The Visit

The grandchildren have gone home and the house is too big now, too quiet and too tidy. The salt container has gone back into the cupboard, and the Textas are locked away in the drawer until the next visit. There are too many chairs around the kitchen table and not enough cuddles.

K and B said they loved staying in bed a little later in the morning.

I's favourite part was a visit to the Mole Creek caves.

P loved chasing the ducks in Deloraine.

J's favorite activity was eating the pancake breakfast cooked by her dad.

I enjoyed the hike to Lobster Falls where we managed to get lost even though Farmdoc and I have walked that track dozens of times.

It was nice to see the local area as tourists. To buy icecreams at the Honey Farm in Chudleigh and play at the Train Park in Deloraine, to shop the second hand stores in Deloraine and eat lunch at the Deli.

No matter how hard we tried to slow it down, time insisted on speeding by. First the weeks of planning, the lists and preparations slid into the past, and now the visit itself is over.