Blink and you’ll miss it

Published on by Jane
Wednesday sky, 6:25 AM.

I caught it just as it was fading into blue. I seem to be all about just catching things this week. Pause for a minute, and the hour is gone. Look away from the knitting, and mis-knit a stitch. I have a long list of things to do and remember scrolling through my head. I have written most of it down, but it insists on scrolling, still. I may as well try to catch bits as they pass, and let the rest go.


I’m working every day till I leave on Friday afternoon, so I need lists to keep on track. Packing, cleaning up, working, knitting, laundry, a special project — all have their own kind of urgency, and I just have to sort. Today is Returns Day at the store. We’re closed (which is why I am taking pictures at this hour instead of getting ready to go out the door), but the day will be a long one and pretty tiring. Good tiring, though, and cleansing, because old books will go back home to be replaced by newer, fresher titles.

This is the seasonal shift at the bookstore that I love the most. What cover will catch my eye? What have I been waiting to read? What will I be delighted to pack up and send away? Pulling books to return is immensely satisfying, and necessary, and gives me a chance to tweak and rearrange and reassess. The slow season is short; the Holidays are just around the corner. Look away for just a bit, and it’s Christmas.


I have the same urge at home, to rearrange and sort and remove, but there isn’t time for that this week. I’ll get to do a little, because I want to take a big bag of fiber to V in Maryland. She is spinning lots of white yarn, with bits of color and contrast, for a series of hats. I can help with that, and my closet will be able to relax a little.

I don’t have all the time in the world, but that doesn’t matter, it never does. I have to go to work. I have to prepare for a road trip (I love to prepare for a road trip). I have to be away from work for five days in a row, and the preparation for that will consume me. There is the seaming of a baby kimono, the finishing of a hand towel, of a sock toe, of this or that little knitting thing…

All in good time. Whenever. On Friday afternoon I’ll be on the road, on my way to Maryland, to K’s and the new spinning wheel, to a weekend with my family and my mom, to a visit with dear V. I don’t want to miss any of it.


8 thoughts on “Blink and you’ll miss it”

  1. YAY! The wheel’s coming home! How exciting! And if you ever get a moment you could give a call and meet me for food or coffee – do you have my number?(and yes, you are SO right, Sissy Spacek is the perfect voice for TKAM, which is the perfect book, and now I want a copy of that and to be in the car alone for a few hours…)

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  2. Have a wonderful – and relaxing – time away. I too need to find some time for organizing. Everytime I’ve been stash diving recently, I’ve left things messier than before. Not good. I feel so much better when things are not so out of control.

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  3. Sweet Jane,Your post made me long for a road trip – whoa, Nellie, Rhinebeck is around the corner!As a list maker, I like to make them & check items off. Something satisfies me w/that process. Hope returns day went well. Covers of books can be quite enticing & flirty, I think. Let us know what caught your fancy.Have a grand trip, hon, & let’s be careful out there.XOXO

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  7. Have a wonderful time! I know what you mean about the fall books. My brain hurts there’s so much coming out that I want to read (and so little time to do it in). But did you see the Booker shortlist? Other than the Sarah Waters, what the…?

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