It’s Fountain Pen Day! I’ll be celebrating by using my fountain pens, but I do that every day so I may not notice a lot of difference. Happily, every day is Fountain Pen Day chez PamAlison.

When I looked up from my knitting and noticed this particular celebratory day was looming, I naturally started to think about how I might add to my small collection and many models have given me the kind of come-hither looks usually reserved for alien ladies when Captain Kirk drops by. I could try out a TWSBI or a Parker; get a pen with a stub or italic nib; maybe even invest in that Diplomat Traveller in the utterly enticing Flame finish. Yet here I sit with no new fountain pen to show you, nor even any fantastic new ink. I like my existing lineup of pens so much that nothing has quite convinced me to part with more money. The things that might have done are, frankly, outside my current budget, and there’s still a little thought worming away in the back of my mind about that Cross Chinese Horoscope Pen of the Year.

So, instead of approaching Fountain Pen Day from a consumerist viewpoint, I’m going to celebrate by taking the day to actually write. I’ve slowed down a bit on my project to transcribe into nice journals the old entries which were originally spread across various books and sometimes even typed and stored on the computer. Today I’ve promised myself I will devote some time to that, and maybe also write a letter or two. Then I could hand-write a short piece of fiction based on a writing prompt. I think those activities would make for a very pleasant day.

At the moment, I feel like concentrating on one pen at a time so I am trying to resist the temptation to ink up multiple pens and just to work my way through the ones that have already got ink in. This feeling is engendered partly by wanting to finish up a couple of my older bottles of ink so that I can try some new ones as we get into next year. I suspect, however, that it won’t be very long until I’m inking everything up again – I have long since accepted the fact that I’m wayward. Just for now, though, I’m working with these beauties:

I shall mainly use the Lamy Studio and if I should happen to use up all the ink in that, move on to the Parker 51. The Waterman with the Burned Orange ink sits somewhat to the side as it is my go-to for anything that needs to stand out from the general text. I’m really feeling the vibes of the purple and orange, though, so don’t be surprised if next time you check in you find that I’ve used up the purple ink and not touched the Studio with its blue ink at all.

Anway, all that’s left is to wish you a happy Friday, happy Fountain Pen Day if you partake, and all the best for the weekend. And now I’m off to see how inky my fingers can get. By the way, the eagle-eyed among you might notice that the background in my photos is just a little different – that’s down to my furniture-moving activities earlier this week.