The View from Above the Shop

Following a Herculean display of procrastination lasting, I kid you not, literally almost two years, I managed to make it to not only one but two personal appointments at a bank (the first one scheduled by Jon for me, the second one scheduled two hours after the first because I managed to show up belligerently unprepared), and now am feeling overcome with a shocking feeling of productivity. Is this how the rest of the world operates? Getting things done? How fortunate that the world of Wonder Pens does not require me to book (or attend) any bank appointments.

Rainy days are alternating with dry and sunny days, and summer has moved decidedly into fall. Here we are breaking out the warm sweaters and hunting for missing mittens. The dropping temperatures bring out the friskiness in Super, the dog, which exhibits itself in a sort of manic panic, lurching around hyperactively looking for a lost ball. I’ve been obsessively (procrastinating by) planning out my holds at the library, looking forward to stacks of new reads to fill up my beside as we enter into the stormy months that require me to huddle inside with a hot cup of tea. Perhaps I should borrow something by David Allen.

Like a bear preparing for hibernation: although of course, entering into the holiday season is anything but hibernation for a shop keeper. This is my favourite time of year, this slow, exciting build up of planning and preparation and wild guesses before the holiday madness.

Hallowe’en and Scriptus are around the corner, new lines and brands and events are slowly starting to materialize, both theoretically and physically into our plans for the next couple of months. I can barely keep up with all the pens I’m inking up for myself, completely without restraint or reason, it seems. Why not. The hazy and slow days of summer are over and the shops are bustling, customers with stories of travel or new jobs, projects on the go behind the curtain.

As Caleb—and we—have transitioned into a new school year, with new after school activities and nightly routines, we’re settling into the season. Often small business owners will talk about their shops like another child, and in many ways this is true. I’m working on a balance, though, between all the kids.

Currently reading: Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Currently eating: Kawartha Dairy ice cream
Currently looking forward to: snacking on the front desk Hallowe’en candy
Currently watching: Naomi, 2 years old, taking one shirt at a time out of her brother’s drawer, and depositing them upon the floor in a pile
Currently dreading: the piles of laundry ahead of me
Currently writing with: an army of Safaris and Kakunos
Latest heard from the mouths of babes (Caleb): Did Super (the dog) come from the planet Krypton?