In the Summertime

Today's pic is another pipe preview, of a pipe that will probably be going up on the website with the next update. It was done for a special order which unfortunately seems to have fallen through, so the wee squat thing is now waiting for its own catalog page. Definitely the very definition of a pocket pipe! It will fit into a shirt pocket. I'm tempted to just send it to Jeff Folloder for his tiny pipe collection except that it isn't really tiny - the bowl is actually decent sized for a morta, but the overall dimensions verge on the silly.

My apologies for the lack of blog updates of late! Sadly, it's probably going to be a very slow time at the blog for the coming months. Between the usual wages of summertime (lunches at the beach, swimming, etc), the numerous distractions during June and July (visiting friends from all over Europe who seem to stop in daily), and the need to both make enough pipes to pay the bills AND make some extra pipes to take to the German show..... Well, I'm wondering just how much time I'll have to devote to the blog. However, I do intend to chronicle the trip to the Rheinbach show here, complete with pics, but it's likely to be a very slow couple of months between now and August.

We've just paid our yearly tax bill (750 €, ouch!! But, it's twice last year's which gives the promising hint that we're actually beginning to make money...) and nailed down our trip to Rheinbach. There's a direct TGV from La Baulle to Lille that's really quite inexpensive (I never realized we could so affordably take a weekend vacation in Lille!). I'll hop that, then rent a car at the Lille station for the 3 hour drive to Rheinbach. Lodging is still up in the air - One very nice fellow has offered me a guest room at his home, but I am slightly hesitant to inflect my weird American habits upon his continental sensibilities. Another alternative, a free unoccupied flat in town, seems to have vanished with the Welt-Der-Pfeifen forum, alas. It's a real tragedy that this forum was closed down so suddenly and inexplicably, and in the process I lost a large number of PMs regarding the show. What this means is that I now have no idea who I was supposed to eat, meet, greet with, etc!