This'n That

That title is stolen from a Bette Davis biography (I think). One of my favorite actresses. The point however, is that this is about lots of things. And nothing in particular. I have a friend who blogs, and wonders, when there are so many articulate, thought provoking blogs out there, why would anyone read hers? But I do. I check for a new chapter in her life, even if nothing much is new. I enjoy this quiet "touching base", no intrusion, but a glimpse into the writer.

All blogs are such...a glimpse at someone's inner thoughts. I started this because I wanted to write, and using a pen and paper caused lots of hand cramps. So I gave up longhand, for the immediacy of the blog. It was both easy and hard. I'd started a journal...which I imagine no one in my family will be able to decipher...when did my handwriting become unreadable? (occasionally unreadable by me as well!) So I wrote this blog. Our trip through life, me and Pat, the critters, the kids, and now the grandkids. And something happened.

For one, I'm not as disciplined as I'd like, so I'm sporadic as a writer. Two, Pat reintroduced me to fountain pens. Colored inks, interesting paper...I think I'm hooked. Now I have several pens, several inks, more interest in the written word of the cramped hand. My pens are not expensive. Well, that's subjective. But, compared to what they COULD cost, they are not expensive. Some, Pat has given me. Others I've bought. I have a few new ones, mostly with steel nibs. And I've bought one that is "vintage". None of them writes exactly like any of the others, but they all put ink on paper in a way I find interesting, even pleasing.

And I understand the long lost art of writing. Thoughtful scribblings with the pen and ink that fit my mood...just then. Profound, mundane, whatever. But there is some silly joy in the exercise. Ah yes, I use them to make notes, write checks, do the grocery list. But I journal again. On paper, in notebooks I like for the texture and feel of the paper and the way the ink appears on the page.

Sure, I will come back to this spot and wax poetic, or not, about the state of the world, what the grandson is doing, what I want to change in life. But I'll also jot down things in the journal that you can hold in your hands, turn the pages, ponder the words and what I meant them to say. And enjoy that art, even if no one else can read it.