This turned out to be a combination birthday/vacation day. It’s one that I won’t ever forget. If anyone ever asks, what did you do on your birthday on September 21, 2021, I will say, I spent it in Homer, Alaska and had a wonderful time.

I had my second work visit today – I talked for a long while to Dave Barry and Cheryl IIlg who are on the board of the Homer Friends of the Library. They both had notebooks open and on the ready when I came into the room. I blew it, I started talking about the Bright Lights Book Project and could not stop. It was like a plug popped out of my mouth. I noticed that both Dave and Cheryl’s eyes glazed over after a bit, but I just could not shut up.

If I’d shut up, I would have learned more about the Homer Library than I actually did. Amazingly, I did learn quite a bit. The most important thing might have been that the Friends of the Library has an active board – this enables them to accomplish a great deal, to a large part because they all work together. Right now, the Bright Lights Book Project is piggy backing on the recycling center’s non-profit status. And this little piggy does not seem to happy about this.

Cheryl took me on a tour – the Friends of the Homer library has constructed a story walk – they take a story each month and put the pages up on stands that are on posts and cover them with plexiglass. The Story Walk was adjacent to the Friends of the Library bookmobile.

The bookmobile had all the bells and whistles – murals painted on the signs, places for the names of donors under the murals, LED lighting in the book area, switches for turning on lights up front, solar panels that provided energy for light, and books, lots of books, on shelves with bungi type cords holding them in place.

This is what I want. Now I see that this is possible.

Cheryl also gave me a children’s ABC book and pointed out that the illustrations were the same as those that graced the very large children’s room wall.

Earlier today, Milena and I had heard that a local bookstore was going out of business and had books to give away, so of course we went to check this out. We pulled into the driveway of the bookstore, called Observance of Hermits, and looked to our right where there was huge table filled with boxes of books, and behind it, a sign that read FREE BOOKS. I ran inside and was told by the shop owner to take as many books as I wanted.

Milena gave me an assist loading up the van. Our subsequent haul mainly consisted of children’s books. There was also a box of westerns and a box of Alaska thrillers. Major paydirt here.

I am leaving here with more books than I came with. Will wonders ever cease. Happy Bookday to me.

Next: 258. 9/18/21: Books, Books, and More Books