It’s now dark by 8:00 p.m. I don’t have the time after getting home to do much beside tend to the animals. I have taken to stroking Black Tail and Speckles at night, when they are on their roost. They are slowly getting used to me. Red Hen has become more appreciative since the death of Bader and Ginsberg.

And so this morning the phone rang unusually early, 8:20 a.m. to be exact. I thought it might be a survey in which I would have hung up, but then heard the words, “Koslosky Building.” Things dawn on me slowly in the daytime, and twice as slowly in the morning. I do consider myself to be a morning person – my inability to react quickly in the early hours has not dimmed my appreciation for this time of day.

Alys at original Vagabond bookcase

I figured out that the caller was Michele Kincaid. When there was a pause in the conversation, she said that there were now shelves in the lobby of the Koslosky Center, and that I could now put books on them.

She then said that though she hadn’t seen them, the shelves were “A work of art.”

I thanked her and then got on with my day. I went to U-Haul and picked up duplicates of books – this is now all we have in storage. I can’t believe it – how many books have been cleaned and sent back out into the world – thousands and thousands of them. And now, all we have are these duplicates, which no one wants to spend their time stamping.

So I got the books then went over to K building. The shelves, yes, most definitely a work of art. There are just three shelves and not a whole lot of room, and of course, I am disappointed about this. Best would have been to let us put the two bookcases back in the main entryway.

Well the shelves are going to attract attention, and people will take the books. The question is, how often are these shelves going to have to be stocked? I imagine twice a day, which is going to be a pain in the ass. But I will do this.

I hung out for a bit and talked with a few people who went out of their way to tell me that the project is a good one.

I next met my friend Cathy at the Palmer Senior Center, and we checked out a bookcase in the Palmer Gift Center Gift Shop. The plan is to put this bookcase in the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel and put books for sale on it. We’ll also put gift cards on it.

This is an experiment. Let’s see how it goes.

Next: 260. 9/27/25: Oh Sister, Where art Thou?