Wandering Alone: Texas

I have been wandering alone this trip. Donna and I both left home February 12, 2019. I flew to Waco, Texas, where we had parked the gypsy wagon back in November. Donna flew to Chile to travel with our daughter Tanya, who was a high school AFS exchange student there. 

I easily pulled the wagon out of the garage (well really more a car barn). Thanks to Josh Been and his family for its winter home.

The first day I met with Baylor librarian Sha Towers and dropped off our book Piute Creek, which he had just ordered. Here are a few interesting snippets from our conversation:

1. “With a quick glance a person can fool themselves into believing they have seen a painting, but they can’t do that with a book.”

2. One way to classify artists’ books is by their content. There are three general categories: Artists' books are made to a. present something external (politics, environment, etc.) or b. something personal (my life, my relationships, etc.) or c. to create an aesthetic expression (beauty, shape, etc.).

Without Donna, I planned a number of musical events for the trip. That night I led a jug band sing along for the Waco Ukulele Orchestra. A day later I received this nice note from Fred (whose last name will remain anonymous to protect the innocent). “Thank you Peter for an enriching and enjoyable musical experience. I’ll speak for myself and perhaps more when I say, where else can church choir members get to sing (in public) nice bawdy songs like the ones you taught us!” The event was held at the Texas Music Cafe. Chris Ermoian spent his life recording Texas' almost famous rock bands. His work can be seen on his Texas Music Cafe web and facebook sites.

I spent the first night at a Walmart. Not a very auspicious start.

My next stop was Austin. They don’t allow RVs in Walmart’s there. Luckily Mary Boffman, of the Austin Book Arts Center, once again offered me a spot on her street in a part of town called Clarkesville. Just as I was parking an older, white haired lady (and I am 65 so I mean older) was driving by. She rolled down the window and said “You’ve stayed here before and it’s so nice to see you again. I notice you have repainted the wagon since last time.” It’s nice to be welcome.

The Austin Ukulele Society had their monthly meeting on February 14, and as co-founder of the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz which provided their inspiration to start their club, I was an honored guest. Before hand I had dinner at Tyson's Tacos, where ukulele players can sing for their supper.

I visited Kevin Auer’s papermaking class at UT Austin and showed them my tricks, then spent some time admiring the Rob Roy type collection. Here are a couple of fonts I wish I owned.

I taught a weekend class for the ABAC titled “Type and Image”. We used wood type and found cuts to create folded paper booklets.

ABAC had just opened the last time I was in Austin. My class was the last class before moving to a new location. Since I had my trailer pulling truck I was co-opted into helping the ABAC move, and on my last night in town, ABAC member Linda Anderson’s Green Man Coffeehouse hosted a party to celebrate. GM coffeehouse parties always feature a themed music play list. Of course the night’s theme was books. See if you can figure out the connections.