Hoop Dance

JWise Photo of the Day

At the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona during the annual Hoop Dance competition

For years Caroline and I have wanted to attend the annual hoop dance competition held at the Heard Museum but time and again it seems we had scheduled travels taking us away from Phoenix. Not this time, with Jutta visiting we thought this should be the year we would make time to see the hoop dance performed in person. All three of us were thrilled to be here; Caroline and her mom both left with black hooded sweaters emblazoned with information about the contest. Hopefully, we will pen this into our itinerary for a return visit and arrive a lot earlier to get better seats.

Renaissance Festival

JWise Photo of the Day

The fairy from the Arizona Renaissance Festival

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.

Navajo Oratorio

JWise Photo of the Day

The composer, photographer, lyricist, and vocalist for the Navajo Oratorio performed at the Phoenix, Symphony

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 an accompaniment to the music, the Navajo librettist, and the vocalist. The symphony was joined by a 130 member strong choir.

Blogging

JWise Photo of the Day

Jutta Engelhardt sitting at Caroline's computer blogging about her trip to America

During my mother-in-law’s visit to America, I have her blogging about her stay and what she’s been doing, trying, seeing, tasting, and riding. Nearly every day she sits down at Caroline’s computer and hunts and pecks a brief description of events onto Caroline’s blog. Her target audience is her granddaughter back in Germany so she is of course writing in Deutsch. So if you read German, go on over to Caracolina.com and you can read about Jutta’s America experience in her own words.