Star

Someone recently gave me a belated Christmas gift, a chocolate-filled star, another reminder of the Nativity story. The candy, wrapped in colorful foil, was delicious. Now I will remember it for years.

I sketched very little the week or two after Christmas. Then, my Lamy Joy fountain pen appeared to have become clogged. Maybe I left it lying flat too long? I rinsed it; it revived, but reluctantly, scratching, skipping. I gave it a break and used a few other pens for a week or so: the Platinum Carbon, the new Lamy Safari (stilled filled with a cartridge of water-soluble ink), the tinted Uniball Vision Elite.

Then the light returned; the days got longer. Suddenly, the Lamy Joy began writing smoothly again. The line seems a bit wider. The right, familiar tools make a big difference in comfort and keeping a habit.
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Today is a gold star day: the three-year anniversary of my beginning to keep an illustrated journal. My first drawing was a tiny thumbnail sketch of our poster of the Grand Haven pier.