Lamy Special Edition Al-Star Turmaline

Lamy has just released its latest Al-Star special edition, Turmaline and its matching ink, a beautiful turquoise.

The Turmaline ink is a turquoise with some good sheen to it—well-named after the gemstone—especially if you’ve got a wet pen and you’re writing on good paper. It’s always hard to catch these blue/green/turquoise/teal inks in a photo or through screens, but there are cartridges and we’re also offering samples if you’re not sure if this is a good shade for you.

It’s always exciting when Lamy releases a new colour in a pen, although I have to admit I’m generally more excited about the ink, which is a beauty this year. Even if you don’t get both the pen and ink, or either, this round, it’s fun to see what they’ve come out with. I love when one colour or another completely suits a customer’s personality or style, or when someone is surprised by how much they like a new colour that they don’t tend to gravitate towards.

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In other news, Chicken, our shop cat, caught a mouse in the house last night.

I heard a scuffling in the hall which I assumed was just Chicken scrabbling about in the night, as usual, but when I came out, Chicken was in the kitchen, swishing his tail, holding in his mouth something else with a tail. It was horrifying. I had to call Jon over to address the situation.

Chicken was in the kitchen, trying to head towards the back door, which is where he gets let in and out of, but of course, it was shut. Jon, worried Chicken would come back into the main area of the house and then let the mouse go, was squatting in the hallway, arms out, to block Chicken.

Plan A: Jon directed me to go downstairs, out through the shop into the backyard, and then up the fire escape to open the back door from the outside except—it was locked! Both sets of keys were by the door, where Chicken was.

Plan B: Jon sent me to go around the kitchen table to open the back door from the inside to let Chicken out, while Jon covered the hallway to prevent Chicken from going into the rest of the apartment. When I went towards the door, Chicken started coming towards me with the mouse in his mouth: I cowered and ran away behind Jon, who was unimpressed, if not surprised.

Plan C: I suggested switching places with Jon, so I would man the hallway, while Jon opened the back door. Jon was very reluctant to do this as he had little (no) faith in my ability to stop Chicken from coming into the apartment if Chicken ran towards me with the mouse, given my last showing, but I got the vacuum cleaner to wave at Chicken. In the heat of the moment, Jon also had some unsavoury comments maligning my general character and ability to handle my role on the team, but we’ll let that go for now.

Exactly as predicted, as soon as Jon made it towards the back door to open it, Chicken started running away from Jon, coming towards me with the mouse. The vacuum is a hand held one with a floor attachment (so not like a dust buster), and I was gunning it and thrusting the vacuum back and forth at Chicken, yelling, both to scare him off and also veering into uncontrolled shrieking, but he has significantly less fear of me than of Jon and he kept coming towards me, darting from side to side to try and get around the vacuum head! After Jon opened the back door, he had to run back and cut Chicken off, and then drive him out the open door.

Chicken has never stayed out at night—he generally comes in well before dark—but now it was almost midnight, and we couldn’t leave him out all night in the cold. We stood on the fire escape, watching him in our neighbour’s backyard, toying around with the mouse. I hope by now it would not surprise you to know Chicken is not a cat who comes when he’s called. Finally, a noise in the distance distracted Chicken, and the mouse got away. Chicken took his time sauntering around the backyard, sniffing, looking up at us.

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Currently reading: An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim
Currently drinking: coffee
Currently worried about
Current favourite gel pen: the Pilot Synergy 0.5—so enjoyable to write with I may just give up fountain pens
Current family project: potty training
Current analogue project: contemplating re-organization of my Traveler’s Notebook
Naomi’s newest favourite phrase: What you eating?