High on a hill is a lonely 9-year-old

This is a deliberate update/copy/reproduction/amendment/new look at/ kind of thing of a photo I took of Tess a couple of years ago on an unexpectedly warm, sunny day in October over 2 years ago when she was only 6 (and 3/4).

You can just see the tip of the puppy's head in the older photo. Now he is 3 this month and not skipping joyfully by her side. She's eased off the skippiness too - which is a bit sad.

I'm feeling like an inadequate mother today. In fact, I know I am inadequate - for this world, this society, this way of doing things at least. I can't do the socialising things that other mums do and therefore can't organise playdates for Tess. When the older 2 were Tess's age they had each other and I didn't have the problem of constantly feeling guilty for not organising friends to come round. When I was a kid we just rolled into the street and looked around to see who else was coming out to play. You can't do that these days - you need a parent with social skills and I ain't got them. PAH.
And buggerit.

I often think about moving house just so that Tess can be somewhere where adults aren't needed to organise play.

Hopefully soon she will be old enough to cross the road and walk through the village on her own and organise her own social life and will forgive me my shortcomings. Damn them roads and them cars for stopping kids from being able to run free.

So now the good news and the positive stuff.
It was a beautiful day - the best so far. When we took the dog for a walk I didn't even wear a coat!
Tess is now discussing the possibility of human asexual reproduction and wondering why men and women need to be different and why we can't all be the same and all have babies. It's that typical "surely it's not bedtime, let me stay up and chat" conversation. Maybe not that typical...