Sisters

 happy day

321 Blue SKY

It's that time of the year...

a transitional time.  It's chillier in my house right now ... exactly how I like it, cool air, alpaca throw so soft, strong hot coffee ... and a wonderful new candle, white oak and iris ... smoky woods ... I close my eyes and  hear orange leaves crunching under foot as I walk ...

(I want to note for myself here something pretty neat ... that happy place where a full blue moon sails across a summer scented sky dancing with the cicada song ... it continues to be accessible, I thought it was seasonal, I thought it was a time of tangy sweet lemonade which I drank while I sat alone waiting ... for what I did not know.  And maybe that's what I'm trying to express today in this little note to self ... there is a place, is it inside me? it doesn't feel like something my brain does, it feels like something my soul knows, it feels like a place to walk barefoot on powdery sand, and ... over there is the rope swing where one might spin silly dizzy falling laughing into soft grass so fragrant green you can taste it ... and now ... the air becomes chilly but it "feels" like the same day and I smile to recall the sun and the moon companioning  in the same blue sky (and that blue wasn't just blue it was all the blues found between red and green, with effervescence flashing through the high flowing clouds) ... last week on that CJ trip.  It's time to plant hyacinths here in the garden at my home towards a hope of Spring ... also in the lower sunlight of the interior space.  Is that one of the gifts given by time?  This place ... This place my heart grew strong enough to carry ... this place where my soul cocoons.)

Yesterday I sat with two of my girls enjoying their all grown up companionship ... there is a certain joy in hearing them laugh together.  The meal was perfection.  And later in the day, home with Five enjoying her enjoying that purring pile of black cats ... who might have ever guessed the joy of that?  Three sent a text saying he'd be home for Sunday lunch ... I love him and I love to cook ... I've already begun to marinate in the joy of planning a meal, already savoring the promise of time shared ... he is my very best hugger (and he smells like my dad). V, sleeping in this morning, was looking through her cookbook, marking recipes to "try" ... bet we'll find something just right there.

Been crazy busy working with students this past several weeks.  I say crazy busy because I'm too on the go for quiet time and too on the go for exercise time ... I think Sammy has just about given up on me.  I could fly just for fun today and it surprises me a bit to know that I would just as soon hang out around the house.  There's a girl snoozing who will be delighted with my offer of breakfast out ... or lunch as time might have it.  I'm thinking about a chest of drawers in the garage, I think I've meandered to the big idea for it's restoration ... maybe ... where what is white in the photo will be natural wood and the yellow will be Annie Sloan's new mustardy yellow ... the entire project mellowed with an antiquing stain wax.  Yes I think that just might be it.  Maybe I can persuade little miss to stencil shop with me today.

So ... 321 blue sky  ... a picture of where one might "go" in a airplane ... I know what I mean by that.  

One guy came in on that jet, it's his ... two pilots, one silver haired with deep crinkles around his still laughing eyes, the other a kid who trained here 13 years ago ... welcome home, enjoy the BBQ, he's BOS based now flying a jet for a man who probably didn't have time for a local lunch.  There's a diamond in the middle sky of this shot, just off 36 ... I know there's a kid far away from the farm he grew up on in China flying that one while he learns English and Aviation.  And the other, just a speck really, is a Skyhawk overflying midfield, maneuvering, teardrop, into the 45 downwind.  

: )

engine oil level high
popped cowling off ... easy drain
getting it back together was a different story ...

My college freshman is on a road trip (in an RV caravan) with a group of friends ...

they drove all night to arrive at the Sam's parking lot near Houston Hobby 

(rendezvous point where another batch of kids will join the road trip).

My phone pinged all night with pics of their progress ... !

Now she and a couple of other's are walking around Sam's while their buddies get some shut eye

I can't help but notice that she has 10% power on her phone ...

Glad she is making the trip ... hard work at school has earned a few days off to play

but ... stuff like this is hard on the ol' mom ...

photo notes from a really good day

typical morning ... after shower, cooking breakfast,
coffee in hand

turkey bacon for me, "real" bacon for him

feels good to have my boots back on for the day

CJ2+

just off 18 ... BKN30

455kts (doesn't "feel" faster,but it did create an even bigger sillier smile

"thinking face" ... what's different what's the same?
I can feel velocity gently rinsing gravity off the wings ... it's subtle, smooth ...
I feel the length of the fuselage behind us and I twist in my seat to observe the wing ...
"The wing is a fair distance behind us" I say and he laughs.  "Sometimes we stop with the front end suspended over the end of the runway."  I look away ... back out my window gauging the distance I sit in front of the gear ... I think I would prefer to see a roll out like that from outside the plane.

Broke through and the second thing I noted was the pond at the end of the runway
"Hope not to see any alligators up close and personal," 
I'm  thinking about how short the  runway seems at this speed.
Lovelovelove the stopping program
it's fairly loud after the quiet of cruise
and unlike departure, there is nothing subtle about it.
I've watched 'em land thousands of times and it looks cool from out there,
 but I absolutely adored the entire landing process from where I sat.
Very cool.

departure ... each frequency change cleared us higher

north bound

clouds streaming overhead

last whisper of gold

the CJ has pretty lines I think
lite chop tickles my feet (and I smile)

It's just one beautiful vista after another
I'm excited ...
 thinking about trying to paint one of the images from this trip
as a place keeper for a "blessed" day

here I think "It" must be a water color
 bc these colors are a gift from water  content in our atmosphere 

fire and ice

Cessna lines ... 

Imho, it's  just a very privileged perspective ...
for me it's not even about the plane,
 it's what it requires of you and what it returns to you ...
(that 's a fair summary statement for how I've experienced my aviation journey).

home ... straight in 4000 OVC (visual approach)

It was a good day for flying airplanes ... here with one of my favorite flying buddies ... she's used to coming over the gate at 130 kts not the low 60s ... too much fun just ironing out landings!
(yes tomorrow is the big day! )

church glass ...

"His words,

 soaring above his circumstances,

 set his troubles in a context large enough to contain them."  ~Derek  Kidner

CHESED

• The most important word to understand in this context is: chesed
  • hard to translate: (KJV “lovingkindness” or “mercy” are poor translations)
    • faithful-love,
    • loyal-love
    • love that will never let you down and never give up on you but will hang on to the end
• It is possibly the most beautiful word in any human language
• It is a fundamental theme of the Psalms and the main thing God is praised for

*above from someone's notes for class on Psalms: The Book of Psalms / Psalms Class Notes Andrew Fountain, January 2007

Chesed: 

חֶסֶד

Via:  http://www.bible-researcher.com/chesed.html

Loving-Kindness. This is a biblical word, invented by Miles Coverdale, and carried over into the English versions generally. It is one of the words he used in the Psalms (23 times, plus Hosea 2:19) to translate the Hebrew chesed when it refers to God's love for his people Israel. Otherwise he used 'mercy,' 'goodness,' and 'great kindness' in the Psalms for God's attitude to man; and, outside the Psalms, such words as 'mercy,' 'goodness,' 'favour' for God's attitude to man, and 'kindness' for man's attitude to man. It is important to notice that Coverdale takes pains to avoid using the word 'kindness' of God's attitude to man, though he is not followed in this respect by the Authorized Version and the Revised Version. There is one case in the Psalms (141:5) where the word chesed is used of man's attitude to man, and even here Coverdale avoids 'kindness' (so AV and RV), but has 'friendly.' The nearest New Testament equivalent to the Hebrew chesed is charis (grace), as Luther realized when he used the German Gnade for both words.

And then something for later ...  the ten sefirot  ...http://www.inner.org/sefirot/sefirot.htm

sleepy kitty

ordinary life ... and lemonade

Secret: Restaurant lemons are often as dirty as the floor.

Most restaurants never wash their lemons. They stay in the box that they were shipped in until they end up on your plate. In an independent test, Dr. Oz discovered five out of five lemons from five different restaurants were coated with germs including mold, bacteria, staph and Candida yeast – the type found in the mouth and vagina.

Yeah, that's one thing that's always on my mind these days ... lol ... It falls in to my "Just say no" basket!  One of my friends keeps nice clean thickly sliced lemon wheels in her freezer.  Great idea ... delicious in my little glass of Tullamore Dew in place of ice.  Putting a baggie full in my own freezer is on my to do list today ... I'll "disinfect" them first.

NEXT:

Something I am very excited about ... 

like still believe in Santa on Christmas Eve type excited about ...

I've been offered some very cool flights in some very cool aircraft over the years ... until now the right set of circumstances hasn't come together for me to get to sit right seat on a jet trip ...  'til now!!! 

 I am sitting here in the pants I'll wear for that flight!  Later today I will search for the "right" white polo, it's gotta be sparkling fresh ... and ... I am going to put a shine on my ropers.  I love waking up thinking about how cool that flight is going to be (for me) and I love going to sleep thinking about how cool that flight is going to be (for me).  It's coming up early next week.  (And, even if it falls through as these things sometimes do, I am going to revel in the joy of anticipating it ... !)

I've been waiting for this fun w/o actually hoping it would ever come my way. 

(I mean, really ... who on the entire planet even gets to fly jets?)

 next:

I finished my couch pillow last night and smiled at the fun of them over coffee this morning.  They look how I pictured them.  Nice thing to wake up to and sit with this morning.  Next up ... I'll begin to reupholster those two big club chairs.  It's hard to find the time for all my little projects and especially now that I am busy with students (which I am really enjoying). This is a good time in life for me ... maybe even a best time.  

Figuring that stuff about the plane out is coming along.  Two new students starting next week.  And I am planning a small dinner party for next weekend too (which is a favorite activity).

... drinking lemonade and enjoying the elegant simplicity of this shelter ...

two or three places where ignorance is definitely not bliss

Climb out ... I do not know why the oil temp "gauge" has

the strip in the arc that is not a color indicator

but I do see that the temp is not in the "green"

working on acquiring info on that today ...

this is a pretty decent little GPS unit

so far I have simply kept on pushing buttons until

I get it do do what I want it to do

Not my favorite way to make something work!

working on acquiring info to fuel skill on that today

there's a picture of this plane somewhere on this site

which indicated ummm, neglect ...

happy to see this one getting loved up now

sport pilot for the flight instructor ...

the truck stopped for me today

(and I didn't even "ask" it to ... love that!)

Tchaikovsky-Hymn of the Cherubim - Liturgy of St John Chrysostom

Been busier then I like to be.  Yesterday I wondered if I had time to think, what would I be trying to think about?  I'm busy thinking about that little bitty airplane and about teaching people how to properly fly the thing.  And, in regards to that, it amuses me to see several different styles of sorta listening and maybe responding ... because someone landing an airplane can't necessarily hear a word one is saying whilst they are busy setting up to screw the pooch.  It's the best sort of funny that you absolutely can't laugh out loud about.  And ... it's interesting for me because I think the line between landed and sheared the gear off the little thing may be fairly thin on a good day anyway.  Well, anyone who says the light sport isn't super fun to fly is just a big kidder (unless they are very tall ... the guys over 6'2" are pretty much too wedged in to really enjoy it, size twelves are too big for the rudder pedals ... the specs don't want anyone over 260 in the seats and while I would say the fun is well worth losing weight you probably don't need anyway that while over six foot may be doable it's probably not going to be as enjoyable. 
If  
I were marketing this type airplane I'm certain that I would target not the new pilot audience, rather the pool of ATPs whose wives don't want a crotch rocket blasted off from suburbia to parts unknown.  Newbies can learn to handle the plane sufficiently well, but the heavy metal guys would really appreciate the speed and agility gracefully delivered by the Light Sport (at 3 gallons (those guys can blow 18 pounds on a sneeze)).  (14 Cool Concept Bikes ... here just bc they are cool enough that I'll wanna see them again.)

The LSA guys may need some motorcycle concept design guys on their boards because I'm hearing the CTSW is getting called "cute" a lot ... while that may be slightly better the Sky Gnat (kinda hilarious) or Guppy (I can see it), it's still not how most folks wanna think of their plane ( ... just saying).

So, if I did have time to think I know I'd be trying to imagine what Mark Twain would have to say about the government shutdown.  ... Smithsonian closed ... National Parks closed ... I hear they have closed the ocean as well ... .

In fact, I am spending some of my time thinking about how best to move back home (to Texas where heads are screwed on straight before birth).  Best being another word for planning.

We are here yet our thoughts turn to there. Zillow is a neat idea I think.  And as I look at homes what I mostly learn is that I would love to build my own place over there.  What I see for sale is too fussy for my simple tastes ... and for what I hope is my last home I really would like to have what I want if it's possible.  I do feel bad about wanting to build another structure when so many are sitting empty, but I like the Lake Flato type sensibility and as far as I can see, none of their dwellings are for sale. And, I want smaller then seems to be available.  I want a perfect little nest (with a view and some water element, either natural or seemingly so).  (I'm looking at that picture and noticing that I still look really tired, it's a strain to keep people who are learning how to land safe ... to balance a potential buyer's ego with safety and especially when they tend to be unable to listen well because they are saturated by the novelty of piloting a different kind of bird, the experienced guys are actually worse then the uninitiated).

Twenty years from now ... wow.

We moved here twenty years ago.  I like being old enough to scale my life in 20 year increments.  I look forward to the 60-80 bracket, as much as I am loving the 40/60 part I know next will be even cooler because I know what I need "next" to feel like ... I flew there in a dream ... and life has taught me how to be there.  

Mark Twain, one of my very favorite guys, really reached some outstanding conclusions.  If it seems right once I get there, I think I may stencil this quote to a wall in the nest ... or etch it into a big sheet of glass (even better) to look out through.

1 October 2013

Serious Fun

Just showed this pic to my husband and he said "You look a bit tired there."  I laugh, yep, practically exhausted there.  The plane is a lot, tons, of fun to fly.  I like that it is very maneuverable and responds quickly to the slightest control input ... that a good thing.  The down side is working to either train or transition pilots in the plane takes a good bit of focus ('cause their tiny little control bloopers illicit instantaneous results). I'd also have to say keeping the airplane coordinated is a higher priority item for me then it has seemed to be for mostly everyone I've been working with.
I was actually snapping a shot of the pilot ... I think it's important to capture the joy that blows around in a plane for at least the first few pages of log-able hours ... everything is shiny new (and it's the flight instructors job to keep you safe).  I texted him a couple of pics taken of him while he flew ... both looked really happy ... and one of the area he was flying over.  He asked that I send the set via e-mail, and I bet it is so that he can send them along to people who love him and will be happy for him.
So. yeah ... tired shot of me, talking, and I bet I'm asking him if he thinks that ball is really centered.
(I love the little air scoop on door ... it's fun to feel my hair blowing all around ... when I take a tiny break I like to put both hands over there and catch big bunches of air ... it feels great  ... even better then clothes line linens.)