Returned!

Against their will, the Princess and Hero have returned from their summer vacation, even though they have several decades' worth of listening left on their audiobook and were tempted to continue driving in order to finish it. (Memo to respective company managers: Request extension of personal leave. Amount of time: Indefinite. Reason: Story's hero/spy in imminent danger [for fifth time]; must find out what happens.)

And so we are back from the Outer Banks, where the traditional greeting is "Good breeze today!" This phrase applies equally to the occasional soft, gentle breezes that help keep the humidity at bay and also to the more typical gales that continually blow through this area, during which it is not unusual to observe beach equipment, beach marine life, beach house shingles, etc., flying about. They are all equally met with a cheerful "Good breeze!"

Indeed, we witnessed firsthand the destruction of two beach "cabanas" from the wind, both of which we unfortunately owned at the time. We were thereafter forced to spend the rest of our time on the beach enduring the full benefit of the "good breeze." Amazingly, none of our personal belongings were carried away by the breeze, except for a library book receipt bearing the Princess's name and telephone number, which the Princess lives in fear of being found and traced to her by the Beach Litter Police.

We were pleased that this year's accommodations far outclassed last year's in terms of cleanliness, although there was, regrettably, an incident involving a cockroach and a rather insufficiently large broom. The Princess was indignant that the managers of the dwelling would allow such creatures on the premises without also providing renters with proper defensive weapons, and was therefore all for reporting the broom's insufficiency to the managers. She was restrained by the Hero on the grounds that the offending roach had, despite the lack of adequate weaponry, been duly disposed of (dropped over the balcony to some unsuspecting renter's balcony below), and the whole incident should therefore be forgotten. As you can infer from reading this, the incident was not forgotten, and it was several days before the Princess could walk through the house without inspecting every corner of every room.

There are many more vacation tales to come, so please stay tuned. And we hope you have a good breeze.