I love pen and ink. That is – a calligraphy pen and a bottle of ink. Although, to be fair, I think ‘calligraphy pen’ sort of pigeon holes it since I am often just using thin drawing nibs. There’s a delicate painterliness to them – to the dipping the pen in the ink as if it is brush getting another daub of paint and the way that it flows out of the pen and onto the paper leaving this somewhat upraised line that lays atop the surface. But it’s also rather unforgiving. Get caught in too thick a drop of ink and the whole pen relieves itself onto the paper. Move too quickly or too slowly and a drop appears – splat – out of nowhere.

In this day of quick edits and soundtracked tik-toks – gotta get those reels posted to get the dopamine feels – I find the presence of mind that such little endeavors take to be all the more nourishing.

What I’m saying is – take time to smell the proverbial roses.

Life is fleeting.