Crayons and a Cookie Bribe

I was at the second hand store today, just to see if there was anything that cried out to come home with me. There are usually things that would be fun to have, but normally there isn’t anything that I have to have. Sometimes I will see things but they are usually very expensive or I just can’t justify buying them. That is a nice way of saying that I am cheap. If I buy small things that bring a smile to my face then the day has been a success.

 

Today I did find a couple of things that I brought home with me. I found a Morse Code key in a bin of electrical like objects. I have always wanted to learn Morse Code since I saw Mickey Rooney in the movie “Young Tom Edison” back when I was staying home sick when I was a kid. It was made in 1940 and I suppose that I thought I could be a new Tom Edison. Over the years, I have actually tried to learn Morse Code but have always lost interest for one reason or another. The one reason is that it involves memorization and the “another” reason is that there is no one that understands it in my circle of friends. I could be wrong about that, and if I am here is my apology.

 ..  -.. --- -. .----. -  .-. . .- .-.. .-.. -.--  .... .- ...- .  - ---  .- .--. --- .-.. --- --. .. --.. . --..--  -... . -.-. .- ..- ... .  -. ---  --- -. .  -.-. .- -.  .- -.-. - ..- .- .-.. .-.. -.--  .-. . .- -..  - .... .. ... .-.-.-  --- -.  - .... .  --- ..-. ..-.  -.-. .... .- -. -.-. .  - .... .- -  ... --- -- . --- -. .  -.-. .- -. --..--  ..  .- --  ... --- .-. .-. -.-- .-.-.-

I didn’t think so. This time I am going to learn just in case I am trapped in a mine and need to communicate by tapping messages on the wall. I am sure that the guys trying to rescue me will have watched the Mickey Rooney movie and actually learned Morse Code.

The other thing that I picked up today was an inkwell. It is a Higgins inkwell, which is a company with a history in ink and all things needed to write with ink. I am just old enough to have learned to write using fountain pens. Writing with fountain pens was something of a challenge. You didn’t just pick up a pen and start to write. Oh no, you first needed to get everything ready. You needed the pen of course and a spare nib wouldn’t be out of line, a piece of blotting paper, a bottle of ink or a cartridge and paper of course. You had better rollup your sleeve, because dollars to donuts you are for sure going to smear that ink sooner rather than later. God help you if you come home with ink on the sleeve or your pocket if the pen exploded. Ink was a bitch to wash out and mom was never happy about it.

Thankfully, the fountain pen was replaced by the ball point pen and writing became a lot easier. Less fun of course, but easier. Every now and then I try my hand at calligraphy, but that like Morse Code involves a certain dedication and perseverance which I am unfortunately lacking. The ink well that I brought home today is/was a draftsman’s tool I think. I am just guessing, because so far I haven’t been able to find an image of this particular one. I spent an hour or so cleaning it and it is now sitting as a curio on one of my shelves in the basement. There was about a centimetre of solid ink in the bottom of the jar which I had to chip out and then I cleaned the glass with alcohol. For those that don’t know, ink isn’t solid, this stuff had the liquid part evaporate. I am now toying with the idea of reconstituting the ink chips just for fun. I’m not sure how much fun it will be and I don’t think Louise will be any happier than my mom was, having to get ink stains out of my clothes.

Maybe I will try writing to Santa this year in fountain pen with a beautiful flowing script, but that’s not my style. I think I’ll stick to the basics, crayons and a cookie bribe.