Not the stretchy, warm taffy; but rather, the cold, hard, brittle taffy. This is what time seems like to me right now. I don’t know how to elaborate on this analogy, except to say that time right now is not elastic. Now if I was Einstein, I would use numbers and symbols to explain what I am getting at. Just using words, I am falling short of being able to explain what I want to explain. I will just have to assume that I have a very smart and intuitive readership.

Alys recycling cardboard

I came back from my vacation on Saturday. Yesterday, Sunday, I worked around the place. I was unknowingly, attempting to drag out my vacation a bit. And this morning I took Raudi for a ride on our trails. This afternoon I returned to work and, as what I need to get done comes back to mind, so has my high, work-related level of angst.

I began my workday by sorting and categorizing the books that were lying around. This included Saturday’s drop offs. My friend Timothy stopped by, so I didn’t immediately get to work. Right after Timothy left, a woman from Dot Lake stopped in and I spent time with her, selecting books to take back to the village with her. Both events were fun, and my inner voice at one point poked her head in my mental door and said, “hey, people are now a part of the equation.”

So I had an hour to get the place back in order. I sort of did. I did remind myself as I worked that since the move, I’m spending far less time than before, shlepping books around. This, of course, should leave time for other things, but that time has not yet materialized.

We next went to give an assist at the Alaska State Fair Recycling area – we took wagons and picked up cardboard, and bottles, and cans. We did this in the rain. All the while, I was thinking of what I needed to get done on the project. We did check on the newspaper boxes, and I put books in them. This was sort of a mental reprieve. I used to enjoy doing the recyclable thing, but not today because I was, in my head, back at work.

I tended to the horses after we got home – they are unhappy about the rain – then after dinne,r I resumed working. Grr, grr, grr. Pete and I went over the invitation list for the upcoming open house – there are a number of people I need to notify. And also, we worked on getting our ideas for the Foraker Group Meeting on Friday. I took notes and tomorrow, will write them up.

These latter day tasks took us to the top of the hour, it is now 11:30 p.m. The only good thing about going to bed so late is that I stand a good chance of falling into a deep sleep and not waking up until later on in the morning. I don’t believe in hope, so I will just have to wait and see what happens.

Next: 237. 8/30/23: Fall for Y’all