early mornings, crackling fire, sleeping dogs

I have been in Hobart for the last four days visiting with my daughters. The two girls rent a house together.

I've had the need to do a bit of mothering, it's a biological urge I think. I know my Mum can't help herself either and I try to let her and not get cranky but it's hard to submit to the ministrations as one gets older. I am more than aware that over time less will be tolerated and more seen as interference. The mother role is to help and ease and nurture but the youngster will often feel that the mother is undermining their capabilities.

It has the best of times to come. A couple of my eldest daughters' old school friends have been visiting also. One has been down to do a block of study at the Hobart University. The other has come from Melbourne on her two weeks of total "do as you want freedom" before she knuckles back down to fourteen weeks of strict training. She is a weightlifter competing in the Commonwealth Games in India soon. She is ranked top 5 in the Commonwealth and is a very serious competitor and she looks nothing like a weightlifter.

So I have done lots of laundry and sweeping and cleaning and cooking and I'm just about ready now to head back to our empty nest. The youngest and I went to the Botanic Gardens and had a really great time together one on one.

I've had a couple of visits to the tip shop (the salvage centre that takes what would otherwise be thrown to the garbage dump) and found a couple of dining chairs and a very very old folding card table with turned legs which I plan to take to the snow (but that's another story).

I've caught up on lots of sewing for the shop.

Today my eldest is visitor free and has the day off work so we are having one on one time today. It's been a very full house as I also brought the dogs.....so we had six girls and three dogs. Lucky their house is large and comfy.