Down On The Farm

This report comes to you straight from the middle of farming country, as it happens, but it's currently covered by sad melting snow-drifts interspersed by piles of rotting leaves and doesn't, frankly, look its best. Time to stay in and play with some stationery instead, perhaps.

Endless are clearly keen to encourage such behaviour, and have brought out an interesting pair of farm-themed notebooks, one reminding us to sew and the other marking the moment to reap. All good KJV terminology there, then, which seems fitting given that the scene displayed appears to be a farm somewhere around Winnipeg, or perhaps Vermont. You can almost smell the atmosphere; European immigrants, Dutch barn, hellfire-and-brimstone sermons on a Sunday. But the central positioning of the cow is the hidden give-away to this notebook's true origins - in India!

The set's artwork comes from Shakthi Hari, who evidently has a bit of a thing about stylised animals generally - not that we're likely to complain. Here's one of his owls, for the sake of comparison. Cute, isn't it?

The two designs come as a pack, at a price which is 'premium' but certainly not over the top for a couple of well-made notebooks. They're fun things to have around, and look fairly robust too, with stitched bindings which even vary in colour to suit the theme; 'sew' has earth-coloured thread, while 'reap' goes for a leafy green. It's hard not smile at attention to detail like that. 

But fellow fountain pen fans will probably want to know what the paper's like. Well, it's a bit of a mystery, because unlike the Endless Recorder this notebook simply claims the paper is 'ink-loving', which sort of implies Tomoe River without stating the brand directly. That may be as well, because it doesn't behave quite like Tomoe; ink dries reasonably quickly, and there's a bit of bleeding and feathering too, but the greater strength suits a pocket notebook perfectly. Plant one of these in your pocket and see what ideas grow; as ye sew, so shall ye reap.