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  . . . Hello!

bink & I back-to-back hugging (no arms) near my place, during a break in the rain yesterday. (I'm wearing the one-layer SVDP mask because all my masks were in the washing machine.)
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Aaaand... now it's Tuesday! One more week till the store reopens.

No one worked yesterday because it was Memorial Day. 
"I just had 60 days off," I told Ass't Man. "I'd rather come in."

"Me too," he said, "but Big Boss told us not to."

Cool Old Books

I took photos of books for eBay on Friday, and I listed them from home.

Now I don't have to share my workspace with Mr Linens, I have room to store eBay items, so I hope to list regularly again.

Three sold right away.

I was especially happy The Good Shepherd by C S Forester sold––it'd been out on our shelves for almost a year, at $1.99. 

It's an ex-library copy, but it's still a nice hardback with dust jacket, from 1955--worth ten bucks. ($14 w/ "free" shipping (media mail costs about $4.)

I'd rather our customers get a first shot at cool old books, so in the past, I've mostly listed books I don't think will sell at the store (or not for much).

The Italian-German dictionary from 1874 wouldn't have gone for more than a couple bucks.

(I'm a little surprised it sold so fast on eBay, in fact.)

Billie Burke played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz, you know, so her signed memoir might have sold.
We're still closed though, so I went ahead and listed it, and I'm glad it went right away.

Oh, here's a cool find (not sold yet):
the 1925 dues-paid slip in an 1892 Freemason's manual, Ritual of the Eastern Star. We got two copies of this book––the other from 1900––so one I'll put that one in the display case at work.

COVID

Maura is now in her eighth week of low-level Covid. 
It's not lethal (pleasegod!), but it's a bit scary to see it drag on and on---like chronic fatigue.
She tested negative for Covid, but her doc said they were sure she has it. She even went in for blood tests to make sure it wasn't something else, and it wasn't.

 

[UPDATE: Eventually Maura was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder unrelated to Covid. But for a long time the doctors just kept saying "Covid" without doing any tests for other things.]

Here's a recent article  about this manifestation (long-term Covid):

"Revealed: the long-term severe effects of Covid-19 that could go on for months: Wide-ranging and often 'bizarre' symptoms can persist weeks and even months after first falling ill"

Being run-down for so long has its own effects, so last week I gave Maura some holistic meds---the kind Marz had brought me to boost my immune system:
a good ($$$) brand of probiotics, tinctures of mushrooms and elderberries...

Meanwhile, I see people acting as if reopening the economy means the disease is lightening up.
I feel it too and have to remind myself it's quite the contrary!
I want to be MORE careful, as more people are out and about, and letting their guards down.

Still, I think the governor here was right to let some things reopen because social pressures were pulling the seams too tight.

For instance, the Catholic bishops announced they were going to allow churches to reopen in defiance of the gov's reopening guidelines.
As a Catholic, I am empowered to say the archbishop and his minions are

STUPID FUCKERS.

It clearly was a power move on their part. 
They met with the governor AFTER their announcement, and the gov. agreed churches can open... with no more than 250 people.

The gov went on to say gatherings of 250 people "terrify me".

Anyone who attends such gatherings had better feel they are right with the Lord, because they might be inviting a lot of other people to be meeting him face to face.

Or maybe just back to back, which is bad enough.