As many of you are aware, my father recently passed. That's been the cause of a lot of the stress and depression that kept me from producing much over the last couple years. I'm so sorry to everyone I owe, I am working my hardest to make up for lost time.

At any rate, I wanted to update people, and I suppose I'll share a little memory thing I wrote for the funeral service.


"The name Peter comes from the greek word Petras, for stone. I imagine I’m not the only person today who will observe what a fitting name that was for my father. If there’s one thing that was remarkable about him, it’s how solid and consistent he was. Even throughout his illness, he was in good humor, smiling and laughing. It’s expected, I suppose, that here I should have a few memories of good times I had with my father. There’s only one problem with that, and that’s that there was nothing particularly stand-out to remember. They were all good times. If there are clouds in the sky, it’s easy to point out one particular patch of brilliant blue, but how can I do that, when the sky was pure blue? It’s hard to find any particular guidepoint. I suppose the most remarkable for me was when we went to Cooperstown, together, in 2003 and saw the baseball hall of fame. He bought me a poster of the “Who’s on First” sketch, there, that he somehow managed to delay giving me until last Christmas, a remarkable show of patience, even from such a remarkably patient man. Even that cherished memory, though, does not stand out over others, because he was always there. My father when he was taking me to Cooperstown was the same as my father when he was helping me look at stars for a middle school science project was the same as my father when he was taking me out canoeing on our property in Surry, was the same as my father the last time I saw him. He was always there. He lived such a consistent, joyful, and above all solid life, that he remains even after he left, like the trails and depressions of a rock pulled by a glacier. Even without his physical presence, he will always be here. It’s simple inertia. The more firmly something is in its place, the more force required to move it.

Peter’s presence was so consistent, so firm, that even death is not great enough to take him away from us. The laws of the universe will not allow it."


Best of luck to all of you, and please forgive my indulging myself by posting a memorial message.