so, the other day i began to suffer from an embarassment of riches: the post office suddenly found themselves with packages for me. seven of them, to be precise: first, the replacement package for pirate dan’s present was delivered. then days later followed pickup slips for two ebay auctions, some DVDs from .ca, some DVDs from .uk, the original package from pirate dan, and — miracle of miracles! — my secret pal’s january parcel from .de! ah, 60622: they must have been just saving them all up so i’d only have to make one trip to pick up the packages. really, they had my best interests at heart.

(i never have gotten the package from 29 December, but hey. you can’t have everything.)

first of all, though, i must note this — i received, about a week ago, an envelope from “The Moustache Factory,” on the north side. actually, i thought it must have been a joke return address from Eamon (because of his participation in Mustaches for Kids) though i couldn’t imagine what he would be sending me, but i was wrong. there actually is a Moustache Factory on the north side, and they make buttons!

but that was just the warm-up…

GOODIES!!!

Check it out. Beautiful snow white yarn and the most fantastic blue variegated yarn, plus a custom CD with the nicest handmade insert! This is so awesome I have no choice but to give you close-up photos.

isn’t that yarn spectacular? i’m not sure what it wants to be, but i’m thinking maybe a hat. i could totally have a blue hat.

and the CD…

and, even included was a packet of Parker Quink cartridges, which are a real pain to find here! (For anyone at work who’s ever stared at me while I freakishly refilled my pen from an actual, honest-to-god pot of ink — well, you try finding Parker cartridges in the corner stationer’s.) And for my SP who hoped they were the right kind to get … here are two of my pens these cartridges work in! :)

Left/top pen is a Parker Vector, which is one of my favorite pens for a medium-point (normally I prefer very fine points). Right/bottom pen is a Parker Sonnet, with a beautiful brushed matt barrel and cap and a filigreed fine point nib, which I got at Harrod’s in London several years ago. (Pens make nice souvenirs. It brings back pleasant memories when you choose which one to write with, and use it. Now I have some nice memories for the ink as well!)

But that’s not the only writing instrument in the box…!

Even the stamps on this package were pretty:

This was really a marvellous package and I am really pleased it finally arrived! Thank you, Secret_Tux. :)