Errands yesterday. Little things. I took my time at the big box office supply store, marveling at the stuff I no longer need.

Prismacolor has produced an attractive box of turquoise sketching pencils, twelve in all -- 4B, 3B, 2B, B, HB, F, H, 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H and 6H. At my elementary we were issued the F pencil, which came in red, VANCOUVER SCHOOL BOARD debossed in silver and an F at the eraser-less end.

Tonight I am going to sharpen all twelve, lay down a sheet of paper, close my eyes and makes circles. I am not interested in what the drawings look like but how the pencils feel in my hand. My hope is that the F will take me back to Miss Longhurst’s Grade Three class so that I might catch a whiff of her intoxicating perfume.