Crunch!

That would be a time crunch! But first off, welcome back! It has been far too long since we’ve posted. We apologize, but it was a lethal combination of busy lives and not much action on the book-front. Once everything was shipped off and we started getting distracted by other things, the blog suffered.

Then why now? Because on Wednesday we got our book proofs from Arcadia!

Wow! How fantastic to see everything put together and laid out in one book-like package. It truly was mind-blowing. It was also a very proud moment. We created this!

But quickly we had to snap back to reality and get to work. We only have seven days to correct and return the proofs. There was some frantic research and lots of reading and rereading and discussing. It was also nice to read through the entire manuscript after not working on it for such a long time. We had been able to put everything behind us at the end of September. It was good to read and think about how we would make improvements and what little words or phrases we simply didn’t like. It was refreshing and we feel like the book is now even better. Yes, it has been a hectic week with lots of unexpected work (we didn’t know when we were getting our proofs, they simply appeared one day), but we are excited to get everything returned and see the final approval set in the near future.

We are also going to get better about blogging. Promise. We have to do something to help vent our excitement about our upcoming book release!

Check it Out!

What an interesting weekend. To begin with, both Kari and I were independently at CostCo on Saturday (I know, CRAZY right? What were we thinking?!?) and saw this:

Very cool! A couple of local Arcadia titles. I was particularly excited to see Sedro-Woolley. This title had been listed as out of print, was not at our local library, and couldn’t be found on Amazon. But I had been wanting to see a copy because an amazing photographer, Darius Kinsey, who you can learn about in our book as well, had a studio in Sedro-Woolley for many years. I figured they would have had some pretty sweet photographs from which to choose. And they do, it looks like a fabulous book!

But the real topper this weekend was checking my mail this morning and finding a link to OUR BOOK in Amazon! That’s right folks, you can preorder! Oh my goodness, talk about feeling real! But the best part was probably hearing my daughter squeal on my behalf after she asked, “Is that your book momma?” and I told her, “Yes honey, that is MY book!” WOO HOO!

The Whistle

On our List (you know, the List of “Wouldn’t it be great to get a picture of THAT?”) was a certain whistle. We never found that elusive photograph. But that is probably o.k. because there is no way we could work the story of The Whistle into a mere caption. Oh how we love the blog…

In 1901 the Clarence Rowe family moved west. They brought with them, packed in a suitcase, a Mississippi River steamboat whistle. It was used at the Siwash Shingle Mill (which we were able to write about in the book) until the mill burned down in 1909. It is said that one Mr. Turner, the manager of the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company, asked for the whistle “before the ashes had cooled”. Eventually that plant became Carnation and the whistle blew several times a day. The sound carried across the flats from Milltown to Sedro Woolley.

According to lifelong resident Lisette Mast, “Everyone lived by the whistle. It blew at five minutes before 8:00 a.m. and again at 8:00; also at 12:00 and 4:30. We could hear it all over the valley and of course those in town as well. We knew exactly when it was time to go to work, have lunch and quit. No one needed a watch. I still miss the whistle!”

Sadly, since the closing of the Carnation plant, the whereabouts of the whistle are a mystery. Even better than finding a photo would be finding the whistle itself!

Funny Thing…

In the last post we mentioned “when the book arrives”. Sadly we did not have a clue when that would be. But then we got a message from our publisher to let us know that the book is scheduled to be released the week of March 18, 2013! WOO HOO!

Perhaps the most exciting thing was getting some feedback—to be honest it has felt like we dropped all that hard work into a black hole. Turns out that must have been a “no news is good news” situation. Apparently everything was great and met specs and is being processed in a timely manner.

We were told to keep our calendars clear for “media interviews, book signings, or other events that will surround the publication of your book”. So exciting! I’m not sure what Arcadia will whip up for us, but we have been having plenty of Release Party dreams over the past year. And everyone will be invited (so sorry for our loyal, long-distance fans).

Line Art

While the book is mainly photographic, a certain percentage of it can be what is called line art: maps, advertisements, brochures, etc. Our book doesn’t include much line art, but what we did include was pretty darn cool, if we do say so ourselves. But, just like the photographs, there were some great pieces of line art that simply didn’t make it into the book.

The first piece is a copy of old official Skagit County letterhead from the early 1900s:

The County Records Office was an unexpected treasure trove. They were warm, welcoming, enthusiastic, and very helpful. Plus they had some really great images they happily shared with us.

Another favorite of ours was a stamp from the 1913 Mount Vernon Pow-Wow, courtesy of the Roger Fox collection:

Never heard of the Pow-Wow? We hadn’t either, but that is one of the many fascinating things you can learn about when the book arrives.

Tulips and the Release

It is so hard to believe that we have the book done. It was such a whirlwind and time pressure cooker to make our deadline. But now, a few weeks after submission, we are looking around and realize we have to wait! We hope to have the book proofs back sometime in December and the book is scheduled for release in the early spring.

So in honor of the big release, which should be near the Tulip Festival, we thought it appropriate to post about some other photos that did not make it into the book.

This one was especially heartbreaking because it is such a great photo. We first came across it while in Karl's Paint store. The photo is large and professionally framed, hanging on their wall. We asked if we could borrow it to scan for our book and without hesitation they agreed to let us take it home to scan. But before we could scan it, they had to remove it from the frame. Talk about helpful! According to them, it had been in the building when they moved in years ago. As we were leaving with the photo, they also mentioned that it might be from up north in Lynden.

Not thinking much of this Lynden comment, we were so excited to have a photo that might illustrate the Mount Vernon tulip festival. However, with a little research it turns out that the style of the dresses certainly do not match up with the history of tulip festivals in Skagit Valley. This is from a much earlier time when there were tulip festivals in Lynden and before tulip growing moved south to our neck of the woods due to the constant threat of frost up north.

Later, after meeting with the WSU extension office, the ladies showed up again!

Still lovely as ever. It was like they were taunting us about NOT being able to use them in the book.

Nonetheless, they are both great photos and they make us look forward to April!

Bonus Picture Tuesday

We promised a post this week, so figured we had better get on it! A true testament to the quality of photos IN the book is the quality of photos that got left OUT of the book. We were fortunate to get some really wonderful items from so many sources.

This photo, courtesy of the Mount Vernon Mayor’s Office, is one of our earliest scans.

It is a great picture, but there is the double whammy of “Are we *sure* this was Mount Vernon?” and “What story would it bring?” There is no doubt that it could be from here—the area had plenty of giant trees like this. But the sign on the left, which is difficult to make out, seems to be saying something about “Blaine”. Too much uncertainly for our taste. But it is still a wonderful photograph from 1899!

Can you read the bottom? It says “This tree was used to shelter 12 head of cattle”. Wow, lucky for those pioneers that lightning is a rare occurrence around here!