Behind the Shop

The Traveler’s Notebook 2020 items are here, and are already flying off the shelves. In fact, many items went straight out of the boxes into smaller boxes for Canada Post or onto our holds shelf for people picking them up in store. It’s a crazy thing when I think back to our first days carrying Traveler’s Notebook and our teeny tiny display and its journey over the years.

In case you missed it, Thursday was Halloween. I sometimes feel like I can hardly keep up with all these festive holidays and all their corollary activities: going to the pumpkin patch, carving the pumpkins, getting costumes, buying candy for trick or treaters. The kids are only young once, though, and so we are embracing these traditions that we’re only vaguely familiar with ourselves.*

The Toronto Pen Show, Scriptus, is taking place this Sunday, October 27th at the Toronto Reference Library, at Yonge and Bloor. As always, admission is free, but you can support the show by participating in the raffle. The show accepts donations of prizes, and you can purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win a prize of your choosing. This year we’ve donated an Edison Pearlette in Sonoran Sunset. 

Once again, the fall has rolled around, the cold weather has descended, and with Naomi a bit older, we’ve made it to the pumpkin patch to pick a few gourds for Hallowe’en.

In Tokyo, Japan, there are three Traveler’s Notebook Factories. The main Traveler’s Factory is located in a back alley in Nakameguro, a small district with many independent shops, studios and boutiques. We were fortunate enough to be able to visit and also meet with Iijima-san, the creator of the Traveler’s Notebook, and you can read more about that visit here.

Welcome to Part 2 of our visit to The Superior Labor in Okayama. You can find Part 1 here. For some background information, since it’s been some time since our travel posts, this past summer, we visited Japan and Hong Kong. I had thought I was going to blog on the road, but couldn’t keep up—so here I am catching up.

It’s been a long time coming! And if you are subscribed to our email newsletter, you may have already heard, but we are now opening on Sundays from 11 - 6.