It’s Caturday!

This post is strictly for those over at Caterpickles. I saw this while perusing Tumblr, which I should never do after 12AM, but I’m a masochist at times. I fell in love with this picture and immediately thought of the 5YO and her mother.

But isn’t this the sweetest thing ever? I have to write something about Caturday. I like the sound of that.

Signing off
~Kate

I Come From

I come from the highlands

where the wind whistles and

blows through the sweet grass

I come from forests ancient and dark

where emerald moss pads the stoic

boulders and hidden streams gurgle and bubble

I come from the crashing ocean

salt spray and stinging mists

where soft sand and waves tickle your toes

I come from the mountains

where resinous pines and firs

are my incense and perfume

I come from the meadows at night

where you look up to see

millions of lights twinkling down

The stars are my friends

The trees whisper their kinship

The streams  tinkle my name

The ocean calls me home

My home is my family

safe and warm

where I can be me

But I come from. . .

I was reading Poemcrazy by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge and one section was on where I come from. Not actually come from, since that was the Bay Area, but where I felt I belonged.  I think that is a broad answer, where I’m from, since I feel like I’m from a lot of places. Or I just happen to like a lot of places.  I wonder if they are one and the same.

I hope you all enjoy. I spit this one out today while eating lunch and scribbling with my fountain pen in my journal.

Writing on

~Kate

Writing Letters

Letters straight from the heart

Okay, so I’ve never quite understood this thing in books and songs where someone writes letters but never sends them to whom they are writing to.  I’ve always thought that was so strange.

Not any more. I completely and totally get it.

Last Friday I met someone whom I spent maybe forty-five minutes talking to.  He is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and well, he is just really, really cool.  He’s a recovering artist and he was really interested in the fact that I write.  We left each other with the promise that when he finishes the trail in September, he plans to come back this way and he wants to call on me.  Or call me.  Or something that sounded equally cool.

And I can’t contact him until then.  I mean, I have his number….. but he is on the trail. You look up the PCT and see how good cell reception is.  Ha ha.

So, until then I have to wait.  And here I thought I went nuts before waiting for someone to call.  Nothing like this.  Mrs. Day said it took Walter 4-5 days after getting her number before calling. I have to wait over a month.

So, I am writing letters.  One a day for every day he’s on the trail.  They are to him, of course, but it’s all a one sided conversation and me asking questions that I hope I will be able to ask in person.  Maybe someday, depending on what happens, I can give them to him.

I think this letter writing thing is more of a journal type thing for me.  I’m using my good fountain pens, in brilliant red and sepia inks.  They seem very writer-esque to me.  And I am so a writer.  I thrive in the writer’s sphere.  I think.

Well, the letters make me keep thinking of Michael Buble’s song ‘Home’. Some of the lyrics are

“And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that”

So, has anyone ever written letters that they’ve never sent?

Signing off

~Kate

Related articles

• The Delight of Hand Writing (scribedoll.wordpress.com)
• P.s. (anoveljournal.wordpress.com)
• How My First Fountain Pen Made Writing Special Again (freehandlife.com)

The Elegant Script

Yesterday, Isabella Louise Anderson AKA Chick Lit Goddess, blogged about handwriting, HERE.  I thought it a great post, and I decided I wanted to reply to her thoughts at the bottom of the post, plus add my own twist to the mix.

Her questions:

What do you think about your handwriting, or do you even know what it looks like?

Is it the same each time?  Do you prefer to write cursive or non-cursive?

When writing by hand in this modern world, do you find yourself struggling to remember to spell?

My answers:

What do you think about your handwriting, or do you even know what it looks like?

 
My cursive handwriting has gone through years of legible, illegible, doctor’s scribble, to, well, I can at least decipher my notes these days.  There was a time I had super sloppy cursive, and I  was pretty embarrassed to send off a note to anyone, especially my girl friend, Mrs. Austen, who has disgustingly beautiful cursive. No, I’m not kidding you. Her cursive could be a font, it’s so perfect.  I am green with envy every letter I receive from her.

About three years ago, I decided I needed to improve my handwriting. I started trying to work on my printing first. My printing has always been neat, but not very nice to look at. I throw in bits of cursive, especially when I’m in a hurry, and I was taught D’Nealian growing up. It’s like a precursor to cursive. Well, it did not make for super neat  printing. I decided to try and write like my father, all caps, in block letters.

An example of D'Nealian manuscript (also called print or block) writing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I now have one of the neatest prints around, not to brag, but I’m bragging. Mrs. Austen even commented on how neat and pretty it is. Coming from her, that is, well, a major compliment.  I got interested in the block printing after reading about technical lettering, which is the style architects and engineers use.  It’s very neat, and very cool. Time consuming most definitely, but honestly, my print has never been so legible.

My cursive has improved in the past two years, especially since I started using a fountain pen. My letters have to be defined, or the ink runs together. Plus, how you hold the pen, and I don’t know, the fanciful thought that cursive should be better with a fountain pen, has made my writing much neater.  (The printing taught me to write in a straight line across the page, but I still do up and down with cursive)

Is it the same each time?  Do you prefer to write cursive or non-cursive?

For the most part my writing stays the same unless I am in a hurry. Then it gets pretty messy and I can’t always understand if it’s a ‘cl’ or a ‘d’ I forgot to close the gap. I still prefer cursive because that was what I was taught the most, but when I need to write notes, send off a recipe, or detail instructions, I use the block printing.  I also use the block printing for when I need to fill in a post card. I can write incredibly tiny, so fit that much more print on the page! But when I am brainstorming and writing, I am almost always using cursive.

When writing by hand in this modern world, do you find yourself struggling to remember to spell?

I have never been a strong speller, but for the most part, I’m not bad.  The spell checkers have actually made me a better speller because I look at what I did wrong, instead of just saying correct it all, and try to remember the right way to spell something.  For ages I was writing ‘ridiculous’ as ‘r-e-diculous’. (whoops, there I scared a boggart!  Say it with me. RIDICULOUS!)

I mostly make mistakes with my spelling because I am in a hurry, not because I don’t know how to spell. I occasionally still put an ‘e’ on the end of ‘with’, but that’s sort of a habit from typing. Go figure.  The more I type, I’m finding the less I see the ‘red’ squiggle line saying something is wrong.

And I’m finding most of my handwriting stays pretty correct when it comes to spelling.

In this digital world, I still use a pad and pen most of the time for writing or more, the start of a story. I like to carry my notebook with me, and a pen, which is usually a fountain pen.  I like the ‘writer’ feel of having a pen in my hand.  I don’t think I could give it up.  And I don’t think I would feel comfortable taking, say an iPad out in public and typing. I like writing by hand too much.

So, there is my take.

Now it’s your turn.  I urge you to read Isabella’s post and comment on her questions. It’s a little bit of a thought for all of us in this modern world.

Signing off

~Kate

I Finally Own A Fountain Pen

I wrote a Vintage Craze post on fountain pens last week.  I failed to mention that I was waiting on two fountain pens I had ordered and two bottles of ink.

Well, I now own two real fountain pens.  And here they are!

Hero Victorian and Pen & Ink Sketch fountain pens

Aren’t they gorgeous?  The silver one is a Hero Victorian and the black one is the Pen & Ink Sketch fountain pen.  The Hero is from this wonderful pen site, http://www.hisnibs.com

I highly recommend this site. The guy that runs it, Norman Haase, is a dream to work with. Anyone interested in a fountain pen should consider using his site.  I cannot rave enough about it.

 

The Pen & Ink (and yes, that is the title) came from Amazon.  It was only $9 with $7 shipping.  I can handle that.  And the pen I have is in extra fine.  Like I said in the fountain pen post, I need fine.

 

Both pens are completely different, but both are amazing.  I need to break the Pen & Ink one in, but the Hero.  Sigh.  I am in love with that pen.

 

And here’s the kicker.  I have two inks for the pens.  The Hero has this gorgeous burgundy wine color ink, Private Reserve Burgundy Mist.  The Pen & Ink has Private Reserve Sepia.  And the Sepia is beautiful as well.

 

I’ve already sent off a letter to my girlfriend with the Hero in use.  I cannot rave enough about it all.

 

So, now I can’t say I don’t have fountain pens. Yee!

 

Oh, and for those of you interested  :Vintage Craze – Part 5 : Fountain Pens

 

Signing off

~Kate