another beautiful day

first, thanx I/S for sorting out the rss feed. as for choosing a template, i picked the one with what i thought were the prettiest colours. were there other criteria i was supposed to consider? it seems to be so...

second, i'd like to thank this blog for mentioning mine http://thinkinglongterm.wordpress.com/. also a new female blogger, whom i hope you'll support.

third, i will have to sheepishly admit to spending part of the day at the shopping malls. not a good look after yesterday's comments, but one of my offspring's wardrobe needed replenishing. i wasn't looking forward to it, shopping for girls clothes in summer is usually a waste of time for us. end of last year we walked into urban angels and asked if there were any long-sleeved tops. the answer was no, not one. but we struck lucky today - some pretty tops with long sleeves & 3/4 sleeves that actually cover the midrif. yippee!

it was another beautiful day in hamilton today, bright sunshine, hardly a cloud in sight. unfortunately that is not a good thing. we're desperate for rain here. i flew out of town a couple of weeks ago, and from up high, all i could see were brown fields - very unusual for the waikato. as an accountant, i've been busy over the last couple of months working out how our clients will deal with the tax bills from the large dairy payout. but with the lack of rain, there's been a big drop in production, so it seems the farmers won't be quite so lucky after all.

there's a strange tension in the air. weird how waking up to a sunny sky is depressing. i started thinking about aussie farmers who've been facing long-term drought. i now begin to understand how desperate they must be, how heartbreaking to see the land with deep cracks and no water in sight. suddenly the story about a guy beating up his neighbour for watering the lawn isn't quite so outlandish.

then i started thinking about those further afield, about parts of africa. for them, the lack of water doesn't just mean losing their livelihood, it means losing their life. i can't think of anything worse than a mother having to watch her children die due to lack of water or food. we had shepherd pie for dinner today, and broccoli with cheese sauce. plenty of water to drink. just a brown lawn.

and on a day that is dedicated to nationalism and national issues, it struck me that until we think of ourselves first and foremost as citizens of planet earth, nothing will ever change.