I decided to “scrapbook” Monday’s total solar eclipse in my journal, something I’ve oddly NEVER done before. No idea why. (Perhaps this is the dawn of a new journaling era?) I’ve only filled 18 or 19 volumes so what’s the rush?! I printed a few shots from my phone on my [underused] Sprocket printer onto sticker paper so the whole process was quick and easy. (Except that I haven’t used the printer in so long that I forgot how to load the paper when I ran out. It’s simple. Turns out.) I also used some “spacey” washi tape to add our eclipse glasses to the back of the page. They’re a little lump ..read more

If I were you, I’d thinking, “What the heck does the dentist have to do with pens?!” Patience, my friend, patience. It’s been Kaweco Sport fest around here lately with the addition of three new pens to my already healthy Kaweco collection—the Apricot Pearl (extra fine), the Pebble Blue acrylic Art Sport (medium), and the pen I’m writing about today—the Carmine Galen Leather exclusive which arrived Friday, all the way from Istanbul, Turkey. Opening up packages from Galen Leather is like opening a gift from a friend—there are always little surprises tucked in with your order. Inside the blue cl ..read more

“How can it be that I’ve never seen that lofty sky before? Oh, how happy I am to have found it at last. Yes! It’s all vanity, it’s all an illusion, everything except that infinite sky. There is nothing, nothing—that’s all there is.” —Andrei Bolkonsky, wounded (mortally?) in battle, War and Peace Back in December, I stumbled upon the mention of a slow (as in year-long) read of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I’m pretty sure it was on Katherine May’s Substack, and since I love all things Katherine May, I decided to check it out. The more I thought about, the more I felt like I wanted to participate ..read more

It’s been almost eight years since I started getting up early—4:30 on workdays, 7-ish on weekends—to pour a glass of homemade cold brew, snap on the desk light, and start writing. The sky is still as dark as my coffee and there’s a long day ahead, but I’ll always choose journaling over warm blankets and more sleep. There is that literal and metaphorical darkness to chase away. I’m working on my 17th journal. At 480 pages each, that’s a hefty number of pages, but the only one that really matters is that day’s blank page. I start with the date and the weather and my Sleep Score from the Sleep N ..read more

I did quite well (though not perfect) with my 2023 “No New Pens” challenge — that is, until December when the pen-buying floodgates suddenly burst wide open. Not unlike someone who’s come off of a strict diet and suddenly can’t stop eating cookies, I’ve had a strong craving for new pens which I’ve indulged. Recent additions include: The Mineral White Kaweco Art Sport (my first acrylic Kaweco) An f3 Pens Mystic Sucker Punch Serpent fountain pen (how could I resist a pen with that name?!) The Creme and RoseGold TWSBI Eco (pretty!) The TWSBI Kai (I have the Aurora and Draco so why not complete t ..read more

Sending warm holiday wishes to you for relaxing days filled with simple pleasures. Like a walk in the woods… Hard-boiled eggs from the neighbors’ chickens that peel without a fight… And the subtle pleasure of watching ink dry on the page (which never fails to fascinate me). May you find time to slow down, share some laughs, and exhale just a bit. Peace to you, my friends ..read more

I’m popping in to say that I’ve been thinking a lot about my theme for 2024 — brainstorming on walks and on paper. What word excites me? What word feels full of possibility? What word keeps coming home to nest? That word, it turns out, is “curiosity.” (Which is not spelled with a second “u” as I wrote in my journal this morning. Looked funny but I kept writing it that way, until I got CURIOUS and looked it up.) I used a couple of pages in my journal this morning fleshing out what this means to me—how I’ll move through 2024 with curiosity as my North Star. Here are those pages. I’ll just let th ..read more

I tend to be pretty willy-nilly with my pen and ink pairings—no real plan, no real theme. But in honor of Fountain Pen Day, rather than buying anything new, I simply cleaned out a bunch of pens for a much-needed reboot. Instead of simply filling or refilling pens with random inks, I decided to create a winter palette to embrace the slide towards winter. Life has been a bit stressful of late, but this little evening project felt calming and meditative—a wonderful reprieve from the hamster wheel of hectic days and problems. I didn’t belabor my choices (how un-Mary-like!) but instead went with my ..read more

We’re in that stage of fall here in upstate New York where the foliage is on its way to vibrant, and homes are decorated with pumpkins and richly colored mums, so I’ve followed suit by filling pens with inks in bright autumnal hues, which is to say I’ve got a lot of oranges going on right now. This nearly full bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku ina-ho was included in the Week #38 bundle of ink that I unwrapped a couple of weekends ago. I’m typically inking my pens with heavily saturated colors and ina-ho is certainly not that. But I really appreciate the way it represents the subtler colors of fall ..read more

Oh, how I love Katherine May’s books. Discovered during the pandemic, I plowed through Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, resisting the urge to underline the whole book. After that I read her earlier book, The Electricity of Every Living Thing: One Woman’s Walk With Asperger’s, then recently finished her latest, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder In An Anxious Age. Resting, walking, wonder — favorite topics so wonderfully and honestly explored in her hands. I also subscribe to her podcast and Substack. I’m pretty sure I’d subscribe to her grocery lists if she published the ..read more