Wednesday, January 12th - Day 28 at The Stinehour Press. The Departure.
Yesterday was a big day with the last of the printing. OK, Ralph will still be printing the type and gloss varnish on pages, but we don't need to be here for that part of the process. We have approved everything color wise on the type before, many times. Plus Ralph is a pro. So now it is time to say goodbye. With last nights Marti Party behind us, it was only a bit surprising everyone was right on time this morning. And no headaches, at least that were admitted to!
I was surprised that they wanted a group photo with us. But then again not really. And everyone was already there when we came in. One of the things about doing a book for the first time is that everything is new. So when you go to write the acknowledgements you have yet to really work with the folks you may be writing about. In my acknowledgement I said, " I was glad we could keep the printing in the United States, and it was a real bonus that they turned out to be a wonderful and talented group of people to work with.". My hope when I wrote that was more than surpassed.

Everyone here is an artist dedicated to the fine art of bookmaking. They realize that what they do lasts forever and therefore never can you utter the words, that's good enough. It must be perfect for them to proceed. Their dedication to this project was flawless. Their artistic abilities in the process of taking my images from film to digital to ink on paper was unbelievable. The quality of the finished pages exceeded my hopes. And yes, they are a wonderful and talented group to work with. It has been my pleasure to get to know every one of them. I can't wait to have some reason to come back again.

To all, a very sincere thank you.
Front row: Ara, Bob, Jen, Terri, Jan, Ric

Middle Row: Me, Jeff, Darlene, Judy, Laverne, Jodi, Paul, Peter, Dennis, John

Back Row: Rich, John, Eric, Ralph, Kevin
Hey wait a minute....what happened to Marti the mini-moose and Grandfather Martin?
Well, as it turns out Marti the mini-moose had a very long talk with Granfather Martin about what he should do. "But Grandfather Martin", Marti the mini-moose was heard to say early this morning "You don't understand. These people need me. Haven't you see them clomping around in the north woods? They're kinda dumb, slow moving creatures. They need my wisdom!"
Yet it seems Grandfather Martin must have won out, because they requested we take them back to the field where it all began. It was sad, but if you love someone you sometimes have to let them go. Reluctantly and with tears in our eyes, and no small investment in www.martitheminimoose.com, we watched them walk back into the woods.
And then the most amazing thing happened. In the blink of an eye there were only tracks left. Tracks that seemed to stop right there in the snow. We looked at each other and could not speak. We have no idea where Marti the mini-moose and Grandfather Martin went. They just seemed to fly away.
Now you may not be interested in this next part, especially after you wipe the tears away for Marti the mini-moose but on the drive back to Manchester for our flights home we took the long way around, even in the winter storm. So here are some images from the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Next stop - Rosewell Bindery in Phoenix, Arizona on February 16th.
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