To tell if so-called experts are hoping you won’t notice they have no clue what they’re talking about, all you need to do is ask one question: Is this what was promised or are they simply talking?All over the radio and television — and even the Internet — we are being fed a steady stream of weather, 99 percent of which is news about weather that has already been, not what is about to come.The evening news comes on to tell us that it was “55 degrees today” — not the forecast. Or you will hear over the radio, “It’s raining” — not a forecast. Or they will recap the terrible storms that hit the country yesterday — not a forecast.When it comes to the weather, we all want to know what’s coming, not what has been. “Today hit a record high” — not a forecast. “The wettest winter on record” — not a forecast. “Compared to last year”— not a forecast. “Schools are closed today because of snow” — not a forecast. Come on weathermen and women, stick to forecasting the weather.Part of the problem is that the expensive systems we put in place to help predict the weather erased the backbone of the data collection that great meteorologists relied upon. When they put up satellites that he helped design, Len Snellman — then head of most of the National Weather Service (NWS) — told Congress that the idea was to augment our data collection centers, not replace them. Congress instead cut all the small weather stations across the country. Schools, post offices, public buildings — these all had weather stations feeding data to a more accurate mapping of impending weather.Satellites were supposed to provide coverage for those regions where there was scant coverage, as well as provide an overview. Television networks quickly realized they could show pretty satellite pictures and sell more cornflakes, all dressed up as weather forecasting. But every image they put on the screen is past weather or at best current weather. Not one image from space can show you tomorrow’s weather.In an effort to look more professional, the weather presenters were also given Doppler radar images to amuse the viewer. Doppler is absolutely current and not one teeny tiny bit into the future. Asked at Daytona for a weather forecast to see if the Daytona 500 could be run Sunday, the expert looked at the Doppler radar image and said, “It looks like it’s raining.” Open the window and you can get that report.Len once received a teletype of a prognosis chart for the next day’s weather from the NWS headquarters during the Voyager flight 25 years ago. I watched him rub his hand across the barometric lines, shaking his head, “Mother Nature wouldn’t do that.” He called the head of the NWS, Rich Wagner, and asked for all the tiny data points. Rich assured him that the computer couldn’t have missed anything.Rich knew Len was hardly ever wrong, so across the fax machine came all these data figures, pages of them. Len set to work with his pencil, human brain, a clean sheet of paper and decades of experience, and voila! A data point (Bakersfield) had been missed. Put that on the map and the low-pressure area moved 25 miles.Those data points Len was using no longer exist, since no one is collecting them. We’re doomed to weather forecasting across huge areas of land as all the in-between stations are gone. North American weather forecasting sounds like this: There’s a storm brewing out west and there will be rain on the East Coast. Not really useful, and the media knows it. So they spend 90 percent of their weather time telling you how hot or cold, wet or dry, windy or calm it was today.As Len would say, “Any fool can tell you what the weather has been.”Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, now lives in New Mexico.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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