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Another Adventure in Not Quite DIY: Saving a Tune Book

Yes, it's grubby...but alive!

When I started playing at the Wednesday night Irish session, I picked up a copy of their tune book. We don't tend to play from sheet music during the session, but (along with plenty of listening) it's a good resource for learning the local version of the tunes, or for remembering how something starts.

The only trouble is that the books are inexpensively bound, with plain cardstock covers and plastic comb binding. After over a year of dragging it around with me, the cardstock was getting grimy and tattered, and the plastic comb had cracked in places. I knew if things kept going this way, sooner or later it would completely fall apart. So, based on my good experience with my not quite DIY notebooks, I took action.

I took it to the local Office Depot and had them trim off the comb binding. I could have just had them put on a new unbroken comb binding, but in my experience with other music books, spiral bindings work much better. Comb bindings just aren't as amenable to rough usage, tossed into overstuffed music bags or cases. In addition, the pages don't turn as smoothly and you can't easily fold a book back on itself. So spiral it was.



 I'd also planned to have them add a clear outer cover to augment the cardstock covers, but the gal who I worked with suggested we try laminating the existing covers instead, and that worked out well. It's hard to tell from the photos, but it's sturdy plastic laminate, similar to the sort used (or which used to be used) for things like drivers licenses and student IDs. It should last through a good amount of hard treatment.

It's not perfect: in trimming to remove the comb, everything is left a little off center. And of course, the lamination preserved the griminess of the original covers for all time. (To my amusement, it also captured some pencil scribbled reminders I'd meant to erase later...oops!)  This would not be at all the way to preserve or restore something precious. But my book is easier to use now, and the new lamination and binding will vastly extend its life. I'm happy with that.

Total cost: about seven dollars. Cheaper than a new book, in any case. I really wish I'd taken a few "before" pictures, but it didn't occur to me!

Pencilcast: Shadow Tale

White Before Memorial Day: Pentel Hi-Polymer Eraser Caps

Awhile back I mentioned about how much I like Pentel's Hi-Polymer erasers. They do a great job, and they're relatively cheap and available. In a discussion that followed another blog post, an anonymous commenter mentioned seeing a pencil top version at WinCo, a discount grocery chain here in the Pacific Northwest. The other day I found myself in that part of town, so I popped in briefly to stock up on some pantry supplies and had to at least glance at the stationery supplies. Sure enough, there they were!

I don't think they're quite the same material as the blocks: they seem firmer and a little more crumbly.  Still, they do a much better job of erasing than your average pencil topper.  I keep a lot of full sized eraser blocks around, but there are times when it's nice to have one right at hand.  I added one to the Ticonderoga currently living on my music stand.  They're a bit odd looking...remind me of clunky looking nurse shoes.  But they do the trick right well!

Now if the fashion police will just leave the little guy alone...

Tam the Feline Grammarian?

I swear, this really happened.

Me: Tam, you can't sit on the keyboard.
Tam blinks at me, but remains sitting, purring.
Me: OK, obviously you *can*. But you mustn't. You shouldn't.
Tam, still purring, gets up and jumps off the desk.

Sometimes he scares me.

Fire and Ice

Little nod to Valentine's Day.

On Awaiting Inspiration

Written on January 31st, which means I made my writing goal for the month, muse or no muse!

Shadow of Life

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to try to finish at least two poems and one short story a month. I've pretty much broken all my resolutions already, and this one is liable to be no exception...but I did at least manage to finish this one poem: actually one I kind of started writing around Christmas, and rather on the cynically morose side. Still, at least it means I've completed one third of my resolution for the month!

Surefire Cure for the Monday Blues

Bach *and* chocolate?? Aw, Amazon, you shouldn't have...

(OK, so I *did* have to pay for the privilege. Still...)

Kindred Spaces

(I'll get back to real blog posts eventually, I swear. I spent the early part of this week sick (curled up on the couch watching the first season of Downton Abbey through a semi-feverish haze), and I haven't had a chance to do much writing or picture taking or anything.)

I used to live on the other side of Olympia, WA. There's a coffee house there I really like--Mud Bay Coffee Roasters--with great, locally roasted coffee and an interesting mix of clientele. It wasn't really on my way to work, but not outrageously out of my way, and I spent many happy hours there drinking coffee and scribbling. Now, it's well out of my usual paths, and I've been coffee homeless for some time.

But(!!!) there's now a "Dancing Goats" across from the Transit Center in Lacey, WA! I got lost on the way to a gas station about a week ago (don't ask) and ended up driving by it, thus discovering it, and then stopped in last weekend to scope it out. The parking area is easy to get in and out of, the coffee shop itself is nice and open with big tables that don't wobble (oh, how I despise a wobbly table!), and while the prices are a little steeper than some, the coffee is very good, as are the baked goods.

I've made it by a few mornings to do a little reading and writing before work. This morning, it was a good thing I now know the right light at which to turn--it was so foggy all landmarks were completely obscured, and cars and buildings seemed to float in a strange, hushed unreality. It was a relief to pull safely into the parking lot.

I walked inside, into warm, coffee scented space, where the baristas were arguing whether the fog was more likely to bring zombie pirate ghosts or evil mutant spiders. In another corner, a group of guys were discussing my favorite bike trail. Over the table where I sat, there was a big, beautiful photo of a yellow rose--my favorite flower. Taken all together, it made me want to laugh out loud...because I do believe I've found my new early morning scribbling home.

And that's a wonderful feeling.