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| We encountered this flock of ostriches on a recent drive in Marloth Park. |
“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
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| Check out the massive size of an ostrich’s feet. |
As our readership has grown over the years, we realize many of our newer readers may have missed earlier posts. With so much of our story contained in earlier posts, we decided to make this a special May Day for our readers by posting photos and links from past months of May beginning in 2012. We’ll share these posts, photos, and stories over two days, today and tomorrow.
Please feel free to click each of the links provided, with no particular theme, only with the intent of sharing the diversity of our lives over these past six years since we began posting (on March 15, 2012).
As a result, today’s photos are those we chose randomly to share on May Day, 2018. Some may be favorite days in May over these past six years (not including May 2018, of course), and others may be photos we thought you might find interesting.
May 2012: This was an exciting May for us. We were already entrenched in preparing to see all of our personal belongings and selling everything we owned. The goad was to avoid having to use a storage facility which ultimately, we accomplished. At this point, we were five months away from the departure from Minnesota date of October 31, 2012.
How we’ve changed. Here’s a favorite May photo/entry from May 25, 2012. We chose this particular entry since it depicted who we were at the time and who-we-are-not-now, hOn this date, we posted a unique (per occasion) printed menu we always prepared when company was coming for dinner. Upon arrival we presented each guest with the menu in the event they preferred any variations due to dietary or taste restrictions.
Here’s the menu we posted on that date (click here for the link) which we had used for one of many holiday dinner parties:
Second Course
Third Course
Creamy Lobster Bisque
Vichyssoise, served warm
Fourth Course
Please see the post here for details and more photos.
Who were these people preparing this elaborate meal for guests? It was us. It seems so long ago. I can’t imagine doing all this work now. I recall at the time it was enjoyable regardless of how much work was required to pull this off for upwards of 12 guests. But, our lives are so much simpler now and we find we can still make a lovely meal for guests without this massive amount of work and preparation.
May 2013: This was a May that totally changed our lives. At this point, we’d been gone from Minnesota almost seven months and from the US, four months. By the end of May, we’d already sailed on seven cruises, which provided us with some of our most stunning adventures.
We are thankful to refer to our past posts allowing us to recall every step along the way, including, as illustrated below, on May 16, 2013, when we visited fascinating Petra in Jordan in the Middle East. It was an exciting and life-changing day for both of us. Please click here for that day’s link and more photos.
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| The walk to The Treasury in Petra was hot and long and downhill on the way up and torturously uphill on the way back. Once we reached this scene, we were grateful we come to see this historic site. Please see the post here. |
Madeira was unlike any island we visited. The language spoken is Portuguese which wasn’t easy for us to learn. Somehow we managed. What intrigued us the most about this spectacular island of winding hills and mountains was the friendly people and the quaintness and culture at this breathtaking location.
One of many highlights was purchasing produce, fish, and chicken from trucks that regularly drove through the neighborhood, each playing its identifiable Portuguese song. On each occasion when they passed by our gorgeous holiday home, we ran up the hills to catch them, yelling out for them to stop. It was hilarious and so much fun!
Please click here for the post from which we shared this photo.
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| When we heard a unique song playing from a passing truck, we raced up the steep hill to follow it, wondering what they were selling. When we discovered this fresh tuna for sale, we were excited to purchase an entire yellow-fin tuna from the vendor’s truck which he cut into single serving pieces. Read the post here for the unbelievable price. |
Tomorrow, we’ll be back sharing May stories from May 2015, 2016 and 2017. Please check back then for more.
As for today, the official May Day holiday in South Africa, we’ll stay up once again. Last night, Okey Dokey, husband Danie, and adorable baby Danie stopped by for a few hours to say goodbye. We couldn’t have enjoyed seeing them more! We’re hoping to get together again during the remainder of our time in South Africa.
As for today, with many tourists exiting the park as their holiday time ends, once again, we’ll stay put. We’ll cook some chops on the braai, saving the bones for Scar Face who still continues to heal. Soon, I get to work on veggies and salad and whatever else I concoct which will go well with the chops.
The sun is shining. The temperature is mild. It will be a good day, especially as our wildlife friends return from their hidden places in the park during this busy holiday weekend.
May your day be sunny as well.
Photo from one year ago today, May 1, 2017:
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| Cute, but after a little research, we found this “cooking pot” to stir up dreadful thoughts of life for many in decades past on many islands in the South Pacific. For more photos, please click here. |