Greetings everyone! My aunt in Germany sent me my first fountain pen when I was 11 years old. I knew nothing about fountain pens, so the thing got clogged, useless, and eventually lost. Twenty years later, my hellish deteriorating scribble at work prompted me to remember the childhood fountain pen incident. I figured, if I get a fountain pen that I like, then I might make an effort to write better. I also read that fountain pens help improve handwritings. So I bought a Lamy 2000. Now my co-workers could actually read my notes.
I lost the Lamy 2000 at work, so now I am using a green Lamy Al-Star. I also have a Cartier Trinity and a Pelikan M320. I still have a tough time buying a pen more than $100, although if I win the lottery, I would probably have a roomful of expensive pens!
It's a lot of fun looking at the pictures of pens, inks samples, and browsing the forums. Thanks to you all!

Welcome to FPN. We all started out by looking at the pictures but that just does not satisfy the need to hold that pen puppy in your hand. You are lost and just don't realize it yet.

Does Rain City live up to its name?

Great thing is that you can get a bunch of great writers for less than $100. Just read the reviews and archive. I lost a $400 Mont Blanc in a hotel room 20 years ago and haven't forgotten it yet.

Welcome from Texas!

Hi again. Yes, it does rain quite frequently from October to April. Typically a few times a week. But it's not a downpour, just intermittent overcast drizzle. People who hate rain may not like it here too much, but it keeps everything green and beautiful.

Welcome to FPN. Where abouts in Rain City? I live in the Wallingford neighborhood, near Dicks.

If you do mean Seattle by Rain city, we really don't have it so bad. Something like 37-38 inches of rain a year. Olympia, about two hours south, gets 50+ and Forks, about a 3-4hour drive and ferry gets upwards of 70. It's all micro-climate round here.

But precipitation is certainly . . . frequent in a good portion of the year, and there are not enough words in English to describe the different type of grey in the sky.

If you find yourself up by Lake City Way around lunch time on Saint Patricks day, you might want to stop by the Seattle Pen Club meeting, at the community room of Third Place Books in Lake City. It is a great chance to get together, share and try out different types of pens. Lots of people bring their pens (vintage and modern), inks, paper etc. and sometimes there are pen-repair demonstrations. We meet the 3rd Saturday of each month, from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. March meeting will be the 17th.

The April meeting is rumored to be happening at the home of a noted local pen collector in Tacoma, who has a fabulous collection on display in his livingroom for all of us to drool over .

Seattle Pen Club

John

Thanks so much for the invitation Johnny, I'll definitely check it out one of these days. I am located just a bit more east of Bellevue. I figured Emerald-Rain City sounds a lot better than Bellevue. You are absolutely right that we don't get too many inches here, I know that NYC actually gets more inches per year than Seattle. Love your Avatar, by the way.

Welcome to the FPN.

Beautiful area you live in. I had occasion to visit City University in Bellevue a few years ago, and took one extra day to tour the countryside. Most enjoyable!

Have fun on the forum!