Still cold out, partly cloudy. But the air smells good. The robins are also now hanging out on the ground – maybe they are now feeding the egg sitters. No swallows at all this year. We are wondering if they got wiped out by the avian flu.

Today, sick this morning, having to keep running to the bathroom. This may be why they call this sort of thing having the runs. Fortunately, I made it every time to the can, not so yesterday. More than anything, I am very tired. I resisted the impulse to craw into bed until I got home early this evening – then I gave in to it. So the horses did not get ridden.

Sorting books

I have told people that pack trips require preparation – you don’t just load up horses and go. But we may end up doing this. I feel bad because in working on the book project, I have neglected my animals. This has got to change.

Others have priorities. But If I have priorities, the job won’t get done. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Pete and I are gone. We are the work force – the question is, will others put in additional hours? If worse comes to worse, they can close the doors of the former banquet room of the old Eagle Hotel and Pete and I, upon our return, can open them. I won’t worry about it. Right now, I’m worried about having enough time to get the horses and gear ready to go. I wish this was a long-distance trip. It is going to be a series of day treks, which will be good for the horses.

Nevertheless, it was a good day. I went to the Palmer Senior Center and my friend Cathy; she and I framed illustrations from books. I was worried that I didn’t have enough of the right matts or enough good books. I needn’t have worried. She was pleased with what I came up with.

Cathy is a very calm person, and also an excellent artist. She has years and years of matting experience behind her. Me, I did some of this in college, when I took a photography class.

The one thing I am good at is figuring out what matt backgrounds complement the images.

I stayed extra long at the Senior Center because it was a relaxed atmosphere. I wasn’t up for working on BLBP stuff. But finally, I headed in that direction and put my good shoulder to the wheel. I mainly stamped and cleaned books. Pete was there – he moved boxes of books around and took some of the books that were village bound to the post office.

Our latest discovery is that ground rate postage is even cheaper than book rate. Once we get going, we will be able to get our backlog of children’s books to villages. I like boxing up the books and putting the labels on them.

There was a time when I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing.  Now I have it figured out.

Next: 143. 5/24/24: A Conversation with Hrimfara and Raudi