Hello Cleveland Pen Club enthusiasts,

Happy birthday! Cleveland Pen Club is now a year old. Our rescheduled meeting on February 1 was a little smaller but, as always, tons of fun. The meeting had been scheduled for January 25, but that was the weekend of the awful snowstorm and the library didn’t even open! When we did meet at our alternate location, the Brooklyn branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library, we enjoyed our pen, ink, and paper adventures as usual, with a surprise or two. One notable surprise was the delicious homemade molasses cookies Barbie brought in. Thanks again Barbie!

The second surprise was a really great raffle item. Back in early November at the Ohio Pen Show, I stopped at the table of Paladin Pen Company and met the owner, Matt Eichenfels. Matt generously gave me a gift to raffle off at our club! I conducted the raffle by leading a game of Fountain Pen Bingo during our 20 questions segment. Patrick and Jonathan both participated in the 20 questions – thanks guys! Daniel won the Paladin gift – congrats Daniel! He received a beautiful glass pen and a Paladin Pen Company sticker. I trust that everyone enjoyed the Bingo game, and I saved it to use again sometime.

Howard asked me to share with you all the attached article. During the meeting he also highly recommended an Italian restaurant on Memphis Avenue called Aldo’s. Their website is www.aldoscleveland.com.

Next time, we will be back at the normal location, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Independence Branch, 6361 Selig Dr, Independence, OH 44131, on Sunday, April 26 at 1:30 - 3:30PM. We meet quarterly on the fourth Sundays in January, April, July and October. By the way, I have decided to no longer bring bottled water to our pen meetups. It is a lot of weight for me to drag around, the library offers a drinking fountain, and everyone is welcome to bring their own water anyway.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas to share in advance of our next meeting, please reach out. I hope that in the meantime some of you get to attend a pen show or make a new fountain pen purchase. In fact, if any of that happens for you in the coming months, please share about it when we meet!

I look forward to our next gathering. Spread the word about our club to any local peeps who might be interested in joining us. Until then, stay well, and enjoy your pens, inks, and paper.

–Michelle