May 5, 2026. A landmark day. I was heading down to the road gate, and I saw two robins fly by. They seemed to me to be a couple. They migrated here and found one another fairly quickly. My heart was filled with joy when I saw this. The robins being back – this and the leaves on the trees appearing, means that yes, it is spring.

Come fall, the leaves will change color and fall off the trees. And the robins will head south.

I want it all. I want to see geese and I want to smell the cottonwoods. And I want to have the time to totally experience spring. The latter is the most difficult because I am so busy. Today was a case in point. I had two Zoom meetings this morning and of course attended them both.

Both were equally good. I had recently been wondering why I was persisting with the idea of the BLBP being a nonprofit and finally, with some help, figured out that we are doing more than just giving away books. We are making Alaskan communities more literate in part by making free books accessible to large numbers of people. I am thinking that this is something that I will address in Shelf Life: A Book about an Overabundance of Books.

I worked on Shelf Life today, after the Zoom Meetings. I am so busy that an hour of time spent writing is time that could be spent doing something else. Some have intimated that I need to get volunteers to shoulder more of the load. Easier said than done, for sure.

Then, when I got to the hotel, there was yet another scheduled meeting. This one concerned volunteer coordination. I am now going to have to do this job. And I am also going to have to get the literacy program going. I felt very overwhelmed sitting there and thinking about all this.

As I write this, my eyes are getting heavy. Pete was falling asleep at the dinner table tonight. Tomorrow, he goes in for carpal tunnel surgery. This is already worse than the first time around because we both know what’s coming. He knows what the surgery entails, which is something I do not know. But we both know what it is going to be like for him here, on the home front. Pete won’t be able to do much of anything for some time because he won’t be able to use his right/dominant hand.

So I will cook, clean, garden, and be a good Haus Frau. And most importantly, I will be a good friend to him. I am planning on taking Wednesday off so that I have time to oversee his recovery.

I am really impressed with that last sentence. I wrote it when I was really tired.

And me, tomorrow, I am going to distribute books and send emails out to good numbers of people, as well as attend the Palmer Senior Center writers’ group.

Next: 124. 5/6/25: Giving Pete a Hand