Seems to me that this year, Spring has decided to play wheel of fortune or something.

A few days ago, it was sunny and warm.

This was the view of the mountain this morning:

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about any snow or rain that we get. EVER. I'm just making note of the wild fluctuations.

Though the rain did make for some very nice opportunities in the photography department...

The lilacs are so short lived, even under the best weather circumstances. But this year, they got nipped just a little bit by frost, and now are drenched with rain, so their glory is fading even earlier. I'm hoping for something spectacular next year.

I made the latest ink testing page this morning very early.

It's a good thing that fountain pen enthusiasts do these kinds of explorations of ink, because if you only put it in your pen and wrote with it, you would think... oh, that's a nice bluish/lavender ink.... and move along. But doing this kind of testing reveals all the nuances and secrets that the ink is hiding.

Here's a close up of the swatch. I put a few drops of ink on the paper and then smush and dab it around with a balled up piece of saran wrap.

Some people do their swatches with a q-tip. I don't care for that. It's TOO much ink to really see the shading. It's just my preference. I am most certainly in the minority according to all the examples I have seen around the webs.

I guess I prefer subtlety over boldness.

The weather people have said we could have possible thundershowers this afternoon. That would really round out the wheel if that happens. We'll see!

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Addendum: Yes. There was thunder after all!