Yesterday's day out
Aug. 7th, 2022 05:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onepageatatimeYesterday was a fun day, but I wanted to write about some of it.
I'll start out with the "shape of the day" in brief and then pull out what I wanted to write about:
Pen shop visit
I recently bought my first non-disposable fountain pens and have been having fun getting into them. To date, I've kept myself in the cheap end of the hobby: the most I've spent for a pen is $33. I am now at the point where I can imagine spending significantly more on a pen, but I feel I don't yet have the knowledge base I'd want to spend on a pen much more expensive than that.
So I recently learned that there is a pen shop in one of our neighboring cities. And yesterday we visited it and… I was a little underwhelmed. So much of the stuff I was interested in was displayed in ways that didn't really work for me. It was really nice to see some of the pens in person that I've only seen online, but… it wasn't clear to me if I was allowed to open any of the cabinets or whether I was supposed to ask the owner for assistance. And nothing was really labeled. If a pen is behind glass and I can't even see a price, I don't want to ask for help. (I don't want to bother somebody to show me a $200 pen when I know I don't want to spend that much.)
That said, I did make a few purchases: I bought a set of three small sample-sized inks from a brand that's really interested me in being from Ontario. This will let me try three of their colors before possibly choosing a full bottle of one of their inks. I also bought a notebook that I've seen online. It's probably not going to be my favorite notebook, but… is definitely worth a try (and hopefully will encourage me to write at times that don't feel "worthy" of a bound notebook). And lastly, I bought a very cheap fountain pen. (I don't know how the store priced it, but I found it listed online for less than $5.)
I also know that I had a bit of "on guard" about the store. From some of my reading online, it was clear that their politics do not align with mine. Given their politics, I wasn't sure whether me being trans might be a problem. But I was willing to give them a try, and as long as I was treated like a person and the political messaging wasn't in-my-face, I decided to be OK with buying from them. And, for the most part, they succeeded. My wife did see some signage about how they had never required masks in the store. (The mask issue is the only political sentiment I have seen on the store's social media.) So… definite red flags depending on local state of the pandemic.
In the end… I'm not really all that tempted. The store has a web presence, so… I'll stay subscribed to them on social media and if they have something in stock that I want then, I might go to buy it (especially if I don't want to wait for an online order to be shipped), but… I'm not likely to go there to "just shop" again. Which is a little disappointing (but probably safer for my bank balance!)
Dessert café
Speaking of dangerous, we found a cute little dessert café, which is sort of in our neighborhood. We'd seen it driving past and it had intrigued us, but we'd never actually visited… until yesterday.
We will definitely return! H ordered a wonderful slice of Reese's cake (which ordinarily would have tempted me, but I didn't want to deal with the peanut-butter cup portion given my current dental state (though the bite she offered me was definitely tasty). I ordered a slice of mocha cake which was very good. There are other things on their menu that are of interest, too.
I also found the café itself to be pleasant. The seating is nicely-spaced, and not uncomfortable. I want to keep it in mind as an option for those days when we want to get out of the apartment, but don't really want to do too much.
I could probably write more, but I'm not sure how interesting it would be to either you to read or me to write, which probably means this is a good time to stop for this post
I'll start out with the "shape of the day" in brief and then pull out what I wanted to write about:
- Morning ⚽
- Pen shop visit
- Board game café
- Lunch
- New-to-us dessert café
- Quiet evening
Pen shop visit
I recently bought my first non-disposable fountain pens and have been having fun getting into them. To date, I've kept myself in the cheap end of the hobby: the most I've spent for a pen is $33. I am now at the point where I can imagine spending significantly more on a pen, but I feel I don't yet have the knowledge base I'd want to spend on a pen much more expensive than that.
So I recently learned that there is a pen shop in one of our neighboring cities. And yesterday we visited it and… I was a little underwhelmed. So much of the stuff I was interested in was displayed in ways that didn't really work for me. It was really nice to see some of the pens in person that I've only seen online, but… it wasn't clear to me if I was allowed to open any of the cabinets or whether I was supposed to ask the owner for assistance. And nothing was really labeled. If a pen is behind glass and I can't even see a price, I don't want to ask for help. (I don't want to bother somebody to show me a $200 pen when I know I don't want to spend that much.)
That said, I did make a few purchases: I bought a set of three small sample-sized inks from a brand that's really interested me in being from Ontario. This will let me try three of their colors before possibly choosing a full bottle of one of their inks. I also bought a notebook that I've seen online. It's probably not going to be my favorite notebook, but… is definitely worth a try (and hopefully will encourage me to write at times that don't feel "worthy" of a bound notebook). And lastly, I bought a very cheap fountain pen. (I don't know how the store priced it, but I found it listed online for less than $5.)
I also know that I had a bit of "on guard" about the store. From some of my reading online, it was clear that their politics do not align with mine. Given their politics, I wasn't sure whether me being trans might be a problem. But I was willing to give them a try, and as long as I was treated like a person and the political messaging wasn't in-my-face, I decided to be OK with buying from them. And, for the most part, they succeeded. My wife did see some signage about how they had never required masks in the store. (The mask issue is the only political sentiment I have seen on the store's social media.) So… definite red flags depending on local state of the pandemic.
In the end… I'm not really all that tempted. The store has a web presence, so… I'll stay subscribed to them on social media and if they have something in stock that I want then, I might go to buy it (especially if I don't want to wait for an online order to be shipped), but… I'm not likely to go there to "just shop" again. Which is a little disappointing (but probably safer for my bank balance!)
Dessert café
Speaking of dangerous, we found a cute little dessert café, which is sort of in our neighborhood. We'd seen it driving past and it had intrigued us, but we'd never actually visited… until yesterday.
We will definitely return! H ordered a wonderful slice of Reese's cake (which ordinarily would have tempted me, but I didn't want to deal with the peanut-butter cup portion given my current dental state (though the bite she offered me was definitely tasty). I ordered a slice of mocha cake which was very good. There are other things on their menu that are of interest, too.
I also found the café itself to be pleasant. The seating is nicely-spaced, and not uncomfortable. I want to keep it in mind as an option for those days when we want to get out of the apartment, but don't really want to do too much.
I could probably write more, but I'm not sure how interesting it would be to either you to read or me to write, which probably means this is a good time to stop for this post
(no subject)
Date: 8/7/22 02:59 pm (UTC)The pen shop's politics would likely keep me from shopping with them.
(no subject)
Date: 8/8/22 07:28 pm (UTC)I can see that. What I'd seen beforehand was enough to make me consider where my line was.
I was so hoping for a local store with some of what I've been drooling over, but… while they had some of that in stock, it wasn't as useful as I'd hoped, because of how they had their product arranged.
Fortunately, I have some online stores that I feel much better supporting. But… it would be nice to be able to see some things in person. I guess that'll be pen shows, maybe. (Crossing fingers, since I don't know if we've yet been anywhere beyond the cities that border our own since March 2020.)