In which the authors goof off

It was a gorgeous morning, so Steve and I slipped the leash took the day off.  Part of it was spent house-looking in Old Orchard Beach, where we were. . .dismayed to find that a liveable (and affordable!) house was located in a tangled warren of houses connected by thin alleyways that would become virtually impassable in winter.  There was not only no place to put the snow, there wasn't sufficient room to allow a town plow through.  The Forester -- not a large car by any means -- was feeling a bit crowded.

Damn.

There's quite a nice house in town which is also affordable, and on a nice street largely inhabited by college professors and solid career people.  It has a garage and a sun porch and a front porch and is a Perfectly Nice House, really, excepting it's two hours away from the ocean.

I may need to give the whole live-at-the-ocean thing a miss this lifetime.

This small blight upon the day aside, we had a lovely time.  I rode a bike for the first time in mumbletymumble years and managed not to fall over and kill myself.  It's true what they say -- you never forget!  Now, I want a bike of my own.  For when we move to the city and it would actually be possible to bike without getting run over by a log truck.

There was also ice cream on the day -- and we purchased ceiling! fans! that mount flush to the ceiling, so I will be able to walk under them without being decapitated!  What an age we live in.  My mission tomorrow is to call the electrician and make a date to have him stop by and install one of these lovely things in the kitchen and another in the bedroom.

I'm already regretting not having bought a third, to install in my office, but the credit card was already staggering under the double-whammy.

Tomorrow, it's back to work.  Good thing, too, since it's supposed to rain.

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Progress on Carousel Seas

78,943/100,000 OR 79% complete

In the next moment, a wind lifted us, up and beyond the destruction -- and set us down, gently, in the shadow of the ruined Gate.

"Thank you, my lady," I heard Tioli say, and felt a cold kiss pressed upon my hand.