joe_haldeman @ 2011-11-07T08:41:00

(Talking about fountain pens in sff.net . . . )

The vibrating [fountain pen nib] cleaning dish is great. I just recalled that mine disappeared about ten years ago, cleaned out by a kleptomaniac cleaning lady ("Hey … you wanded yer house cleaned, dinja?") Have to angle for a new one for Xmas. I bought mine used at a flea market for a dime!

I've found persistent dried ink may surrender to a 50/50 solution of distilled water and pure isopropyl, with one drop of liquid detergent per pint. I keep it around for optics, but it works well for pens. I wouldn't soak hard rubber in it, though.

I've heard it before, Dave, that the condition of a person's physical workspace is a reflection of his mental one – in which case, I'm a walkin' talkin' junkyard. I can sit down at a clean desk to write a grocery list, and by the time I get up there's the Sunday New York Times and an unabridged dictionary underneath a bushel of random pages. Where the fuck does it come from? Of course that's my secret to making a living as a freelance writer; every Wednesday they back up a truck to my office window and I shovel out a few hundred pounds of waste paper to sell for salvage.

Had a real nice day yesterday, a small dinner party thrown by Mary Zoll. For a couple of decades we went to Ottone "Ricky" Riccio's poetry workshop in Boston together.

I took the T out to Hell & Gone, also known as Waban, where Ellen Seigel (who was also one of Ricky's poets) picked me up with her hubbie Ron, and we drove out to Mary's, somewhere near the planet Neptune, or perhaps Carlisle. Perhaps I exaggerate the distances. For these three months while I'm a city mouse, anything past Somerville requires a native guide and beaters.

Ricky's widow Dolores came with her daughter Lucy, whom I hadn't met. All of us wordmongers of one sort or another – Mary is a serious technical writer as well as a poet, and works part-time at the MIT Writing Center, like Gay.

Mary's a great cook. Pork tenderloin with coconut rice and roasted winter vegetables. She also made a deliciously sinful appetizer, a simple dip with equal parts shredded cheddar cheese, grated parmesan, and mayonaisse, dusted with paprika and baked in a medium oven for half an hour. Ooh. Have to make it for New Year's Eve. ("You can walk in the door, but you'll have to waddle out.")

Joe