For The Love Of…

A little ode to fountain pens and notebooks. As much as I love my surface, nothing beats writing with a fountain pen in a beautiful new notebook. That clean slate, the ink that flows onto the paper. It’s one of those little things in life that make me happy. I could own lots and lots of fountain pens and notebooks without ever using them, just because they’re so beautiful. Also, when I study, I prefer to make notes on paper rather than on my laptop. Old fashioned or not, it turns out to be an excellent way to process things. An excellent excuse for more notebooks and pens 🙂 . What little things make you happy?

For the love of

_Paper and ink
Pure untouched sheets
Ink flowing from the pen
Soaking into the paper,
finding its way along the fibers
Slowly drying,
telling its story
Word by word
Line by lin_e
Beauty captured in
Paper and ink

Comments

Comment by Joost van Schaik on 2020-05-04 10:10:49 -0700

Planting makes me happy. My canvas is not paper, but soil, and my ink are seeds or bulbs. And then, waiting. Plants don’t know deadlines, they can’t be hurried or bullied. In some cases you have to wait a whole winter. Planting bulbs, is my act of defiance against the cold and the darkness – while everything is dying and the world is turning dark, I find happiness in planting bulbs, knowing there will be spring flowers, even though I know winter is a hard time for me. I also am happy when I see seeds germinate and grow to strong plants. The most extreme thing I did was sowing giant redwoods. After a couple of tries I managed two to grow to small trees. One is now growing in a castle park, the other is still here, at , some 10 years old, 2ft tall. These trees typically last between 1500-2000 years. The idea this very tree – and it’s brother in the park – may still be around when even the remotest memory of me is gone, also makes me happy.
Sowing and planting are implicit acts of optimism: you assume you will still be around to see the result 🙂

Comment by Sandra Hoekstra on 2020-05-06 09:04:08 -0700

I love that Joost! How awesome that those redwoods took root, and to know they will still be here long after we’re gone.