On Saturday I went to a "big city " to do some shopping Heidelberg is great but there are some things that you just can't get here, and every now and again I have to brave the maddening crowds and go and do some serious shopping in a ........ MALL.
I hate shopping malls, I hate the fact that you are pushed around, bumped into, I hate the fact that you have to queue for parking, for food, to pay for your purchases, I hate the fact that when you look up all you see is heads bobbing up and down in unison.......... it makes me feel sea sick.
I go as early as possible, but with an hours trip to get there, the shopping queens have beat me to it every time ....... they are there in force armed with their shopping trolleys and their credit cards and they mean business.............. a smile is seen to be a sign of weakness.............. they are armed .............. and dangerous........................ you just know that they would fight to the death for that bargain, that half price jersey, that get two for the price of one bra ....................
I encountered my first traffic jam about 5 km from "THE MALL" with the World Cup around the corner they are trying, unsuccessfully, I might add, to upgrade all the roads around the airport, and I mean all the roads, there is not a road around the whole of Johannesburg that is not under construction............. now being female my logic would be, finish one road and move on to the next, but no.......... what we do is block every road, dig up every road, widen every road, tar every road.............................. and with 90 days to go to the start of the World Cup we are in the widen every road phase.............. lets hope that someone, somewhere is working on European time and not African time..........
After shopping I had to detour home because .............. the road I normally take is under construction, so I took a back road............... what a pleasure......... sometimes i think these little inconveniences are a blessing, and sent to slow us down and give us time to look around.
I realised without a doubt that we are in Autumn and that Winter is on its way.......... and the reason is that the Cosmos is in full bloom, as I got further and further away from the city and into the country I was blessed by the sight of fields and fields of cosmos, along the side of the road it was blooming in white, pink and shades of purple, it was like that had all agreed to flower on the same day just for me, it was a dramatic, vibrant display of nature at its best..................
I am in awe of nature, that something so beautiful is given to us for free, how often do we not notice these gifts from God , how often do we just drive past these scenes of beauty, how often do we ignore a magnificent sunrise or sunset, without stopping to look and give thanks for all the beauty that He gives to us as a gift, in this less than pretty world........................
I always say, you only need to give your children three things ..... One .... the love of God, Two ............. the love of nature and Three ............. the love of books............. and they will never want for anything.................................... and when my daughters calls me to look at the formation of a cloud, or listen to a bird, or to watch a bird taking a bath, or to watch a sunset................ I just get a warm fuzzy feeling inside.......................... Life is good...............
So pretty! It's amazing that you're heading into Autumn and we're looking forward to Spring and Summer. I actually love Autumn here. We have amazing colors in the leaves and I think my garden looks the best around the end of August. I do feel your pain with the road situation. When Summer hits here, we call it orange barrel season! I hate road work!
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