Clump #138:  Power half-hour of paper purging.

I came home after a long day today to an amazing surprise.  My younger daughter had taken all of the paper in my anxiety closet and had sorted it out into logical categories.  Magazines; recipes; newspapers; charitable donations; coupons; etc.; etc.  Our cat, Pumpkin, was all tired out just watching her:

This was a really, really huge job.  (Sorry for the poor photos.)

I used this kitchen timer to blast through a half-hour’s worth of it.

The recycling bag below needed taping after bursting open.

This seems like the proper time to dig out a photo of an old magazine illustration I took last winter at the Brandywine River Museum.  I share it with the warning that a museum docent later told me photos of the artwork were not allowed, even without flash.

Was the presence of so much paper the sign of an important man?  Did the paper have anything to do with the story?  In any case, I had never felt so akin to the father of our country.

Here is the description of the illustration:

The Brandywine River Museum, in Chadds Ford, PA, “Presents the work of three generations of Wyeths and a collection of American illustration, still life and landscape paintings.”  It is a beautiful place.

True to the character of the area, with an artist’s sensibility.

Even the trees were painting self-portraits outside.  Seeing famous Andrew Wyeth paintings up-close and original was a thrill …

But nothing like the thrill of my daughter’s gift to me today: making manageable my worst clutter nemesis.