CountryMouse's Refuge

I have to admit, I've been a stationery collector/user since I was in my teens. I love it: pretty, kooky, staid, expensive, cheap, whatever.

When I was a bit older, I'd periodically go through my underbed chest of stationery and get rid of some, with my younger sister "standing like a vulture" (as she said--heh), waiting for me to toss spoils her way, which I did. :-D

Over the years I've accumulated all kinds of stationery. In the last four or five years I started thinking about fountain-pen-friendly stationery too.

Last year, when I was going on a tear, getting rid of a lot of things to make more room in our totally overcrowded apartment, I gave away a LOT of stationery to Goodwill. Why did I do that?!? I was on a cleaning binge; but I'm sorry, to some degree, now.

Today I bought a couple items from Crane & Co., which makes lovely stationery--a little on the more expensive side, but so worth it. The first time I spent money on Crane stationery was when I was single and working, just out of high school. It was such a feeling of luxury. I've never been unhappy with any Crane choice I have ever made.

However today, I stayed in their sale-item section. I got some lime-green stationery/letter paper + envelopes; and I got some peach notecards with matching envelopes.

Next month I will probably get some G.Lalo writing paper and envelopes from Pendemonium.

There's a method to my madness: I think I might be writing to Mama more often. She really enjoyed the letter I sent with her Mother's Day card, so I think I might like to write more! :-)

My sister said Mama especially liked the fact that I wrote the letter with my brother's fountain pen. To understand the significance of this you must know that my brother was a teen suicide, all those many years ago, before anyone knew what the signs were. There was such a stigma attached to the entire family after-the-fact. And he had a promising life ahead of him, so many people outside our family said. So my keeping and using Sonny's Parker 51 pen after all these years means a lot to all of us.

Well! What started as a light-hearted entry got a bit heavy! Anyway: stationery, pens, and inks. I have loved them just about forever. :-)