is a mostly useless phenomenon, something along the lines of the wet cat in a room full of rocking chairs: pissed off, paranoid, and pacing.*

On the other hand, one sometimes manages to do something useful with it.  As it might be rearranging the artwork on a staircase wall.  Artwork that had not been changed since the 1920’s when it was put together as a nod to the Ellsworth/Webster family history and the Century Company publishing business.  Only a few shifts here and there, not a complete turnover.  But a refreshing change of imagery.  I got tired of two dour old men watching me.  I am sure that Mr. Caine and Mr. Gilder were good friends of William Webster Ellsworth, but enough was enough.  The Sphinx and the Cell are now balanced by an English church and a New York canal scene.

Changing the artwork actually isn’t the easiest decision to make, for the simple reason that the wall in question uses hangers driven into the plaster as opposed to the picture rail.  Hanging things off a picture rail is fiddly business, getting the wires the right length and all, but nothing compared to the question of ‘do you really, really want to drill a hole here?’  Colored plaster, or plaster with a custom paint job, does not take kindly to patching if you get it wrong.

*Combined with stewing about an article that I need to be writing.