On the third night of Hannukah ...

... I was at Wrightsville Beach, in a nearly deserted hotel out on the causeway. It was supposedly a nice hotel, and there was an earnest pre-printed note from the housekeeping service saying, "We have done an exceptional job cleaning your room," but there was a roach in the bathroom. I killed it and left it where it fell as a mute commentary on the exceptional service.

We lit the candles and watched tv - I rarely watch anything which is not in Spanish and I was still sick so the kindly documentary on giraffes was about my speed.

Now if one forgets, as we did, that there are no restaurants out there on the causeway, and no grocery stores, then one ends up having the lovely hours-long walk in the morning without breakfast. We were very thirsty, too, because there is no potable water available out on the causeway.

The plovers and pelicans were busy. It was about eighty degrees, we were all strolling the beach in our shirtsleeves. Little children were gamboling in the surf in their bathing suits and there were numerous surfers.

I got a bit of a sunburn. We went to Wilmington (a town I like very much) and had grouper sandwiches. I came home feeling it had been a great vacation from winter.