I entered 2015 with the firm determination to hold off buying new ink bottles until I used up ink I already owned. Excellent, sensible resolution. And how did I do?
Very badly.
When I went through my inks, I realized that I had purchased thirty new bottles of ink this year. Plus a box of ink cartridges. Too many bottles to fit in one photograph.
Yes, I did use up some bottles of ink. And I sold many. But, still, adding thirty new bottles is not what I wanted. Time for the walk of shame.
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I like to do an end-of-the-year “accounting” of the pens I bought, not to create the illusion that there’s any business-like veneer over my acquisitiveness, but more like an assessment, to see if I can learn anything.
This year was just fantastic. I got great pens this year. I did totally blow the budget in the last week. But I’m still thrilled.
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So, I was on the phone with Fountain Pen Hospital, feeling so lucky to have found a Pelikan Stockholm, when I jokingly said, “Boy if you had the Berlin and the Madrid, too, I’d really be in trouble.”
And the super nice Fountain Pen Hospital guy (I think the owner, but maybe Kris Kringle), said, “Wait a minute, we just might have the Berlin here, which I didn’t get on the website yet — let me look.”
Indeed!
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Pelikan M620 Stockholm. I’ve been hoping for one of these for years. All of a sudden, I saw that Fountain Pen Hospital had one. And they made sure it arrived on Christmas Eve. I love that store.
I’ll post more photos soon. It may have brought a friend.
Today is Christmas Eve, and our family celebrates this day as much as the next.
So, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, today let me wish you the best of the season. I wish you love and joy, peace and goodwill. May those who are sad or dealing with loss or sorrow find comfort and warmth.
I’ll celebrate how lucky we are to have one more family Christmas dinner together, and fondly remember those who shared our past celebrations.
Oh dear. I was feeling so proud of my restraint this year. I hardly bought any pens. Until yesterday. Whoops.
I’ll have to confess in a few days when the package arrives. Until then, imagine me hanging my head in shame. (Or imagine me doing a happy dance, when no one’s looking. And then hanging my head when people see me.)
That’s a lovely lithograph from the Brooklyn Museum of a Brown Pelican by John James Audubon. Seems appropriate, somehow.
Fountain Pen Follies 