John & Anne Wiley

2011/02/13

Green Memories

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region,White North Adventure — John @ 05:53

One of the first photos after our 2/7 takeoff from SBA was this private airstrip in the greening hills of Santa Ynez Valley near Neverland Ranch. With all the snow (and in this unseasonably warm heat wave, slush) here it’s fun to take a few minutes for looking through the photos from our flight that I’d only had time to glance at and file for moments like this. I’m smiling now, both from the great day’s visit with family and from this snap from only a few daze ago that brings a faint smell of Summer grass.

5278 Private Airport

5278 Private Airport

Maybe when the wildflowers bloom we can get permission to land on this beautiful airstrip. We could walk to the edge and stand in nature next to Tripp, to smell the flowers and notice small critters like we did in North Dakota last Summer on the way to Oshkosh. sigh… 🙂

2011/02/12

Grand

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,White North Adventure — John @ 07:36

Today was a big day for me, meeting precious little grand daughter for the first time. Holding her was very emotional, bringing back sweet memories of holding my daughter as though it were yesterday. I’m a lucky man.

1422 Holding a Miracle

1422 Holding a Miracle

2011/02/11

Comfort and Suffering

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Random,Tripp,White North Adventure — John @ 04:02

We’re totally cozy in our Edmonton hotel, but Tripp’s shivering outside in the cold again like Boise missing the heated hangar she got in Lethbridge. Hopefully she’s just hibernating, huddled under her spiffy new Kennon cover. If we get a chance to fly her while here in the next few weeks, we’ll pay the Edmonton Flying Club to put her in a heated hangar overnite to give her a gentle waking from hibernation.

The journey was magnificent, with vistas and adventures aplenty. Flying was mostly uneventful, though slow due to strong headwinds. We had one short bumpy passage between Butte and Helena, MT but the rest was smooth. Unlike my notion that it could be boring to fly over nothing but snow, it was simply breathtaking. Though we snapped relatively few pix, I hope some of those we did take will give you an impression of the vast views we traversed.

So we’re holed up amid two tons of cargo spread out in the room, with more words & pix to follow as we catch up on rest between helping with chores and babysitting. Meanwhile, here’s part of our view on final approach to Edmonton City Centre airport.

5433 Edmonton Winter

5433 Edmonton Winter

2011/02/10

Courage Under Flyer

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,White North Adventure — John @ 16:48

Well, last nite after posting I took a look at one of the last photos from yesterday’s flight and just about choked. Just across the border into Canada approaching Lethbridge I noticed something moving a few thousand feet below and perhaps half a mile away. Looking closer it turned out to be a helicopter flying along a power line, and when it stopped to hover over one of the towers I snapped a few pix. Well not only was it hovering within a few feet of the tower in strong gusting winds well below zero – in the photo you can see there’s someone standing with one foot on the tower and the other on the helicopter skid. I’ve posted a larger version of this on the Photo Page (link in the right column here), but here’s a crop at full res of the helo and high-wire performer.

5369 Daredevil

5369 Daredevil

We’re preparing for a bumpy flight to Edmonton, but this pic is so amazing I just had to take a moment to share it. More when time permits…

Into White

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,White North Adventure — John @ 05:29

OK, Tripp’s happy in a heated hangar and we’re cozy in a nice new Lethbridge hotel, sated with especially tasty food, and ready to share some pix from our new adventure. This is the first time we’ve flown into hard Winter and it’s a whole new beautiful. But first a few snaps from SBA to RHV (San Jose).

For example, here’s a Barbie version of what we were leaving. Mid-70s, sunny, calm and bucolic. Easy to take.

5271 Villa Barbie

5271 Villa Barbie

The view, though pathetic compared with the panorama we were taking in a quarter mile above, must be rather remarkable for ground level. The little red car looks so like a toy to me, the whole scene takes on the quality of a Barbie dream set.

After a fuel stop in SLO, Morro Rock looked magical as usual but this time with a “volcano” top.

5282 Misty Morro

5282 Misty Morro

After a leisurely landing at RHV, as Anne rummaged for something packed in Tripp I strolled toward the terminal to look at a murder of crows. They were sitting quietly in the tree enjoying the cooling evening breeze. Well, not completely quietly. OK, they were raising a horrific raucous din cackling and trumpeting in their loudest grating harsh voices.

5310 Crow Congretation

5310 Crow Congretation

Now you may know I’m sometimes impish, prankish and annoying. So of course I had to “humiliate” (my niece’s term for it) the poor gentle crows. Suddenly raising my hands from my sides as if to take off, I made a loud “Caw!!”

5312 Fear and Loathing

5312 Fear and Loathing

There was a varied and unmelodious response as they first startled into flight, then realized I was vastly too fat to fly as they so easily do sans airplane, and they began to diverge. Some flew directly away giving alarm calls. Others seemed almost embarrassed to have been tricked and formed a scold choir. A few left the flock to fly a little closer, perhaps to examine this idiotic creature or maybe to memorize me as enemy of their murder. One of these days I must learn to speak crow, and possibly also some avian manners. As it stands though, I quite enjoyed the exercise and pretend it was artistically motivated to get an interesting photo. Am I bad? 🙂

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