Typing

I now have two vintage typewriters, an electric 1960s Smith Corona for Elena, mine a manual Olivetti in turquoise. While hers will seem like a genuine antique to her, both are nostalgic for me.

Why would anyone want a typewriter?  people ask, and we reminisce about the long hours we spent re-typing pages back in the day, how we had to start all over if we hadn't left space for footnotes, etc.

For the fun of it is all I know--but so do a lot of other people, especially young people who seem to like the more tactile experience of typing over computer keyboarding.  Don't get me wrong--I wouldn't trade my Apple for an Olivetti or a Smith Corona.  But I love having it for playing on.

Kate gave me a typewriter cart identical to the one I bought in Boerne--except the one I bought was covered with clear coating and gold spray.  I only discovered this when I put it on my leather seats and it left gold flecks.  Thankfully, I had just learned in my art classes that pure alcohol gets most anything off, so I tried it, then followed with leather cleaner, and the car seats are fine.

Yesterday I had the idea of getting them powder-coated in bright colors, but learned that powder coating is not a good option on things with moving parts and hinges, so I'm going to simply have them sandblasted and paint them.

I had a little glitch with my ribbon, but took it to the typewriter shop (yes, we still have one) and he fixed it in a minute.

Typewriter sounds remind me of Carlene.  I listened to her type for years when I visited her office and she was lightning fast!  She could have fixed mine in a flash, I'm sure.