Huge thanks to
Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery for hosting our November meeting on Saturday the 23rd!
π There were over 70 people in attendance (including at least
64 VPC members!!) and a good time was had by all. Our thanks also to Michael Pons of the LSF Group (distributors of Pelikan, Faber-Castell, LAMY, Visconti, Monteverde, Platinum, Pineider, and Diplomat) for donating many of the door prizes given out that night. Sherman (the "Selfie King") was kind enough to document the evening with lots of photos (thank you so much, Sherman!) so, without further ado, here they are...
(all photos courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on images to enlarge)
As at our previous meeting at their lovely store (in October 2023), Buchan's provided tables and chairs for our members to use. Seated around the one above are (clockwise, from lower left) Rumi, Allan, Bruce, Charles and Sherman.
Is Sherman practicing writing without looking at the paper?!? (hey--he did it while wearing a blindfold the last time we had a meeting at Buchan's --
link π)
Store staff preparing signage for their Black Friday sale...
(L-R) Sherman, Margaret, Matthew, me (Maja) and Grant (in hat)
(L-R) Asifa, Sherman and (Buchan's employee) Cat.
(L-R) Sherman, David C, Trevor, Lisa (✌️) and Cynthia.
(L-R) Dana, Rebecca, Amy (π) and Sherman.
(L-R) Sherman, brand-new member Joy, Shirley, her husband Dave, Rishi and David L.
(L-R) Sherman, Andrea, her husband Don and Rumi. Andrea is holding up her brand-new
Rickshaw pen storage "Coozies" with our exclusive VPC Orca design on them -- more about them in a future blog post!
(L-R) Stuart, Fernie, Deborah, (Andrii & Glenn in the background), Asifa and Sherman.
(L-R) David C, (someone I don't recognize in the background - sorry!), Rene and Sherman.
(L-R) Mmina, Rishi, David L, Amy, Luc, Francis, Mindy and Sherman enjoying the snacks & hot drinks Buchan's provided for us!
(L-R) Rebecca, Dana and Sherman. As you can see, Buchan's doesn't just carry stationery --- they also sell things like puzzles (and other gift items)...
(L-R) Sherman, Kenneth (π), David C. and Andrew.
(L-R) Sherman, Esther and Rumi.
(L-R), Sherman, Buchan's employees Camila & Yugo (orange hoodie), and newer member David M.
(L-R) Matthew, (Jerred & Esther in the background), Alvin, Sherman, Yen, and Grant. Alvin is holding my Radius 1934 "Settimo" fountain pen in "Cielo Blu"---a great Italian-made fountain pen!
(L-R) Anson (of
Springfield Pens), Rumi, Sherman and Vladan.
(L-R) Vladan (seated), Andrea, Anson and Sherman.
(L-R) (Alejandra and Dominique - both in the background), Sharon T. (seated), Charles, Vladan and Sherman. I don't know the names of the two ladies wearing hats behind them; if you do, please drop us a line!
Sherman with Andrii, who attended his first VPC meeting that night....
There was a lot of activity at the tills that night, with many members taking advantage of the time to socialize *and* shop!
(L-R) Sherman, Buchan's store manager Irena and Camila. Sherman is holding up a lovely leather pen case by Galen Leather, whose products Buchan's started carrying a few weeks ago...
Door prize time!! Shona (in black puffy jacket) is about to spin the wheel of prizes, while Buchan's owner Inna (next to Shona) and Luc (standing across from them) look on. Brand-new member Sarah (wearing a grey hoodie) is leaning against the shelving on the far right of the photo.
That's Villoo and her husband Paul on the far left. In the foreground is Liz R's adorable little boy, who attended his second VPC meeting that night (his first was back in September 2023)... and he was as good as gold, despite all the activity π
Above: Andrii using one of Buchan's two pen & paper testing stations. The stations are an integral part of a large (and beautiful) wood pen display in the store's main aisle.
A good view of the main (writing instruments and ink) aisle. The store has a great selection of pens and other writing instruments at every price point...
Luc (standing to the left of the wheel) did a great job announcing the winning door prize ticket numbers...and he did it without a microphone -- thank you, Luc!
Above (L-R): Mark (seated), Daryl, Christopher T (with hat), Adam, David C. and Lyndon.
(L-R) Lyndon, Rebecca, Andrea, Lisa, Amy, and Cat.
More spinning of the prize wheel!
There were a total of twelve prizes given out that night...
Andrea's ticket number was drawn, so she got a turn to spin the wheel...
That's Yugo (Buchan's hard-working marketing manager) snapping a photo while Bruce looks on....
Don and Andrea (holding up her Buchan's gift certificate prize)
Lucky prize winners!
That's store owner Inna (center) handing a door prize to Paul (far right). Paul's wife Villoo also won a prize that night!
Me (Maja) in the middle, with Matthew (left) and Yugo (I know I was tired that night, but I did
not fall asleep during the meeting lol)
Esther showing a bottle of
Octopus Fluids "Write & Draw" ink (waterproof ink) she won in the door prize draw!
(L-R) Yang and Jen L. waiting patiently during the door prize draws...
Andrii also won a chance to spin the prize wheel....
(I'm not sure what he won, but he looks pleased!)
Amy also won a prize that night...
Yours Truly also won a spin of the wheel...
...and I wound up winning a Buchan's gift certificate!
New member Joy (attending her very first VPC meeting!) won the grand prize -- a
Lamy 'Studio' fountain pen!
Buchan's owner Inna with Joy (holding her prize)
Sherman with Alvin & Yen...
It's 9:15pm already??? Time for just one more photo! (L-R) Liz R. (making a last-minute purchase), Sherman, Cat (at the till), Yugo (Inna is behind him), Irena (✌️) and Camila (far right). Many thanks to the friendly staff at Buchan's for their help with our inquiries and purchases that night!
Sherman's caption for this photo:
"I took a napkin from the pantry last night (at the meeting at Buchan's), and used it as the
background for my Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler™ Collection -
Spring Green/Gold Leaf Marble. It was an echo of the napkin that I
brought home (after the October 2023 meeting at Buchan's) and, later on, used as background for the Hongdian D5 Qin
Dynasty Red." (seen in Sherman's photo directly below)
(very nice photos, Sherman!)
Above (left to right)--the pens Sherman brought to our November meeting:
Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler™ Collection - Spring Green/Gold Leaf Marble
Γ©lysΓ©e Parthenon (10 Line) Laque Trajan Blue
Γ©lysΓ©e Dragon Pen (DP Line) ιΎηε³δΊΊ SE Laque Noir
Γ©lysΓ©e Finesse (20 Line) Swirls Bi-Colour
Γ©lysΓ©e En Vogue (50 Line) Laque Leather Burgundy
Γ©lysΓ©e En Vogue (30 Line) Laque Brown (1992) (Set)
Parker 25B Matte Black (Pair)
Leonardo Momento Zero Blue Hawaii
Leonardo Momento Zero Turquoise-Green
Leonardo Furore Vancouver Pen Club L.E. Blue Mosaico
Maiora Impronte Terre GT
Delta Horsepower
(Sherman's famous briefcase!)
Thanks again to Inna and her staff at Buchan's for being such wonderful hosts, and thank you to everyone who came to Buchan's for our November meeting! Details about our December meeting will be posted on our website very soon!
(~blog post by Maja~)
