|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Nov 21, 2013
Description:
“Please, take my plane.”
Within these gently spoken
words was also this: “I trust
you, my friend, with my prized
possession. Take it as you
please so that you can enjoy
this place the way I do.”
The meaning became even
more significant when he
offered the right seat to his
son. “Fly with my son. He
embodies my joys, hopes,
dreams. I trust you to take the
same care with him I do.”
Is there any better measure of
friendship than to be entrusted
with the most valued things in
another’s life? Perhaps,
because Rob had a pre-
condition: “First, I will take my
airplane up for a test to see if it
is safe for you and Toby.”
Date Taken:
Nov 21, 2013
Place Taken:
Rhylstone Aerodrome, NSW
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Take_my_plane.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZE2D0000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZE2D0000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZE2D0000s">
Category:
538, Pilgrimage to Rhylstone
|
|
|
|
|
Click on photo to view the original size. |
| Viewers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Read what others had to say:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
The sight of the old Rylstone clubhouse was welcoming and heartwarming. It holds all the best of friendship, and flying in its most pleasant form, sitting between the hills and lakes of some of the most beautiful country anywhere on the planet.<br /><br />Change is coming to the Rhylstone Aerodrome. There was a new hangar on the field. More are on the way. Houses and roads have been laid out. It will never again be as it was.<br /><br />In change there is good and bad. The good is that more <br />people will come to enjoy a special place for aviation. The people who appreciate it enough to make it part of their lives are worth knowing. Bringing them here is Rob’s vision and a keystone of another financial success.<br /><br />The bad is that I will have to share this little piece of <br />paradise with more people. There will be less space to <br />wander free across its opens spaces.<br /><br />Sometimes you just have to take the bad with good.<br />
| | Attachments:
Home Again
| |
| Attachments:
Viewing Change
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Any flight where learning accelerates is special. When the <br />lessons are deep and philosophical, even more so. <br /><br />Rob’s son, Tobias, was my teacher for this flight. Formerly a <br />very successful Sydney business executive, he has graduated <br />to a higher calling. He traded life in the fast lane for life in the <br />high lane. Seeking spiritual truths, urbane life was left behind <br />for the simple life of a disciple.<br /><br />Last year when I was here he was guided by the allure of a <br />lovely yoga instructor. He was ecstatic when she rejected <br />another suitor and invited him to join her in Bali. That <br />journey took him around the world and beyond.<br />
| | Attachments:
Flight Lessons
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Just a short hop from Rhylstone is Lake Windermere and the <br />wild stuff. The approach of Rob’s SeaRey to water got this <br />mob hopping. Tobias shot this as I concentrated on <br />splashing down just beyond their paddock.
| | Attachments:
Going Outback
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
It’s not hard to find happiness. Sometimes it helps to have a <br />true believer to point it out. Sometimes it is everywhere you <br />look. You just have to remember to look.<br /><br />Tobias did not found happiness with his Bali yoga instructor. It <br />was not, however, from any failure to look. He went to Bali, <br />then followed her to a spiritual retreat in India. He got a good <br />look at a lot more than he imagined.<br />
| | Attachments:
Finding Happiness
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
When flying with a philosopher, everything takes on deeper <br />significance. I was somewhat alarmed when Toby <br />announced, “This too shall pass.”<br /><br />“What! Wait! I don’t want this to pass. It’s sooo good.”<br /><br />“No. I mean the pass. This Pass should be known as This-<br />Too-Shall Pass.<br /><br />And so it shall be, at least to Rhylstone SeaReyers.<br /><br />Toby spoke of recent experience with passings. His <br />pilgrimage to a spiritual retreat in India with his Bali girlfriend <br />passed with agonizing slowness. The situation at the <br />“retreat” was not as he or she had imagined. It was more <br />like a prison sentence.<br /><br />They both managed to escape the cult like entanglements. <br />The experience changed them in unexpected ways. She <br />left to return to Bali. Toby left to explore the world, physical <br />and spiritual.<br />
| | Attachments:
This Too Shall Pass
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
An old road provided a way for the SeaRey to come ashore. <br />This cow, however, let us know that it was was no longer a <br />single user route.<br /><br />As taught by the Hindu, the cow should be respected. It <br />represents all life, and is a symbol of the earth as the ever-<br />giving, undemanding provider.<br /><br />I was forced to disagree, because this cow was demanding her <br />place and not giving right-of-way. And, most importantly, she <br />had more mass than the SeaRey. That’s not just karma, it’s <br />physics.<br />
| | Attachments:
No Passing
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Life is tough on the soft Outback. The off road way was not <br />without its challenges. I’ve seen what happens to SeaRey <br />tires that get stuck with such thorny stuff. The off-road path <br />required a weaving way to avoid a flat tire.
| | Attachments:
Sticky Consideration
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Keith Richards joined our fluid deliberations in his bird. Keith is <br />president of the Aussie Seaplane Pilots Association. Since <br />most Aussie seaplane operations are of the salty variety, he <br />came to Rhylstone to persuade Rob to write an article about <br />the joys of freshwater.<br /><br />Mediate on this, Keith: fresh water for seaplanes is an elixir of <br />cosmic happiness.<br />
| | Attachments:
Another Approach
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Keith shows that a way to avoid heavy waters is to just skip <br />over them. As the Hindu believe, 'All paths are true. Your path <br />for you. My path for me.'<br /><br />My true path was to remain above the big wave tops.<br />
| | Attachments:
Skipping over troubles
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 21,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
In Mahayana literature there are two obscurations: 1. <br />Obscuration of conflicting emotions, and 2. Obscuration <br />concerning the knowable. An unclear canopy threw cloudy <br />obscurations into the clear sky. It was not a third type. It was <br />a combination of conflicting emotions (I should have taken time <br />to clean the canopy, but I had no time to clean the canopy <br />because I wanted to fly) and the knowable (who knew a good <br />shot would appear through the canopy?).
| | Attachments:
Obscuring Reflections
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Sometimes what looks so alluring from a distance is too rough <br />for fun up close.<br /><br />Distance was no worry for Toby. After leaving India, he <br />wandered far to the west through Southeastern Europe and the <br />Balkan peninsula, sailing through the islands of the Adriatic <br />Sea. And, he attended his sister during her wedding in <br />Croatia. The wonders he encountered on these travels could <br />be dismissed as fables except that his father offered his <br />confirmation of his tales of glorious sights, mystical sounds, <br />and fabulous foods.<br />
| | Attachments:
Rough to Touch
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Maybe it was a bit too rough to stop, but skipping over <br />laughter-sparkled silver waves had its own allure.
| | Attachments:
Laughing Over Silver Tops
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
The current and former presidents of the Australian Seaplane <br />Pilots Association were not at Rhylstone to discuss business. <br />Well, not much business. There was the matter of convincing <br />Rob to do an article for the newsletter. But, the more important <br />priority of chasing fun was the business of the day.
| | Attachments:
Seaplane Mates
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Rob and Keith’s airplanes all lined up for working fun.
| | Attachments:
Flight Line
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Rob and Toby found some soft, golden grass after the sun set.
| | Attachments:
Twilight Touchdown
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
One last circuit? Maybe, as long as there is a little light….<br /><br />Devotees of the Hindu Sun God, Surya, offer prayers to the <br />setting sun, and then the rising sun in celebrating its glory as <br />the cycle of birth starts with death. “If this is to be the death <br />of today’s flying, then there is a rebirth to hope for tomorrow.”<br />
| | Attachments:
Golden Pass
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Rob and Toby checked things out before putting the plane <br />away for the evening. All was not well with the prop tape. <br />Perhaps Surya will be kind and grant wishes of flights when he <br />reappears on the morrow. Or perhaps that wish will be granted <br />through the re-gluing of tape during Surya’s absence. Ah, well, <br />maybe wisdom lies in not relying on any one or any thing for <br />your own happiness.
| | Attachments:
Flight s Future
| | |
|
Daniel Paul Myers - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Lookin' good, Dan!
| | |
|
Dave Edward - Nov 22,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
I feel some great stories coming on.!
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
The great stories all came from Toby, Dave. Rob and I sat enthralled for hours listening to his worldwide adventures over the past year. I hope one day he will slow down enough to preserve them for all of us.
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
In addition to being a philosopher, Toby is a fine chef. There is no incompatibility there. In the Dharmaúâstras, a genre of Sanskrit texts, there is emphasis on Bhojana ('that which is enjoyed'). It says that “food is the essence of life.” <br /><br />I don’t know about that, but I can confirm that vegemite is the essence of a fine Aussie brekkie.<br />
| | Attachments:
Brekkie Crew
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
There is another large lake not far from Rhylstone. The Rhylstone crew set off to sample its charms. Keith was kind enough to share his SeaRey with an enthusiastic passenger.
| | Attachments:
Lake Approach
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Australia is a dry country. Water comes and goes. It was <br />mostly going from Lake Burrendong.<br /><br />Aussies living in the outback share a reverence for water with <br />the Hindu. A common tenet of Hinduism is the belief that <br />water has spiritually cleansing power. It is a purifier, life-giver, <br />and destroyer of evil.<br /><br />For a SeaRey, water is the reason for being. Most any puddle <br />will do. There was reason to be optimistic about a splash or <br />two in the low lying water of Lake Burrendong.<br />
| | Attachments:
Low Lake
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Finding some good water, Keith was looking for more. He scouted out a beautiful beach while Rob and Toby flew low cover.<br /><br />Buddha said, “It is better to travel well than arrive.” I can’t confirm that. Arriving at this spectacular place was equal to the journey.<br />
| | Attachments:
Rob s Pass
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
The capability of transitioning from air to water to shore is one of the most exhilarating aspects of SeaReying. Rob and Toby showed how it’s done.
| | Attachments:
All Ashore
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
The grass looked inviting for landing or taking off, until hidden logs were tripped over while hiking through it. Contact with one of the logs would have made for a bad day for the landing gear. Crisis was averted by the expediency of alighting on the water rather than in the weeds.
| | Attachments:
Grassy Knoll
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
A dramatic land should have matching skies. This one does.
| | Attachments:
Sky show
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Rob and Keith talked about the weather. It was supposed to turn. We couldn’t do anything about that. What we did do was to enjoy it while it was good.
| | Attachments:
Watching Weather
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Toby and Rob showed off treasures found on the little island.<br /><br />“Feathers? But what kind are they?” I asked my teacher.<br /><br />“They are the kind that show we are not alone on this plane.”<br />
| | Attachments:
Feather Finders
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Beautiful signs of a higher path?<br /><br />Maybe, but I’ve found SeaReys are happiest well below cloud streets.<br />
| | Attachments:
Sky Streaks
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
A shoreline of many colours was just one more sign of the gorgeous world below us.
| | Attachments:
Shore Colours
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
I could see a SeaRey sitting in the middle of the dot, but, my local pilots said the weather would be turning soon. Time enough to head back to Rhylstone, then.
| | Attachments:
Spot o land
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Sunshine come to earth? There was a brilliant spot of gold on the background of tan. Its glow was far brighter than the camera shows.
| | Attachments:
Yellow Ground
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
“The way is not in the sky.<br />The way is in the heart.”<br />So says Buddha.<br /><br />Watching these two veterans of the sky, one could see this principal illustrated on the ground. Rob and Keith wore their feathers well, above or inside.<br />
| | Attachments:
Birds of a feather
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
From the Buddha’s Diamond Sutra:<br />'Thus shall ye think of this fleeting world:<br />A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;<br />A flash of lightning in a summer cloud;<br />A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.'<br /><br />“Can it be true that my pilgrimage to Rhylstone is at an end? Just a bubble in the stream?”<br /><br />No! Toby and I went out in search of the magical flash of light at setting sun.<br />
| | Attachments:
Fading Light
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Even in the fading light, the Canola field offered a beacon of brightness.
| | Attachments:
Gold on Gold
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Like a moth to the light, the little SeaRey flew towards the gold.
| | Attachments:
Golden carpet
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
That weather forecasters predicted weather would move in to obscure our sunset. Their forecast was only partly cloudy. The brilliance couldn’t be completely covered up.<br /><br />Tobo told me more of his past year’s journey following the sun as it settled to the west. After he left his family following his sister’s weddings, he went to Ireland. There he hooked up with a musical group singing mantras and devotional music.<br /><br />I envisioned impoverished gypsies traveling around the old country in an old VW bus. I could hear the Men at Work singing: <br />“Traveling in a fried-out Kombie<br />On a hippie trail, head full of zombie<br />I met a strange lady, she made me nervous<br />She took me in and gave me breakfast<br />And she said, <br />“Do you come from a land down under?<br />Where women glow and men plunder?<br />Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?<br />You better run, you better take cover.”<br />
| | Attachments:
Mountain Silhouette
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” Buddha<br /><br />The reality of Tobo’s pilgrimage to Ireland couldn’t have been further from the image in my mind. His troupe of minstrels were guests at a magnificent castle. They were treated to the best Eire had to offer. Such is the bliss that follows a life well lived!<br />
| | Attachments:
Distant glow
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Gayatri Mantra (Mantra of spiritual light)<br />“God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty.<br />You are all Light. You are Knowledge and Bliss.<br />You are Destroyer of fear; You are Creator of this Universe,<br />You are the Greatest of all. We bow and meditate upon your light.<br />You guide our Intellect in the right direction.”<br /><br />The landscape was not fading away in the waning light, it was being transformed into something softer, more welcoming.<br />
| | Attachments:
Sunset under wing
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
As he stood in the control room at the explosion of the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico, July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer said he thought of a passage from the Bhagavad Gita that went something like this: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds.” <br /><br />Though not quite as dramatic Robert’s view, thankfully, the sunset reminded us of forces far greater loose in the universe. We were not Death. We were just a bit of life, searching for some healing of worlds.<br />
| | Attachments:
Last flash
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
When there are more lights in the cockpit than outside, it’s a good reminder not to be greedy for more of the day. It’s evidence of having wrung all the essence out of the gift of daylight.
| | Attachments:
Last lights
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Ah, the warmth of serenity of a night reflecting on the brilliance of the day awaits!<br /><br />Tobo’s travels around the world included a visit to Iceland. Instead of taking the tour buses, he hitched around the country. Late one afternoon he found himself in the cold and rain, far from any city. Was he worried, facing the prospect of a miserable and dangerous night? Not at all. As if scripted, a pair of young women stopped and took him in.<br /><br />Now, I’d reckon that’s good karma at work. (And, it helps to be handsome.)<br />
| | Attachments:
Refuge from the night
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
“The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day.”<br /><br />“It MUST come sometimes to ‘jam to-day,' Alice objected.<br /><br />“No, it can't,” said the Queen. “It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day, you know.”<br /><br />“I don't understand you,” said Alice. “It's dreadfully confusing!”<br /><br />“That's the effect of living backwards,” the Queen said kindly: “it always makes one a little giddy at first—“<br /><br />“Living backwards!” Alice repeated in great astonishment. “I never heard of such a thing!”<br /><br />“--but there's one great advantage in it, that one's memory works both ways.”<br /><br />“I'm sure MINE only works one way,” Alice remarked. “I can't remember things before they happen.”<br /><br />“It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,” the Queen remarked.<br /><br />Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass<br /><br /><br />Right, then! If there is no jam today, it is well to remember the jam of yesterday and tomorrow.<br />
| | Attachments:
Bittersweet End
| | |
|
Don Maxwell - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Excellent story, Dan! And great photos to illustrate it.<br /><br />And you've reminded me of the ending of Tom Eliot's 'The Waste Land' (which is not as obscure as some have tried to make out; 'DA...Datta ... Dayadhvam ... Damyata' is the sound of the thunder--what the thunder says):<br /><br />Then spoke the thunder <br />DA <br />Datta: what have we given? <br />My friend, blood shaking my heart <br />The awful daring of a moment’s surrender <br />Which an age of prudence can never retract <br />By this, and this only, we have existed <br />Which is not to be found in our obituaries <br />Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider <br />Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor <br />In our empty rooms <br />DA <br />Dayadhvam: I have heard the key <br />Turn in the door once and turn once only <br />We think of the key, each in his prison <br />Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison <br />Only at nightfall, aetherial rumours <br />Revive for a moment a broken Coriolanus <br />DA <br />Damyata: The boat responded <br />Gaily, to the hand expert with sail and oar <br />The sea was calm, your heart would have responded <br />Gaily, when invited, beating obedient <br />To controlling hands <br /> <br /> I sat upon the shore <br />Fishing, with the arid plain behind me <br />Shall I at least set my lands in order? <br /> <br />London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down <br /> <br />Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina <br />Quando fiam ceu chelidon—O swallow swallow <br />Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la tour abolie <br />These fragments I have shored against my ruins <br />Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo’s mad againe. <br />Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata. <br /> <br /> Shantih shantih shantih <br /><br />
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
A “peace which passeth understanding” may be either relief or resignation (or both, I suppose). Either way, these are fragments shoring against my days with no jam!<!-- >'"><br><font color=red size=6>' or > missing in user HTML. Please fix the HTML.</font> -->
| | |
|
Tim Jones - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Very nice Dan, thank you for sharing yet another adventure.
| | |
|
Wayne Nagy - Nov 23,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Pictures are beautiful, Dan. And someday I may even understand everything that you write <br />:-)…but until then,I will process what I can and enjoy!
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 24,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Thank you, Wayne, and my apologies. Any lack of understanding is due to my confusion when I try to communicate what I see.
| | |
|
Wayne Nagy - Nov 24,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
No apology needed, Dan. I love the eloquent words…just sometimes the thoughts they <br />convey need more processing time in my 63 year old head! :-)
| | |
|
Bård Sørbye - Nov 29,2013
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Another great story and adventure, Dan!<br />I'm giddy from inhalation of both words and images.<br />
| | |
|
Robert Loneragan - Jan 06,2014
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Dan ... today (6th January 2014) it has been such a long time <br />since I last logged into S & D and I am the one who is the big <br />loser here. I had no idea that I was missing out on such a <br />wonderful narration of your last visit to Rylstone. I enjoy so <br />much the times that we share when you come and stay at <br />Rylstone. I promise that it won't change too much, there will <br />always be those early mornings and stunning evenings and <br />last light landings after magical moments on Wyndamere and <br />Burrendong Lakes. Come back soon mate.
| | |
|
Don Maxwell - Jan 06,2014
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Happy new year, Rob!
| | |
|
Robert Loneragan - Jan 06,2014
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
G'day Don ..... best wishes to you and hope 2014 is an outstanding one for you.
| | |
|
Toby Loneragan - Jan 07,2014
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Dan! Ha! Well here i am, back in Bali and reading your fine tale! <br />Thank you for your kind words and sharing your good self with <br />me. I do look forward very much to more aerial philosophy. It <br />seems that they do go together like fish & chips.<br /><br />I remember my first encounter with sky-musing:<br /><br />Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,<br />And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;<br />Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth<br />Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things<br />You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung<br />High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there<br />I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung<br />My eager craft through footless halls of air...<br />Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue<br />I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace<br />Where never lark or even eagle flew --<br />And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod<br />The high untrespassed sanctity of space,<br />Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.<br /><br />Probably every aviator has read it a hundred times: but i never <br />get tired of it... We need a big canvas print of this on the wall of <br />the clubhouse...<br /><br />Dan, thank you once more. Love you mate. T<br /><br />PS: Dad, thanks for being the glue that brings it all together...
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Jan 07,2014
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Your introduction to sky musing is perhaps the best ever written, Tobias. Just this week those words were once again inspiration for an old and a new flyer.<br /><br />A guest from the yacht told me he had been reading “Wind, Sand and Stars” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. As we were skimming low over the water in the SeaRey, the young man asked me why flying is magical to those of us who have become so severely afflicted. I thought for a moment how to reply. At a loss for words, I finally said, “Let me show you.”<br /><br />From sea level I climbed through the scattered clouds covering the Cape Brett peninsula at the Bay of Islands. As we carved a smoothly twisting, curving path through the sun-split valleys, I asked him if he had ever grabbed a handful of cloud.<br /><br />“No. Is that even possible?”<br /><br />“Let’s see.” I plunged half of the SeaRey into the nearest white wall. Canopies wide open, we both reached out and touched their illusion of solidity. His eyes were wide at the wonder.<br /><br />Topping the waves of vaporous white, I gave him the airplane. “Now, go dance with the sky.” As he flew, tenuous at first, then with increasing fluidity, I read “High Flight” out loud from my iPad. When I finished in the sunlit silence, I had tears in my eyes. I turned to look at him and saw those tears reflected back.<br /><br />Nick starts flight training next summer after his college semester ends, beneficiary of a generous financial gift from the owner of the yacht and inspiration from the aviator who gave us those poignant words. Yes, mate, 'High Flight' should be enshrined on the walls at Rylstone.<br />
| | Attachments:
Dancing with Clouds
| | |
|
Toby Loneragan - Jan 09,2014
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Awesome Dan! A little synchronicity there: God's punctuation mark shows up again! <br />Actually its never far away if you look for it...<br /><br />I'm back in Oz and up in Rylstone the last weeks of Feb. Perhaps a little more good grace <br />will prevail and you will make an appearance.
| | |
|
Don Maxwell - Jan 08,2014
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
The sonnet form is a hard one to master, but Magee did well with it--especially considering that he was only 19 when he died. 'High Flight' exists in several versions on the web, but you can see his original manuscript here: <a href="http://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2013/09/john-gillespie-magees-high-flight/">http://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2013/09/john-gillespie-magees-h<br>igh-flight/</a>
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
- About Searey.us -
- Contact Searey.us -
|
- Privacy Statement -
- Terms of service -
|
Copyright © 2024 Searey.us & Brevard Web Pro, Inc. -
Copyrights may also be reserved
by posters and used by license on this site. See Terms of Service for more information.
|
| |
- Please visit our NEW
Chapter Place Website at: chapterplace.com or
Free Chapter Management Website at: ourchapter.org. Good for all chapters, groups or families. |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
