Yeah, it's been quite a two year stretch. First my wife's mom fell and broke her arm, followed by her dad breaking HIS arm (both are 90 years old) so we spent some extended time caregiving... then her dad started sliding fast into dementia and eventually passed away this spring...then not long after his funeral, my wife found out she needed dental surgery for a cracked tooth AND had colon cancer. So... Yeah, it's been "interesting" times.
She's gone through the surgery now and is here at home recovering well, and can already get up and about pretty nicely. Mostly her gripe is with her short energy span now - She can walk around and feel pretty normal and energetic for about 2-3 hours and then she's completely wiped out and needs to lie down and nap.
Anyway, this is what has inspired the flood of old pipe posts that are gradually happening on my website now. Some regular collectors donated pipes from their collections to help, and I'm now sitting on a startling pile of various older pipes of mine, going all the way back to the first pipe I ever sold! (The Saruman, for anyone with a memory that long) I'm gradually cleaning them up and posting them for sale with hopes that this will help make a decent-sized dent in the avalanche of hospital bills that have begun to pour in.
