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I’m enjoying Zoe Keating’s new album “Into the Trees” about as much as is possible to enjoy something. For those unfamiliar with Ms. Keating, she is an avant-garde cellist who uses looping and sampling of her own work to create full, lush, multi-layered modern classical music. If you like the music of Philip Glass or simply appreciate wonderful, meditative music, check her out. You can preview her new album at her website, so head on over.

Not all spiders are hairy and scary, Some of them are really quite nice. They spend their day chasing bad bugs away, So before you squish one, think twice!

Rating: 5.0 June 23, 2010 Ever since I started writing ink reviews, I’ve been using Rhodia notepads. Rhodia uses bright white, 80gsm, acid-free, pH neutral, Clairefontaine paper in their notepads, which is a joy to write on. Clairefontaine paper is widely considered by fountain pen aficionados to be the best paper available. It has a very smooth finish to it, which makes the pen glide across the paper, and it stands up to even the wettest ink without complaint and without feathering.

‘Twas late one dreadful, droomy night, While trying to forget a fright, I gently sipped a cup of tea, When my wife’s voice floated up to me. “Oh Arthur, dear,” I heard her say, “Some-one has come and gone away. “They left no name, no street address, “Just handed me this rumpled mess.” I took the parcel from her hand And set it ‘top my chair-side stand. Then, once my wife had left the room,

I do not fear the winter time – The drifts of snow, the freezing cold, For every leaf must turn and fall, And every young man must grow old. I do not fear the winter time, Since winter surely turns to spring, When ice gives way to tender buds, And robins hatch and learn to sing. Oh, I am in my summer now, And autumn – it will be sublime,

Rating: 4.5 June 13, 2010 Much has been discussed about Ecosystem’s commitment to producing a green notebook. The bright, white, 100% post-consumer, recycled paper by New Leaf Paper is prepared using a chlorine-free bleaching process and printed with a soy-based ink. It has an organic cotton bookmark, and the cover is coated with a water-based acrylic. Additionally, all of the components are sourced in the United States, which cuts down on the cost and carbon emission of transportation.

The 11th Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper is being hosted over at the Tiger Pens blog. My review of J. Herbin’s 1670 ink is one of the editor’s picks! Be sure to stop by and read through all of the excellent pen, pencil, ink, and paper posts.

If bees built bombs and not honey, Oh, what kind of world would it be? Would bears lay siege to bee-bunkers, And not spend their days climbing trees? What of the humble bee keeper, Would power go straight to his head? When crossing the hive, instead of alive, Would you suddenly find yourself dead? I don’t think a world without honey Is one in which I’d want to stay. I’d rather spend time tasting clover field wine,

Rating: 2.5 June 08, 2010 J. Herbin Vert Olive should be an ink that’s the color of olives, but it is not. Instead, it is the color of extra virgin olive oil – an ephemeral, translucent yellow-green – as backlit by a fluorescent light. One could also describe it as the color of Mountain Dew. Either way, it’s a color found somewhere in one’s kitchen. Its level of saturation is very low, but it does exhibit a very high degree of shading in both fine and wide nibs.

Atop the blade of grass he stood – The mighty little ant that could. “Why climb,” the other ants had asked? “Because it’s there,” he’d said at last.