Every job requires certain basic tools. A cook needs pots, pans and good sharp knives. A woodworker needs a saw, a hammer and a reliable tape measure.

As a writer, I have my own tool kit. My notebook computer, a phone that is a computer in itself and a good camera help me get my work done.  Most of these essentials are high-tech and expensive. But my other favorite writing instrument isn’t modern or complicated at all: the pencil.

When I was a girl I kept a handful of pencils in my desk at school, bound by a thick rubber band. The pencils were all different sizes. Some were only a few inches tall. They were all characters in an elaborate game of pencil dolls I played silently at my desk. Whenever I had a few minutes, or thought I could get away with it, I pulled out the roll of pencils, slipped a few out from under the rubber band, and set my imagination free.

I no longer make dolls out of my pencils, but I still like a few on my desk. A pencil is good for first thoughts. It feels right in the hand, balances on the end of a finger. A pencil forgives, erasing what you want to change. My favorite, the quintessential Dixon Ticonderoga #2, cost pennies, never runs out of ink and, in a pinch, can be used to twist my hair into a bun and keep it out of my eyes.

A pencil, like a string of pearls or a black umbrella, is a classic. It never goes out of style. Of course, the must-have for anyone who has a fondness for pencils is the right pencil holder.

Recently, I had a few minutes between downtown appointments so I stopped at Roost, the new shop in the Main Avenue and Division Street location that formerly housed Main Street Antiques. Filled by some of my favorite local dealers, Roost is perfect for a leisurely browse or, when your schedule is tight, a quick stop.

Tucked on a shelf in a small room in the corner, I spotted a little metal pencil case. Made in England, the metal cylinder was painted to resemble a red pencil. The pointed top comes off and inside is room enough for a hand full of pencils. It called out to the schoolgirl in me.

In under ten minutes, for less than $10, I came away with something useful and beautiful; the perfect accessory for a well-dressed desk.


Cheryl-Anne Millsap is a freelance writer based in Spokane, Washington. Her essays can be heard on Spokane Public Radio and on public radio stations across the country. She is the author of “Home Planet: A Life in Four Seasons” and you can read more of her work at her Home Planet and CAMera blogs. She can be reached at catmillsap@gmail.com
  

(Photo by Cheryl-Anne Millsap)

 

 

 

Caught up in the New Year ritual of house cleaning, I swept through the house dusting, rearranging and organizing.

As I moved from room to room I let my mind wander as my hands worked. I began to notice that with every item I touched, there was an association. A memory. A link to a day recalled or an event to remember.

In the living room, on the table behind the sofa, I keep a large antique wood dough bowl my grandparents purchased decades ago. It is filled with agates I have picked up over the years on family trips - or the occasional solo escape - to the Oregon coast.  Antlers my son found on our property and brought home to me rest on top of the stones, surrounding a single candle.

There is nothing rare or precious about the objects. But to me the arrangement is a shrine of sorts. Sometimes at the end of the day, as I move through the house turning off lights and locking doors, I stop to scoop up a handful of agates, letting them fall back into the bowl as I recall days spent in a little town on the coast, my daughters beside me as we walked along the shore taking the polished stones washed up by the tide. I run my fingers along the smooth surface of the antlers, remembering the boy who ran to me with the treasures he’d found, smiling as he presented his gifts.

I lit the candle and left it burning as I went about my chores, celebrating the comfort and satisfaction of keeping house; recognizing the blessing of shelter and a life filled with priceless and simple things.


Cheryl-Anne Millsap is a freelance writer based in Spokane, Washington. Her essays can be heard on Spokane Public Radio and on public radio stations across the country. She is the author of “Home Planet: A Life in Four Seasons” and can be reached at catmillsap@gmail.com