Rowan Tree and Red Thread

Back at work after a pleasant weekend down at Tom and Patty's place. Rowan had a great time with her grandparents, as usual, and I particularly enjoyed my early morning outing to the beach in Courtmacsherry with her. We puttered about on the beach, collecting stones and handfuls of sand, threw the ball for the monomaniacal jack russell, Jackie, and generally had a good time, despite the early hour. Rowan enjoys the whole change of scene and being the focus of attention for her grandparents for 48 hours solid doesn't hurt either.

We bought a Christmas tree (non-shed we hope) and transported it home in the little car. I had my first experience of driving with a (very) restricted rear-view, and found it disconcerting. It did improve my use of the wing mirrors and it gave me a new appreciation of quite how different the views presented by the various mirrors can be. My driving test is not until early February now, but the more practice the better. I'm glad I won't have to sit the test with a pine tree in the back seat.

Once we got home, Tom and I dragged the tree out of the car and propped it upright in the living room by the stairs. Rowan and Sam were behind us, in Patty's car and arrived shortly after we did. I was delighted by Rowan's response to the tree in the living room. She stood there, pointing at it, saying 'ooh', seemingly of the opinion that we were all mad for not responding to the amazing miracle of the Living Room Tree in a similar fashion. 'Ooh' indeed.