The past few days had been warm, with some rain. The rain, everyone has been worrying about it freezing. At 6 a.m. I raised my head and looked out the window and it appeared to be foggy. I looked again and noticed that it was snowing.

My concern was that the snow would coat the ice making it invisible but still slippery. We got lucky. We got overall about eight inches and it, and it was wet and stuck to the snow.

Pete and I had to get to the other end of the town by 11 a.m., so we left an hour early. The road surface going into Wasilla was slippery plus visibility was reduced by the heavy snowfall. Pete drove slow, and I looked out the window at the cars that had driven off the road. Not a good day for some.

Raudi

We got to our destination, a small café in Wasilla, and there we met with Theo and Heather, who work at the Knik Tribal Council.

Theo, bearded, with a ready smile, was reticent, but very enthused about our project. Heather, who is more ebullient, was equally enthused. It turned out to be a major brainstorming session – the two brought as many ideas to the table as Pete and I did.

I can’t say now what we did get accomplished. There was talk about where the portable building might go, and as well, talk about transporting books to that shelter when the time comes. Heather was interested in having their organization build bookcases, and then getting local artists to decorate them. This, in my mind, harkened back to my attempt to get bookends made, and with the same purpose.

I really liked the idea of a mobile learning center – this harkened back to my idea of a bookmobile. Heather shared my vision on this one; few people do.

We parted with all of us agreeing to keep in touch. Now it’s back to the waiting game, waiting on word from Spring Creek Farm as to whether we can put the building on their land, and waiting on word from the IRS about our nonprofit status.

We returned to town, and I did my Tuesday afternoon thing – Nan, Lois, and Sheila sorted, categorized, and cleaned books, and I put things back in order. The Meeting House haul included last Saturday’s VCRS haul and the U-Haul haul. My friend Timothy came and took a box of books of all sorts, including cookbooks for his sister. And my friend Sarah, who teaches elementary school, took books for her students and books for the women’s prison in Eagle River.

By the time Pete dropped me off back here, it had stopped snowing. I took care of evening chores. It would be nice if temperatures stayed in the 20s and it did not rain or snow. But change is a constant around here, and this is very true of the weather. We’ll just have to do as we’ve been doing, and make our plans accordingly.

Next: 26. 1/26/22: Forging New Trails