Sorting the Sketchbook Pages
I noticed an open sketchbook leaning crookedly against the magazine rack this morning, its heavy cream pages splayed and catching the floor draft. Slipping down to the rug, I used both plush hands to press the thick paper flat. Beside the baseboard lay an oversized wooden clothes peg and a coiled strip of patterned yellow grosgrain ribbon. Holding the ribbon taut against the lower edge, I looped it snugly around the curled corner of the leaves and clamped the broad wooden peg over the fold. The stiff paper yielded with a gentle rustle, settling flush against the binding in tidy, quiet order.

