What's in My Pen Roll

In celebration of a new season involving longer and brighter days, fresh air, and evening picnics, I thought I would share what's in my pen roll these days.

Here's what's in my pens these days: Pilot Custom 92 - Waterman Mysterious

Blue Parker Sonnet (Cisele) - Waterman Inspired Blue

Sailor 1911S - Diamine Ancient Copper

Franklin-Christoph Model 20 - Noodler's Kiowa Pecan

Parker Sonnet (Brown Rubber) - J. Herbin Lie de the

Edison Pearlette Aztec Gold - J. Herbin Rouille d'ancre

Lamy Safari Neon Lime - Lamy Dark Lilac

And here's one last shot of the Lamy Dark Lilac, with some of that gold sheen. We're expecting more bottles soon, I think mid-late April. Caleb broke the the cardboard on two boxes of the Dark Lilac cartridges, so I'm going through those for now. I must say there's something pretty satisfying about puncturing a new cartridge. All the possibility of words spilling out from just that one tube of ink, or maybe just the idea of all that liquid somehow transforming into thin, squiggly lines on a page. I tend to run my pens dry before cleaning and re-filling, or cleaning and storing, so it's a bit of chance on what's in what pen, rather than cleaning all of my pens at once, and refilling all of them to fill a palette, which might be nice. One day I'm going to have a deep cleanse of all my pens, recently filled or long-stored, and then take my choice for what I'm going to fill. To be honest, I'm not really sure if my ink choices change too much with the seasons, or if the violet and pink shades are just a coincidence, along with the Lamy Dark Lilac being released.

This is in my Hobinichi Techo, on a blank day in March. I've been pretty good about my gratitude journalling, but I've got to admit to missing a day or two. I couldn't let this beautiful Tomoe River paper go to waste, though, and maybe it'll also be a record of the inks in my pens, which is something else to be grateful for, in more ways than one, in any case.

***

It's been another busy week, and Fridays especially we try to get as many packages out the door since we're closed on Mondays, and we're also getting the shop ready for Saturdays.

It's about time for spring! I've been saying this for weeks, and we've had two snow storms in between my first declaration of spring and now it's April, but I think this is officially it: it's only getting warmer from here. We're planning a weekend trip to Kingston, about two hours outside of the city, at the beginning of May, and by then, you better believe we'll be eating outside for 85% of our meals, or I'm moving to California. Or even better, South America.