The Silva’s

JWise Photo of the Day

The Silva's and the Wise's in Phoenix, Arizona

Move away and unfortunately, see less of each other, and so that is what has happened between us and the Silvas. Many a time we think of visiting, infrequently does it pass that we actually find the time. Lucky for us, they made the time to stop and see us on their way back from visiting their son/brother Arturito up in Flagstaff. Early in the afternoon, Guadalupe, Melissa, Sophia, and Arturo called while on the road and we fixed a place to stop for coffee and ice cream. The visit was a brief 90 minutes Now it is up to Caroline and me to get our butts moving down south to visit the Silva family in Tucson as we do enjoy seeing these guys, well, except when Baldy bugs me about the grey hair and the fat stomach.

Buying Choice

JWise Photo of the Day

Close up detail of the one dollar bill

In Asia and Europe, consumers can choose from hundreds of cell phone models, America from a few dozen. France is said to have 365 varieties of cheese – one for each day, while California now produces more than 130 types of cheese although your local grocer will at best carry cheddar, swiss, mozzarella, brie, parmesan, American, and something called cheese spread. There are over 7500 varieties of apples on the planet, but when it comes to applesauce we get to choose from regular or cinnamon. Hundreds of cable channels exist, but I can only buy packages of what someone else has determined would be good for me, I can’t pick and choose. From the land of abundance, automation and group marketing studies deliver the lowest common denominator one size fits all generic product for a population of undiscerning consumers more interested in brand than quality and choice.

Cotton in the Desert?

JWise Photo of the Day

A cotton field ready for harvest in Phoenix, Arizona

Ah yes, it’s November here in Phoenix, Arizona. The long hot summer is over, heck just a couple of weeks ago we were still having 100 degree days (38 celsius) – perfect cotton growing weather. Just look out there on this broad expanse of pure white cotton, for every 2 pounds (1kg) of cotton we will use more than 5000 gallons (20,000 liters) of water to grow and process enough fiber to make a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The Rocky Mountains are not getting the snowfall needed to replenish the Colorado river that fills our lakes for drinking water, but some idiots here in Phoenix feel it is viable to waste this precious resource to grow cotton. Imagine living in a desert where only a handful of days have rain and then think of a place where without much regard water is thrown on cotton, golf courses, and tens of thousands of swimming pools, and there you would find Phoenix, Arizona.

Self Portrait #8

JWise Photo of the Day

25 second exposure self portrait at night

Don’t be under the wrong impression, this site is all about me, hence the self-indulgent name. So, sooner or later you are bound to run into yet another picture of me – John Wise. This night photo is a 25-second exposure of me trying to sit still and hold the camera still in the car. I have to admit, I am desperate for photos. Every day I look at my environment and there is so much redundancy and things already photographed! I come closer to the conclusion that anyone can photograph exotic landscapes such as Tibet, Africa,  Yosemite, and the like and people will clamor over your work as though you truly captured a magic moment, but just try making the place you live in, the place you work at, the streets you have traveled thousands of times, try making that look interesting. Try finding the edge in your immediate environment and then photograph it 100s of times and see if you can still find excitement – that is the person I believe to have truly mastered photography.

Apple Schnitz

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

Dried Apple Rings

The Amish in Pennsylvania calls them Apple Schnitz, for those of you who may never have heard of them as such these are dried apple rings. If you happen to have an Excalibur Dehydrator laying around, an Oxo Mandolin slicer, and a local you-pick apple farm – then you are in luck. True, you do not need these particular brand items, but Caroline and I have found them to be both efficient and inexpensive, hence my endorsement. After the cored apples are sliced on the mandolin set to a quarter-inch, the slices are dipped into a bowl of 20-25% lemon juice to water, and then placed on dehydrator trays and dehydrated for about 12 hours at 135 degrees F (our dehydrator has four trays).  This morning we woke up to the freshest dried apple rings we could ever hope to eat. The great thing about having a local you-pick farm is choosing the type of apple you want to dry along with the environment they have been grown in such as, organically and just how fresh they are as in, picked by you. We are dehydrating Winesaps and Jonathans and skipping the optional cinnamon on the first batches.

Henna

JWise Photo of the Day

Caroline's first henna tattoo

Just say no! Armed and delusional with a mehndi cone, henna for the uninitiated, my slap-happy wife thinks I’ll go for a henna bellybutton treatment – NO WAY. She drew out the design on her own hand and said, look, it will be soooo nice, just like this – ACK! Nice, Caroline, a hairy flower-bird on my belly button with the world’s deepest inverted stigma. Why not draw a dragon and we can light the bellybutton fuzz on fire, film it, and post a video of some really stupid fat guy with a henna tattoo shooting fire from his navel on YouTube?