Hello From Seattle, Wa

[TrentinWA]

Hi everybody, and happy holidays to you! I just signed up today and I'm delighted to have found this nook on teh interwebz.

 

Fountain pens and I go way back. One of my first, if not my very first, purchases when I went off to college in 1981 was a Parker that served me for most of college. I don't remember why I really wanted to get it, except that I did know I disliked using ballpoint pens (too much drag on the page), I was curious about fountain pens, and the Parker looked pretty and distinctive. I don't remember the model, but I do remember it had a brushed metal body (steel, probably) and was designed so that the cap posted seamlessly when in use. And it wrote brilliantly. I used it throughout college until one day I managed to bend the nib when I dropped it. I had no idea it was repairable, and Parker never replied when I wrote them about it, so I switched over to my backup pen, a Sheaffer, which I used for years until it just stopped writing for reasons unknown.

 

Since then, I've owned a lot of pens and passed them along through thrift stores, giveaways, yard sales, and the kinds of negligence you're prone to when you're trying to pack up your belongings for a move and you lose track of where your spare pens are. These days, my "collection"--really more like an agglomeration--of pens is pretty simple: I have a fistful of Lamys (the obligatory Safaris, plus a Studio and an Aion with fine nibs that are my daily drivers), a few Pilot Metropolitans, and a Sheaffer that I found last night while looking through one of the drawers in our house where pens wind up. The Sheaffer could clearly use some TLC and cleaning, and thanks to the web and places like this I'm actually going to fix it instead of just giving up on it. I do have a TWBSI 580 on order from Goulet that's coming on Friday, and thanks to finding out about Cult Pens there'll probably be a Waterman and maybe a Sailor in my future too.

 

Last thing worth mentioning here: I teach at the University of Washington and direct a study abroad program each year in the Netherlands. Last year, I discovered that the sweet little hotel I'd booked myself and the students into in Delft was four doors down from Fontoplumo. I have a feeling that this summer I'm going to break my $75 spending limit on pen purchases....

[doggle2]

Welcome to FPN—I usually never reply to these, but this one intrigued me so much—I'm a student at the University right now!

[northstar]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

[TrentinWA]

Welcome to FPN—I usually never reply to these, but this one intrigued me so much—I'm a student at the University right now!

I gotta know more – which program? What part of town are you in?

[Tom Kellie]

Hi everybody, and happy holidays to you! I just signed up today and I'm delighted to have found this nook on teh interwebz.

 

Last thing worth mentioning here: I teach at the University of Washington and direct a study abroad program each year in the Netherlands. Last year, I discovered that the sweet little hotel I'd booked myself and the students into in Delft was four doors down from Fontoplumo. I have a feeling that this summer I'm going to break my $75 spending limit on pen purchases....

 

 

~ TrentinWA:

 

Welcome to Fountain Pen Network!

Your extensive background with using fountain pens is impressive.

I hope that your experience in using this site will be as positive as mine has been.

BTW: I was born near the University of Washington, later relocating east of Lake Washington where I attended both Medina Elementary School and Bellevue High School.

Happy Writing in 2020!

Tom K.

[PAKMAN]

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

[ThomasB]

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