Tootin' My Own Horn

If we don't toot our own horn, who will, right??? (HAHAHA)

So this starts all the way back to when I was telling you about all those gable stones I was taking photos of, remember! I had 346 of them back then in June (out of the 850 there are reported to be in Amsterdam) and now have around 650! (My old album was switched to SnapFish here, and I still have a few more to add.)

Anyway, on August 24 (Astrid! That's your birthday!), Ina came over to our apartment here in Amsterdam to do an interview with me about how I got into all this craziness. It was all official and big stuff.

It so happens that Ina is the editor of the gevelstenen (gable stones) newsletter (in Dutch, of course) that goes out to approximately 200 subscribers here in Holland every 2-3 months. She wanted to do an article on ME and my excitement about this part of their culture.

And there I am on the inside of the September issue. A professional photographer named Wim Ruigrok actually came out to the apartment to take that photo of me. Whoo Hoo. Talk about feeling important standing there with his photo of a Clark Gable stone (get it?!) .

THEN, as frosting on the cake, one of the gable stone carvers (Hans 't Mannetje) whose many stones around town I had captured, just came out with a 128-page book on his life's work as a carver, with wonderful color photos of all his stones (photographed by the same Wim). I just picked up my copy this past Sunday.

AND, because I pre-ordered the deluxe, hardback edition, my name is printed on this list (click to enlarge but that's me *). I'm the only one from the USA! Don't you love it! :)

So, go ahead and pop your buttons with me. I think after 650+ photos of my own, walking up and down the many streets of Amsterdam, dragging my tired butt home day after day, I DESERVE IT! (Don't you??)