CountryMouse's Refuge

This is a thread from another forum I am on. Someone asked: "How many of you keep a journal?" This is my answer, slightly augmented here:

I keep several: there are my day-to-day activities and thoughts in my main journal (lots of different colours of fountain pen ink per day!); there is a newly-started Fountain Pen Diary; there is a "Letters To Ian" journal; there is my planner, which is mostly appointments, places I've gone, repair work done around the house, etc.; I also have two online diaries: LiveJournal, which I update fairly often, and a diary on my website, that I don't update much anymore; used a little more sporadically: my teen-angst diary called "Feelings" (which fortunately is in a Rollabind book, so I can easily get rid of pages that are just too embarrassing in retrospect); my "Thanks" journal that I don't update nearly often enough, based upon the journals of Hermux Tantamoq, the mouse watchmaker in Michael Hoeye's books; my Book of Shadows. There are also a couple others that are "finished" (I hope): my journal from my "Journey" through cancer treatment; and as noted somewhere else in this thread, my logs of food and allergic reactions back in the mid-80's when I was very ill with MCS.

One way and another I have been keeping a journal for a LONG time, sometimes daily, sometimes not very faithfully. I have been doing lots better in the last couple years, though, and write just about everyday.

On December 30th I ordered an amber translucent Pelikan M200 with a fine nib from Pam Braun (oscarbraunpens.com). I got it on January 2d! I bought it specifically to fill with Ian's Ancient Amber ink mix, to remember him by. It is so beautiful, much nicer in person that the photos I had seen. The way the light shimmers off the ink inside the barrel as I'm writing is really gorgeous!

Same day, January 2d, Bunnicula went downtown to run some errands. He always stops in this weird little office supply place when he's down there. He found two Parker Vector pens there, so he snatched those up. Very inexpensive pens, but they write well. :-) He took the black and chrome one, I took the blue and chrome one.

Yesterday was a two-pen day also! I got this gorgeous Parker Inflection pen. Well, it arrived in the mail. It was mailed on Saturday, and I got it TODAY! Fast! :-) It's a metallic yellow-orange with a (eep! I was taking a chance on this! I usually like fine nibs!) broad italic nib. WOW! I filled it with a new (to me) Private Reserve pastel ink called Shell Pink. WOW! I *love* it! I used it a little later for a friendly cover letter to another fountain pen lady that I am getting some bookmarks from. I hope she can read it okay. It seems pale-but-pleasant and readable to me. A very Spring-like colour. :-)

I also received in the mail (another) Pelikan M75 GO! pen, my second one with cranberry trim. I tried the PR Shell Pink in *it*, but its medium nib just didn't do a thing for it...or vice versa. Flushed that out and put in PR Black Cherry . Yeah! Nice smooth writer, just like all my other GO! pens. :-)

I'm a happy mousie. <:3