John & Anne Wiley

2016/03/09

Water!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 22:32

After earlier rains, some quite heavy, we looked for signs of water when flying the region. Nothing. The waterfalls in particular were nearly all bone dry. Well this time the storm apparently overcame the drought at least enough to bring Tangerine Falls back to life.

1726 Tangerine Alive

1726 Tangerine Alive

Contrast that with this pic from barely a month ago, when it was bleached white and the vegetation appeared all but dead.

9004 Tangerine Dead

9004 Tangerine Dead

Also notice the bare stick of a “dead” tree coming up between the dry boulders at the base of the falls, and compare that spot with this lush pond with leaves budding on that same tree.

1726 Tangerine Falls Pool

1726 Tangerine Falls Pool

These before/after pix are from different angles but just a glance reveals the transformation, and comparing them in detail using rock features and plant locations the difference is startling. Now with more rain in the forecast, we’re getting excited to see even more waterfalls “spring” to life. There is something deeply nourishing to the soul, in the sights and sounds of a mountain waterfall. A moist path leads beneath the falls to subconscious healing.

2016/03/03

More Islands

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 23:19

I have a few spare minutes, so here are a few more pix from our islands flight. As we descended toward San Miguel from our high crossing of the Channel, I managed to penetrate the gathering haze with a polarized filter for this view of Santa Cruz stretching East toward Anacapa.

0664 Santa Cruz Island

0664 Santa Cruz Island

Many beaches on the islands were hosting pinniped gatherings like this North coast cove one on Santa Rosa.

0764 Pinniped Party

0764 Pinniped Party

The small island off the northeast end of San Miguel has an interesting shape (is it some critter with large body and pointy head?), and a steep rugged shoreline that makes it a great bird sanctuary.

0818 Bird Island

0818 Bird Island

At the left end of the larger “body” part is this hole toward the left end of this detail pic, that might spout water if big waves from just the right direction at high tide hit that crevice in the rock.

0821 Blowhole or Sinkhole?

0821 Blowhole or Sinkhole?

2016/02/26

Fuzzy Green

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 09:30

We decided to go for it. The hills are still green from rain, so we figured the Channel Islands would be too. Yet we see no more rain in the near term forecast, so in the next week or two things might start going brown again. But flying weather out there has been less than ideal, and one of our really clear days gives island vistas that linger in the mind’s eye for months. So we decided to go for it. By the time we were getting this look at San Miguel from the West, it was only providing hazy pix like this.

1027 W. San Miguel

1027 W. San Miguel

I’ve tweaked it quite a bit trying to regain something like what we saw, but the camera we each carry in our heads does so much better than any camera I can afford. Still, at the bottom-right you can see the big rollers coming in from the open Pacific that were making all that white water. Moments earlier we’d seen big waves breaking above hidden reefs and surging over the rocks just NW of the island.

0911 Rollers

0911 Rollers

We’d already climbed high for the short crossing from SBA and descended along the island’s North shore looking at (and snapping) all the sea caves, pinnipeds on pristine beaches, and the striations of sand that set this low island apart from the others. Turning back toward the East and continuing our descent we saw the waves surging completely over these rocks normally covered with sea birds.

0923 Bird (Rock) Bath

0923 Bird (Rock) Bath

After flying East along the South shore we looked back at this vista starting a gradual climb back toward home, our eyes and hearts overflowing with spectacles like this.

1116 Looking Back

1116 Looking Back

2016/02/21

Interplay

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 23:45

The interplay of air, land and water is so magnificent to me. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the relationships among people? Yesterday sitting mostly in awed silence shoulder to shoulder in Tripp we meandered down the coast to Carp and the Salt Marsh seemed to shimmer in that interplay.

0590 Carp Salt Marsh

0590 Carp Salt Marsh

A few breathtaking dreamscapes later we chanced to catch this surfer ripping a Rincon wave. The splash hung in a shining bubble, then transformed to a blast of misty spray and fell back into the boundless sea after a moment in the sun.

0615 Mingling Moment

0615 Mingling Moment

2016/02/15

We ♥ SB

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 23:04

Santa Barbara was overflowing with couples on Valentine’s Day. But some were probably enjoying the President’s Day holiday, and others were just out relishing the crisp blue skies and incredibly warm weather. We toured the town having decided not to fly, then as evening approached the sweet song of a quietly passing plane caught our ear. The only decision was how short to make the flight, given that we had a movie date with friends. It ended up being 17 minutes in the heavenly air.

0005 Goleta Beach

0005 Goleta Beach

Every beach along our coast was alive with people at play. Though it’s impossible to tell from the quarter mile above where we fly, presumably many of them were couples celebrating their love in the ways they most enjoy together. We sure were! 🙂

0011 Couples?

0011 Couples?

Could those be two couples kissed by sea foam on a quiet stretch of beach beneath carved sandstone cliffs? We saw people at Ellings Park and the Wilcox (Douglas Family Preserve), and Hendry’s (Arroyo Burro) Beach. Whether on the ground, in the water, or best of all aloft in Tripp; We ♥ Santa Barbara!

0041 Hendry's

0041 Hendry’s

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