A little scare and a round-up.

My mum is having an overnight stay in hospital following a funny turn. The diagnosis at this stage is that it may have been a mini-stroke so they are keeping her in for tests and observation. Fortunately my sister has been staying with her, so was able to take care of her and get medical help. We're all hoping that Mum is okay. She has taken some crochet into hospital to keep her sane. Good plan. It's not like you can expect to get any proper rest in hospital.  We'll hear more tomorrow.

 Meanwhile, here are some bits and pieces from the homefront....

• Although my sister's house had two bedrooms available for the kids to sleep in, my boys chose to share a room for the duration of our stay. Initially because it was too hot to sleep in a top bunk on our first night there, but afterwards really because all the lego was in the boy-cousin's room, and, I think, for the company. It has been lovely how well my two have got on this holiday.

• Cherub woke very early on our last morning at the coast, intent on following my instructions about packing their stuff. He's so focused. He did in fact manage a bit of packing without waking Climber or myself, but then found himself at a standstill due to the slumbering brother in the way, and when I got up a bit later I found Cherub hard asleep on the lounge room couch. Very unusual, very sweet.

• Fixit brought home with him a good collection of seashells, as you do. He swears he plans to make something decorative with them, and to this end has been experimenting with various products in his shed to see what brings up the best shine. If you were thinking wax you'd be wrong.  Top results were archived with a product called Mothers Mag and Aluminium Polish, which is supposed to be used on metal. Now you know.

• Fixit and I were both very appreciative about living with a dishwasher at my sister's place. Someone (I can't remember who) once said something to me along the lines of dishwashers still being work and drudgery, but neither of us are buying that. Dishwashers are magic. Put dirty dishes in, take sparkly clean dishes out.  So easy. And no unsightly dishes cluttering up your paltry bench space like at our house. We loves the dishwasher, it's our precious.  Bathrooms with space in them are very nice too.

• Both boys are mad for Sherlock Holmes at the moment.  I have Series 1 and 2 on dvd, and they are on high rotation.  Series 3 has not been shown in Australia yet, but I was able to purchase the dvd from the BBC online shop, so that will be a good birthday present for Climber.  (This will be much better than waiting for a commercial television station to air it here.) Meanwhile, the boys got into character to watch it today.