Many of you may be aware that, over the last couple of years, I’ve been dealing with some health issues that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

After actually making some baby-steps progress over the last couple of months, I was hit by another setback last week. As my longtime colleagues in the sportswriting world would say, I’m heading to the 60-day disabled list.

What this means is that all of the classes and talks that I’ve scheduled through February have been canceled. My “Cape Cod Contraband: Rum Running & the Era of Prohibition” class at Open University of Wellfleet had to sail back into port after just one session. My “Rum Running on Cape Cod,” “Shipwrecks of Cape Cod,” “The Blizzard of ’78 on Cape Cod,” and “Journey Through the Chronic Lyme Fog” lectures, which filled up seven dates, are also sidelined.

So if you were planning on catching my Shipwrecks talk at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum this Sunday or on Feb. 4 in Quincy, those have been scratched.

As of right now, my speaking dates for April and May are still on, and I’ll re-evaluate the situation sometime in March. Right now, I'm stuck indoors, and will be keeping travel to a minimum.

I’ll still be filing my “Shore Lore” columns for The Cape Codder, and working on other writing projects as time and health permit. You can still expect frequent posts on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. But as for the lecture circuit, right now I’m shooting for a return date of April 4 at the Boston Public Library.

Thanks to all of you who come to the programs, read the stories and books, and follow the online updates. Thanks to the folks who organize the programs for your understanding. Hopefully, this will be only a short break.