We have two more days of increasing sunlight – the 21st is the Summer Solstice. I am more fond of the winter solstice because this means that the days are getting longer. This time around, the days will be getting shorter.

I have regrets as the light starts to wane. And this is that I have not taken advantage of the increasing daylight and wonderful weather. I get home late. I eat dinner. I clean up after all the animals. Then it’s too late to go for a ride.

This has to change. It will change. I think that my volunteer position will become less demanding fairly shortly. It’s hard finding time to get the work done and getting home with this other demand, which is Summer in the Park(s). Add to this, Friday Fling, the Friday market.

In past years I blew off Friday Fling because we did not have enough volunteers at both the hotel and for this event. This year we do. But this combined with Summer in the Park(s) is more than time consuming.

Plus, the Palmer Visitor’s Center lawn, which is adjacent to the garden, has been discovered, much like Hatcher Pass, an area north of here that has become a very popular ski, mountain biking, berry picking, and hiking area. It also boasts a ski resort and so year around, it’s packed.

Now other groups are using this space. Today was Juneteenth and the BLBP had company. It was also the site of the Juneteenth festivities. There were a lot of people present, which was good for the book project in part because we had high visibility. The political entities were present – and they knew that we were there. This, combined with last week’s parade, did us a world of good in terms of our community exposure.

Misty Circle was there, with two of her Icelandic horses, one I recognized as Stormur. She was a part of the Juneteenth festivities. She was not wearing a helmet – she had an American flag saddle pad. I thought, I do not right now inhabit the horse world.

Pete’s day began with his having a breakfast meeting. He met with a retired Anchorage Daily News photographer, who wrote a book that contains his photographs. He gave us 40 boxes of his books. These books will go fast; I’m not worried about it.

He also brought along 13 boxes of books that he picked up at a Homer Bookstore. The boxes all contained fiction. Good fiction. Pete introduced Jim to Harry, who is a retired work colleague of Pete’s and also a photographer.

Me, I stayed put and took care of the animals. I went to put Tyra back in her pen and she looked at me and took off, bucking and kicking. Raudi came up next to me and then took off, bucking and kicking. Hrimmi didn’t come up next to me. She just took off, at a lope, and did not buck or kick.

Next: 167. 6/20/26: Confused