Pen Review: Hero 5020

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

So, here's the story about my Hero 5020: I had a $6.46 credit on my PayPal account. This pen was $7.50 on eBay with free shipping. So, I figured, what the heck, and bought it, for $1.04 out of pocket. I'd been wanting to play with a Hero pen for some while anyway.

The pen arrived, and I pulled it out of the padded envelope. Gosh, that looks familiar...




Hero 5020 in rear, Parker Sonnet Cisele in front


I've heard rumors for years that Hero took over the Chinese Parker plant when Parker was forced to walk away from it and leave the country for political reasons. The story is that the plant was tooled up and ready to roll when Hero walked in. I have yet to find any documentation which substantiates this rumor, but it's been out there for quite some time. As with so many other rumors, I wondered at its veracity.

After examining this Hero 5020, I am beginning to believe it's true.

The Sunday Post, October 16, 2011

Marooned

Well, not really...but it is a bit of an explanation why it's been kinda quiet around here the last couple weeks.

Joe and I took a ten-day vacation to Maui. We stayed in a rather nice hotel, which charged us (among other things) $25 per day to park the rental car and for "high-speed" Internet access.

The throughput for their "high-speed" access topped out at 9.9kbs, by my calculations. Wow, my modem 20 years ago did better than that. Not to mention the connection dropped about every 90 seconds. Literally.

I quickly gave up on my idea of being a modern-day Hemingway, tapping away at my keyboard in tropical climes, enlightening the world with my musings...such as they are.

All I can say is this: if you get a chance to go to Maui, take it. We've done some traveling, though  not as extensively as some it's true. We have always enjoyed our vacations, but of all the places we've visited, Maui is the only one I'd go back to without a thought. Absolutely beautiful, the people are generally friendly, and it has a small-town feel to it. The microclimates are amazing, ranging widely over a relatively small area. I also learned a fair amount of history - which I didn't expect.

For pens, we took one six-pen case and were each allotted three slots. I took my Ivory Levenger True Writer, the Danitrio Moon Shadow, and a Laban Mentos with a broad nib reground to a stub by Oxonian (this pen hasn't yet been featured here...hmm). Joe took a Rotring 600, a Levenger Sea Glass (he said it suited the beach), and Levenger Kyoto. My kids gave me a lovely journal by Orange Press for my birthday a few weeks ago which was eminently suited for vacation journaling. Rather than worry about bottled ink in the luggage, I bought a sampler of cartridges from Levenger to take with us. I am fairly certain that Private Reserve makes Levenger's ink. I'll have more to say about the Levenger ink in the next couple of weeks; generally speaking it was unobtrusive, and unremarkable, in performance - which was just fine under the circumstances.

Joe comments that he didn't write nearly as much as he usually does because we were so busy doing things. By contrast, I felt I wrote more than usual, since I had so much more time than I generally do. By these statements I think one can tell who is retired in this household, and who is not. Hmm.

We got home late Thursday night, and ever since, I've heard Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's famous version of "Over the Rainbow" in my head, and I've spent an inordinate amount of time looking at ukuleles online and wishing I had the time to learn how to play one. I may yet buy one, at least to add to the collection of musical instruments laying around the house that I don't have time to play.

I'll leave you with a few snapshots of Maui. I opted not to take my big Nikon with me, only a Panasonic point-and-shoot; I now wish I'd decided differently, but these didn't turn out too badly.

Aloha from Seattle...

A quick apology

Hi pen friends,

I'm sorry for the dearth of posts here. Things have been rather busy with the family over the last few weeks (kids moving, burglaries, family gatherings, and other assorted Life Occurrences) and it's taken much of my time and energy. I am working on a new pen review and am nearly done; stay tuned...and thanks for your patience!

The Sunday Post: September 11, 2011

Joe and I are going to his annual family reunion today. This requires a 3-hour drive each way, and is held in the picnic area of a public park in a small town in Eastern Washington. It is always very hot. With a few exceptions, the attendees are people that I met at our wedding 19 years ago and see at this event - and nowhere else.

As I think a good spouse should, I go every year. I go for Joe's sake. And secretly (well, not so secretly now) I'm usually a little cranky about it. Long drive. Way too hot. Chock full of strangers.

I don't know why, perhaps to torment myself with it, I jumped online this morning to check the weather report for our day's destination (100 and sunny, by the way).

And it was only then that I realized what day it is.

Most of us have particular memories of that day ten years ago, when the unimaginable happened. Mine are mainly of bewilderment and then horror when I realized what was happening.

The most vivid memory I have of the World Trade Center is a small one: the sight of a woman, in a blue skirted suit and white blouse and navy pumps, clutching her purse to her body as she leapt to her death from one of the upper floors of the World Trade Center. Of course I cannot know her mind, but I imagine that she had realized she was going to die and decided what she thought would be the best (whatever that means!), and was clutching her purse to herself so that her body could easily be identified.

To this day I pray regularly for her, whom I will never know - not even her name. And I pray for all of us affected by the events of ten years ago. And I don't know anyone who was unaffected at least to some degree.

We didn't lose any friends or family members that day, though I spent some hours trying to locate a staff member who was on vacation in New York. We are very fortunate in that.

I think I'm more grateful for that park full of "strangers" than I was earlier this morning.

The Sunday Post: August 21, 2011

An Introduction

It occurs to me I've been remiss in not introducing you to the third member of the household. And, depending on one's viewpoint, he may well be the most important member. (Just ask him.)

This is Gandalf. He is a quaker parrot, and came to us as a rescue in 2003. This photo was taken shortly after he came to live with us; as you can see, he is fond of bathing in the sink.

The story of his arrival is a bit fun. Well, the first part isn't - I had a lovebird for 14 years, who died of liver cancer in late 2002. After a month or two, we got in touch with a woman locally who takes in and rehomes birds that people don't want or can't keep, and offered to give her my bird's cage and some other supplies we had, since we no longer had a use for them; we figured she could give the cage to someone else that couldn't afford one.

She said she'd be delighted to take whatever we could give her, so we gathered up some things and went over to her place.

Pen Review: TWSBI Diamond 530 with Pendleton Butter Line Stub

There have been a lot of reviews of the TWSBI Diamond 530 since it was released in early 2010. The pen was the result of collaboration with, and feedback from, the fountain pen community with the Taiwan-based designer and manufacturer, known on most pen boards as "Speedy." I won't go too far into reviewing the pen itself, since others have done a marvelous job of that already; examples can be found here and here.

TWSBI Diamond 530

This is about the nib. And here's the story.

The Sunday Post: August 14, 2011

Sometimes It's the Little Things

I'm sure all of us are aware of the upheaval the world seems to be in at the moment. In light of all the serious things going on, how can I maintain a simple little blog like this?

I am certainly not unmindful of the many troubles out there; I see this blog as a little bit of peacefulness. I just want to bring a little enjoyment and beauty to others.

And, speaking of enjoyment and beauty, Joe and I just got back from a few days away, and I thought I'd share a few pretty pictures with you. Hope you enjoy them! These were taken over the last few days in Langley, WA.





 Here is a link to an album with the individual photos.