Last night found me at the 2nd Annual Rocky Mountain Book & Paper Fair. My cousin , Marigold is pretty into books (she's always been that way, as near as I can tell) and asked if I'd be interested in attending. It was interesting.... my favorite parts were...
Marigold and I got to see a demonstration of fixed type printing, done by a nice lady named Julia with the Book Arts League. She was a lot of fun to work with, and she taught us how to use the press and everything!!
Marigold and I got to see a demonstration of fixed type printing, done by a nice lady named Julia with the Book Arts League. She was a lot of fun to work with, and she taught us how to use the press and everything!!
Our finished product!
Julia was great, the press was fun, and I love the finished pressing we did. Marigold got one too. If you're interested in the traditional arts of the book, check out the Book Arts League. Presses are fun, and they're lovely folks.
We wandered around and saw lots of cool books. Wendy found one of the Dare Wright books she had been hunting for, and I was able to add to my Shakespeare library, which was very nice. Over the noise of people discussing literature and book collection came the strains of banjo music. But a very warm banjo sound. Not plinky, not cold like a CD. There had to be a live banjo player somewhere. And sure enough, following the sound, we found him at the Clausen Books booth.
He was SUPER nice, and an amazing musician. His name is Mark Lee Gardner and not only is he a fantastic banjoist, but he's also a historian and a writer. You can find out more about him and what he does, and even get some of his music, on his webpage: Song of the West. Mark performs all over the place, and you can find places to hear him perform listed on his webpage. You won't be sorry.
Anyway, I think a great time was had by all. Books rock, and now I'm a bigger fan of banjo music than I had realized.
I got home to find Kumo tending puppies. I was too tired to discuss it with her. But then, when I woke up this morning, I found her hovering over the puppies again.
Me: Kumo, the vet said that we really shouldn't just hover over the puppies all the time.
Kumo: I am not hovering.
Me: You are the epitome of hovering.
Me: Anyway, Marigold bought you some books to read to the puppies.
Kumo: GREAT! They love being read to!
Me: ..... Really? What have you been reading to them?
Kumo: Um.... so what books did Marigold give us?
While Kumo didn't seem particularly thrilled with either "Tootle" or "The Poky Little Puppy" I think they'll be grand puppy reading material, and reading to the puppies is probably a good thing. Mandi said this time is all about getting used to voices, and people being around them.
Though, it occurred to me on the way to the writers' group this morning, I haven't seen Kumo leave for her job in quite a while. And I don't think she's leaving the puppies alone. I wonder if she took vacation time off for the puppies?
I'm a little afraid to ask, actually.