Pete told me yesterday (and this I know for sure) that it would be light out at 8:00 a.m. I believed him, and thus dilly dallied, failing to change my physical therapy appointment time. Bad decision. I was wide awake at 7:30 a.m. It was dark. It was still dark at 8:25 a.m. when I headed out to my car. It was snowing, but I had to no choice but to drive to town. Buffalo Mine Road was slippery. I drove slowly, white knuckling it a bit.

I was late for my physical therapy appointment. It was light when I was done, but then the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel was just two blocks away.

Hall-O-Ween at Mat-Su College

Bill was there, picking up his books for distribution. We chatted a bit and he then took off. I packed up books for distribution – by then it was dusk out, and the road conditions were okay. Yesterday, I had packed up the fiction books that I was dropping off at the Palmer Senior Center. I left them in the downstairs library. I then made the rounds, the borough building, the DMV, Family Treasurers, and on to swimming.

It seemed very dark, looking out the large, upper plate glass window of the Palmer pool. This was in contrast to yesterday, when the sun was shining so brightly that I had to avert my gaze when heading to the far side of the pool.

It was a wonderful day, swimming wise. Today, I swam for real. I figured out how to do the crawl in a more efficient fashion, by turning my head from one side to the other, when doing the crawl stroke. Once, I half breathed in when I should have breathed out – I have an out when I do this, which is to do back strokes.

I am really enjoying swimming – I think that the intrinsic rewards are a motivator – first, there is the pre pool shower, then after the swim, the hot tub dunk, then after that, the post pool shower. I am now thinking that I might start to intersperse days of swimming with days of running. This way, I can take a shower when I’m done, and even hop into the hot tub. Ahh, life can be good.

It’s a short drive from the pool to the former banquet room of the Eagle Hotel, so I got there a few minutes after Pam and the developmentally disabled individuals. I spent the next few hours getting ready for this evenings Hall-o-Ween event, which was at Mat-Su College, where Pete teaches. I packed up ten or so banker boxes with books, and Pete both transported them and laid them out on tables. So I had less to do when I got there.

It was a long evening, being upbeat and passing out books and telling parents about our project and upcoming programs. I had two board members with me. They did not have the get up and go that I seemed to have. Oh well.

By the time all the books were again packed up and we were ready to go, it was dark again. In a month and 21 days it will again be getting light.

Next: 297. 11/1/24: My Father’s Daughter