I do, on occasion – and to the great distress of anyone within earshot – quite literally blow my own trumpet. Or, to be precise, these days, a flugelhorn. It began in the early Pleistocene when I was in high school, playing second trumpet in the band and orchestra to the first, whose surname, gloriously, was “Tootle.” I graduated – to the great distress of anyone within earshot - to the tuba (a fine and much-maligned instrument), and my father always maintained, entirely erroneously, that this was simply because the size of the instrument required my being driven to school on rehearsal days.
But enough of my instrumental aspirations (as anyone within earshot would agree). There’s always a great and immodest pleasure in finding oneself cited, and there have recently been several examples of this, to which I feel compelled to draw attention. First of all, Andrew Alden on About Geology kindly posted a reprise of his views on Sand, together with a link to the conversation he and I had a couple of years ago. Then Gary Hayes at Geotripper referred to “an excellent geo-blog based on sand” in his recent post, “Sand...Lots of Sand.”
And, just yesterday, Geoff Manaugh, of the acclaimed BLDBLOG, put up two successive posts directly related to topics that I have written about – the New York sand mines, and the Normandy beaches (see the posts, in addition to sections in the book, here, and here).
So thanks to all for the citations and the pleasure. I shall now sign off, without – to the relief of those within earshot – fanfare.
Update 14 August, breaking news! Thanks to Geoff Manaugh and BLDBLOG, I have now made it onto BOINGBOING.
If you wish in the world to advance,
Your merits you're bound to enhance,
You must stir it and stump it,
And blow your own trumpet,
Or, trust me, you haven't a chance!
(Even W.S. Gilbert might have shied at "tuba," let alone "flugelhorn.")
Congratulations!
Posted by: Richard Bready | October 22, 2012 at 03:39 AM
Oh, and nice work on that photo. You could make it your sigil: a clarion for sand.
Posted by: Richard Bready | October 22, 2012 at 04:08 PM