one more update here: the slowest part of the process, as indicated in the chrome dev tools network tab, is the first step, the loading of worldwidewoodshed.com, with a Waiting (TTFB) measurement of 2.41 seconds. If I go to a simple page on the same website (e.g. https://worldwidewoodshed.com/quickstart.html, an obsolete but simple page), one that does not utilize a theme, that same time is 41ms. I don’t know whether that is a clue to anything.