John & Anne Wiley

When we go for a short flight, the newness stands out. The moment of liftoff is a splash of cool water on a hot day. A sudden fresh blush of breeze, and the first note of a great symphony.

2742 Far Point

Occasionally I’m instantly looking back from one of those far points I gaze at from home. The beginning was certainly breathtaking and new, but somehow a part of me begins again from that distant place. I am a hawk turning lazy circles in the sun, surveying the wild stone and scrub. For the rest of the flight, I’m coming home. Edging into the first touches of our unnatural lines, though they still follow natural contours at the edge where some life is still wild.

2739 Wild Edge

Descending further we enter a world where only a few untamed things remain, and life is increasingly shaped by human hand and eye. Most life has a purpose, harnessed to a symmetry of human gain.

2781 Green Order

People near this edge of nature feed the rest of us and maintain our roots into the forgotten past when all life was a random dance. Now as we near the touch down at the end of an enchanted brief adventure in time and space, home is changed.

2732 Tiny Worlds

Each angular bubble of manicured order can insulate a household from the ancient wild places so near. When we have ventured into the nature of our origins, coming home is enchanted. We can remember the wild places within and between us.

“We love on wings of glass,” the angel said in last night’s dream. It was such a striking thing to say, I just had to share. Of course I’ve been thinking about it some today, curious where it came from in the sea of happiness where we dwell. An odd association comes up, related to having once yearned to live far from people. That in turn relates to this pic.

2807 Far Away

Not just the lighthouse, actually, though I did once imagine working at one or at a forest fire lookout. It’s the little keeper’s house in the shade at top-left that’s somehow associated with last night’s dream. This closeup I got of it evokes such a powerful sense of distance.

2823 Abandoned Dream

I imagine the keeper there a century ago, perhaps with a family. Feeling happy and fortunate to be there. Then things changed for the people and place, until now the dream stands neglected.

Flying from all the warmth and humanity of SB to visit that isolated spot, I enjoyed this vista out toward the islands. I notice now the sturdy aluminum wing in this pic, and am thankful for the contrast to last night’s dream. How far indeed our new wings of marriage have carried us, into the realm of Love.

2803 Sturdy Wing

Point Of View is an interesting phenomenon. Two people experiencing the same situation often respond to it completely differently, each from their own POV. Both are of course, correct in their experience. Each may also believe their POV is superior. Yesterday we encountered that situation with friends, and it was intensely educational. Perhaps this is why, today looking through more pix from recent flights, I noticed POV in them. This scene is experienced quite differently from the sea, the cliffs, the shore, and here in the air.

1713 Sunnyside

This angle with the evening sun behind us, provides an uncommon POV. Not better than if we’d been in a kayak paddling furiously to stay safe in the surf. Or if we’d enjoyed the long hike to reach the cliff top and peer over the edge. Or feeling the brisk water in that calmer pool in the distance. How we each come to a moment has value, and sharing our POV with each other seems to me tied up with the Meaning of Life for our species.

Often, flying takes us beyond the realm of human experience going back even into a time we may have lived in tall trees. Looking down at this tall tower at the Garden Street Academy flips that POV of a high place, into an interesting shape far below.

1677 Flip

Before flight became a frequent experience, I used to yearn for access to towers and other tall places. Now my POV is stretched so that such places are a passing curiosity. There are exciting moments during most flights, when a new discovery or POV brings smiles and thrills. But most often there is a deep calm that permeates our consciousness and endures after we’re back on the ground, savoring. A POV stretched beyond our species, that evokes calm pools of shared memory.

1728 Calm Pools

I like that our country has a tradition of gathering with family and friends for Giving Thanks. Even though like all other aspects of American life it has been commercialized, there is still a strong feeling of appreciation in the hearts of many who gather for this holiday. For me, it adds an extra impulse to notice and express what is of value. Tops in my list is appreciation of the exceptional woman who joined with me and our friends and family on this spot some years ago.

1560 E. Shoreline Park

When we’re walking, driving or flying past and I see people gathered around that bench at the east end of the park, it brings back warm memories of that day and a renewed enjoyment of our marriage. We’ve always appreciated our good fortune in discovering Santa Barbara and managing to move here. Even more so since our incredible luck in starting to fly and have our hearts expanded by scenes like this.

1565 Appreciating Home

Most of all on this holiday, I appreciate Love. The love of strangers, but of course even more the love of friends and family. In a deeper sense the love of Life that’s evoked by appreciating the efforts of our ancestors who nurtured and advanced our opportunities. As we steadily approach the end of this beautiful life, the colors of appreciation fill our hearts to overflowing.

1593 Appreciating Love

May this holiday bring you many warm moments, happy memories, and ever more appreciation as our lives continue to unfold.