I was reading this morning, in a book in the outhouse, on emotional intelligence, that holding a pencil in one’s teeth activates the smile muscles. I tried it. Well, I can’t sneer. I can scrunch up the muscles above my teeth. This doesn’t bring about a change of mood.

Overcast, outside. Overcast, inside. Maybe I should wave a pencil at the sky.

The high point of my day – one that I do not want to forget. At the Palmer Senior today, a fellow named Lou who I know is well read in the area of poetry, shared a poem with me he wrote. It was quite good – I was very impressed.

Reading at the Senior Center

And how cool it was, that he shared this poem with me. This was a gift. I need to reflect upon such supposedly happenstance events.

Not a high point, but nevertheless an accomplishment – the upstairs Palmer Senior Center staff assisted me in locating the newspaper box that disappeared in March 2020. It was then, because of Covid, that the dining hall was closed. The staff found the facilities manager, and he told me the box was downstairs, by the back door area. He also indicated that such things are “clutter,” the implication being that newspaper boxes with gardening books (and the like) will be removed if they appear on-site.

I said thank you and moments later, let Pete, by phone, know that the box had been located. He went and got it and took it to the Alaska State Fairgrounds. There, he picked up parking and entrance tickets, to be used to drop off books at the recycling and Eckert Garden newspaper box sites. It goes without saying that he also gets to get into the fair for free. I have most of the books ready for him to take to the fairgrounds.

I spent the afternoon pricing the Alaskana books that we’re going to be selling at Saturday’s Kaladi Brothers Co-op for a Cause. I first had to retrieve them from the U-Haul storage locker, then carry them up the driveway into the house.

The best part was when Pete joined me and we both priced books. I’m okay at it, but he’s really good at it. He’s an excellent online shopper, and I guess that this task also fit the bill.

All this week I’ve been extremely anxious because I feared that I would not have the time to get all that I needed to get done this week, done.

My plate was as full, book project wise, as it’s ever been. I had to sort, categorize, clean, and distribute innumerable books, meet with the school superintendent, and get 10 boxes of books ready to send to Schenectady, NY. The hurdles seemed insurmountable as I approached them – and I’d say less so once I looked back – but this time, no. They were, and will remain, nearly formidable.

And now that the week’s behind me, I say har har. This without a pencil between my teeth. Har har. I did what had to be done – an amazing feat that I am going in the next few days to boast about.

219. 8/12/22: Home Sweet Home