John & Anne Wiley

In my youth, the notion of living far from people held a strong appeal. Partly perhaps a symbol of independence, and partly a hero’s journey. A foray into the wild to vanquish demons and return a man. So when I fly past scenes like this, there’s still a deep part of me that resonates.

1174 On the Beach

I am there, alone with the pounding surf. Contemplating life and meaning, living off the land. Well, that’s the image anyway. The reality is of course quite different. Near this spot is a very different symbol carved in the dusty earth.

1173 Alien Landing Zone

I guess there’s a chance it’s a marker for an alien airport. Using their scanners from space to detect this spot, they home in to touch down and begin their invasion. Or maybe it’s just a symbol of someone’s practice on a dirt bike. Another symbol nearby is written on the water.

1172 Water Marks

The seaweed accents an oil seep, symbols of life. All the marine life visiting the fast-growing kelp, and the life long past that has transformed into oil that bubbles up from the sea floor. Surveying all these symbols, I recall another that we enjoyed recently.

04_770 Shape & Sound

As we sat listening to a jazz ensemble from this year’s Music Academy concert series, I pondered the symbols (and cymbals) in the music. Interwoven strands of life painted in sound. We were just outside the circular performance area at Paseo Nuevo, and as you can see I was also contemplating the symbolic shapes. A tree of life reaching past a concrete window between worlds. A brief retreat much nearer than that cabin on the beach. A half step back from the circle of humanity, yet still very much engaged. Now I choose the circle, the life and companionship of community, and the beach is a fleeting impression passing beneath my wings.

Most mornings we look out the window and delight to the beauty, just like most people who consciously chose to live here. But on some days the particular type of beauty we see, strikes us differently than most people. You see, especially clear and calm air like we saw today brings a slow smile as we think about how to clear our schedule and go flying.

1420 Some Days

This is what I’m talking about. See, we can tell with a glance at our mountains and a quick check on an aviation satellite view, that we’ll be treated to vistas like this. The islands so “close” you can touch them out there floating on a thin haze. The light and colors so crisp your mouth waters. It was even better a couple of hours earlier, but we dallied around the house getting ready. Still a somewhat tolerable ride in clear and calm air tho. 😉

1456 Lake Casitas

We flew over to Santa Paula and passing the lake it was even more magnificent than usual as we looked back toward Santa Barbara. Some days I see shapes and colors differently while flying. As abstract art. Like this.

1455 Abstract

Even the vast suburbia of Camarillo/Oxnard looks abstract to me in such moods, so maybe you can forgive my sharing these. Chalk it up to aerophiliac euphoria. 😉

1468 Patterns

I’m sending more words & pix from today to Edhat, and putting others (and maybe a video) on my Photo Page (links in the right column here). But here’s one more to represent another remarkably fun and mood elevating thing we did today. After stopping by home for a quick meal we went downtown to a mellow free “Hot Club Sandwich” concert at Chase Palm Park. People dancing, kids of all ages, picnics, family fun, dating scene, and a balloon artist.

1535 Balloon Bargain

Some days, life is almost unbearably sweet.

We enjoy swimming, and before my shoulder got cranky I used to love the Butterfly stroke. It’s a way of “porpoising” through the water with a “dolphin” kick and it feels wonderful. In my youth cetacea (whales & dolphins) inspired a clumsy poem with their ease in mixing air and water. No surprise then that we watch for them when flying over water, and today we saw this pod feeding. They blew bubbles under water, feasted on the fish they’d corralled, then came up for air as they raced to rejoin the pod.

1389 Breath Sequence 1

Top-left is the first aerial I’ve snapped of a dolphin exhaling as it surfaced for a breath.

1390 Breath Sequence 2

It was back beneath the water so quickly I missed the actual blow before it inhaled and dove, but some of the blows we saw were probably 15 feet high.

1392 Breath Sequence 3

I did manage to catch this middle one just after it blew and was nosing down. You can just make out the mist of the blow above it in the pic. I like this last shot Anne got after they’d reformed the pod, and but for some motion blur I’d have posted it to our Photo Page.

3203 Dolphin Pod

The ripples of light on their backs has an ethereal beauty for me. Imagining a serene family closeness as they chat about the meal and what to do next. Similar yet so different from our family experiences. Completely untethered by things, always on the move, and able to “see” right through each other with sonar. Immersed in a translucent universe of air and water.