well, file last updated April – it’s been a challenging time for me physically – I’ve had long COVID since 2020, but it has only mildly affected me for all the years until last November when it returned with a vengeance – it abated late December and I was able to enjoy the best cross-country ski season in decades – but returned in march, perhaps worse than before – I struggle with chronic fatigue, post-exertion exhaustion, brain fog (which many dismiss as being universal, but not like this, focus is difficult and I’m on high alert while driving), plus occasionally short of breath, heart palpitations, really checking all the symptom boxes – and there’s no cure in spite of all the links to studies that people share – I try to get the basics done, but matters on many fronts have gotten little or no attention – this time last year I had one of my best vegetable gardens going and was painting my house working on staging and stacked 4 cords of firewood – those tasks now seem profoundly daunting – business bumps along but many business projects have languished – actually still have some canned and frozen food from last summer which I’ve been consuming – but situation not conducive to strong appetite – got garden tilled and planted some onions and tomatoes and peppers and eggplants which I’ve nursed along but the weeds have taken over most of the plot which is quite large with a perimeter of 200’ – way too weak to paint – we’ll face the firewood dilemma in a month or so – recent bright spot was weekend with son Zach, wife Lauren and two granddaughters, Talia and Yarra – they’re a joy – still enjoy bi-weekly visits with friend edie brown from Greenwich (pronounced Green-witch, NY – keep abreast of what’s happening in country I hardly recognize anymore – as I write this on July 4, I find little to celebrate and the dimmest hope for our future as a country – we’re so polarized (thank you Ronald Reagan, Rupert Murdoch, Fox News and their many spawn) that we simply have separated into camps and live on different planets – recent shows have been fairly disastrous for me and hoping to reduce my show schedule to perhaps only the Allentown show, but have already paid rent for Boxboro in September – still selling in my usual two figure comfort zone and it’s hard to pay the rent at shows these days selling items for fifteen or twenty bucks – but we managed to assemble a new catalog – much from the dealer stock acquired late last year – heavy on trade catalogs and a large section of souvenirs from world’s fairs – filled out with some of the usual suspects, plus a group of type specimens – so here’s catalog 273 – sent with fingers crossed you’ll be amused, perhaps inspired to order –
at your service –
peter
cover: item 296