At four and a half by six inches, the D. Vyne Writes Leather Bound Travel Journal is ideally sized for the cargo pockets of classic safari suits and next-gen battle dress alike.

The sensually supple softcovered leather travel journal's premium parchment pages are themselves inviting and inspiring enough a Muse to entice any artist or scribe to employ practically any instrument they might be most inclined to employ; from Crayola™ to charcoal, ball-point to Rapidograph™, and watercolor to nail polish, Artist Leslie Post has chosen the ideal medium upon which to preserve the thoughts and images one most dearly desires to preserve for posterity.

Speaking for Mice Elf, not even calligraphy or fountain pens have bled though.

Two hundred and fifty generously proportioned pages lend themselves perfectly to any endeavor from chronicling special happenstance to scrapbooking standard four-by-five inch photographs.

Similar journals are advertised for sixty, eighty, a hundred dollars or more in your choice of brown or black; yet these superlative tomes are offered in one's individual, personal choice of eight vibrant or muted colors for a mere thirty dollars (Kelly Green shown above).

A. G. Russell has half-a-dozen websites that I know of, and I reccomend all of them; they are:

1. Russell's for Men, chock-full-o' top-notch men's accessories, tools and home furnishings;

2. A. G. Russell's Knife Shop, which has the widest selection of the best knives on the internet - all chosen with knowledge and expertise enough to assure that even a buyer who knows nothing about knives can't end up with a piece of junk or a bad deal;

3. The Knife Forum(s) - is for both of the 2 kinds of people in the world - those who dig edged weapons so much they want to talk about 'em all the time, and those who don't know anything and need a good place to learn;

4. The Cutting Edge - Since the Homeland Security weasels shut down bladeauction-dot-com for selling switchblades online, this is one of only two places I know of where collectors can browse an assortment of "pre-owned" knives. Also, because so many of 'em belonged to collectors in the first place, "pre-owned" doesn't necessarily mean "used;" some of these next-to-impossible-to-find rarities are new in the box!

5. The Knife Collectors' Club - This is a club for people who collect knives. It is also, as the home-page will tell you when you visit, "the oldest continuously functioning collectors' organization in the knife world." The Knife-World, as everyone knows, is in the Edged Weapon UniVerse, which is parallel parked just in front of our own UniVerse . . .

and 6. Knife Digest-dot-org - A. G's newest endeavor promises to be an invaluable asset to aspiring knifemakers, offering step-by-step instructions on designing and making knives, and tips on how to go about marketing them. I can't think of anyone more qualified to offer such advice.

Additionally, I'd like to reccomend a few specific items I've been especially pleased and impressed with that I've purchased from A. G.over the years; they are:

The Original "Sting." Simply the simplest - and, in my opinion, the best hideaway or "boot" knife ever made. It's compact and flat enough to fit inside of a neck-tie or under the lapel of a sports coat!

The Original C.I.A. "letter opener." A nylon & fiberglass copy of the Sting that won't set off even the most sensitive metal detector in the world! When you walk into A. G's shop, look on the countertop to your immediate left; there's a piece of 3/4" marine plywood with one of these little beauties hammered all the way through it!

Leather (or Bison hide) Fanny Pack - I've carried fanny packs since the late 1960's and this isn't the first one I've had that's been made of leather, but it is the single best one I've ever owned. I got the cognac leather 'cause it matches my boots, but the bison hide is supposed to be even tougher.

"Small" Leather Waist Pouch - I don't need to have everything that stuffs into the Fanny Pack with me all the time, but there are a few essential items that I do need to keep on hand. This little gem holds everything important that a 5-pocket pair of jeans holds; a small wallet, a ZippoTM, a pocket knife, keys w/ whistle attached, money clip, coin purse, and my ever-faithful Fisher "Bullet" Space Pen. This diminutive belt pouch is way nicer in real life than the photo or description in the catalog or on the website, and would still be inexpensive at twice the price!

Bison Hide Basketball - I haven't got this item yet, but my birthday is November 4th (HINT). O.K, o.k, so I don't even play basketball, this is just too cool and unique an item form E to not have one for Mice Elf!

Folding Chef's Knife and 14" Cooking Tweezers - I haven't got these yet either, but guess what: Karin says I can order 'em in 0ctober and I plan on doing just that! The Hocho knife looks like it'll fit into the old stainless steel G.I. mess kit I keep in my day pack, and I plan to use the tweezers just like they're shown being used in the illustration.

Boker Picnic Set - This consists of a beautiful staghorn-handled knife and fork in a well-made leather sheath. Karin & I each have a set and they not only come in handy at outdoor events where food is served, they are also the envy of anyone & everyone who has ever been reduced to using their fingers when the plastic tableware inevitably runs out!

Collapsible Stainless Steel Cup - I've only ever seen these in plastic or aluminum before. My Mother-in-law Lorraine always carried an aluminum one to use while taking her medications. When she lost it, I was presented with the perfect excuse for buying a few of these nice steel ones!

Lorraine says it's the nicest thing of its kind she's ever seen - I say so too! Karin keeps saying that she wants to engrave hers (and mine, too, but I keep it stashed away in my fanny pack with the set of knife & fork above!) We'll see...

Another first class company that I've enjoyed doing business with and whose merchandise I've found to be of consistantly first rate "materials and workmanship" is Design Toscano.

If I were to try and list everything in their catalogue that I have either already purchased or that I would like to have, I'd wind up reproducing their entire website!

As the name implies, Tuscan-styled home furnishings are their specialty, but D.T. is also the number 1 source for Egyptian - or Neo-Egyptian - furnishings and decor (check out the Goddess Isis wall sculpture!), tapestries, dragons & gargoyles . . . You name it!

If you're furnishing a Gothic castle or cathederal, or looking for the most unusual gift your favorite person will ever have received, this is the place to look.

Speaking (or writing) of gifts, whenever I want to boost Artist Karin's self esteem, I can't go wrong with anything from the Pyramid Collection!

Extremely feminine neo-Pagan & Wiccan oriented, it's the absolutely perfect place to shop for the witch, sprite, nymph, faerie, or goddess in your life.

You know the "Abbey" character portrayed by actress Polly Parrot on TeeVee's "N.C.I.S?" Well, this is where most of her costuming comes from. These gloves are a cool example.

For more down-to-Earth gifting of Womankind (and all womankind is deserving of frequent gifting!), Coldwater Creek has lots of girlie stuff that'll appeal to straight people as well as to us (we? oui!) old H!pp!es!

Before anyone goes getting the idea that Bob the God is obsessed with gift-giving and presenting presents, let I&I just say that Eye-Nye DO shop for Mice Elf online, too!

Some of the things I've bought online that I like to wear when I go out in public are pants, more pants, shirts, more shirts, and boots.

I already mentioned the Fisher Space Pen above. These miracles of modern science, design and engineering got their name from having been - and continuing to be - used on every manned space mission ever undertaken by N.A.S.A. They write in zero-gravity, under water, upside down, over grease and slime, in the reign . . . You get the picture.

I've owned, carried and used a Space Pen for more than 20 years. They're offered in just about every catalogue that I've listed on this page, but I really recomend going straight to the Space Pen website for the most complete selection of styles, colors, and accessories.

I also mentioned that I carry a ZippoTM even though I only occasionally smoke a fine cigar.

After "rock," fire is probably humankind's oldest tool. It is arguably more useful than "rock" as well.

Fire and rock remain today the most essential survival tools in any extended emergency situation one may imagine. While rock may be improvised with things like stick or hammer, I strongly suspect that anyone who doesn't carry fire is either suicidal, or possessed of an inferior intellect.

I still remember the very first pair of Ray-BanTM sunglasses I got in 1964. I've owned several more pair over the intervening decades, and even the sunglasses I've owned that weren't Ray-BanTM were knock-offs of their designs.

I apologize for including a website so flash-intensive and difficult to navigate in this list - I couldn't find the AmbermaticTM Aviators like my own to link directly to them - but the product is so superlative that I'd be remiss not to offer you, the web-surfer, a chance to peruse it for yourself.

I've had my AmbermaticsTM since 1996, and how I got them makes for an interesting story in itself:

In 1990 I lived next door to Billy Tate, who was a flight instructor at the Tamiami Jet Center, which was right next to the infamous Southern Air Transport hanger. One day I mentioned to Billy how much I'd like to have a pair of Ray-BanTM AmbermaticsTM. Since the Jet Center happened to sell them, Billy stole a pair and traded them to me for a bag of weed.

I wore them literally every single day from the time I got them until the day more than six years later when one of the tiny screws that hold them together stripped itself out and the right lens popped out onto the pavement and shattered.

I sent them in to Ray-BanTM to try out their "lifetime guarantee." Not even a full week went by before a brand, spanking-new pair arrived in the mail, no questions asked. Twelve years later, that replacement pair of AmbermaticsTM remains the only pair of sunglasses I own - or care to own!

As a by-note, I'm happy to say that I haven't seen or heard from Billy-the-thief-Tate since 1991.

If you're smart enough to get all of the spoonerisms, puns and anagrananams at American Science & Surplus , maybe you can explain them to me. They sell borosilicate, need I say more? I do?

Lab-ware, lasers, lenses, materials, magnets, mirrors, motors, optics, tools, and toys - yes, toys too! All assembled and eloquently decribed by an overqulified and verbose staff with too much time on their hands. The X-factor is the fact that everything is at bargain basement prices that even make Bongo Benny blush!

There really aren't enough good sources for scientific equipment for the masses who enjoyed science class but didn't end up disecting corpses for cops, plotting trajectories, pushing buttons or hacking code for the military industrial complex but still want to star-gaze, peer at the secret worlds inside a drop of watter, or find out why it's o.k. to add acid to watter but not o.k. to add watter to acid; That kinda stuff.

Edmund Scientifics has been around for dozens of years and are the makers of the intergalactically renowned Astroscan telescope. Jack Horkhiemer uses one. They have all of the same stuff American Science & Surplus has, and lots more of it, but all brand newand priced accordingly.

Another source for gear suited specifically for personal preparedness and response for medical emergencies is C.P.R. Savers. Wild Turkeys can buy a single triangle bandage or pre-packaged kits to cover everything from a scraped knee to a trainwreck - hazmat and all!

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