripp. Rather than have to drive circuitous windy roads around and through the intervening mountain ranges, Tripp simply lifts over them to go direct. Once there, this playground of shapes entertains.

0323 Soda Lake Playground

Those low mountains are the Temblor Range created by the turmoil on the San Andreas Fault, another attraction of this valley. Speaking of valleys, the hazy one beyond is home to Bakersfield and Fresno, with the Sierras in the distance. Here in the dry lake though, I’m quite drawn to the intricacy of shapes like this frozen lightning bolt.

0329 Intricate Etchings

But my favorite on this flight was a joyful romping reindeer shape.

0328 Romping Reindeer

The delighted leaping shout it makes with stirrups flying, and even a little heart shaped mark by the ear. The beginnings of a unicorn horn, and a wispy beard waggling in the breeze. Yes, this to me is a playful shape any artist could have fun with, especially on such a grand scale.

I wonder how many people ever get to see this perspective, how many of them would see the shapes as I do, and what it is in our psyche that translates natural patterns into art. Perhaps not all children see bunnies and castles in the clouds.

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Missing Persons

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 07:36

We were at the harbor heading back to SBA after a flight along part of the dry Santa Ynez River this evening when we heard a solemn call. A formation flight told ATC they were heading offshore to form up for a “Missing Man” flight over Montecito. They looked so beautiful in a sunset glow with Anacapa in the background.

0727 Honor Flight

Flights like this to honor a fallen comrade have been an aviation tradition for a century or more, and it was sweet to hear how ATC helped and protected them. It brought to mind the growing number of beloved Missing Persons in our life. Friends and family who have touched us, and at times seem to fly beside us on our adventures. I wish everyone could have an honor like this, in quiet remembrance of the people who shared their most treasured passion.

As we landed, we heard four of them call ATC again to say they were inbound to land at SBA behind us so I paused to snap this. They got special clearance to fly low over the field and then peel off in a “break” to turn back and land in sequence. Beautiful to watch.

0748 Formation Landing

We learned later that they’re the Bonanzas To Oshkosh formation flying group. Having flown to the massive Airventure (aka Oshkosh) gathering of aviators (see our “North By Northwest” Adventure), we understand that bond. We share the love of clear blue skies over green earth.

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2014/01/06

FreshSnow

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random — John @ 09:02

After a warm holiday with family in the foothills west of San Jose, we flew to Fresno on our way home. Climbing east toward the central valley, we enjoyed the golden rolling hills.

0321 Golden Hills

People from other places sometimes say this doesn’t appeal to them. For me it’s cozy as an old tan woolen blanket. As a kid riding for miles in our family car I’d often imagine the friendly giant waking. He’d clamber yawning from beneath that blanket and wink at us. But soon on this memorable flight (true, they all are), we approached Fresno.

0322 Fresno Blanket

It lay beneath a different blanket, of acrid haze only a few hundred feet thick. People down there seem to take little notice of what they’re breathing, but as we descended toward the airport only our Molly mission kept us from turning above it and heading straight home to SB. Visually though, I like the sleepy village look it gave to the sprawling city. Even more, I like the contrast it gives to the high Sierras glinting in the sun beyond.

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John & Anne Wiley

2014/01/17

Art