Whew, but yesterday was hot!!
Which meant that we ended up at our usual river spot. The temperature in that part of the world had soared beyond 38 degrees Celsius.
However, the temperature of the water was- perfect.
The place was uncharacteristically busy, which made our peaceful and tranquil retreat somewhat more vibey. But it didn't matter; we just clamoured further upstream where the water was shallower (no higher than knee-depth) but excitingly flowed more rapidly and forcefully. One's powerlessness against the sheer force of the water was thoroughly exhilarating.
The arrangement of the rocks created mini-rapids and we derived much pleasure and excitement from trying to prevent ourselves from being washed downstream. Mo held 2 year old Aisha at a section where the water was moving slightly less forcefully, but strongly enough to provide a thrilling experience for her as it gushed against her body.
"Oooh I shower!!" she yelled elatedly.
But eventually the excitement became a bit too much so, giggling hysterically, she urged her dad to switch off the tap.
The intense heat meant that one had to remain submerged in the water all the time. Especially in my case since I was wearing my Billabong second-skin type top. Which was black. With long sleeves. (The memory alone makes me perspire).
As usual, I ran after the children- sunscreen bottle in hand- slathering the thick creamy liquid liberally over every exposed part of their bodies. Repeatedly.
"This is my favourite place to swim," one of the kids declared. They then each shouted out their preferences- pools, beaches, rivers.
"What is your favourite place to swim, Mommy?"
Before I could answer, 7 year old Nuha interjected shyly. "Mommy's favourite place FOR US to swim would be a pool filled with sunscreen instead of water. Then she won't have to worry about us being protected from the sun".
How did she know?
As usual, we had an amazing time. Instead of barbequing/braaing (which would most likely have caused Mo to suffer from a heat stroke), we enjoyed a yummy, greasy, artery-clogging KFC family meal.
On the walk back to the car we became drenched with perspiration once again. If only we didn't have to leave!! Ten year old Tharaa and I settled for cooling off by running through the sprinklers instead.
As unbearable as the February heat has been, I still felt sad when I popped in at Woolworths on Saturday and saw all the Autumn/Winter clothes already on display. What were they doing? I'm not ready for winter yet. Despite the uncomfortable heat (and the fact that our car's air-conditioning has been broken since last year) summer is still my happy time. I'm not ready for it to end yet!
Oh well, I suppose that all I need is a mindset change. I need to start thinking about interesting and exciting family time which can be shared in winter.
Right now though, I'm taking Aisha outside to enjoy splashing in the plastic pool. I plan to glean every last second of fun from what's left of our magnificent Cape Town summer.
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