Weekend Snapshot: Number 12

The Friday after Thanksgiving is know in the U.S. as black Friday. That is the day that traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping in the U.S. and the hope of the retailers is that they will sell lots of products and be in the black as opposed to in the red.If there is one day of the year that I never go shopping it is the day after Thanksgiving. However, I did snap a photograph of the entrance to a mixed use shopping center near me, earlier this week, when I was driving home from an appointment. You may notice the wreathes on the entrance posts, marking the Christmas shopping season. This shopping center was the first mall in my town and as bigger malls were built and the one that was located here became dated, they switched over to a pedestrian shopping center as well as including town houses and a hotel. It was rather bizarre when they tore down the old mall but what they ended up with is pretty nice. I have been tempted by the townhouses they built across from the main part of the shopping center. They were selling them at a very low price to get people in at first and they are attractive with balconies for potted plants. Some older neighbors sold their house near me, and moved into one of the town houses. They told me it was great having a health club, restaurants, and shopping area all right where they lived. The older I get the more appealing that is. It's even near one of the green way trails so someone like me wouldn't lose the near by walking paths but it would be at a different starting place.I am not into rushing the Christmas season but I kind of like the peace banners in the second photograph, which another smaller shopping center has on their lamp posts. If I can possibly avoid it, I don't set foot in any large malls during late November and December but there are a lot of small shopping areas which don't have the crowds the malls do.
I also prefer grocery shopping in a small market but it is too expensive for me to do all my shopping there. If I am getting a few things, I will go to a small market near my house and I always enjoy looking at the orchids they have to tempt me on the way in. I don't buy the orchids but I generally stop and look at them. I find the older I get the less I can tolerate the crowds in terms of shopping. It's odd too because when I was in NYC for my birthday a few weeks ago, the city crowds didn't bother me at all. Perhaps it's because I wasn't driving or looking for a parking space. Also, we didn't go shopping so I wasn't dealing with crowded stores. I don't mind being around a lot of people but there's something about the harried, Christmas shopping or even crowds in large suburban grocery chains that get on my nerves. I prefer to stick to the small markets and small shopping centers whenever possible. I also remember a visit when I stayed with my sister in her Manhattan apartment and we went to the neighborhood market to pick something up, and that's really my kind of store. The neighborhood stores they tend to have in large cities, that you walk to, are similar in some ways to the small stores near my neighborhood that I like. For that matter, if I lived in one of the townhouses in the renovated mixed use shopping center, I would have a lot of the advantages of living in a city neighborhood.
The biggest advantage would be to be able to walk to most of the places I needed to go. I could take the elevator down from my townhouse and walk right into one of my favorite brunch places. I could walk across the parking lot and I'd be at a fairly small grocery store. Once they get the pedestrian bridge finished across the main road, I could walk across a bridge and I'd be at the entrance to a department store and a few steps more to the movies. Sounds like I'm ready to put my house on the market and snatch up a town house. However, if you look at the picture above, that's what the oak trees in my front yard look like at the moment. They were late changing this year, although the other trees changed early. I could never put my house on the market while I have that to greet me in the morning. So it won't be happening tomorrow.

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