Saint Caroline of the Polycord

JWise Photo of the Day

Caroline Wise crocheting for Choi + Shine Architects in Phoenix, Arizona

Caroline is now five months into crocheting on this project for Choi + Shine Architects, as I wrote about back on July 5th. This is the 18th motif and also the last one Caroline will be doing as her contribution to the art installation called “Canal Convergence 2018” coming in November. For her efforts, she has earned the title Saint Caroline of the Polycord from her friend Christine!

Oh did I say the final motif? That all changed between taking this photo and delivering the “last” ones. I met Jin Choi (one half of Choi + Shine) at the facility where they have started assembling the final piece and it turns out that some people couldn’t finish their pieces and so I’ve dragged six motif #3’s back home for Caroline to knock out this weekend. Will it ever end? Probably not as she’s informed me that she might volunteer for helping with the final assembly and then there’s going to the Scottsdale Waterfront to check out the finished piece.

New Module

JWise Photo of the Day

T43 Adder Module from VPME.de

Got a new Eurorack module called the T43 Adder in the mail today from Vladimir Pantelic of VPME.de in Germany and a free gift, my very own blank 8HP Patch Notes faceplate. I thought this blank was a gag when I first saw it and now that I have one I just wanted to send out a big thanks. For the astute, there’s something else worth noting (pun intended) and it has to do with beta testing 🙂

Map of our U.S. Travels

JWise Photo of the Day

Map of John Wise and Caroline Wise's travels across America

It’s been 18 years since we started tracking our travels on an old Michelin map. While we’ve been to all four corners, the geographical center of the United States in Lebanon, Kansas, and been to some places such as Yellowstone nine times and the Oregon coast probably more than that, there are still vast swathes of America that remain unseen to us. Large parts of the North and South Carolina coasts have not been explored yet along with small segments of the Texas, Florida, and New Jersey shorelines we’d still like to visit. The Great Plains could certainly use some work, along with the Southern States. We’ve been to the majority of the Hawaiian Islands and while we’ve seen Alaska from Anchorage to Fairbanks and from Juneau to Haines, that is one state that would require two lifetimes to see it all.

I used an infrared filter on the image to turn it black and white as it brought up the darker highlighted roads we’ve traveled and brightened the state outlines making them easier to see, should you be wondering why this photo, in particular, was chosen to be presented sans color.

Crochet Motifs

JWise Photo of the Day

Crochet motifs made by Caroline Wise for an art project titled "Arizona!" that will be on display over the Scottsdale River Walk in Arizona

Caroline has been crocheting these motifs which are about 36 inches wide (1 meter) as part of a larger art project being created by Choi + Shine Architects. Their “Arizona!” installation will be hanging over the Scottsdale River Walk / Canal starting in November. Caroline has been working on these since March while I’ve been delivering them as they are finished and picking up more chord. People are working on this across the U.S. to contribute the many pieces that will ultimately be needed for the project.

Arizona Road Map of Our Travels

JWise Photo of the Day

Map detailing the travels of John Wise and Caroline Wise in the state of Arizona

Yesterday’s blog entry spoke of the difficulty in finding roads we’ve not traveled before in Arizona. Looking up the last time I posted a map of our state I see that I’ve never shared it, so here it is. I believe this is the first map of Arizona we purchased back in 1995 after moving from Frankfurt, Germany to Phoenix, the copyright date is 1994. The routes in various highlighter colors I think might be when I thought each road trip could be its own shade, or maybe it was just the pen I found at the time?

Now that we have enough distance in time from some of the roads that have already been traveled we will be trying to fill in some of the small gaps such as paying visits to Sasabe, San Miguel, and Sells in the south. Alamo Lake in the west, Shumway, Ft. Grant, Mt. Graham in the east, and finally Temple Bar, Cove, and possibly the short road to Perkinsville up north. Everything else requires a four-wheel vehicle, not our Prius.