Resident Staples at your service

That's how my niece, Heather, put it.

Remember I mentioned in a past post that my father was a collector of pens, pencils, etc. You can now link to other memories about my father and his being a "resident Staples at your service." Just link up with "pens and pencils" and you'll be able to reread the BLOGs about daddy's affinity for pens and pencils.

What brought this up was that my father had pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, briefcases, rulers, paper clips -- in other words -- Staples in his home office, and more in his church office.

He kept these things so he could give them away. Now, you have to realize that Staples was a late-bloomer as far as stationery stores is concerned -- at least in my father's life. His favorite was over in Somerville -- New Jersey Business Supplies -- I think that was the name of it. I loved that store, also. And, they had things in there that Staples doesn't carry to this day, but that I can get on-line, if I need them.

I'm a lot like my father -- a collector of pens and pencils, but I have them for my grandchildren who want them (mostly Shandon and Toria). If I find a new pencil or a new pen, I get a stock of them, then when I see the grands, I pass them out. My father's desk is filled with pens and pencils for the grandchildren.

I also have several fountain pens. I do prefer a fountain pen to a ball-point or felt tip. I guess it's because when I was growing up my father gave me an Esterbrook pen and pencil set. I treasured that set. I still have the pen.

Now with an Esterbrook pen you could buy different "nibs" (points) and they would screw in and you would have a wider or narrower point on your pen -- sort of like calligraphy pens today, but it was all in one pen, just the nibs were changed out. And, of course, you had to have ink so you could fill the rubber tube that held the ink when you ran out. I collected ink colors as well.

So, you see, my father started me off in this.

Now days you have to by ink cartridges -- not as easy to change or refill the ink supply as it was with the old-fashioned lever mechanism on the outside of the pen that caused the rubber tube to collapse inside, then when you released the lever I guess the intake of air above the ink caused the ink to come back into the pen from the bottle. It's hard to describe unless you've done it -- fill a fountain pen the old-fashioned way, that is.

They even have disposable fountain pens nowadays. They're made by Pilot. I have to order them on-line; and they come in all colors. I love them.

Thanks, Heather, for reminding me about the pens and pencils. It's just one of the things that made my father unique!