Long time readers of this blog (bless you for your tenacity) will not be surprised to see that I am once again marking a somewhat esoteric observance on this blog. They will also remember (those of them who are blessed with long memories, unlike your humble servant here) that I have a fondness for fountain pens, which makes this particular bit of esoteria even better a fit than usual.

 I write predominantly with a fountain pen - this pen here, to be exact:

A Shaeffer Tuckaway, shown with a bottle of my ink of choice, Hero blue-black ink. 

But while that is my go-to pen, I have a small collection of fountain pens going for me:

So there you see the Tucky at the bottom. Then there's a black disposable fountain pen, which can actually be reused if you gently pull the nib part off and fill the barrel with ink. Behind them are a couple of modern pens which use cartridges rather than bottled ink. They are handy for travelling. Lastly, there is the steady and reliable calligraphy pen. When I was learning calligraphy, I used these sorts of cartridge pens, with their interchangeable nib sizes. They're a great learning tool, and I still use them to play around with and learn new styles. (Most of my calligraphy these days, however, is mostly done using a dip pen.) At present, I own two different bottles of ink. There is the blue-black ink, which is grand for daily work, laying down as it does, a fine, dark line, with just enough blue in it to give it personality. The other is a German ink. The label reads: Türkisgrüne Tinte, Waltraüd Bethge Papiere, Hamburg. It is a cool bottle. It even has a place for you to lay the pen after you've soaked up ink into it:

Green - even if it goes by the impressive sobriquet of "Turkish Green", is not a very versatile colour, so I use that mostly for playing around with, and even that is not frequent. 

So. What, exactly does one do with the totally fancy fountain pen? Well, I don't know what other people do, but I use mine for the same sort of every-day tasks one would use a regular pen for. I take it to work. I write notes with it. I write letters with it. I doodle with it.... I doodle a lot with it. Because, use see, there is something wonderfully tactile in the using of wet ink in metal nibs. It goes on with a deep, mysterious gleam, pooling for just a moment, a living wet line, full of magic, before it allows the fibers of the paper to draw it in. Even the fines points (and I prefer a fine tip on my pen) will lay down a much wetter line than any other pen, even fine, inky drawing pens. It gives personality to the writing, and particularly to the drawing. So when I've a moment or two, and have nothing else to do (even, mea culpa when I am at work) I doodle.

Sometimes it is just goofy things, featuring anything from demure birds to bowling skeletons:

Sometimes, it is get well doodles for a friend who is fond of Halloween, when that friend is feeling somewhat under the weather:

Sometimes, I decide to do quotes. I get all fancy and calligraphy-ee about my quotes:

(Sometimes, when I get all fancy and calligrahy-ee, my camera refuses to take a decent picture. This is disheartening.)

Sometimes, I have delusions of grandeur and attempt something splendid, such as this picture of Sir Gawain and a hawk, which I proudly named, "The Two Hawks" (Gawain's name meaning 'hawk', you see.)

(Sometimes I remember that there are filters on my cheap little camera phone, and I use them to take sepia colours of my art. This is a fountain pen and pencil sketch.)

Occasionally, my ambitious ideas actually work rather better than I expected:

(That is fountain pen for the most part, with a bit of gold gel pen for accent. I am contemplating making business card out of that one.)

I also have an odd habit of sticking fountain pens in my hair - an unhappy side effect of the fact that women's clothing so seldomly is designed with pockets. This is unfortunate, as I am often distracted, and tend to leave things lying about - I have lost fountain pens that way in the past. As a result, I just ended up sticking the thing into my hair, to keep from mislaying it:

There. I have laid my nerdiness bare before you. Judge not too harshly. Nor mind the rather grainy quality of the pictures. It is not always so easy to take photographs with a flip-phone camera as one could wish. 

I'm Thinking.... I'm Thinking....

There used to be a time in which I considered myself both an aspiring author, and a bit of a poet. Those days are past now. These days, in spite of my best intentions, I am no more than a dabbler in both of those arts - and a lazy dabbler at that, I am sorry to say. I have done no serious writing since I painfully dragged myself through NaNo in November, but lately, I have been attempting poetry. I have three rather splendid poem ideas knocking about in my mind at present, and over the last few weeks, I have been trying very hard to bring them to life... and, after weeks, and numerous scraps of paper, covered in closely written efforts, all I have accomplished is a single opening stanza for a hopeful poem about the unexpected delight of pussy willows, and a pair of quite decent rhyming lines for the second stanza. There the poem sits, while the other two are still nothing more than ideas, with no single written line to show that they exist. Now, when I try to work on them, I mostly just end up sitting about looking like The Thinker, thusly:

And, instead of being A Poet, I find myself getting distracted by things like a parody of Gollum covering a Taylor Swift song - which of course, means that instead of writing Noble Verse, I go about croaking, "Precioussssss, Preciousssss, Precioussssss!"

And all of that Voice of Gollum stuff makes for a scratchy throat, so then I feel that I need a fancy coffee of some sort. Besides, I rationalise, Coffee Shops are supposed to be prime locations for Poets and Writers.... Except, that I do not like being around peoplesess. They do not minds their own businesses, no Precious. They will asks us what we are writing, and we will have to tells them!!! Coffee shops are out, then, if I intend to get anything accomplished with my versifying. Therefore, being resourceful, I make my own fancy coffee - a lovely Cinnamon Latte. I got that once at a Starbucks, and thought it braw fine, but I've never seen it since. After a period of trying a little of this, and a little that, and have come up with a fair imitation of the drink, - and very simple it is too, so it can be thrown together quite quickly:

Make coffee as usual, but add cinnamon to the grounds.

I like cinnamon, so I put in quite a lot.

While coffee is brewing or steeping, combine a bit of milk

a little vanilla extract, and some brown sugar in a small pot.

Warm over a medium high stove, whisking enthusiastically

with a wire whisk, until it is heated all through, and has

acquired an impressive head of froth.

Pour coffee into your favourite cup. Add milk. The froth will

naturally rise to the top. Sprinkle cinnamon on top if you so desire.

Or chocolate, if you prefer. *NOTE* If you are in possession

of  Cinnamon Whisky (as I am, thanks to an impulse buy

at Christmas) this is the drink to use it in. It is lovely.

So, then I sit with my fancy coffee, my paper and pen, and attempt to write... and attempt... and attempt... And then the clock chimes the hour - the clock is 15 minutes fast - and I must be away to work, while my poetry languishes for several more days, until I can turn my mind to it properly again. It is as well that I never decided to make a living this way. I'd be dead.

All Hail November

Eeeeek!!!! I am missing it! We are smack dab in the middle of Sherlock Holmes Weekend! Who knew, eh? According to Brownielock's handy site, Sherlock Holmes Weekend this year, runs from November 2nd to November 4th. I find this very exciting. I must take time out of my busy life life and read a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Or watch Basil Rathbone portray the famous detective. Or maybe even watch the second season of Sherlock. Oh, the possibilities!

November is also National Novel Writing Month, and I am writing a novel. Well, I am sort of writing a novel. I started bravely, and for one day, all was good. Then I had a devastating attack of writers' block, and ended up tossing out all of the work from the first day, and starting over from scratch. So now I am behind and having to write madly to get myself back on track for finishing by the end of November. At present, by handy word counter is informing me that I shall not finish until January. This is alarming. I need to get a move on.

However, before I go, Bella tagged me a post or two ago, and I have not had a chance to respond to her properly. Since I do not know when I am going to be able to write a decent post again, I am going to take care of the tag right now. Here we go:

Eleven Random Facts:

1.) According to the Urban Dictionary, the word twee has three meanings:

       1.) Something sweet, almost to the point of being sickeningly so.

      2.) To be obnoxiously sweet or quaint.

     3.) The sound a sparrow makes the moment it dies.

The first two definitions are obviously connected, but I have no idea where the last one came from. I now want desperately to write a sparrow's death scene into a story, so that I have a chance of using that word.

2.) I am wildly fond of Mumford and Sons' new CD.

3.) I am also wildly fond of piobaireachd.

4.) I can pronounce the word piobaireachd.

5.) I can sing the Cinderelly song the mice sing in Disney's Cinderella... and sound just like the mice do.

6.) Water does not boil at 212 degrees Fahrenheit if you live it 6000 feet. It boils at 201 degrees. So there.

7.) The United States Marine Corps has its own official tartan and pipe band.

8.) There was a piper at the battle of the Alamo.

9.) In the first draft of the Fellowship of the Ring, Strider was not a Ranger. He was a hobbit named Trotters.

10.) There is no good response when a homeless man informs you that he is going down to the lake to get a free manicure.

11.) I really must get back to my novel.

And Now For Bella's Questions:

1.) Do you like musicals?

I like Gilbert and Sullivan.

2.)What is your favourite musical?

The Pirates of Penzance.

3.) If you could step into a book for a single day, which one would it be?

It is a toss up. The Lord of the Rings is the one that comes to mind first. However, I would dearly love to be on the run with Alan Breck Stewart, so Kidnapped is giving that a run for its money.

4.)Do you know what a "Silver Tongue" is?

Here's one:

5.) How does this quote end? "There is evil there...."

6.)Do you like having your picture taken?
No. Nor do I like taking pictures.

7.) Do you like cold or warm weather better.
 Cold weather. Bring on the cardigans and kilted skirts!

8.)What is your favourite colour?
 Grey

9.) Do you know how a war can be passed down for generations but only last 7 days?
 Um... does this have anything to do with the Campbells and the MacDonalds?

10.)Who are three of your favourite authors?
G. K. Chesterton, Patricia McKillip, Robert Louis Stevenson, but not in that order.

11.) Do you know what a jean jumper is?
I do my best not to.

I Emerge

My devoted followers - here meaning a pair of young sisters - are beginning to grumble about the lack of attention with which I am treating this blog. I have been feeling quite guilty about it for a while, and I apologise. What can I say? It has been One of Those Years. When 2012 came in, I stayed up til midnight, and greeted it with open arms and whisky, and in return, it has given me a good deal of bother. When January 1st comes round again, I shall wait for the stroke of midnight, not so much to welcome in the year 2013, but to be sure that 2012 is properly dead and buried.

In order to keep this blog from atrophying entirely, I am posting a little sketch I did recently, when I found myself unexpectedly at loose ends, and with very little at hand for helping to pass the time. I did what I generally do when I discover myself in such straights, and began doodling. The doodle turned out rather better than I expected, especially in view of the fact that the #2 pencil I was using was badly in need of sharpening. I still had some time to kill, so I cast about for some means of colouring the sketch. I had nothing in the line of art supplies handy, and so made do with an elderly red, fine point Sharpie; a green, felt-tip pen which was also getting on in years; a pen which laid down a very fine, albeit rather watery blue line in ink which the pen itself proudly informed me was "super ink" and good for signing documents; and a black gel pen. The result is as below - a piper. What else would I be drawing?

Since We Were On the Subject Anyway

I was being rather facetious when I named my last post. It is true that I tend to be skeptical of innovation - at least, until it proves itself worth my time - but I must admit that I am heartily thankful for the technological advances that have made my life more comfortable, and my hobbies far easier to indulge in. It got me thinking, however, I realised that I have rather inadvertently collected a number of items that technology has rendered obsolete:

I actually do use most of these items too, some more often than others, of course. The blue fountain pen (and the black ink that goes with it) I use almost every day, the red ink and feather dip pen usually only for calligraphy projects. I have taken a number of fencing classes on and off for years, and got to be quite decent at it for a while. (I like fighting with two short swords best, but only own this one. Not to worry, it has a cap on the tip, which you cannot see in the picture. We want to 'kill' our opponents, not hurt them.) I use the sand-glass occasionally, when I want to get things done quickly. It has about 15 minutes worth of sand in it, and keeping an eye on the sand's level helps me to keep myself focused on the task at hand. I have used the Morse code key for practice. The recent obsession with WWII has rekindled my interest in Morse code. Back in the summer, I was seriously applying myself to learning it. What with one thing and another, I never quite got all the way through the alphabet, but intend to make up for that soon. The only object I cannot use at all is the slide rule. I picked that up recently, because I thought it ingenious. Unfortunately, I am not much good at math, nor do I have much call for advanced calculations in my daily life, so I have not yet seriously applied myself to learning it. I have discovered that there is a book on using the slide rule at the library, however, so one of these days, I shall add that skill to my list of rather odd accomplishments.