Around a life in 80 Years

This is the weekend of the big family reunion to celebrate my Uncle Ted's eightieth birthday. He is the only remaining sibling of my mother's family still around. His actual birthday was a couple of months ago, but he and his family thought a summer get-together to celebrate would be a little easier on everyone. There are folks coming in from all over North America and for some, it will be the first meeting in a very long time. It promises to be a weekend to remember.



As my gift, I got a whole collection of family photos, spanning nearly a hundred years from when my grandfather and grandmother were young, and photocopied them to bind them into this book, the covers of which you see here. Still I need to make the holes and I have my drill ready at the bit. Then will be the fun of binding the nine or so "chapters" or signatures. The pictures aren't the greatest; I am about the world's worst person to play around with Photoshop, and my uncle, is one of the best. Needless to say I couldn't ask him for help, as the book is his "surprise". His hobby for the last 60 years or so has been photography, so I hope he doesn't agonize over my attempts too much. He was always the one with all the latest photo equipment, and when digital equipment came in, of course he was there right from the start. He has provided the family with many wonderful shots from years ago that he has laboriously printed up on everything from linen to canvas and all the photo papers one could name. Many of his reprints look like the actual paintings of other family members.



Naturally, my book has covers done in polymer clay and since he is basically color-challenged (aren't a lot of males?), I did the photos in black and white. I even did a little transfer of him at age fifteen for the cover of the book, to remind him of the days when he was younger than his grand kids. It is laughingly titled "Celebrating the First Eighty Years". I wonder if anyone knows the words to the song wishing him many more years that was always sung in our family's celebrations???