According to Wikipedia, “the term jack-o’-lantern originally meant a night watchman, or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid-17th century”. They neglect to mention how said night watchman ended up decapitated with a lit candle in his mouth.

Doug passed away a very short time before I moved into this house. I so wish I could have known him, I suspect we would have had much to talk about. Each year, Sidney gives me a piece of his equipment for Christmas: an amazing old Staedtler compass set, a little set of stainless steel flatware in a slim case for travel, a beautifully rounded steel stapler. I treasure these items—they sit on my desk and despite only having occasion to use the compass set once so far, I have opened and fondled it dozens of times. The stapler, however, is used regularly—most recently as a model for further training with my fountain pen. Thank you, Doug.

Nash Metropolitan always sounds like the perfect name for a dim but debonair gent in a period piece set in 1920’s New York. This was my rainy-day Sunday drawing. I think it will be good having to find things to draw on the days I don’t go wandering outside. My first drawing done with my first ever fountain pen, a Lamy Safari bought in Cambridge last week. It’s going to take a little getting used to.

Okay, so most of my extra time today (aside from that spent napping, of course) was used to set up this site, my first Wordpress venture. So I didn’t draw much—but I did do the bunny in the header, and a few other critters. Have to keep up with the beasts as well.

Trees has the most delicious vanilla black tea. Normally I take it back to work, but this is a fine excuse to sit around awhile.

The first day that I made my vow to do this, I wandered to Gastown on my lunchbreak. I found a bench and settled in, but soon noticed a tiny green fellow on my hand. Brushed him away, and soon after another on my pen. It was raining aphids. By the time I left I had phantom itches all over. Where are all the ladybugs when we need them? (answer: D & P’s bedroom wall)

As I waited to fly out of Chicago on my way home, I could draw bored-looking folk eating McDonald’s french fries, or the view out the window. I chose (b).

As I drove to Nauset Beach in the misty rain, I turned a corner and I’ll be damned if there wasn’t a rafter of wild turkeys. Not what I was expecting to find on Cape Cod, I must say—but apropos on Canadian Thanksgiving.

This was my fourth visit to New York, but somehow my first with leaves on the trees. I finally get what all the fuss over Central Park is about. On October 13th the sun was out, it was a crisp and beautiful day, and I had nothing to accomplish but walk around and break out my sketchbook now and then. This was on 10th Avenue, very windy near the river—hence the odd willy-nilly line here and there.

I just returned from a 10-day trip to Boston, Cape Cod, and down through Rhode Island and Connecticut to New York. While in Massachusetts I stayed in Cambridge, which was probably my favourite part of the trip. My guest house was just across the Harvard Yard from the subway station and Harvard Square, so I walked through it a lot. The students seemed very, very young. And very, very reliant upon cell phones.

There were so many amazing old houses, it was tough to know where to begin with a sketchbook. This one had good seating directly across from it, and that’s all I need to make the decision.