John & Anne Wiley

2014/03/05

Contrasts

This pic from Feb.10 has us itching to fly over and have a look at Lake Cachuma. It was fun to tour the lake when it was so dry, with scenes like this I call The Squiggle.

1817 The Squiggle

1817 The Squiggle

The dry grass was tall in places, creating artistic shapes and textures like these tuft islands on the edge of what was apparently the shoreline for a time.

1822 Tufts

1822 Tufts

Also on that day, our delightful Edmonton gal discovered the thrill of what for her was warm water. Staying very close to Dad at first, she’d run out after the receding foam and then turn to race for shore when he prompted her. Life is so beautiful.

1798 Meeting Waves

1798 Meeting Waves

2014/03/04

Out Of Palm

Last month as we climbed through the mountains coming out of Palm Springs toward home as sunset approached, we were thrilled by this view off to our left.

1757 Mountain Magic

1757 Mountain Magic

The air through the pass was moving fairly fast, as you can see from that wisp of cloud lilting over the mountain. Also as you’d expect from the fact that in the valley floor below us near here is one of California’s largest wind farms. Countless giant windmills are churning away any time power is needed for the grid. But even with our progress slowed by the air funneling through this valley, the air was almost smooth. So we had the time to breathe deeply into the mood of this view.

2014/03/03

Falling

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 23:26

When it stopped raining and the clouds lifted yesterday we went “falling” (flying along the hills enjoying waterfalls). The air was hazy and light was low due to the still heavy clouds above, so the pix didn’t come out as I’d most like. But I did manage to catch some of the freshening falls with these pix.

2781 Private Wonder

2781 Private Wonder

This first one perhaps two miles from SBA is pretty amazing, but I’ve been told it’s on private property. The amount of water in it is far more than any of the others we saw yesterday, and it has at least three levels with pools. What a glorious place this would be on a summer day! Here’s an overhead view.

2793 Down Fall

2793 Down Fall

We saw several “slit” falls like this, with little water but fascinating rock work from millennia of water and rocks carving the groove as they passed this way toward the sea far below.

2803 Groovy Falls

2803 Groovy Falls

Here’s another with a similar yet quite different look, lower down the mountain where more rivulets have joined the stream that built it. So near the city, yet it seems likely that very few people have ever stood here in the song of splash and gazed out to the islands as a hawk circled in the rising air.

2806 Notch Falls

2806 Notch Falls

Many of these small falls have cut deeply into the rock, and some have little round pools like this probably carved by small boulders swirling in the current. How many people have enjoyed a serene bath in this tub?

2810 Tiny Tub

2810 Tiny Tub

Another tub is carved at the bottom of this steep ravine where more plants have managed to gain a foothold in the notch. I am here in this water garden, silently aware of life surrounding and within.

2814 Green Tub

2814 Green Tub

There were other falls we wanted to check on, but the clouds were too low. Some of them are larger collections of various tributary creeks and springs. But down in the foothills where we saw this last one, not many waterfalls were visible because they’d all collected into creeks covered by lush tree canopies. Even though this is but a trickle, the bare rock shows how much water flows here in heavy rains that carry boulders scouring away the soil and brush.

2813 Trickle

2813 Trickle

While our hearts take wing over the beauty of our planet, our feet yearn to hear and smell the living planet. So after we tied Tripp’s stout wings to the ground, we hiked up the San Antonio Creek Trail to move in wonder among the ancient oaks beside dancing waters where only days before we’d stood on dry sand.

3054 Wet Wonderland

3054 Wet Wonderland

2014/03/02

Life But A Dream

Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am the tree planted by the river,
Which will not be moved.
I, the rock, I the river, I the tree

1702 Oasis

1702 Oasis

Wandering again through images from our moments wandering in Palm Canyon, Maya‘s words come to mind. The song and dance of the water in perfect harmony with the rustling trees. In this enchanted oasis, gazing into the face of each rock etched with eternity.

1705 Face of Time

1705 Face of Time

Strolling in silence our eyes caress each rooted stone. Safe in the shadows at their feet our hearts are lifted from the water past the trees toward stars beyond the blue.

1713 Pulled Up

1713 Pulled Up

2014/02/27

Island In Time

Today I revisited our flight with friends out to Santa Cruz Island, and was fascinated by this building I snapped as part of a scene near the southeast end. It’s an old church with cemetery, all but untouched by time.

1552 Island In Time

1552 Island In Time

Each of those grave markers represents a life story that ended here, so near the bustle and constant change of SoCA yet so very far. A time capsule from the previous millennium in some ways, of a very different lifestyle from our Hollywood freeway culture. Moving minutes backward in our own time to the climb West for the crossing, this long look to distant Point Conception carries my mind back even beyond the abandoned buildings by that lighthouse to the Chumash people who inhabited both places.

1513 Looking Back

1513 Looking Back

Though only a couple of minutes before that, our takeoff looking past UCSB to the island seems a lifetime ago.

1512 Further Back

1512 Further Back

The drought-ravaged wetland next to the airport hints at the marsh once there when a Chumash band lived on a hillock that was once an island.

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