Monthly Archives: March 2014

More notebooks

I’ve used Moleskines for several years now. However, since they moved production to China, the paper quality has gone downhill. I continue to buy Reporters, but I prefer the Quo Vadis small Habanas for notebooks.

I have not been able to resist Field Notes. I like to collect old notebooks and I like the vintage feel of Field Notes. It’s not really fountain pen friendly paper but then it’s not a notebook that makes you want to write with a fountain pen.

So I ordered the latest notebook, which arrived today!

Sherwood
The cover of these is a thin cherrywood veneer.

notebook back

It’s really nice stuff! And look at the paper.

sherwood paper

I like these. I realize that the cover will be on the fragile side. I use the plain brown ones for most things. This is the sort of notebook that you can do a mind dump in and not think twice. I just like their style.

Posting

I’m not sure how that notebooks post got stuck in Drafts. I didn’t write it today. So it’s time for a real update!

For those of you still living with ice and snow, this is what spring will look like:
daffodils 1
daffodills 2

I do love those tiny daffodils! The larger ones are starting to open up here as well. I will have to make an effort to spend more time outside this year and get the yard tidied up. It all needs work.

Time for the office cat’s nap:

Fanny

MMMMM, Notebooks!

Not computers, mind you, but paper notebooks. There’s a new year coming up and I am buying up notebooks for it. I like the ability to have alarms in the calendar on my phone. I use notes and Remember the Milk. But I no longer really trust digital. I haven’t since Jeffrey was in the ICU and the charger for my Palm was back at work.

I have been using Moleskines for a long time and the small Reporter is still one of my favorite notebooks. The problem is that the paper quality has gone downhill since they started making them in China. I did buy a new Reporter, so I have one if I really need it. I’d prefer to use something with better paper, since I tend to use fountain pens.

I decided to try something new and I ordered a 3 pack of the latest Field Notes special edition.Field Notes

After reading reviews on them last night, I believe that most Field Notebooks have a first page, testing all manner of ink and pens. I didn’t do that. But here is the back of my first entry and bleed through is not bad on these:
Page back

I had a temporary mania for them. I like old notebooks and I like the idea of simple, retro notebooks. I will likely buy them for other purposes. They don’t really work for my daily notebook. I like to track my days and I want something larger and more permanent. If I were to use Field Notes in the same way, I’d go through a notebook every three weeks. But here is the answer for anyone looking for a fountain pen friendly notebook, Quo Vadis Habana:
Quo Vadis Habana

I did some samples, in the Anise green one, using my calligraphy pen’s broadest nib. I can still use both sides of the paper. They are slightly larger than the Rhodia and Moleskine shown here:
Habana, Rhodia and Moleskine

I prefer the blank page ones. They have a pocket in the back. The only down side is that this is the white paper, not an ivory. They are very nice notebooks.

And, I also got this:
Word. Standard Memorandum

I like the other Word. notebooks too. I couldn’t resist this one. There is not a lot of room to jot down the day’s happenings. Think of it as tweeting your day. It will work nicely with my regular notebook. I also carry an Apica. I really love the paper on these and it might even work for my daily notebook if I used a cover on one. I use it for thoughts on my system. It seems a bit odd as I really don’t do a lot of planning. I still manage to fill one up anyway.