Too good not to share

Since I'm a little - okay, okay - a lot nerdy, I don't quite possess the social fortitude to post this to Facebook profile to lay bare my geeky streak, and I do know that this is a family blog (which, as a small aside, the world "blog" seems like onomonopia for "barf," so suddenly I feel myself unfettered by the confines of good grammar - and here I can hear - ha! homophones - here/hear - Andy shrieking, "Good heavens, Heather! Have a conscience!" - yessss, yesssss, I've let myself streak through the blog in a whirl of unchecked typing - okay, okay, enough for the aside or the five asides so unceremoniously wrapped into one), but with whom better to share such a fantastic discovery? Feast upon this http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/sound_insights/works/commissions/art_detail_Gumboots_commissions.html (Gumboots for Clarinet and String Quartet - seemingly "out there" in the opening few bars, but just divine the more and more it picks up, particularly with some of the later jigs - what a fantastic find!). Anyway, I thought this quite the lovely piece with its moving melodies and untempered hemiolas (2 pushing against 3)! Love you all!!!

Mommy stuff

As this is my first attempt to blog on my own instead of comment only, I hope you will bear with my feeble attempt. I seem to be one of many who have unique pictures, and it is a shame to wait until the end of the year to get a sampling of them in the form of a family calendar. I have enjoyed all of the pictures sent our way through email, so keep them coming!

Robin got to test drive a blue slug bug a couple of weeks ago when Heather came to Texas. She was so put out that she couldn't take it home with her! Maybe soon love....

I have had avideo for a week now and decided to be bold and try my hand at publishing it on the blog for Aaron's enjoyment and to share with anyone else who wants to watch a slobbery puppy eat a big beef bone. Unfortunately the size was nearly 9 times the allowable video size, so I will have to figure out how to Youtube it. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable to watch and participate in a fun celebration that took place in Texas as well as in Utah. Thanks Aaron for sharing your pubby dog with us!

Sunday seemed to be a perfect time to walk the dogs. It was calm and fairly cool outside, and so Andy and Rob braved the "beasts" as Grandmother lovingly calls them. She even took my digital camera and took several shots. They made friends with a weiner dog on the loose, and both are still considered socially acceptable in the community. It's fair to say Aaron that Pistol was walking Andy though! It was good for all. Bye for now!

It's about time...

Hey y'all,

I know it's been awhile since I blogged (30 years), but I know a lot of you have been anxious to see my new dog, Kevin. Here he is, quite a cutie - half German Shepherd, half Black Lab. Nic gave him to me for Mother's Day (right after we planted her present - a CD - ask her about that one).  We even look alike (see me in goggles below). Don't be surprised if you see us both on the side of a milk carton soon. 

Had a lovely time in Utah - miss you kids so much!

Much love,

Heather & Kevin in Virginia

Our Pistol had a birthday

My lovely little boy had his first birthday this last Tuesday. You all know that very well because I did everything to make sure you guys didn't forget. Here he is with his birthday present--a huge beef bone:
I chose this photo as the only one to upload because it makes me laugh. I call this his "Cher pose" because he's licking the side of his face just like Cher in her early days with Sunny. I'm sure he knew all this when he was posing for Mom and the camera.

After I got off work at 9pm, I raced over to Chen's Noodle House to pick up our order. We just had to have a celebration for my boy up here in Utah. Ammon even decorated a lovely Saint Bernard cake for me. It was so nice for them to make such a big fuss for me.

Andy's last day...

First, we said goodbye to the grandparents:

Then, we said goodbye to each other:


Andy had to say goodbye to his new best friend:


Then he left, and Molly came over to collect her magnetic silly-putty:

Old Bird got a dog...

Here's the new puppy on his mummy's lap:


Here he is with his new poppa (I think this photo really shows, in his eyes, how much Ammon likes to eat children):


The bad puppy couldn't go to sleep on his own. Andy is always a dog magnet:


A hand's free method of carrying your dog:


I think that Tristan is the only dog in our family that sleeps with any dignity:

And we went hiking...

So this is how we began our hike:


And then we got to the top:


Nicki tried to kill herself:


Some of us got really stupid for the camera:


And Ammon cooled off his painful sunburn:


Just us sisters:

Jennifer's Wedding

Since I seem to be the only bugger in this family that gives a damn about this blog (just being funny, of course), I will be the one to post photos of our weekend with Heather and Andy--all broken up into parts, of course. Blogger can only handle so much at a time.


This is Heather and I just after the ceremony was performed. It was outdoors with a string quartet, two horrible female soloists, beautiful colors and a quiet backdrop, two doggies dressed in wedding garb to walk down the isle, a lovely, lacy wedding dress that must have cost a fortune, and cherry blossoms to throw at the wedded couple. It was exquisite. We took a photo by the giant waterfall just before cocktail hour. We had booze and sushi galore.


This is Heather and her friends at the reception. The bride is the one in the middle. At the reception, they had horrid live music, we ate a salad of spring greens, local buffalo cutlets that one could cut through like butter, Utah trout with some type of yellow and tart sauce on the side, all served on fresh asparagus and blue cheese risotto. Then, they served us wedding cake--beautiful looking, but no much for taste. The flowers had tall, dried branches jetting out of the middle with tea lights hanging from the tallest twigs. Just lovely. Later in the evening, they had fire pits on the patio with everything appropriate for making the most amazing smores.

These are our photos from the photo booth. I'm sorry, Nicki, that we didn't know about this for your wedding; it was the most novel thing to have at a wedding. All the guests could take as many photos as they wanted, and it didn't cost anything.

Another Harry Potter

This is a half leather binding. The leather covering the spine stops at exactly one quarter of the width of the board. That same distance matches the measurement from the corner to the end of the corner-piece. Those little corner-pieces are especially hard to pare because there is so little to hold on to.

These are the faux raised bands. To make this binding a true library binding, the signatures must be sewn on four tapes rather than the usual three. Of course, the tapes add very little definition to the spine, so I added these bands cut from binder's board:


The spine must also have a hinge. Today's bindings all have a hinge because it reduces wear on the binding, but earlier bindings do not. The paper covering the remaining half of the book is hand marbled in Italy. It looks so delicious, I just want to eat it. It's my favorite part of this book.


Here is the opened book:


This is my lovely silk endband and the leather headcap. I do such a lovely and uniform job on the sewing of the endband, if I do say so myself.


Here is a photo of the staining so beautifully modeled by the title page:

Another Hobbit

I'm quite proud of this one. This one looks a little more antiquarian than the others. Notice the bumps on the spine. Instead of sewing the signatures on tapes, I used cord. The raised cords on Mom's, Nicky's, and Mikey's books are regrettably faux raised cords. These are real. Here is a close up of my headcap and endband:


You can also see some of the fly sheets and the pastedown. That lovely marbled paper is hand-marbled in Spain. Here is another look at my raised cords:


They're charming, aren't they? I hated sewing on cords. There has to be more attention paid to evenness than in sewing on tapes. But the end effect is lovely. This is the book opened:


And a nice little close-up of the staining on the paper:

The Girdle Book

This is the girdle book, made from a historical model. See the hemp cord tied around the end bottom gathering of leather. That's the part that monks would tie around their girdle/belt/waist so that an important book could be referenced rather easily like this:


Here is another view of the opened book:


This sort of feature (commonly called a "yap") is essential in a girdle book. It protects the pages from dirt/dust/spillage. This is a view of the top edge that would hang toward the ground:


I really didn't take a very good photo of the back side of the book. Here is the best one I have that shows the fore edge and the cross of thorns lightly burned into the back cover:


The girdle book must have its own cover besides the outer leather. Here is a view of the leather covering the boards of the book before it is then attached to the outer covering:


A view of the endband. I am a bit disappointed with myself that I did not take the time to sew a more historically accurate headband.