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Abecedary: Arranged in alphabetical order; elementary, devoid of sophistication. As this list, in both senses. Items/categories marked with an asterisk are repeats from 2007. Not everything changes, only us. Human (and humane) life, someone wise said, depends on small rituals and daily bread. This rings true. Martin Amis: His non-fiction is high on Bill's list. Is there anything he can't write on? The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000 is a generous and opinionated introduction to literature. His summing up of Waugh's Brideshead Revisited: "The present age will be lamented in its turn, like the last. The good is gone, the bad is all to come: this theme is as old as literature. What a writer does with it is simply a matter of style and tone." Sometimes it's just a simple turn of phrase: "… a Tour de France of back-pedaling." Artichoke Café: A delightful find in Albuquerque's historic downtown EDO district. We had an hour, consulted our GPS [see], and found a gem. With white-tablecloth civility, fresh ingredients, and little pretension, it marked a substantial and thankful change from our more usual fast food.

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Julian Barnes' Nothing to Be Frightened Of is Bill's idea of a book – poignant, allusive, witty, thought provoking: "I don't believe in God, but I miss him." Think apprehension about death can't be interesting and laugh-out-loud funny? Full disclosure: Bill hasn't yet persuaded Vicky to sniff it. Bill Bowerman (former Oregon track coach): "There is a higher standard than victory." Unheard, certainly unheeded, advice. Books Outside the Binding: A wonderful exhibit curated by Brea Black and Xan Popp at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library that "explores the world of contemporary artists' books, a world that challenges and re-interprets the traditional book form." It's encouraging and exciting to see public libraries providing opportunities for the uninitiated to see the world of artists' books. Bookworks: Laurie Corral has established a community resource for print and book arts in Asheville, North Carolina. Its lineup of classes, workshops, exhibits, lectures, and community outreach exists on passion and persistence. An example of the best of the book arts community, which is an important component of a humanistic world. BRIS: People sometimes ask how we mange 6 weeks of togetherness in a minivan and hotels. One part of it, at least for the long driving hours, is BRIS (Bladders Relatively in Synch). [see Yaff, yeuk, yex, and yikker] Ken Bruen: The Irish writer's crime fiction (the hardest boiled, the noirest of them all?) is sometimes over the top (more accurately beneath the bottom) but the humor is a grace note: "Plato: To do is to be. Socrates: To be is to do. Frank Sinatra: Do be do be do."

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Casey: Our younger granddaughter (age 8), the competitor, the gamer, blossoms in the spotlight. Albert Camus: "The four conditions for happiness: life in the open air; the love of another being; freedom from all ambitions; creation." Two out of four is a start. Bruce Chatwin recounts in What Am I Doing Here? his first and only meeting with Noel Coward: "On the way out from lunch [Coward] said, 'I have very much enjoyed meeting you, but unfortunately, we will never meet again because very shortly I will be dead. But if you'll take one parting word of advice, 'Never let anything artistic stand in your way.'" What does that mean? No pretension, no feigned artfulness, nothing but deeply felt intuition? [see "On (Design) Bullshit"] The Creative Process "is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture, and highly creative feverishness" according to Roger Bacon. This sounds much like Carolee Campbell's prescription (recorded last year) of craft, honed by constant practice; knowledge of the field; invention; and magic.

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Desmond Lim: the man who (still) takes care of our website. The combination of Jeanine Herrmann [see], Vicky, and Des keeps the website current and, we hope, interesting. He’s a jewel whom we appreciate each day. Direction of the Road: This highly successful bookwork by Foolscap Press is now out of print. Little mystery about why it managed to sell 125 copies since February 2007: meaningful content; wonderful craft; the combination of text, image, materials, and structure is inspired enough that it seems simple; the anamorphic woodcut is a Wow; and a reasonable price.

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Economy: We don't pretend to understand much. Still, we might go out on a limb with these: greed is insidious and ubiquitous; gloom-and-doom is self perpetuating. [see Questions Most Asked] Timothy Ely: "Disorientation runs hand in hand with aesthetic stimulation." That's the Wow Factor. Elizabeth: daughter, step-daughter, struggling and (amazingly) effective mother of two girls on the cusp of womanhood [see Casey and Victoria], her influence on Vamp & Tramp begins with the sun and ends somewhere beyond the moon.

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Films: Our longtime indulgence remains a major source of solace and recuperation on the road. The problem of finding independent films or non-US films (in business-speak non-commercial films, in straight-speak films that don't make anyone pots of money) remains. Local film societies provide an alternative, where the passion and energy of a few people resist the juggernaut of commercial viability. Our discoveries this year: the Denver Film Society & the Sarasota Film Society. [see Movies]

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GPS: We splurged for a Garmin GPS early in the year. It has proved invaluable: long gone the days of carrying a file of more or less up-to-date regional and city maps; almost no more nights of printing out MapQuest maps for the next day's stops. Directions, food choices, gasoline prices – mostly accurate – available on the fly. The information is invaluable but not infallible: common sense is necessary and on some days this is unavailable; sometimes the information is just wrong (staring and cursing at an empty lot you've just spend 35 minutes going out of your way for rarely produces results). Bill quite regularly talks back to the bodiless (female) voice: "What do you mean left? No, no, no, no. You're out of her f—ing mind." His answer is always silence, so he challenges the bodiful female (also with a voice) next to him: "What is she talking about? That can't be, can it?" Vicky has been known to laugh. Green Street Café: Adjacent to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. The omelet, the omelet, the omelet …

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Jeanine Herrmann keeps V&T running and us out of all the trouble she can when we are on the road – and, for that matter, while we're home. With the energy of a filly, she makes Vamp & Tramp go. Judith Hoffberg was in hospice at year's end, reportedly tired from transfusions, but ever alert. Her accomplishments are many, but it is her spirit that will endure. [See Umbrella] Hope: Never hope more than you work. – Beryl Markham. [See Obama]

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Internet: Not surprisingly, still around. Hilary Mantel in London Review of Books 24 January 2008 in “That Wilting Flower” a review of Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained: “The internet is the great source of light and of darkness; it trashes the status of knowledge, undermines its ownership, and scants the principle of editing and review. The laconic conventions that govern online communication favour the proliferation of iron, of a two-way split of meaning in every line, so that the knowing prevail effortlessly over the naïve. Fleeting and flitting, self-generating, double-faced, the internet is the natural home for anomalous phenomena, which have a primitive quality, yet track social paradigms; like science fiction, they dance like sprites around the scientific consensus, sometimes seeming to follow, sometimes to lead, sometimes to head off by themselves into an ancient inner landscape.”

J

JAB: The Journal of Artists' Books has since 2007 found domicile and succor at Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts. Twice a year, JAB continues to provide form and forum for current critical discussion of artists' books. Thanks to Brad Freeman – founder, editor-in-chief, guru, gatherer, and grunt – since 1994 each issue of JAB has provided essays, reviews, and news of artists' projects focused on the book as an intermedia form of art. There is nothing else like it.

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Ron King. Ron, who will give the Goudy lecture at Scripps College and be a key-note speaker at the 2009 Codex Symposium, is still turning out new work in his retirement. May every retirement be so productive. Jim Koss: We had dinner with this superb Seattle artist/writer and his gentle, accomplished wife in October. Artificial limbs are no deterrent to a triumphant spirit.

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Edwina Leggett Creator of Califia Books (the ur-version of Vamp & Tramp) Edwina and her spirit continue to amaze and impress us. Working on her second (or is it third?) graduate degree, she is a hard one to keep up with. Librarians who have moved on: Contacts, acquaintances, or friends, their movement changes us: Katherine Donahue (UCLA Biomedical Library); Madelyn Garrett (University of Utah); Joyce Ludmer (Getty Research Institute).

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Matrix: This annual review for printers and bibliophiles shepherded by John & Rose Randle of Whittington Press has been a bellwether for 28 years. For its achievement, Whittington is being awarded the 2009 APHA Institutional Award, the first private press to be so honored. Well done seems like too little to say: Matrix stands alone. Czeslaw Miloscz "Calm down. Both your sins and your good deeds will be lost in oblivion."  A wise antidote for shoulding on yourself. Mimeo Mimeo Edited by Kyle Schlesinger and John Birmingham, this forum for critical and cultural perspectives on artists' books, fine press printing, and the mimeograph revolution made its first appearance in 2008. Long live the spirit and the proof. Movies In our own kind of order: Milk; Slumdog Millionaire; Happy-Go-Lucky; Rachel Getting Married; The Reader; The Visitor; Frozen River; Doubt; Changeling; In the Valley of Elah; The Bank Job; Elegy; In Bruges; Synecdoche, New York; W; Appaloosa. [see Film]

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New York City: We were able to take two granddaughters (then 7 and 9) to New York for a long weekend. Absolutely one of the highlights of the year: four days of big eyes (take a child to Lion King if you need a boost), big questions ("Why is that man crying?"), and big exclamations ("Gran, Gran, Gran, we studied about that woman in art" [on discovering Georgia O'Keefe at the Metropolitan].

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