January 17, 2023: Tired
Another long day, and me almost but not quite too tired to give a recap. Sunny and cold, no snow. Good idea, for Mother Nature to hit us with three storms and then back off, best to get it all done at once. Nonstop all day – doing book stuff. First went to the Palmer Senior Center. One of the regulars was back, Glenn, hadn’t seen him in a while. He says to me, he says that his wife died 17 days ago, so now he can have as many books around as he likes. He added that he wore the pants in the family, but she told him which ones. |
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He got up from his chair and went to get some commodities. Loyd, a Senior Center regular, thin, frail, white hair, going bald, with a white beard and moustache, he looked at me and said, “rather cold, wasn’t he?” I just shrugged. But I also thought, well as least the guy will be able to bring home books. Now if Pete was like that, meaning he told me that I had too many books around, we would no longer be living together. I’d be homeless, and pushing a shopping cart around, one with books in it. Pete’s quite the opposite. This morning, when I was at the Palmer Senior Center, he was at the Meeting House, taping up the Banker Boxes, which I’ll be using for storage. Cleaned books, straightened up some, then we went to town for the Rasmuson Retirement party for Diane Kaplan. This was the one that we both dressed up for. The retirement party, it was so that nonprofit organizations might pay their respects to Diane. It was held in the Anchorage Museum. Free Parking in the parking garage. We lucked out and found a space close to the museum entrance. There were about 100 people there. We didn’t know anyone. We got buffet food – I have this theory that there are three levels of catered food. 1. Crackers and cheese, for the low-lifes, 2. Artichoke hearts, olives, strawberries, cheese, and the like for hungry nonprofit types, and 3. Salmon, crab, and caviar for the upper crust. We were in the number two ranking. There were tributes and a dance number for Diane. If she felt sad about retiring, she didn’t show it. After, people mingled. The nonprofit crowd is rather tight – they were there to talk with one another, not hobnob with the likes of newcomers like us. I was ready, after all the hoopla, to head home, but Pete (Dapper Dan the nonprofit man), he decided it was time to work the crowd, and work the crowd he did. He went around talking to people and passing out bookmarks. The people he talked to had no choice but to talk back. And so they learned about the book project and got free bookmarks. I’d say it was a good day, it just went on a little long. |
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