YAY! I see little tiny streaks of blue sky and a lightening of the clouds! The rain has stopped! The wind has stopped, the snow is still coming down on Grand Mesa, which means it can still freeze here.
The Swallows are back! 🙂 That’s a good sign…warmer weather can’t be far off now. (I hope!)
Anyway, I was reading a very interesting blog post about street shopping from Uncle Spike.
I have always thought I would love to shop in all the open-air markets around the world. The fruit and vegetables have to be outstanding.
Anyway—here is his post:
East African Shopping by Uncle Spike
On the whole, shopping malls leave me cold. In general I have little desire to trudge my way around endless corridors of glass, dazzling white marble effect floors and endless rows of glass-fronted shops all selling the same stuff as the mall we probably visited the day before. Fair enough, for the purchase of a certain item, these places serve a purpose, but for me, shopping is a sport best served outdoors.
Here in Türkiye, outdoor markets are part and parcel of everyday life, be it out here in the rural areas, or also in some residential parts of our large cities. So when I travel, the roadside markets and entrepreneurial purveyors of foodstuffs are always of a certain fascination to me. East Africa, of course, is a case in question.
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The selling of foodstuffs always seem that bit more enterprising, and banana selling seems king of them all; from two tonnes in the back on a minivan…
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…to a whole roadside…
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…or hanging outside the local butchers, which also sold honey too 🙂
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But harping back to the blandness of modern shopping malls, how refreshing would it be to see the top names in gentlemens outfitters merchandising their pure cotton two-piece’s like this?
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There’s one thing for sure when travelling in a place like Kenya, one is never faced with the dilemma of “shop closed”, or having to think what day it is… every hour of every day, there is food sold along the roadsides.
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Of course, the sad truth is that for many parts of the continent, this is not always the case. The harsh reality is that terrible wars, and devastating crop failures have brought about unbelievable suffering. The even sadder fact is that some parts of the world still don’t get it, and readily moan about the unavailability of a certain model of Nike trainers, or the price of a 6-pack of Oreo’s, or a 32-oz steak, whilst members of our own species are left to starve.
Uncle Spike
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Your friend,
Linda
I’m gradually, gradually, gradually making headway in my yard. As for my house–well, it’s clean and picked-up, that about it. The other house–my time waster— is starting to get there. I have the bedroom just about finished painting-I should finish tomorrow. The lawn is mowed and raked down there and all the bushes raked and pruned ready for spring.
The new renters move in on Sunday. (Ask me if I’m excited or what!) The man and woman came over yesterday to make arrangements to move in on Sunday. I can SEE THE LIGHT!
Today Terry starts planting corn. I will plant sweet corn at some point down one side of one of the fields. I had one row last year, but that was a huge field. This year some of the corn will be in front of the house, which is only 5 acres. I think I will plant two rows of sweet corn, next to the side which is next to canal—I’m looking for ease of picking.
I am so excited about the renters finally getting here, you just don’t understand how excited. The work load, of just maintaining that place, and this place, plus every day living has been over-whelming. Soon! Very Soon! I can move from maintaining into ‘getting-my-stuff-that-has-been-hanging-over-my-head’ DONE! ♬♬♬ YAY!
