Greetings From A Newbie

[leporeju]

Hi All~~I'm in Lancaster, PA and am fairly new to the pen world. Met some fantastic people at the Baltimore Pen Show a week ago where I picked up a terrifically modified Noodler's and became of fan of broad and 1.1 nibs (was always an EF/F writer. Or so I thought).

 

I have a penchant for Italian pens, though my budget doesn't. That's the extent of my snottiness-factor. The Pilot Metro is one of my fave daily writers, as is an old Estebrook dime. I'm on a steep learning curve about ink and paper at the moment.

 

I'm a teacher who now uses computers to grade papers & write all kinds of stuff, and I thank my rather ridiculously narrow early schooling for at least instilling the rudiments of cursive writing!

 

Looking forward to meeting, speaking and enjoying time with fellow pen folks! Thanks!

[omarcenaro]

Welcome! You will find lots of great information here and many suggestions to expand your collection.

Cheers,

Ozzy

[Clancy]

Greetings from northern California and a warm welcome to FPN. Glad you've joined us; it's great to have you here.

[mallymal1]

Welcome, leporeju, to the wonderful world of FPN.

 

[Wahl]

[Chrissy]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

[Carrau]

Welcome aboard, from Charleston, SC. As you are a newbie, you might look at the Reference Pages on a website called Richard's Pens: it has a wealth of info about the basics of fountain pens, their use and care, and it will help you avoid making some mistakes. A couple of other websites with useful information for newbies include PenChalet, Jetpens and the Goulet Pen Company. Goulet has made quite a few videos available on their website and on YouTube, which are helpful with some procedures related to FP use. There is a series of posts here, called A Newbies Guide to Inks, which is worth reviewing (you’ll find it as the first pinned topic under the Inky Thoughts Subforum). Bear in mind that how your writing appears on the page is a complex interplay of pen, paper, nib, ink, and handwriting, so be patient as you experiment with these variables. Enjoy, and good luck.

Mike

[OCArt]

Welcome to our little corner of the universe from a pen user in San Diego.

[DaveT]

Hello and welcome from Indiana!

[jar]

Welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell.

 

The time is the very late 50s and very early 60s and Ike was retiring back to his beloved Gettysburg and a new young Boston Brahman and US Senator was entering the political stage and in Amish country the carriages were adding reflectors, some even lights, for safety on the narrow country roads. A few miles north of Lancaster was the small town of Lilitz, population maybe 4000 during the summer and the home of the Wilbur Chocolate Company.

Spring in Northern Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania in that era was wondrous. It was an area of small family farms on some of the most lush and fertile soil in the US worked by Amish and Mennonite, a land of great but simple foods, rolling hills with a new and startling view around almost every bend. It was easy to see why this area had been desired by both the Penns and Lords Baltimore, desirable enough to fight over and fight over it they did.

It was a time before air conditioned cars and the windows were rolled down. There had been a short shower and the tires hissed on the pavement and the smell of ozone and freshly cut grasses and flowers newly blossomed filled the air. But it is with the Wilbur Chocolate factory that this tale begins and a lush, mouth filling chocolate filled with creamy caramel.

Illy coffee reminds me of that day, flowery with a hint of fruit, of chocolate and soft smooth caramel, of ozone and fresh mown grass. Illy is the antithesis of the typical Starbucks espresso, it has no hard corners, there is no hint of chrome or steel, it is a small table in a garden under an umbrella, sitting quietly with that friend, the one you no longer even need to speak to but rather just revel in their company, a period beyond clocks or schedules, where the only deadline is to be aware of the moment.

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you as a member!!

[northstar]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

[mitto]

Greetings and welcome to FPN.

[ThomasB]

Hello and welcome from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Enjoy your time here

[Henricum_Tropen]

Hello and welcome to FPN, from Cape Town, South Africa.

[leporeju]

Ah, Wilbur Chocolate!! You really must have been "from around here." You've read' up a room for me at FPN! Thanks!! That's a mighty hospitably extended hand.

 

Wilbur is gone and they're tearing the old factory (not the olfactory) down: http://lancasteronline.com/business/local_business/m-partial-demolition-of-wilbur-chocolate-complex-in-lititz-to/article_2d64eee8-23a7-11e8-833e-cfabf5db38f2.html

 

I lived almost 10 years at the Hamilton Watch Co. that went condo--sold my place there just last summer. The day I moved in, I bumped into a woman who had been poking around in an adjacent building that was part of the Hamilton Watch campus. She had worked in the division that built the gold casing for the Enola Gay bomb--or that's the story she told, anyway.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome to everyone! I'm having a lot of fun here and learning tons already.

Welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell.

 

The time is the very late 50s and very early 60s and Ike was retiring back to his beloved Gettysburg and a new young Boston Brahman and US Senator was entering the political stage and in Amish country the carriages were adding reflectors, some even lights, for safety on the narrow country roads. A few miles north of Lancaster was the small town of Lilitz, population maybe 4000 during the summer and the home of the Wilbur Chocolate Company.

Spring in Northern Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania in that era was wondrous. It was an area of small family farms on some of the most lush and fertile soil in the US worked by Amish and Mennonite, a land of great but simple foods, rolling hills with a new and startling view around almost every bend. It was easy to see why this area had been desired by both the Penns and Lords Baltimore, desirable enough to fight over and fight over it they did.

It was a time before air conditioned cars and the windows were rolled down. There had been a short shower and the tires hissed on the pavement and the smell of ozone and freshly cut grasses and flowers newly blossomed filled the air. But it is with the Wilbur Chocolate factory that this tale begins and a lush, mouth filling chocolate filled with creamy caramel.

Illy coffee reminds me of that day, flowery with a hint of fruit, of chocolate and soft smooth caramel, of ozone and fresh mown grass. Illy is the antithesis of the typical Starbucks espresso, it has no hard corners, there is no hint of chrome or steel, it is a small table in a garden under an umbrella, sitting quietly with that friend, the one you no longer even need to speak to but rather just revel in their company, a period beyond clocks or schedules, where the only deadline is to be aware of the moment.