I found out today on Edhat in Comments to my photos from yesterday’s flight, that the big crowd we saw at SB High was for a special alumni game, so I’m posting these aerials to enhance the collection of photos at PresidioSports. These were taken at about 3:20pm from opposite sides of the stadium. Note: as with all photos on this blog, to see the largest version just click until it doesn’t get any bigger (sometimes two to four clicks).
6509 SB-SM Alumni Game
6521 SB-SM Alumni Game - N. Side
We flew to Lompoc today, and at the airport a man was trying to find someone willing to show his son an airplane. We of course gave them a Tripp tour, and it was heartwarming to see dad’s patience and the youthful excitement. Dad was excited too, and walked over to Above All to see about learning to fly.
6507 Future Pilot
Before heading for Lompoc we flew over iMadonnari at Mission Santa Barbara to check the progress, and it was quite a contrast with yesterday. Many of the chalk art projects are nearing completion, and the place is alive with people.
6510 iMadonnari
Tomorrow if we don’t fly I’ll post more pix and tales from today, but for now I’m going to rest and relax in the warm glow of slow flight over scenic wonders.
Tripp finished her first annual annual with us today, and now we’re expanding her mission. We’d been staying relatively close to home, wanting to look her over very carefully before setting off to explore North America on some longer adventures. So today, desperately desiring some air time, we took flight for a few minutes to survey this little corner of paradise. Along the way we went to take a new look at the old Mission.
6500 iMadonnari Prep
We wanted to check out preparations for one of our fav annual SB events: iMadonnari Festival of transitory sidewalk chalk art at the mission. We thought artists might have begun, but mostly they’re just marking out squares and getting ready so far. Every year there’s some amazing art, and a few weeks later much of it’s gone, but traces linger into the first few Fall rains, reminding Santa Barbarians of Summer. Shall I post updates as the art emerges?
6503 San Roque Hub
We also enjoyed discovering that the hub in the center of the familiar San Roque neighborhood has hidden homes. Behind the homes facing the circular street are others in the center, with driveways between the outer homes. How quiet it must be in there! Does the neighborhood sometimes have loud parties? Could be quite a community experience if they all know each other, or perhaps a source of tension if they don’t.
Our fairly new retirement is a delightful blend of quiet time and connecting with people we care about. Today we went to a party and then had friends over.
The party was celebrating a wonderful woman who just endured the mixed blessing of unemployment. You know the feeling, lots of free time and enough savings to go for a while but the nagging fear you might never work again and die of starvation and neglect? Well, this party was to celebrate the new job and the freedom to fully enjoy these final days of unemployment.
0797 Employment Party
As her husband cut the (delicious!) cake, it had an almost wedding-like quality. We all felt so happy for them!
0799 Cake Study
Some were also happy about the cake, and this guy had a particularly studious enthusiasm. 🙂
In all, it’s been a relaxing and warm day that began with lounging around, transitioned to a leisurely drive into town for a library stop before the party at Rocky Nook Park, home for our visitors, and now a reputedly entertaining movie. What will tomorrow bring?
Today I decided to share a snap of Tripp in the hangar, and found it poetic as I chose the angle. A sparrow nesting in the hangar was singing magnificently as a red tailed hawk circled outside. Tripp huddled at the back of the hangar as an A-4 Skyhawk jet “watched” her from just outside the beautiful old Accurate Aviation hangar.
0791 Tripp's Annual
All the planes in the shot are faster and bigger, yet Tripp seems perfectly comfortable and confident. Maybe because she knows we treasure the relatively low and slow flight she excels at. Today was all about the routine checklist of every annual inspection. I did lots of mundane stuff while Anne’s focus was waxing & cleaning. Also getting done are lots of little things on my “squawk” list with supervision and tools provided by Glenn Fuller, Chris Jewell and the sharp crew of A&Ps working for them.
It’s fascinating to hang out in that environment, watching the wide variety of planes and pilots come in with problems and leave happy. Still, we felt some disappointment when it became clear Tripp’s going to sit in the hangar this weekend instead of taking us on some fun flights. sigh…
John & Anne Wiley 
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