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I promised myself not to buy things I don't really need and honestly, I don't need more pens.
I've been good about this. It's been about a year since I acquired anything new. Well, I take that back. I was given a really gorgeous Parker this past year, the one I write with just about daily. It's a Parker 75 Cisele and a patient I'm extremely fond of gave it to me. It had been half of a set he was given by his grandmother about 40 years ago and while he always uses the roller ball, he never used the fountain and knowing my love of fountain pens, he decided I should have it. He is currently battling cancer (and doing reasonably well in the face of a potentially lethal disease), and so the pen is all the more important to me. There are a number of pens in my collection that were gifts, interestingly mostly Parker's, and every one of them from a patients I treasure.
So, last week I got onto eBay to shop for a pen to give as a gift. Beto (one of my employee's) has fallen in love with fountain pens, in particular Sheaffers from the 40's and 50's. Last year I gave him a couple of Esterbrooks which I suspect he is not keen on as I never see them here with him, while I see the Sheaffer touchdown from Xmas before last all the time.
This year I snagged him a Sheaffer snorkel circa 1952, just restored. It's black, with a gold clip and band and a Triumph medium fine point nib in 14K gold. It writes like a dream. All and all a very classy and classic pen. And the seller, G-d bless him, when he found out this was a gift enclosed both a case (vintage 1955) and a matching mechanical pencil (circa '49-50) as well a details as to what inks to use in it and which brands to avoid, and details as to the instruments care. It was incredibly generous, especially given the auction closed with my winning it at a price I think was below the pen's true value. I was flabbergasted by his generosity, but as a fellow pen geek, I see in the seller a kindred soul.
I did log on to eBay to give the seller the highest rating I possibly could, as well as a heartfelt thank you note. I only wish I had had my camera at hand when Beto opened it. It was a look of sheer delight.
And this morning he had it with him when he came to work and he's been writing with it all day.
Meanwhile, I have made the seller a favorite and will periodically check what he's selling. I imagine I will give into temptation again at some point and splurge on another pen or two. It's always good to send business the way of someone so deserving.
Meanwhile, it is the giving season and while I have not finished with the gifts I still need to find, I have been touched by the kindness of others in the past week. We have a giving tree at the hospital every year. A local Jewish family that built the largest local hardware store in the county (now a small privately owned chain of 5 stores), spearheaded the establishment of the giving tree project here in the county. Each tree is decorated with plastic hearts, each with the name and age of a person facing hard times, a brief description of who they are and what they would like for Xmas. I've take an ornament or two for the past several years. Last Monday I pulled Becky, a single mom of 3 in her early 30's who wanted a sewing machine or a blender. I was 6 years old when my grandfather, the tailor, sat me down behind a sewing machine. That was an ornament I could not say no to.
Thursday I was on my way to the hospital and I had planned to hit a couple of the local sewing stores to see what I could find, when I passed a charity thrift store. It hit me I should stop and look; this is the sort of thing that they do get at times. Well there were two machines there in good repair, a recent Brother, and a somewhat older Singer. I went with the latter - they're easier to repair if needed and easier to get bobbins and other notions for. It was marked $30, but when the dude asked why I was buying a sewing machine all he would take for it was $5. Put the rest of it towards another gift he said. I couldn't thank him enough. Saturday, I hit Joann's to stock her up on sewing notions, needles, pre-loaded bobbins and the like. I spotted a Singer notions kit; decent scissors, seam ripper, pins, thimble, 20 medium spools of thread, 20 small spools, and more. No price on it, so I took it to the cashier and asked the price. Why is it everyone seems to assume no man knows how to sew? She looked at it as asked who I was buying it for. Actually what she said was, "I'm assuming this isn't for you." I smiled and told her I had no need of another one, that this was a gift for the giving tree. She didn't know what the giving tree was, so I explained about it and Becky. When she heard, she said that the kit was $40, but then with a very helpful smile, produced a 40% off coupon for me, which sealed the deal. So Becky got what she wanted for Xmas, or will this coming Friday. I dropped the machine and notions wrapped at Friedman Brothers on Saturday afternoon. There was a steady stream of people arriving with armfuls of gifts, which made me smile. However the number of unclaimed ornaments on the tree was quite disturbing, and sadly Saturday was the last day for gifts to be dropped off there. There were at least another two ornaments there asking for sewing machines, so I think I will keep my eyes open for them this coming year.
I've been good about this. It's been about a year since I acquired anything new. Well, I take that back. I was given a really gorgeous Parker this past year, the one I write with just about daily. It's a Parker 75 Cisele and a patient I'm extremely fond of gave it to me. It had been half of a set he was given by his grandmother about 40 years ago and while he always uses the roller ball, he never used the fountain and knowing my love of fountain pens, he decided I should have it. He is currently battling cancer (and doing reasonably well in the face of a potentially lethal disease), and so the pen is all the more important to me. There are a number of pens in my collection that were gifts, interestingly mostly Parker's, and every one of them from a patients I treasure.
So, last week I got onto eBay to shop for a pen to give as a gift. Beto (one of my employee's) has fallen in love with fountain pens, in particular Sheaffers from the 40's and 50's. Last year I gave him a couple of Esterbrooks which I suspect he is not keen on as I never see them here with him, while I see the Sheaffer touchdown from Xmas before last all the time.
This year I snagged him a Sheaffer snorkel circa 1952, just restored. It's black, with a gold clip and band and a Triumph medium fine point nib in 14K gold. It writes like a dream. All and all a very classy and classic pen. And the seller, G-d bless him, when he found out this was a gift enclosed both a case (vintage 1955) and a matching mechanical pencil (circa '49-50) as well a details as to what inks to use in it and which brands to avoid, and details as to the instruments care. It was incredibly generous, especially given the auction closed with my winning it at a price I think was below the pen's true value. I was flabbergasted by his generosity, but as a fellow pen geek, I see in the seller a kindred soul.
I did log on to eBay to give the seller the highest rating I possibly could, as well as a heartfelt thank you note. I only wish I had had my camera at hand when Beto opened it. It was a look of sheer delight.
And this morning he had it with him when he came to work and he's been writing with it all day.
Meanwhile, I have made the seller a favorite and will periodically check what he's selling. I imagine I will give into temptation again at some point and splurge on another pen or two. It's always good to send business the way of someone so deserving.
Meanwhile, it is the giving season and while I have not finished with the gifts I still need to find, I have been touched by the kindness of others in the past week. We have a giving tree at the hospital every year. A local Jewish family that built the largest local hardware store in the county (now a small privately owned chain of 5 stores), spearheaded the establishment of the giving tree project here in the county. Each tree is decorated with plastic hearts, each with the name and age of a person facing hard times, a brief description of who they are and what they would like for Xmas. I've take an ornament or two for the past several years. Last Monday I pulled Becky, a single mom of 3 in her early 30's who wanted a sewing machine or a blender. I was 6 years old when my grandfather, the tailor, sat me down behind a sewing machine. That was an ornament I could not say no to.
Thursday I was on my way to the hospital and I had planned to hit a couple of the local sewing stores to see what I could find, when I passed a charity thrift store. It hit me I should stop and look; this is the sort of thing that they do get at times. Well there were two machines there in good repair, a recent Brother, and a somewhat older Singer. I went with the latter - they're easier to repair if needed and easier to get bobbins and other notions for. It was marked $30, but when the dude asked why I was buying a sewing machine all he would take for it was $5. Put the rest of it towards another gift he said. I couldn't thank him enough. Saturday, I hit Joann's to stock her up on sewing notions, needles, pre-loaded bobbins and the like. I spotted a Singer notions kit; decent scissors, seam ripper, pins, thimble, 20 medium spools of thread, 20 small spools, and more. No price on it, so I took it to the cashier and asked the price. Why is it everyone seems to assume no man knows how to sew? She looked at it as asked who I was buying it for. Actually what she said was, "I'm assuming this isn't for you." I smiled and told her I had no need of another one, that this was a gift for the giving tree. She didn't know what the giving tree was, so I explained about it and Becky. When she heard, she said that the kit was $40, but then with a very helpful smile, produced a 40% off coupon for me, which sealed the deal. So Becky got what she wanted for Xmas, or will this coming Friday. I dropped the machine and notions wrapped at Friedman Brothers on Saturday afternoon. There was a steady stream of people arriving with armfuls of gifts, which made me smile. However the number of unclaimed ornaments on the tree was quite disturbing, and sadly Saturday was the last day for gifts to be dropped off there. There were at least another two ornaments there asking for sewing machines, so I think I will keep my eyes open for them this coming year.
