John Wise - Photo of the Day from Phoenix Arizona

Caroline and I attended her Commencement Ceremony this evening, she graduated from Paradise Valley Community College with an Associate in Applied Science in Programming and Systems Analysis. Not only that, she wore a Gold Honor Cord representing that she graduated with Honors with Highest Distinction for her 3.925 grade point average. Congratulations!

This is for Caroline who asked if I had any plans of ever blogging again. With Murph and myself sporting new haircuts, I felt today was the perfect opportunity to post a new photo on my site and give visitors a brief update.

The first three months of the year saw my mother in-law visiting us. I had my hands full with travels, concerts, classes, exercise, cooking, volunteering on a farm and getting the mother in-law to blog on Caroline's website. In addition I've been moonlighting on another blog, writing and doing photography for a local farmer. Then Caroline and I took off to Kansas and are just now bringing our lives back to our own routine. I'd like to catch up and fill in some of those old dates with photos of things we had been doing whilst I was away from blogging. We'll see if I actually get to it.

Friend, inspiration, and mentor Lani Randall of Rocking Horse Jewelry passed away today after a long battle with cancer. Lani is the lady that made Caroline's and my wedding rings. Over the years we helped Lani with her website and in return she lavished us with gifts, from handmade Buffalo moccasins and jewelry for Caroline to a Navajo drum for me. Lani will forever be in our hearts.

Same procedure as every year. Again, opening weekend of the Arizona Renaissance Festival and we were there. In line by 9:30 to wait with the revelers anxious to kick off another year of merriment and festivities. First stop after passing through the gates was at one of the many food stands where my mother in-law and I grabbed us a giant turkey leg each. Now stuffed for the next 15 minutes we visited Bungled Jungle before going over to see another encore performance of the Wyld Men - we love these mudsters. Lusty wenches were the only thing that would satisfy us after seeing grown men play in the mud and that's exactly what we had. You see, a lusty wench at the renaissance festival is two chocolate covered strawberries, pointy ends up. Watched Dextre Tripp try to fall off his rope walking trick, but again, no spills this year either, the guy is just too good. We did miss the Nunnie Nun show, drats. We just might have to go back to the ren fest one more time before the show is over at the end of March.

Last evening Caroline, Jutta, and I went to the Phoenix Symphony for the world premiere of Enemy Slayer, a Navajo Oratorio. The performance opened with the Grand Canyon Suite. After the intermission, with no applause allowed, the oratorio got underway. The silence was requested as the performance was being recorded for a CD release later in the year. Above is the composer, the photographer whose photos were shown as accompaniment to the music, the Navajo librettist, and the vocalist. The symphony was joined by a 130 member strong choir.

Stumbled upon a dragon ceremony at a local Pho restaurant welcoming in the Chinese New Year - the year of the rat. With a drum and cymbal the dragons pounced and lunged making their way to and chomping to bits a head of lettuce suspended from the ceiling. About a dozen onlookers were present, all of us with smiles on our faces. Happy New Year China.