Click here to read Catalog 252.
‘If the world ended today, I would adjust . . . ‘ (John Gorka, ‘I’m from New Jersey’)
well, file last updated 4/23 – it’s late august – where to begin? Global? National? pandemic? Politics? Business? Post office? Garden report? – so many things thought temporary now seeming endless – we adjust – masking & distance new norm – local population eagerly observant – Massachusetts mostly curve flattened but wary of new wave – much anxiety over approaching school year – phase iii implemented, dialed back a bit – stores open – online sales above usual – much time at packing table – joined first 3 marvin getman first Tuesday virtual book & paper fairs & achieved notable sell-through rate with some fetching historic scraps – fall fairs seem to be falling – Boxboro, Brooklyn, boston, allentown all cancelled – spring heating season dragged through raw & cold april – summer’s almost gone, now – I’ve stacked 2 cords of firewood, third on deck, fourth down the road – garden kicked in & now delivering more produce than 1 man can consume – june was dry, july bit rainy, drought’s back bigly – pea pods only achieved 3’ or so, not usual up-the-pole, over and back down again – all gone into salads & stir frys – first bed salad greens eaten, second ready – carrots done well – some kohlrabi for a change – stir fried, raw – romano beans bed yielded nuff to steam, toss with pesto, freeze, ’bout done – filling freezer with chard, kale, collards, turnip greens, escarole sautéed with garlic – many pesto portions frozen – cucumbers came on strong but clobbered by powdery mildew, nuff for salads, maybe some pickles – eggplants clobbered by fleabeetles, but staging comeback – picking few sweet peppers, anchos come late – squashes got in late, seem to be weathering powdery mildew, picked some yellows, zucchini just starting, butternut & hubbard vines huge & spreading, some actual fruit developing – major tomato crop underway – foliage blighting badly, ripening fruit attracting hungry critters, birds, preventive picking in order – enjoying gazpacho, fresh tomato-basil pasta sauce, salads, got stew pot going for canning, tomato sandwich, fresh salsa soon – pulled, cured bed of onions, potato plants thrived, died, await digging – corn plants tall, ears seem unhappy with drought, soon we hope – picked blueberries twice at kenburn orchard – after idle month, Guthrie medical back, busy as ever, zach appears to thrive with demand, headed west for few vacations, hiked Bryce,
zion, grand canyon, then cascades with cousin – edie’s owl pen postponed usual may 1 opening, now welcoming browsers – your sixty-something blue-state
bookseller bluer from years of extreme financial & power greed, propaganda parading as news, bigotry, illiberal religious zealotry, brazen actions to create single party country – hello pandemic, summer of militarized police & politicized military employed to subdue American citizens protesting – next few months promise sleepless nights, some virtual nailbiting – we vote – subscribe to NYT, NYker, WaPo, boston globe to keep informed – optimism in short supply– but I should explain about 252 – put aside pamphlets to focus on books – few significant lots – many swatch books from defunct merican textile history museum – banking, economics, stock market books, many from karl bopp, president, Philadelphia federal reserve bank, 1958-70 & computer, electricity, radio, television books from RCA laboratories, both from recent hagley deaccession – all laced & larded with selections shelved sometime in last decade or so, offered now for first time – many repaired by grey seal in south Deerfield – best adjourn –
sent to you with my best wishes for your safety, sanity, acquisitiveness – at your service –
peter
cover: item 27
Peter L. Masi - books 
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