I took my wifey up with me today as I chased VOR beacons and simulated engine failures over gorge farmland. She sat in the back of the plane and took plenty of pictures. She also wrote about it on her blog. Check out her post and pictures here: http://littleredhen.hawkinwinter.com/?p=631
Happy 4th
Here are some photos from our 4th of July. As you can see, we started the evening with one very excited baby and returned home with one exhausted baby. Before the show began, four piper cubs from the local flight school and aviation museum flew low over the park while people cheered and Siena stared in amazement. This is the same flight school where I’m currently learning to fly.
Fireworks are fun to photograph! By varying the shutter speed or even using bulb exposures the results can be quite different.
What Could be Better than Flying?
Earlier today I was cruising over the Columbia River Gorge at 2500′ MSL. Clouds were sparse and the winds were blowing out of the west at about 10 knots. Both Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood were well lit by the morning sun and clearly visible. The water sparkled below us and the green fields of the Hood River Valley seemed to glow. What a perfect day for flying. Noticing this, my flight instructor started the following (mildly paraphrased) conversation:
Flight Instructor: Isn’t flying great? What can you think of that’s better?
Me: Flying is incredible, true. In fact, I can think of one thing and one thing only that’s better ;)
Flight Instructor: (laughing out loud) Yeah, you’re right about that!
Me: …and, you know, that says a lot about flying!
Piloting a light aircraft is one of the most amazing, incredible, and memorable things one can do. I highly recommend it!
Flying Over the Columbia River Gorge
Flying over the gorge is far more beautiful than driving along it! Here are some photos I took while flying a Cessna 172 over the Columbia River – Mt. Hood is in the distance. Mt. Adams was covered by clouds.
Memorial Day
Today isn’t just a break from work for a 3-day weekend. Its a day to remember, and to realize that our freedom isn’t free: it was (and is) purchased with the blood of countless American soldiers.
It is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press
It is the soldier and not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech.
It is the soldier not the ‘community organizer’ who gives us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier,
who salutes the flag,
who serves under the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag.”– Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC
No Man’s Land by Eric Bogle
Reflecting on the grave of one of WWI’s fallen.
Tired of Jumping
Jumping up and down can be exhausting I guess…
Daddy’s little disease vector is getting over a bad cold: a cold she gave to me, her babysitter, her babysitter’s husband and their son. So far LRH is unaffected by our precious little bio-hazard. Sigh :/
Sunset Views of Seattle from Mercer Island
Living on Mercer Island provided a great opportunity to take photographs of Lake Washington and Seattle. My west deck looked out over the lake with Seattle and the Olympic Mountains in the distance. My east deck also looked out over the lake with Bellevue in the distance. Following are some photographs taken from my two decks.
St. Valentines Day
I love my beautiful wife :) She showed up at work unannounced on Friday bringing my little fuss nugget, a chai latte from Starbuck’s and a heart shaped brownie. She also left a message on my computer. This absolutely made my day.
Zombies Ahead
Story here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,484326,00.html
That’s right, zombies. 2012 is only a few years away…