11-49pm
Today is a busy day for us! Adrian and Stacey are coming home soon and we are busy cleaning, painting, trimming, washing and all manner of amazing things in the cottage behind our house, where they will stay. I have cleaned some things this morning that have not been cleaned since the cottage was built in 2002! Grime comes in many layers. It develops over time and when it is over the stove, it is grimy and sticky and quite revolting! So I rolled up my sleeves and got on with it. Getting rid of dirt is quite cathartic – makes me feel good!
I have (bravely) done two loads of washing and have another in the machine. Curtains galore & Mike’s work shirts are all on the line. I have half a beady eye on the skies and every now and again, I pop outside and feel the shirts! Fresh wind blowing & periods of brightish sunshine should get them dry before the next shower of rain!
One of the great things about the cottage is that it has internet access, so while Mike is painting, I can sit and do the blog right here…
Mike & I moved to our area in 1989. Stacey was 18 months old and David not yet born. The area had been enhanced by the building of a supermarket (Pick n Pay) nearby. Prior to it being built, surrounding residents needed to go to over the mountain for a proper shop. There was a cafe at the corner of Ou Kaapse Weg and Chapman’s Peak Drive for milk and bread. With the arrival of Sun Valley Mall, Noordhoek, Sun Valley & even Fish Hoek residents had a new place to buy!
The cafe was promptly demolished and relocated to behind the new Mall. Longbeach Mall was built in 1999 and Sun Valley Mall became ‘the poor neighbour!’ It has now
been cordoned off with construction fencing and is being demolished. It takes such a lot of planning, organising and building to build something up. Architects, planners, builders, electricians, plumbers, building inspectors, buyers, owners, renters, contractors, painters, tilers, decorators. The list is endless of all that needs to be done. Then a couple of decades later…
…it all comes down again. It all feels like such a waste! All that effort to build up and all that effort to tear down. I am again reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:3 “A time to tear down and a time to build up.”
Solomon also emphasized there is nothing new ‘under the sun‘. I love hearing that phrase, ‘under the sun.’ It reminds me that we are on earth – under the sun. The real stuff happens outside of this realm. Outside of ‘under the sun’ where heaven is – that’s where there is a lot of new stuff happening. Nothing new here – a LOT new there. This world is temporary. Dirt and decay, as I have discovered in our little cottage, makes this world and its structures very temporary. The real stuff happens outside of this realm – that’s where we should be looking for fulfillment. Be eternity thinkers.
What can we do today, that will influence was happens outside of being under the sun? Bears thinking about!
Meantime, back here on earth, we have to keep living with death and decay, so Mike is getting on with the painting!
I’m not sure why the photos are coming out so small. I tried to make them bigger without success!
God bless you loads and have a fabulous weekend.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂