Not so very long ago, March was, Eliot notwithstanding, the cruelest month. At least, on my calendar, which was attuned to North Dakota time, which moves ve-ry, ve-ry slow-ly from September through May.

Brown hills, dirty gray streets, grungy snow, roof-high piles of snirt (snow mixed with dirt and rocks) where the city's front-loaders had dumped it to keep the streets passable -- it was downright painful by March, with everyone's eyes so desperate for something green that people were known to buy Chilean asparagus at the grocery store and prop them up in their front yards, just so they'd have something that looked like a lawn for the five or ten minutes it took for the tender shoots to freeze.

Though I now live in a comparative lotusland, where the grass usually stays green all winter, and by this time many kinds of bulbs have sprouted and bloomed (ah! daffodils! oh! crocuses!), I still have a sympathetic reaction.

The only surefire way to color up a drab not-quite-winter, not-quite-spring month is to haul out the ink bottles and set up a rainbow of pens. Just think of the colors, evocative names and all: spring green, fuchsia, tangerine, buttercup, emerald, violet, Sherwood, rose, pansy, you name it. What a wonderful array of colors we can choose! Makes you downright glad to live in the 21st Century, considering that those in centuries past had to be happy with walnut-shell and iron-gall inks in a uniform shade of browny-black.

This month, we have new and exciting pens for you to drool over (and cadge, beg, or buy, if you like!). They'll all be happy volunteers in your fill-the-world-with-color plans. Among them are Bexley's new model, the Owners' Club Pen. For customers only -- if you haven't bought an earlier Bexley and sent in your purchase card, you can't even buy one of these -- it immediately gained appreciation among our staff. With lovely vintage lines and a big surprise in the filling system, it's among our favorites of this month's new pens.

Another, which is spectacular in its own right and would look awesome with a bright fuchsia ink in it is the gorgeous red S.T. Dupont, one of several Bill features in his piece of the Montparnasse line. Big, bold pens, any one of these would be waranteed to lift your spirits on the dullest of drab days.

You'll find others, of course, but no doubt by now you're thinking of pens in your own collection that would look great with many different ink colors. Especially if you happen to have a few clear pens, you can entertain your eyes for a good long time if you fill each one with a different color.

On a slightly darker note, we've got a look into the world of counterfeit pens, S.T. Dupont Orpheos, to be exact. There's some very, very good copies of the real thing hitting the market right now, and this article is a must read for anyone considering an ebay shopping excursion for Duponts any time soon!

Those of you who have real lives (read: not the kind you got during a blue-light special) probably have other things to do with your time. You may have gardens to plant, hills to climb, bike rides to take, snowshoeing to do, or any number of other things. But don't neglect your pens and some bright-colored ink -- they're guaranteed to lift your spirits on the grayest of gray days.