Recently got some over the top writing material. Handmade paper. It is actually less paper and more cloth. Made from pure Egyptian cotton with absolutely no chemical used (according to the artist who makes it). Looks like old parchment paper!

The one challenge is that because it is cloth, the cotton fibers – which give a great natural feel to the surface, also can blot ink. Which means, I cannot use my fountain pens.

Had to resort to a ball point. Used a golden Sheaffer ballpoint today.

Thank you Miriam for pointing me to bamboo pens. These may not be the same style that you grew up with in Afghanistan. I got this from China. I need to source some more of this with thinner tips. Great for calligraphy though! On the other hand, I was so excited, I extended your name to be that of a Nobel laureate!

Weekend catching up with pen friends. Do you see something different in the picture? Check out the pen. It is not a standard fountain pen. In fact, if you zoom in the picture, you will notice that it has no nibs. Or any ink barrel for that matter.

These are pens made of glass. The whole thing is one piece of glass. You have to dip in the ink to write. There are some serrated grooves near the tip that hold the ink due to capillary action when you dip. And then it flows down as you write!

I am still trying to master the art of right amount of dipping to keep the thickness of font as uniform as possible.

I had been motorbiking continuously for over 70 miles. These were backroads – which means I had been on the road for an hour and a half. Needed to take a break. Further, I was very hungry due to my unplanned running routine in the morning.

Finally, pulled over at a Tavern. Looked in my motorcycle bag – I always carry enough work in case I get stuck somewhere. Usually it is the iPad to catch up on reading. Today, I had my letter writing pad also.

After making friends with the manager at the Tavern, I found myself a spot in a corner table in the bar. Over a glass of wine and some unhealthy food, penned off two letters to a couple of my penfriends.

I am fairly sure, it is not very common for tavern customers to wield their fountain pens and writing pads and start scribing letters!!

Reading letters from friends by the light of a “hurricane lantern”. Of course, those days, the lantern was forced on us due to power cuts (“loadshedding”). This one is a LED one. Those days, letters were mostly from friends within 100 kms. These days, they are all international pen pals.

Sunday evening routine. Relaxing at the local coffee shop going thru the letters received from pen pals around the world. This one was a particularly interesting one from a couple – Dale and Sue – from near Melbourne.

Learnt a lot of trivia about Australia!! I am no more afraid of wearing thongs to the beaches in Sydney!! (Google it up – what do thongs mean in Australia)

This one is to my most consistent pen friend. We write frequently enough that I do not need to go back to the letters to remember what conversation we were having. Both of us are into fountain pens!!