John & Anne Wiley

2012/07/20

Some Days

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 07:10

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

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

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

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

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

1535 Balloon Bargain

Some days, life is almost unbearably sweet.

2012/07/19

Skilful Aviator

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,SB Region — John @ 01:33

I’ve known some great pilots, and admired many more. Among those I admire are many non-human aviators like this one we saw at a creek near the airport.

1112 Fancy Flying

1112 Fancy Flying

I don’t know yet what breed of bird this is, but it sure had a large repertoire of moves. It could briefly hover like this, then sit on a stone and watch with its head snapping from one potential target to another. In a heartbeat it was darting toward another snack.

1117 Quick Takeoff

1117 Quick Takeoff

In flight it might notice a flying insect, and turning on a dime snatch it right out of the air.

1118 Air Meal

1118 Air Meal

This action was almost too quick for me, but you can just make out the winged insect in the bird’s beak above. Even with all the joy we find in flying Tripp, it’s still breathtaking to watch an aviator like this putting on a free air show.

2012/07/18

Around Town

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 05:58

A philosopher who spoke in Anne’s “MSM” series once said something along the lines of this: “Our highest purpose in life is to fully enjoy it.” That struck me at the time as tending toward self-indulgence, but my opinion has shifted. Now I see it as a call to a complex challenge. To become ever more conscious of the beauty all around and within us, and to expand that awareness by stretching our envelope. On the ground, I sometimes wonder if the rare luxury of flight can be justified by sharing it with all who share our passion. I don’t seem to ponder it at all while stretching my envelope of conscious joy with sights like this.

1043 Tucker Trail

1043 Tucker Trail

At the end of Turnpike near where Anne used to work, is a park with a trail that goes up into the mountains. We’ve walked it many times between the park and Hwy.154 that runs across the pic at the bottom of the golden brown stripe of dry grass. The trail starts just off the bottom-left edge of the pic and is in the green stripe running up the middle to the mountains. Walking there feels like being in the woods, even tho as you can see there are houses on both sides. SB has several trails like this, and we’ve enjoyed many of them both on the ground and from the air. Just looking at the pic triggered a deep breath just now. 🙂

1050 Break Water

1050 Break Water

A couple of miles away across town, the breakwater breaks the waters between the harbor and the open channel. Off to the left is the end of the popular sidewalk from the harbor. I guess people scramble along the rocks from there to reach this area near the tip for paddleboarding and kayaking. Translucent turquoise water like this never ceases its enchantments for me. Maybe the contrast between these first two pix is part of the conscious stretching process of flying for me. To deliciously Be in one place, and a minute or two later Be in a completely different place.

1094 Books 'n Beets

1094 Books ‘n Beets

We often stop by the Goleta Library (bottom-center), and then the Fairview Gardens vegetable stand just out of frame to the left. I hope our town always has fresh organic produce right in among the houses. Seeing these two places we frequent in context with each other stretches my consciousness because I’m down there and up here at the same time. My heart and head are mingled in a moment of recognition and memory.

1097 UCSB Memories

1097 UCSB Memories

Another place I love from both vantage points is UCSB, mostly because our precious Erin and Molly graduated there in sequence. The sheer beauty helps too of course. But soon after moving here, long before the gals too briefly did we used to attend events, stroll the campus, and haunt the library. I even taught a few tech classes there and helped design a webmaster program. So when this jewel and all the other glories of our town slip beneath our wings, our hearts soar a little higher.

2012/07/17

Air & Water

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 04:02

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

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

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

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

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.

2012/07/15

Ever New

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:58

Maybe people flying in the Sahara find it ever new, changing not just with the seasons but continually. We enjoy the desert, but for us the constant newness of flying the SB area is sometimes almost overwhelming. I enjoyed a deep delicious sigh just now, simply from thinking about how much we like it. 🙂

1017 Toward Carp

1017 Toward Carp

This view toward Carp from offshore of Summerland is a case in point. The colors and shapes, the raw nature punctuated by human activity, and the way it nestles beneath the sky… It reminds me sometimes of a magical living slice from the colorful marbles I used to play with as a child.

1020 Waters Near Touching

1020 Waters Near Touching

With so many fascinating things spread before your gently moving gaze, new details always emerge. Like how the creek colors change as it no longer meets the sea. Our eyes and hearts stretch to take it all in, triggering an endless flood of memories from familiar places we’ve stood looking up. As with all beauty, it is the complex emotional response within us that distinguishes it from other perceptions. There, I just sighed again… 🙂

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