Goodbye Xmas Man

JWise Photo of the Day

A Christmas ornament Caroline Wise made as a little girl in Frankfurt, Germany

A long time ago in a place far away or about thirty-five years ago in Frankfurt, Germany, Caroline Engelhardt made a Christmas ornament from yogurt containers – this is it. Or rather, was, as she felt it was time to part with this relic and forget whatever future nostalgia might be offered in maintaining possession of her handy craft, it went unceremoniously into the trash. This will stand as the only reminder that the tiny hands of a seven-year-old girl who became my wife made this little Nikolaus which we know as Santa Claus.

Back to Tucson

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Graffiti found on the wall off 4th Avenue in Tucson, Arizona

A quick return to Tucson for another day of shopping. On Thursday, I learned there was a one-day 4th Avenue summer sale today, Saturday. And so here we are, picking up bargains and enjoying the larger Saturday crowds covering the sidewalks and jamming stores. Our first stop was at Razors Edge, where Caroline picked up a couple of dresses and some jewelry. With the important stuff in hand, we wandered from store to store, checking out the sales. Most shops were featuring between 20% and 25% off select merchandise. Lunch was a vegetarian treat over at Lovin’ Spoonfuls a few miles away on Campbell Avenue, highly recommended – even for meatatarians like me. Back over on 4th Avenue, upon entering the Goodwill store, a guy stopped us to have his wife admire Caroline’s pirate yarn shirt from Jinx; hmmm, he looked familiar. So I ask this stranger, “Aren’t you the King?” sure enough, he is indeed the King of the Renaissance Festival held up here near Mesa every year. Great shopping, fantastic bargains, good food, and royal celebrity – another perfect day.

A Day in Tucson

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Joe and Rainy at the Surly Wench of 4th Avenue in Tucson, Arizona

With some free time available today and a tinge of boredom, the road south delivered us to Tucson. Also included in our world of possibilities this Thursday was a side trip to San Xavier Mission, maybe the Titan Missile Museum, and some other sights around Tucson; instead, we got stuck on 4th Avenue for a day of shopping. The lament for the day is the old tired song about why is there nothing like this in the Phoenix area. Mill Avenue in Tempe lost its funk long ago; the giant malls are generic corporate shells with a dozen empty stores and more people walking for exercise than shopping. But Tucson still has its funk on with small independent shops selling tattoos, platform shoes, drug paraphernalia, used clothes, new clothes, lots of  Frida Khalo-inspired art and images, and beer. The fact of the matter was that we had to shop until 5:00 because it wasn’t until this hour that the Surly Wench Pub opened, and we weren’t leaving Tucson without a visit to the Wench. Good thing we made the pilgrimage because as we walked through those black doors down the wood floor to the bar, Starfish from Bikini Kill was playing, and behind us, on the lone TV high overhead, they were showing Human Centipede. There could be no doubt this was going to be the perfect endpoint to the day.

Counter Balance Loom

JWise Photo of the Day

Caroline Wise sitting at her Counter Balance loom having just finished warping also known as dressing, the loom.

Some months ago a very kind woman near Prescott, Arizona delivered and gave Caroline this quite old counterbalance loom for free. When it arrived no one was sure if it was complete or still worked as the woman delivering it was getting rid of it for someone else who had inherited it. The complexity or I should say, the unknowns regarding this type of loom was initially daunting for my wife. But she persisted and through some trial and error and the help via websites, YouTube videos, and the email correspondence from Bernie Goodrich, Caroline was getting closer and closer to seeing this loom make fabric once again. Seen here, Caroline has warped the loom, also known as dressing the loom, and is nearer to throwing the shuttle through the shed to make her first weave.

Balcony Experiment

JWise Photo of the Day

A bowl of magenta hued yarn being dyed with prickly pear fruit and urine by Caroline Wise

What do you get when you pee in a bucket, add the juice from the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, submerge a bunch of yarn, and let ferment for two weeks? You get an incredibly repulsive stinking bowl of magenta-colored yarn that upon being exposed to air and oxidizing turns a kind of bluish-grey. Interestingly the bucket without pee-pee the yarn turned out a shade of green. Lessons learned; (1) stir bucket more often so that chunky skin mold layer or whatever it was doesn’t form, (2) do not rinse this stench in John’s kitchen, (3) forget trying to use urine as a mordant. I hope whatever Caroline plans on knitting with this yarn ends up as a gift for someone, anyone else.

Tempe Center for the Arts

JWise Photo of the Day

Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe, Arizona

The Tempe Lake broke this last evening and dried out. I took a few minutes to drive over here to see what things looked like and, well, it looked like a dry river bed, which is of course where Tempe Lake sits. One of the sections of the rubber dam failed and by this morning the majority of the water was drained; only a few shallow pools with fish flopping about remained. I really couldn’t find a good angle to take a photo of the destruction, it wasn’t nearly as apocalyptic as I’d imagined. What was nice is this relatively new building next to the dry lake that the Tempe Center for the Arts calls home.