Scrambled thoughts

A cottage in the woods.
Almost everyone I know in this country has a cottage or a weekend house tucked near or in the middle of the woods. One Czech thing is to rush to the countryside after office hours every Friday. I found this amusing at first. Why would they want to escape from the city or town when you can hardly see people or cars in the streets and the malls are seldom crowded? I mean, isn't it the main reason why we flee to the beaches or to the mountains or to the woods, to escape from the maddening crowd, from the dizzying bustle of commercialism and consumerism? Later I learned from A that the main reason for the perennial presence of cottages in this country is the fact that most people live in flats in the cities, therefore they have no space for gardens or lawns. Simply put, having a cottage in the countryside provides all the must-haves of living that city dwelling can hardly give.

Fall.
Today is the first day of autumn. Wait, I'm writing this past midnight so that makes it yesterday, September the 23rd, as the first day of the season. It gives me mixed emotions when the leaves start to turn yellow or orange. Fall gives me a blend of highs and lows, a sense of romance and melancholia. I guess it's because I'm aware of its beauty yet I dread the coming of winter. Yet it's here again so one might as well savor it.

Jesus on a cross.
I hope it's politically correct to say that most Czechs don't go to church. The Catholic church, that is. Ironic in the sense that churches are everywhere in this country. The kids at school don't even know what praying is. One of them thought that the gesture of praying is due to cold hands that need to be rubbed together especially in winter. I grew up in a very strict Catholic upbringing yet I don't find faults in people who have different beliefs from mine. Just that somebody please explain to me why there are crosses everywhere along Czech roads? From frequented highways to less travelled roads you can bet you'll see several of them along your way. Stations of the cross? Hardly people go to church let alone go on a procession. So what do they stand for? And yesterday when A and I were looking for hazel nuts in the woods, there was even one there. Right, right in the middle of the woods.

There has to be an explanation for this.

My parents-in-law's cottage, a place A and I love to visit especially in spring and summer... One of the many crosses you can see along the Czech roads...Fall is here.

It's late, I gotta catch my beauty sleep. Tomorrow is Sunday and the weekend will be over soon again. Oh well, some good things just never last...