An affair to remember: A Rhodia Pencil

Can you remember the first time you held a pencil?

I can't but I know I had a romance with my crayolas early in life, and that romance lead to a long term love affair with all things that write, engrave, or make marks.

One day sometime in the early 80s, I was in Newport (RI) at Arnolds on Thames and they had on the display counter a new lacquered black pencil with an exciting tactile sensation. I still have the box I got when I bought two hand-fuls of these Bohemians. Today, I went down to my labyrinthine (read cellar) to see what condition these pencils are in and how many I have left. A few and all ready to draw!

You might imagine that pencils always existed but in fact they've only been around for about 500 years. The history of pencil manufacturing is as fascinating as the pencil itself.

And Bob Truby has one lovely collection of pencils at his site.

My love affair with the Bohemia Blacks is not over, but I am not by nature a monogamist and I discovered on Thursday that I could easily see myself in a long term relationship with the triangular Rhodia pencils, also lacquered but in Rhodia-orange, with black wood throughout, black ferrule and black eraser. And to top it off I read these pencils are made from my favourite tree: the Linden.

I'm often in the "Field"

When I first saw the 3-pack Field Notes I was thrilled. Here was a gift for my eco-biologist daughter, a woman always in the field, with wet boots, an anorek, binoculars and now I'd be able to give her an alternative to her normal small black Moleskine.

And she was indeed thrilled to receive her Field Notes.

But I also got a pack for myself, and surprised myself with how handy they are for my own field trips--sans binoculars, but occasionally with an anorek and boots, but rarely in the wild.

My field trips are most often a long drive, a short walk or a cafe table--but wherever I go, tucked inside my larger journal and/or day planner, is a Field Note.