Saturday, November 11, 2006

On a wing and a prayer


I've landed in Denver and now find myself working wirelessly in the lobby of the Westin Westminster. I've chatted online with my wife, zinged a few e-mails around the world, and uploaded the pictures I took en route to my laptop.

There's something genteel about sitting alone in an absolutely strange place, using technology to maintain a tenuous connection with the world you've left behind. Of course, it's virtual and oh so limited. I can't, for example, reach through my keyboard to hug my wife and kids. Yet taking a quick self portrait and flinging it immediately home is a bit of a kick. It means I get to have a bit of home with me.

I took this image as we cruised at 38,000 feet in an Air Canada Embraer 190. I liked the light, and I liked the simplicity of the lines. The sheetmetal on a new aircraft always seems to present a pristine, reflective surface, and I'm glad our great big ball of gas decided to cooperate this time out.

More notes from the road as they pop into my head.

Your turn: What comes to mind as you view this image?

19 comments:

Michelle Pessoa said...

What an odd picture! I never would've figured out what it was if you hadn't said what it was.

Michele sent me.

kenju said...

Memories of my recent flights, seated over the wing so that I couldn't see anything :-/ but clouds. I love seeing the clouds, but I also wanted to see some land under me.

Enjoy your time away, Carmi, and hurry back to your family!

Bobkat said...

Hi. Cool picture. I'll be taking in simialr views soon as I am flying to New York for a well needed holiday. Hope your trip goes well. I'm here via Michele's btw.

Jean-Luc Picard said...

A fine picture; it makes me think of the vastness of it all.

Michele sent me this way.

utenzi said...

Michele sent me to see you way off in Denver, Carmi.

I like that picture a lot. I've taken some pictures from inside planes and they never come out well. The ones you post are great.

Nothing comes to mind other than the wing of a plane when I see the picture. I guess my mind isn't good at free-associating once it knows the identity of an object.

craziequeen said...

I had a good old peer at this picture today.

It is brilliant, and brought back memories of struggling not to look out of aircraft windows - being terrified of heights :-)

cq
Michele sent me here today, my dear friend.

srp said...

An old Carpenter's song which pretty much dates me:
I'm on the top of the world, looking down on Creation.......

srp said...

By the way, on a recent "road trip" to Illinois I ran across a little town you might like to know about -

Carmi, Illinois

Yes, really!!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I still cannot quite get what that thing is in the middle of the picture...Hmmmm. I know you told us where you were when you took this but it almost has an abstract look! Fly safe, Carmi...! Is Los Angeles ever coming up????(lol)

Queen of Light and Joy said...

I had to look at it a could of times. And then I thought it looked a lot like water.

Bulbboy said...

What i think of is a dropped key in a hotel foyer.

Anonymous said...

I don't enjoy flying (fear of turbulence), but I love being over a fluffy sheet of clouds knowing that even though it's raining beneath me, the sky around me is clear and sunny.

I wish you continued safe travel.

sage said...

that's not a very big hand hold for hanging on to the wing... those are nice planes, in my opinion, they could use a little more leg room, but they fly high enough their is less turblance

Sandy J said...

Have fun in Denver. And stay warm.

Anonymous said...

you seem to be jetsetter...must be fun???

nice composition...what is the black in the photo? logo on the wing?

clouds are dreamy...

David Edward said...

it is a great big ball of gas????
you are so hep, dude!

Anonymous said...

The contrasting of the wing's distinct lines cutting across the backdrop of the cloud's shapelessness and unconformity is beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Beautiful for it's poignancy of a moment captured as it truly was. Disturbing because it speaks of man's infantile desire to order the environment within which he exists to do his bidding, whilst the vast majority of Nature's fruits and energy lies beyond his reach and unattainable.

Unique Designs from Zazzle said...

reminds me of the old Merle Haggard tune, "Silver Wings."

Snaggle Tooth said...

I immediately recognized the reflection of our Helium n hydrogen M-class star... but the wing took a sec-

It's a mirage in the desert...