Here we go – today is February 1. The days are getting longer, and before the end of the month, we’ll have felt the heat of the sun on our backs. I had quite a bit to do at the Meeting House today, then after some distributing to do. It was light at 4:30 p.m. when I drove home. It’s still dark for a long period of time in the evenings, but at least we are not losing daylight.

Next year, I’d like to go somewhere for at least a part of the winter. Most people do this. Those that do become snowbirds – this is what they’re called. I think that they should be called sun birds.

The DMV bookcase

Sun bird airlines – they’d have bright yellow airplanes, and they’d serve freshly squeezed orange juice. And they’d go just one way – south, to warmer climes.

I’d have no aversion to going to Greenland, Norway, Iceland, or even Scotland. These are cold environs, but the change in place would do me good. I’d like to cross country ski, hut to hut, each one 20 miles distant from the other. The huts would have food, water, and firewood. I’d do a loop and then end up where I started.

The news is good on the book project front. My hard work, today, for the first time, seemed to pay off. All that organizing, all that moving books from upstairs to downstairs – I at one point despaired because I didn’t see that I was working any less. Now the majority of the nonfiction books are downstairs and in boxes on shelves. I had some books that I needed to put with other books – I knew right where they should go. The best part of this is that I now know where the better books are, so I can get them out on the shelves. The better quality product we have, the greater our overall success will be.

I also got all the kids’ books ready to go to the performance of the Velveteen Rabbit on Saturday, and also got books ready for the high school, middle school, and elementary school bookcases. Next, I’m going to start boxing up books for the Kiita Learning Center in Barrow. Then I’ll get books ready to send to the village of Eek.

Gosh, I’m going to have to dive into the U-Haul stash, and soon, and decrease the number of books in it.

I was at the DMV and two little kids, a girl and a boy, were picking out books. I assisted the little girl in picking out books. The little boy had a book, but I wasn’t sure that this was the one he wanted. As they were crossing the parking lot, I found the right book for him, a picture book about trucks. I sprinted across the parking lot and handed it to him. He looked surprised. His mother seemed very happy.

I had enough daylight to do the latter good deed. I would not have done this if it was cold and snowy.

Next: 33. 2/2/23: The Writing Life/The Horsey Life: Finding a Balance