Our 1st Anniversary in Globe, AZ

For our one-year wedding anniversary, John and I traveled across the country for my friend April's wedding. She and her husband Marcus were married at a beautiful bed and breakfast in Globe, Arizona.

John and I enjoyed wonderful views on our drive from Phoenix into Globe. The desert is so pretty, and the weather was sunny and in the high 70's.
After settling into our room, John and I took a quick hike around the bed and breakfast. It was so fun to get to be with John again.
Here are April and Marcus the night before their wedding. They held a traditional Apache dinner for everyone. It was very good, and John and I were able to meet Marcus's Mom and family.
This amazing sunset greeted us around 6:30 am on the morning of April's wedding.
Since John and I had the whole day to ourselves before the ceremony, we visited Salt River Canyon, and Tonto National Monument. The views were terrific. I love exploring new things and places with John.
Here are the lower cliff dwellings once inhabited by the Salado people nearly 700 years ago. They were able to adapt to the desert climate and grow corn, beans, and cotton. Very fascinating to see!

Here, John and I are back at the bed and breakfast, and ready for the ceremony to begin. John always looks so handsome!

April looked lovely, and the ceremony and reception were perfect. For dinner, we had steak and chicken fajitas, rice, beans, and chips and salsa- all delicious. The cake was really good too! White with lemon filling. Check out April and Marcus's really cool cake topper. It's a skeleton bride and groom.

Congratulations April and Marcus!

Audubon Society bee-keeping field trip

My friend Julie Rosenbaum is a new bee-keeper. She really knows a lot, and agreed to give a tour and presentation about bees to the local Audubon Society.

Here, Julie is showing the honey extraction room and equipment.

Outside, Julie really captured the audience's attention! We had 15 people at the field trip, and they all were curious and had great questions. Here, Julie is showing them a solar-powered beeswax melter.

Julie is decked out in her special bee-keeping jacket. It protects her from stings to her arms, face, and torso.

Julie described the anatomy of the hives, and the social system of the honey bees. By using pheromones and a mental map of their hive location, all the bees know which specific hive they belong to. Amazing! Do I have awesome friends, or what? Thank you Julie!

Labor Day weekend with John in N.C.

I visited John in Raleigh, N.C. over Labor Day weekend. He is taking a sabbatical at N.C. State University, where he is studying E. coli 0157H7. Here is the D.H. Hill Library on campus. There is a creamery in the library, where they sell ice cream!

When John and I were in downtown Raleigh, this nice couple asked us to be witnesses to their wedding at the magistrate's office. John and I happily obliged.

Here I am in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Very beautiful grounds and huge! Definitely worth a visit.

Here is John in his lab at the Schaub Food Science Building. He is so smart and always hard at work making food safer for everyone to eat.
My favorite part of the trip to see John was our visit to the North Carolina Railroad museum. We got to experience the lovely forested landscape of North Carolina while riding in an open-air train car. It was really fun. John always has great ideas! We were able to tour cabooses, luggage cars, and an old mail car.

I love you John!