Taking it slow

Seems that a four hour sleep is no longer enough for me to function properly. I'm sure I managed when the kids were little ... but though getting up at 8.30 today seemed fine... by 9-ish the world was not a happy place. No obvious hangover, just a sense of slowness in all I did....

We headed out for a walk at the accurately named River of Rocks, though our hosts were surprised to discover that in winter (they've only been in summer) it is also a stream of water. This made scrambling about even more fun for the kids - with the hazards of wet feet to avoid (not in all cases) and much potential to get stuck on the wrong side of the stream. An exciting adventure all round. And yet another lesson to me, upon getting slightly off course (I won't say lost) with our host, his daughter and Conor, it was the boys who pointed out the route back to the car (I fear M and I would still be out there had we been left to our own devices). I was in a macro mood, so lots of shots of moss and lichen, but this gives a better feel of the place. To give you some scale, the rocks are car/van sized.

Back for lunch and the inevitable tears as we told our two it was time to leave the wonderland and return home. The blow was softened slightly by our hostess reacting with joy to our suggestion that they join us to look at the outside of our top two houses to buy, to see if another look would help us along the way to a decision. I have to say, I thought the trip was likely to be a complete waste of time, but as it turned out I was entirely wrong (and all who know me will know that's not something I say lightly...) Not only did we get some very good advice from our friends, but also I think their comments helped us realise what we really want to do. Now we just have to see if it works out.

A long drive home was made longer by Mr B wrenching his shoulder while reaching for a bottle of water, and then by a search for a petrol station (why can we never just fill up when we pass somewhere instead of waiting until we're running on vapours on a Sunday evening with everything closed???) Mr B managed to pop his shoulder back, so was able to drive home, which was a good job as I was practically asleep the whole way. He figured he'd probably dislocated it a bit - can you do that? Or is that like being a bit pregnant?

Cold house. Only 15 more days here....