Monday, December 27, 2010

Pens as Christmas Gifts?


O.K. I know I could easily fit all of my regular readers into my family room, probably even into my study, or even the closet, but I am going to ask the question all the same: What pens did you get for Christmas? What pens did you give for Christmas?

This is the first year in quite awhile where I didn't coerce my wife into buying a pen for me for Christmas. She wanted to choose the gift she was going to give me, for a change - imagine that? Though without any coercion whatsoever, she gave me a box of Crane Co. stationary - very nice!

However, I gave my daughter a grey Conklin Endura fine point, which she is very happy with. Along with it, I gave her a bottle of Noodler's Burgundy ink. I didn't even dip test it before I gave it to her, so I can't comment on how well it writes. It is a very light weight pen and a bit narrower than I expected. But overall a nice looking pen. Maybe I can write a review of it later, if she'll let me borrow it.

So, what pens, ink, paper, journals, et cetera did you give or receive this Christmas? Tell us about them in the comments.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Fall in Central California

Inland Central California usually has a very short and fall season with little color.

However, this year there was a sudden cold snap where the temperatures went from the 70s to the 30s over night and then stayed in the 50s thereafter. This caused some glorious fall colors, to which we are unaccustomed. And fall lasted much longer than usual. In the average year, the leaves here just turn brown and fall off.

Since fall is my favorite season, I have been happily taking photos, and enjoying it immensely.

I can well imagine that you folks from the east coast and mid west are probably thinking "big deal" and, "those leaves aren't really that colorful". And I have traveled enough to know why you would say that, but we think your "big trees" are pretty puny - so it is all relative to what you are used to.


Thursday, December 2, 2010

Nib Smoothing and Adjustment

This isn't new, but this link will take you to an excellent article on nib adjustment at Nibs.com