This evening I went for a walk with Judy and Brian who are putting up with me/putting me up, in that order. They live adjacent to an extensive trail system and marsh area. We stopped at a nearby pond where numerous ducks were doing their duck thing. On the return trip we saw two geese, who were keeping to themselves.

I got excited when I saw the geese. I reminded Brian and Judy who were not as enthused that these geese had most likely travelled thousands of miles and had at least a hundred more miles to go. And yes, the return of the geese heralds the onset of spring. Geese are my totem animal.

Brian and Judy were understandably non-committal. They have to deal with the guano on their trail system. However, I hope that my enthusiasm was infectious. The geese deserve respect and admiration.

It was quite the day. I am wired. What, I am wondering, happens, cognitively, when one hands someone a book? And what happens when an adult is given a book that they possessed as a child? If an MRI were done, which part of their brain would fire up in each instance? And what happens cognitively when they pass on a book they enjoyed to another individual? And, I am wondering, does giving someone a book further motivate them to pass on books to others, as I am doing?

I’m going to hold that thought, put it in my pocket and every so often take it out and examine it.

Interesting – I brought our books to this symposium. Very quickly, readers and those teaching reading began taking them. There was a literacy related organization that had books to pass out – beautiful board books. They also went quickly, in fact faster than our books.

I ran out of bookmarks fairly quickly.

As the books went, I became increasingly more disheartened, thinking that I’d have no books on hand for tomorrow. I considered calling Pete and having him bring in a load, but of course, deemed this impractical since he would have a long drive. I remembered that my friend Sarah would be coming by to say hello, and that she would undoubtedly be up for assisting me in getting more books. When she arrived, I suggested that we go to Title Wave books and get more kids’ books. We did. And we had a very good time.

Title Wave (upon request) gave us six boxes of books, which we brought back to the Eagan Center. We carried them into the building, moved them downstairs in an elevator, and then carried them over to our exhibitor space.

Getting these books was fortuitous. Build it and they will come. In the late afternoon, lots and lots of teachers stopped by, picked out books, and chatted about various things. By 5:45 p.m. I had two boxes of books left. I suspect that I’ll again run out tomorrow (Saturday) but I am not going to fret about this tonight. Instead, I am going to lull myself to sleep by counting geese.

Next: 117. 4/29/23: An Infinite Number of Stories