The longest day of the year is two days away. Owww, then the days get shorter. Oww, I wish that I could insert a few more weeks into the calendar.

July is summer, for sure. May now is my favorite month because I know that June and July are forthcoming.

I now wake up at 4:00 a.m. and it’s light out, but it’s often overcast. The heat burns off the cloud cover.

There are a lot of robins around now. There are no swallows around this year. A bad sign. I’d like to think that they are around, maybe not far away.

A great day. I wrote for an hour this morning – adding to my thoughts about how the BLBP formed a What Now committee. It’s such a good idea, a What Now committee – everyone talks and uses the consensus model – and no one has to sit there, silently, while the others cast aspersions on their character. I think, well, if I include my thoughts about this in a book, maybe others will find it useful and won’t have to endure what I endured. It’s a wonder that I didn’t resign. I thought, like the westie in Higgelty Pigglety Pop! That, “There has to be more to life than this.”

So I made headway that I didn’t think that I was going to make by forcing myself to work.

At the hotel – Pete and I met with the director of the Alaska Literacy Program, and we are now partners. We will share space. My one concern was, do we have enough space for this? Coincidently, Atli, the building owner, was on the premises, and so after considerable negotiation, he agreed to rent us the broom closet (no kidding) this in addition to a rent raise. His common refrain seems to be, “You guys are getting a good deal here.”

How to explain that I am a volunteer and putting in long hours and for no pay? He just does not want to understand. It is often, now that I think about it, not that people can’t understand certain things, but it’s that they don’t want to understand. Degree of interest is a case in point. It is not, for example, that I can’t understand car mechanics, but that I don’t want to understand car mechanics.

So maybe we are all equally able to understand all things, meaning we are all equally intelligent. But rather, a lack of interest keeps us from accomplishing great things.

It was Juneteenth, and there was a lovely ceremony on the lawn adjoining the train depot. We were there and duly recognized for being there and having books. Pam and I almost didn’t go because I had so much going on. But then I decided that it would be a slight if we didn’t show up.

There was a small parade after – with a handful of people walking and carrying signs. A simple but well-founded gesture. In time, good is going to trump evil.

Next: 168. 6/20/25: Memorable Solstice