"The Mole had been working very hard all the morning..."

{It turns out it wasn’t that cumbersome after all.}

I spent the majority of my Sunday rearranging furniture. Hauling shelving, rotating a queen-size bed from one side of the room to the other, sliding large folios of prints and drawings and books to be bound, wiping dusty skirting boards, vacuuming newly cleared surfaces, piling high towers of floor pillows and everyday essential non-essentials, heaving small tables and pushing semi-full bookshelves from one room to the next (no need to empty all the shelves when you could push and strain and leave tracks on the carpeted floor). All done so that a working table sits beneath a window in both studio and bedroom, and who doesn’t desire a change in preference to cleaning and shuffling and organising as per usual?

This morning I have a stiff lower back and achy sides. And to show for the hard work and the juggling of furniture (narrow hallways and small doorframes make for Tetris-inspired moves), I have a mini mountain of stuff in each room that I have yet to find a spot for. A water bottle, a pair of rolled socks that fell behind the dressing table, fur-covered cat toys once lost, magazines, short pencils loved to near-tip existence, a box of matches mostly spent, business cards, notes on paper, notes in books, receipts, photographs, an empty box that once contained a vial of perfumed oil… all of those things for the most part destined for the bin, the shelf or the washbasin. The end result always worth it and the clutter seems more organised and more willing to help me set to work.

A new space to work in always appeals to me. Procrastinating always appeals to me.

Best hop back to it. Happy Monday, friends.

(With a title pulled from the very first line in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows...The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and step and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms.)

Comments

[louise]

A new space is always a joy. And as for procrastinating, I don't think you've anything to worry about. I just headed for your Tetris link and found myself bitterly disappointed that I couldn't play it. That's at least half an hour of time wasting I could have achieved! xo lj

[lisa s]

new spaces and procrastination appeal to me too.

i started re-arranging the studio on friday, but had to stop when i hurt my back [no carpet to slide on]

xo

[amisha]

procrastinating by clearing out is the best kind, i think... you have a fresh new space to show for it and i think clearing out the space always gives more mental room to breathe as well. i'm overdue for a clearout myself...
xox

[kate]

I loved the quote from 'The Wind in the Willows' and your accompanying illustration.

It's always such a great feeling to reorganise the furniture and do a big tidy.

[risa]

i tend to use organizing as a form of procrastionation. it works every time.

and i love your cumbersome piece. fantastic.

[wendy]

hope the back is getting the kinks out of things...love that bird with the city on his back.

[andrea (scout)]

i do love a good 'wind in the willows' quote... and how perfect to have two tables under windows. you are such a worker bee. :)

[gracia]

Thanks, Louise, Lisa S, Amisha, Kate, Risa, Wendy, and Andrea, for sharing your fondness for shuffling around ones workspace in order to both stall for time and become a little more organized in the process, and for your appreciation of an oft used quote pulled from a childhood favourite of mine, The Wind in the Willows. I always identified more keenly with Rat and would greatly love to spend my days on such a riverbank messing about on and with boats. I’d wear a jaunty, little red scarf around my neck, and I’d say terribly wise things whilst preening my rodent whiskers.

I’m pretty certain that were I to look up a post in February of last year, I’d find I was doing the very same thing. And I am also pretty certain that I used the same quote… oh, dear.

Best hop back to it, and make the most of the afternoon light whilst it is still here. Next week I shall have a few new collages to share, if all goes to plan. The new workspaces are calling to be messed up a little!

Enjoy your day,
g xo

[shari]

i never rearrange...though i always long to. beautiful new collage. hope your new space is all you dreamed of.

[julie]

I love this collage Gracia - so good and i love to rearrange - the feeling of renewing all the time xxx