The Fountain Pen Network-Philippines had a penmeet last April 4. I wasn’t able to attend as it was a work weekend for me. The penmeet was held at Cravings restaurant in Shangri-La Mall, EDSA. I missed seeing my FPN-P friends, among them Butch Palma, who is Bali-based now and we seldom get to see him.
Leigh Reyes had a pen for me, as did Prof. Butch Dalisay and Raffy Abrina, so I sent my daughter Alex to the penmeet in my stead to pick up the pens for me.
Here’s Alex’s impression of the meeting, in her own words and photos:
It was my first time to attend a penmeet on my own. Everyone was very nice. When I got inside Cravings, Prof. Butch saw me then I went in. And then someone said like “Hey, Alex is here!”
L: Caloy, Kurt, Butch Palma, Leigh. R: Prof. Butch Dalisay.
I just sat there and watched a bit, then roamed around, peeked over Tita Leigh’s shoulder when she opened her pencase, and watched people.
There were people around a table laden with pens, ink, and desserts, and water glasses with the water inside colored various shades. Like people rinsed pens in them. I was like, “I’m not drinking that.”
L-R: Chito, Iñigo, Leigh, Butch P., Caloy, Kurt, JP.
Tito Chito treated me to a chocolate banana split, and they included me in the raffle, and I won a bottle of Private Reserve Fast Dry Ultra Black. Tito TOB gave me a dip pen set with scented ink for Ik.
Then there was a small blueberry cheesecake on the table, and Tito Iñigo offered it to Tita Leigh, and she said “Yay, cheesecake!”, which I thought was so cute. You wouldn’t expect a grown lady who’s sophisticated to say that. She’s cool like that. Oh, and her calligraphy was pretty and elegant and I wish I could draw abstract flowers like she did.
On the table in front of Iñigo is the cheesecake.
I don’t remember a lot because I have the attention span of a butterfly.
When I got home that evening, I was vastly entertained by Alex’s stories, besides being happy with the Pilot 74 from Leigh, the Caswell from Prof. Butch, the Lamy 26p from Raffy, and – a wonderful and unexpected surprise – a Sheaffer frankenpen from American penfriend Tom Overfield. (More on the pens in another post.)
So although I didn’t get to attend the penmeet myself, I saw it through my daughter’s eyes, and enjoyed it just the same.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I love Alex’s comments on the meet! It’s sweet how nice everyone was to her. She remembered quite a lot for being ADBD (attention deficit butterfly disorder)! Thanks for the pictures and the report. Glad it was a multi-pen day for you even if you sent a proxy.
But but but…Tita Leigh was the one who said “I have the attention span of a butterfly” o_o but she’s still cool like that XD
The pen people are so nice
And yay cheesecake!!
LOL! I didn’t know the “butterfly attention span” was a quote from Leigh about Leigh. Well, that observation and yours about her being cool are both very true. Pen women are always cool! Ask your mother!
Oh, and I’ve had so much fun poking fun at Leigh about the cheesecake! I’ve nicknamed her the “Cheesecake Sophisticate”! Thanks for the fun review Alex!
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