Rearrangements

Rearrangements.  You begin with a certain arrangement, and then, you begin to rearrange so that, eventually, the original intent, or thought, has drifted away.  To be specific here, I am thinking of household objects.  You buy a certain object which holds appeal, and arrange it a certain way so that it will give pleasure. As time goes by, you cease to notice it, or else you buy other objects which either replace the first, or join the first in a new arrangement. 
This is especially true when you decide to rearrange a room, or else when you move!  I have been very busy the last two weeks with packing and unpacking.  Unpacking, moving pictures, vases, candlesticks, etc., into new arrangements to fit the new space.
I  happen to like glass, and have some depression pieces and some reproductions also. Most of it was in my old screen porch, set up like a little retro 50's porch, but that has been dismantled.  The new yellow sunroom will be more of a modern "Victorian" (is that a paradox?), although I have kept the set of bubble glass dishes in the cabinet.  My poster of Icarus shall go into that room. And I am sewing a new set of curtains for two of the windows, for something new to add to this room's composition.
I am also unpacking my books in the basement.  This is taking longer than I thought it would. I know I am going to run out of space, as the bookcases were packed full before, and I don't think I can possibly recreate the previous arrangement.  This time, I find myself adjusting some genres, and some authors.  It's not that I had a very organized system before, but it is being changed just a bit again.  For example, my Atwoods and Munros no longer sit on the shelf where my eyes look directly when standing, but are lower.  Why?  Because I know them so well.  Newer Canadian authors, such as Camilla Gibb and Elizabeth Hay, have moved to the higher shelves, because I am still making the acquaintance, shall we say, of these writers. Female authors are now separate from the males. (Greg Hollingshead still stays on a higher shelf, though  When will that man write another suburban novel?) David Adams Richards is on a lower shelf, but this is because it is a painful thing to read his novels - The River of the Broken-Hearted almost did me in.The Victorians have moved up again, for I intend to reread many of these again when I have time.  And this is just the beginning of my revised categorization system.
I am back at work on Monday.  So that  means final touch-ups and rearranging will take some time. And that is all right.  A move always disorients me, makes me reflect too much on time passing by. The "old" place now sits  empty and I miss it. yes, I miss the old arrangement, and will need time to readjust, to regain my equilibrium. I say again, what must it be like to stay in one place for most of one's life?


Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away.
Ben Hecht