Happy 4th of July weekend to all of our readers and friends in the USA!!!…Food photos…A kudu anomaly…

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When we first noticed this bump on this Big Daddy kudu’s face, we thought it might be a clump of vegetation. Check out his tongue in anticipation of pellets.

Almost ten years later, we still haven’t forgotten how much fun the 4th of July celebrations were when we lived in the US. We always had plans, whether it was a party at our house or a party at the home of friends or family members. It was always a festive celebration.

But, upon further inspection, we realized it wasn’t something he picked up in the bush. It was some type of growth between his eyes.

Now, living this life on the move, except for being in Minnesota visiting family on a few occasions over the past years, we’ve spent the fourth in many different parts of the world, as shown below:

  1. Boveglio, Italy (2013)
  2. Madeira, Portugal (2014)
  3. Trinity Beach, Australia (2015)
  4. Singapore (2016)
  5. Minnesota, USA (2017)
  6. Marloth Park, South Africa (2018)
  7. Connemara, Ireland (2019)
  8. Mumbai, India (2020)
  9. Minnesota, USA (2021)
  10. Marloth Park, South Africa (2022)

In 2012, on the 4th of July, we were still in Minnesota preparing to leave on our years-long journey, departing on October 31. The only times we celebrated were in the US in 2017 and again last year, 2021, when we returned to the US to get vaccinated and stayed for one month. On both occasions, we spent the holiday at my son Greg’s home with his wife Camille and our three grandchildren, Maisie, Miles, and Madighan.

Was this a future unicorn, we asked, “tongue in cheek?”

This week on the 4th of July, on Monday, we’ll be enjoying our daily lives in the bush without fireworks, US flags, a flag cake, and a wide array of delicious barbecued meat and side dishes. Instead, we’ll cook some meat on the braai, a big salad, rice for Tom, and green vegetables. We’ll remember the occasion but won’t make a fuss celebrating it.

Tom reminded me that in 2018, we celebrated the 4th of July at dear friends Kathy and Don’s lovely home overlooking the Crocodile River. We had a fantastic time, as shown in these photos from that post, found here.  Tom and I were the least dressed up for the occasion, unaware that the other guests, none of whom were Americans, enjoyed dressing up.

Could he be growing a third horn?

Should we be fortunate enough to share such a particular date with them again, we’ll dress accordingly next time. We do hope that time will come again for all of us. So much has changed these past few years that it’s hard to predict if time and circumstances will allow for repeated memorable occasions.

Last night, we went to Jabula Lodge and Restaurant for dinner as we always do on Fridays and once again had a fantastic time, along with great drinks and consistently excellent food, as shown in the photos below:

Tom’s Chicken Schnitzel, mushroom gravy, chips (fries), and creamed spinach. As always, it was delicious.
My Grilled Garlic Chicken Breast, three eggs fried in butter and pumpkin mash. It couldn’t have been better.

Today, we’re busy around the house, doing laundry, prepping food for the next few days, and organizing cupboards and closets. Storage space is at a minimum on the main floor of this house so being organized is a must. We have plenty of room for our clothes and personal supplies, but the kitchen, although a pleasing design, is short on cabinet space.

There are no above-counter cabinets. But, the windows overlooking the garden are well worth it. Non-perishable food storage is at a premium, so I’ve been organizing and consolidating to take advantage of every space.

We’ll never know for sure, but we’ll keep an eye out for him and see what develops.

But, there’s nothing like standing in the kitchen, chopping and dicing, and watching our wildlife friends putter about the garden in search of tasty morsels. When I’m chopping vegetables, we can toss out treats they love. This morning bushbuck Lilly and her daughter Lilac were waiting for the scraps from carrots, cabbage, and celery. We couldn’t toss the scraps out there quickly enough.

Today, we’ll enjoy time on the veranda. It’s warmed up a bit today and we can be outdoors without sweatshirts. Right now, at 12:30 pm, it is 75F, 24C, a perfect day. Tonight it will be as low as 49F, 9 C. As we discussed last night at Jabula, we have never turned the heating element in the aircon units to warm the bedroom. We’d rather bundle up in warm clothes and use lots of blankets to stay warm at night.

No, we don’t pay for electricity. It’s included in our rent. But, our goal is always to use as few available services as possible to save our property owners/managers added costs and consider our desire to leave as little of a footprint wherever we may be. It’s a small sacrifice, but we are so grateful to live this life; it’s the least we can do. The WiFi service in the house is unlimited.

For our family, friends, and reader/friends in the US, have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July weekend, and everyone else…have a blissful weekend.

Photo from one year ago today, July 2, 2021:

Mongoose and kudus in the side garden,  munching on treats we tossed their way. For more, please click here.

Wow!…Lots of our readers will be here by the end of this month!…Let’s have a party!!!…

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Pretty winter flower growing in a tree in our garden.

We had no idea how many of our worldwide readers would vacation in places we’ve been over the years. They often write to us explaining that they’ve rented the same holiday/vacation home we have in the past, but now it’s fascinating that four couples will be here in Marloth Park at the same time by the end of July!

Well, of course, we’ll have a get-together at our place and hopefully at Jabula Lodge and Restaurant. And, of course, we’ll be posting photos of all of us together as soon as those occasions arise. This is, without a doubt, one of the joys of our site…sharing exciting and meaningful experiences with our readers.

Lilly (not Lollie) jumped over the fence for some vegetable scraps.

Yesterday, Tom brought up how we found Marloth Park over ten years ago when we researched where we wanted to go in our world travels, and we both laughed out loud. Many have asked us how we found Marloth Park, and we always giggle when Tom tells the story.

He says, “One day while we were still in Minnesota in 2012, I came from work to have Jess show me a photo she’d found online while researching. It was on our third post on March 16, 2012, found here, with the photo as shown below:

I wrote in the caption on that date, “Warthog in the kitchen doing “crumb patrol.”

When Tom saw this photo, he said, “I don’t want to go anywhere that they let pigs in the house.”

Since I had dreamed of going to Africa since I was a kid, but even more so after watching a TV show from the 60s entitled Marlin Perkins, Mutual of Omaha’s TV series called “The Wild Kingdom” that ran for 18 seasons, I was convinced that Africa had to be in my future.

It took me 65 years to get here. And yes, we’ve had a warthog in the house, specifically “Little,” whom we hope to see again someday soon.

Spikey was enjoying cabbage leaves.

As for that above photo, Louise had posted the photo on one of her holiday home rentals listings online, and when I was researching places to stay in Africa, with abundant wildlife near the house, voila! Marloth Park popped up. Louise, Tom, and I still laugh about this photo and how this photo impacted our lives.

From reading our site, others enjoy experiencing this blissful place, which makes us so happy to know. Even one of the couples, Carrie and Jim, that found Marloth Park from our site, recently purchased a home here. They are one of the four couples who will be here to celebrate with us, Rita and Gerhard, who also found us from our site, and two other couples unknown to one another and us.

Spikey is having a fantastic time. Too cute for words.

These joyful experiences inspire us to maintain the diligent commitment of writing a new post each day and perpetually being aware of taking more and more photos. May we have good health and good fortune to continue for years to come.

I can’t help but repeat this, “Thank you, dear readers…for staying with us through our mundane periods, challenges, and repetition in phrases, photos, and ideas. Today’s post is #3598, hopefully with many more to come.

We sit here now with soot from the burning sugar cane from nearby farms flying around our heads. The power will be out, off and on, for about 12 hours today and possibly for days, or weeks to come, causing the WiFi to go out frequently. The horrible toxic stinging caterpillars, Processionary Caterpillars, are in season. (See the photo below). Yesterday, Vusi removed several of them close to us near the veranda. Snakes are still active in the bush during the winter months. Lions are still roaming in the park.

Processionary caterpillars next to the house. The locals refer to them as “Satan.”

And yet, dear readers, we couldn’t be more content. Thank you for traveling on this journey with us.

Photo from one year ago today, July 1, 2021:

Elephants we recently spotted in Kruger National Park. For more photos, please click here.

Load shedding is over the top…Stage 6…12 hours a day without power…Company coming tomorrow?…

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Kudus and bushbucks love jumping over the fence to check out our surroundings.

If it goes to Stage 8, we may be looking at a total blackout. Right now, load shedding at Stage 6 results in 12 hours a day without power which we’re facing today. We can live with all this as long as we can keep our food fresh. Again, we just went shopping yesterday, purchasing lots of perishable food.

I suppose we need to stop shopping and buy what we need, one day at a time. This may be our only alternative if we can save what we have and go through it.

Zebras stop by the front of the house to see what’s happening.

We’d planned to have Dawn and Leon for an Asian dinner on Thursday, but now I am wondering how I can do all the prep required by opening and closing the refrigerator over and over as needed in preparing such a meal. We purchased all the ingredients for the three entrees we’ll prepare but wonder if it will be possible to do without power. Our stove top is gas, but the oven is electric.

Bushbuck Lilly is sniffing around the garden.

I’d planned to prep all the meats and vegetables ahead of time, but I am concerned about keeping the meats fresh in the process. We’ll have to see if anything changes between today and tomorrow. At this point, the power will be out on Thursday from:

  • 1:00 – 3:30 am
  • 9:00 – 11:30 am
  • 1700 (5:00 pm) – 2130 (9:30 pm)
Bad Ear and a few kudus checking out the pellet situation.

As inventive as I may attempt to be in the kitchen, I am not sure I can safely prepare three entrees and ultimately serve them in the dark. We’d planned a similar get-together with them a few weeks ago and canceled due to load shedding. Maybe we can figure out something different this time.

In any case, this is the way it is, and there is nothing we can do about it. If it weren’t for the issues with storing food, we wouldn’t be concerned at all. As mentioned in other posts, we do pretty well without electricity. That’s not to say we’d be comfortable living “off the grid” with no power. That’s not our style of world travel.

Kudu boys and girls wondering what we’ll do next…offer up some pellets, perhaps?

Tom will drive me to the little spa where Dawn will meet me in a little while, and we’re both having pedicures. I hadn’t had one since before we left in March, and it’s about time. As I’ve mentioned, I don’t drive here since we don’t pay extra to have me on the car rental contract, I don’t drive a stick shift with my left hand, and I am not used to driving on the opposite side of the road.

“Should I jump or should I stay?” she asks.

Never a good drive anyway; adding these three factors put me at high risk of causing an accident. Since I had open-heart surgery in 2019, my coordination is not ideal. Unless there is an emergency, I will no longer be driving although I will continue to renew my driver’s license in our resident state of Nevada. Many times in our travels, we’re asked to produce a driver’s license for identification, particularly on cruises and in the US.

Last evening the two of us celebrated the 31st anniversary of the day we met. We had a few drinks on the veranda with our JBL speaker playing oldies from our ‘heydays” via YouTube, and we had a lovely time. Since it was cold and rainy, we ate dinner indoors at the dining room table. The power didn’t go out until 1900 hrs., 7:00 pm, so it all worked out well.

Young male bushbuck checking out the pool.

We both had a good night’s sleep which has been the case this past week now that we are fully recovered. I can’t express enough how grateful we have made it through all of that after a very challenging couple of months.

Thank you to many of our readers who wrote to us, wishing us a happy anniversary and offering thoughtful comments about our recent challenges. Every single word means so much to us, and we try to reply to each one.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, June 29, 2021:

Mom and baby. We’ll miss you all as we prepare to leave for the US to get vaccinated and see the family. For more photos, please click here.

Coldest night so far…Another fun anniversary to celebrate!!!…New photos from nighttime trail cam and more…

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Today, we celebrate 31 years since we met in 1991. This is our last selfie, taken at the silent disco on the cruise in April 2022, the night before we both developed symptoms of Omicron. We are grateful to have recovered and, of course, to be together through all the ups and downs of being home-free, storage-free world travelers for almost ten years. That special anniversary is upcoming on October 31!!!

The aircon units used in bedrooms here can cool in the hottest weather and warm when it’s cold. We’ve never used the heating feature since we feel we don’t need to waste the electricity required to power the heating aspect of these units. Instead, we bundle up in warm clothes and, at night, sleep with layers of blankets we can strip off if necessary.

It’s incredible how much our body heat warms the bedroom at night. We noticed it when we left the bedroom at night to get something from the kitchen. We have never turned on the heat while in South Africa.

Last night at dinner, while seated at the dining room table (it was too cold to eat outdoors), my fingers were as cold as they would have been outdoors in the middle of winter in Minnesota. Holding them under warm water for a few minutes solved the problem.

Later, fully dressed, we got under the two top layers on the bed to watch a movie, one Tom hadn’t seen years ago, and now I know why. It was Armageddon, a movie I’d seen once and recalled, like the adventure of a disaster movie. The past few years are reminiscent of movies I watched about pandemics. Isn’t it ironic that those movies have come to us in the form of real life? I sure hope no massive asteroid start hurdling toward earth!

According to many news reports we read from time to time, we face disasters, right and left. Sometimes, I find it best not to read those articles. One can become anxious and depressed over such news. We both choose to embrace the positive aspects of life. Negative thinking can quickly impact one’s quality of life and health.

That doesn’t mean we are oblivious to what’s happening globally and even locally. We stay aware enough to tweak our lives as needed to consider the challenges such as using less fuel, not being wasteful, recycling, and being mindful of using products and services we don’t need. This also means tightening our budget as needed in tough economic times.

Last night, after two hours on hold with Costco Travel about finally receiving our over the US $5000, ZAR 79,318 credit from Azamara from us canceling the Black Sea cruise when the itinerary was changed due to the war in Ukraine. We intended to offset the final payment due at midnight for the first leg of the upcoming cruise in November for the triple back-to-back from Athens to Cape Town.

Why should we pay in advance when they owe us so much money? Luckily, after being on hold for two hours, the Costco rep finally got through to Azamara and resolved the issue. They credited us over US $5000. We’ll pay for the second leg in a few weeks and the third, weeks later.

Big Daddy gracefully stepped over the fence with his long legs.

This particular triple back-to-back is very expensive, much more than we’re usually willing to spend. But. It’s an almost entirely new itinerary for us, seeing countries we may never be able to see again, and we decided to bite the bullet and book them. Of course, we are concerned about getting Covid-19 again, based on our recent bad experience. But, we’ve chosen not to live our lives in fear, preventing us from new experiences.

We hear so much about people getting Covid-19 on cruise ships. But, if we were to research other venues and circumstances, people are still getting sick from different scenarios. That doesn’t mean we are careless and unconcerned. It simply means we’ve decided to move on and resume our world travels more expansively.

This evening, the two of us will celebrate the anniversary of the day we met 31 years ago, on June 28, 1991. We are grateful to be together after all these years, still in love and blissfully interested in one another.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, June 28, 2021:

Thick Neck stopped by frequently at our last house, but we’ve yet to see him here. Maybe one day, soon. For more photos, please click here.

Part 3…Photos of “things” in our holiday home…Outdoors, that is!…

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We like the message but we do have WiFi and…we do talk to each other.

It’s a cool windy day, heavily overcast. We’re bundled up in warm clothes but it’s unlikely we’ll be sitting outdoors this evening. Many of the animals are hunkered down when they don’t seem to feel comfortable in the wind. A sweet little female duiker, whom we’ve named Delilah, who usually hangs out with her partner, Derek, ran off when a huge gust of wind startled her.

We look forward to spring when frogs will occupy such masks and sit looking out at the world through one of the eyes or mouth holes. Very funny.

Even Lollie is tucked away somewhere when we’ve only seen her for a few minutes earlier this morning. Several Big Daddies have visited and devoured the tops from the celery and outer leaves of the lettuce, which I cleaned for tonight’s salad. It’s funny they love the bitter celery tops.

We use this high-quality gas braai no less than three times a week, if not more. Tonight, we’ll be cooking a silverside roast.

We have celery in our dinner salad daily, along with purple onions, grape tomatoes, and crispy lettuce. I make an easy sour cream dressing we toss before serving it. I chop the vegetables daily and feed the scraps to the kudus and bushbucks, who love veggie chips. The warthogs don’t seem to like any leftovers other than carrots. They are more interested in higher carb vegetables which we don’t eat.

A pot with succulents is located on the edge of the veranda. We water it occasionally when it hasn’t rained.

Last night, we finished The Godfather II and III and loved every moment of these good movies. Now, we’ll move on to other shows to stream at night. If you have any suggestions for newer series, please send them our way. We’ve already watched many of the popular series that were available during the pandemic.  We’re now looking at the newer series that have been released since then.

Louise and Danie provide firewood for the braai (firepit). We have yet to make a fire but will do so soon.

Our simple lives of good food, wildlife watching and interacting, good music, good movies and TV series to stream, laughter, and fun among ourselves and others. It couldn’t be more pleasant. But, others often ask if we’d be happier in a home of our own, whether abroad or in the US.

Zoom in to see these stone benches by the braai, the perfect place to sit when there’s a bonfire.

Our answer is always the same, as long as we are healthy enough to move at our discretion to anywhere we choose outside the US, that provides us with enough adventure and stimulation, we will continue to strive to travel the world. As some new world travelers do for the first few years, the concept of being on the move all the time is unappealing to us.

Now that it’s winter, we’ll certainly use this excellent outdoor heater. We’ve already used it a few times on very chilly evenings.

Remember the number of flights, hotels, and venues we experienced going to the US over a month ago? Of course, it was more difficult having Covid most of the time, but even so, we’ve always preferred to live in a country for four months or more. We are kind of going overboard now, staying in South Africa for so long. Still, the pandemic has taught us a few lessons about losing money from canceled bookings, exposure to the virus, and the difficulty of travel until things improve.

A little hand-carved wooden table in the shape of an elephant.

When that happens, we’ll be excited to explore more. But, we certainly have some booked adventures on the horizon, including our upcoming trip in less than two months to Zambia and Botswana and, of course, the exciting 42-night cruise from Athens to Cape Town beginning in only a little over four months.

I couldn’t recall if we’d already posted a photo of our outdoor refrigerator, secured by a monkey-proof handle and latch. Monkeys are clever, but they can’t figure this one out.

Indeed, these adventures are more than we’d ever considered in our own lives. But, the magic of our current daily lives, living in the bush, is compelling enough in itself. After all, people from all over the world come to Marloth Park for their one big holiday/vacation of the year, and we are blessed to be here, reveling in the wonders of the bush, its wildlife, its unusual experiences, and its people. All magical.

A hand-crafted outdoor light. A beaded gecko adorns it.

Since I began today’s post, it’s started raining. We moved the laundry rack further under the veranda and have moved indoors to sit at the dining room table. We’re at Stage 4 load shedding today, and the power was supposed to go out a half-hour ago, but it hasn’t happened. Go figure. It’s the nature of the beast. TIA.

There are two hanging lamps on the veranda, one over the bar and the other over the table.
This stand attached to a post is for placing food for bushbabies and bird seeds for our flying friends.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, June 27, 2021:

Rita, Gerhard, and Tom were situated in our chairs, ready for the evening to commence. For more photos, please click here.

Part 2…Photos of “things” in our holiday home…

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Hand-carved wooden giraffes are on a shelf in the lounge room.

We had fun last night, just the two of us, listening to oldies during sundowners on the veranda, greeting our regular wildlife visitors, and later savoring a delicious homemade low-carb meal. After the power went off due to load shedding, we headed to the bedroom to begin watching the 50-year-old movie, The Godfather.

In most cases, when we watch an old movie, I remember most of it, but for some odd reason, I couldn’t remember the details of The Godfather. Tom recalled seeing all of it, but he’d also read the book in 1972. It was a great movie we were inspired to watch again after watching the Prime Video series, The Offer. As mentioned in an earlier post, the incredible story of the making of The Godfather. It’s well worth watching all of this.

Sign in the lounge room.

We’ll watch Part II of The Godfather tonight, and if done early enough, we’ll watch Part III. It’s fun to hunker down on a fantastic, cloudy evening and get wrapped up in some fine streaming. We finished watching the fabulous Outlander, so The Godfather is an excellent, engaging next step.

Many people in Marloth Park are significant users of Netflix, which we also have. We use Express VPN  to enable us to stream the US and worldwide shows at our leisure. Without that, we’d be restricted to streaming only those shows available to South Africans, which is limited.

Another message promoting positivity, befitting our lifestyle.

The WiFi works during power outages, enabling us to stream the movie from Amazon’s Prime Video at no extra charge. However, each time the power goes out and comes back on, the WiFi goes out for about five minutes, often requiring us to reboot our laptops to restore it. We are so grateful that we have WiFi during outages; we are certainly not complaining.

Today is another quiet cloudy day. Load shedding started a few minutes ago, but we are fine on the veranda, waiting to see who will visit us today. Through the next month, there will be plenty of tourists in Marloth Park, resulting in fewer animal visits. But, we are fine, knowing our regulars will surely stop by.

Another upbeat message in the dining room.

We currently have two Big Daddies, eight impalas, and our girl Lollie, a sweet lonely warthog. Tom tossed some pellets, which they were all enjoying, including the impala herd patriarch, who was anxious to get in on the action.  Right now, one of the Big Daddies is tearing down branches on some dry trees with his massive horns. They often do this to reach the greener and tastier vegetation on the upper branches of trees.

When load shedding ends in about an hour, I will be able to finish the laundry. I’d forgotten about the outage, and wouldn’t you know; load shedding started during the wash cycle. The clothes won’t be dry by the time we go indoors for the night so Tom will pull the laundry rack into the house. Since it’s so cool, they won’t dry indoors overnight, and tomorrow morning, we will haul the clothes rack back outside to finish drying.

A painting of succulents in the upstairs lounge room.

Yesterday, I made enough dinner for tonight as well. This morning, I made a big salad so dinner would be easy. There’s not much we have to do today other than handle the laundry situation, prepare the finishing touches on dinner and relax and enjoy ourselves. We love days and nights like this!

Toppling teacups in the kitchen.
Teacups in the kitchen.

Enjoy the remainder of our decorator items photos from the house’s interior. Tomorrow, we’ll share pictures of the exterior items.

Have a great Sunday, wherever you may be!

Photo from one year ago today, June 26, 2021:

Although blurry and without showing his head, Tom captured this photo of Charlie, the crocodile who resides in Marloth Park along the river. For more photos, please click here.

Part 1…Photos of “things” in our holiday home…

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In the second-level lounge room. I love what this says!

A reality of living in holiday homes and hotels year-round is that the decor is not our own. In South Africa, a predominantly African set is commonplace, especially in homes in the bush. I suppose if we owned a home here, which we never will, there is no doubt we’d probably do the same.

In the kitchen.

It would look ridiculous to decorate a home in the bush with anything other than an African theme. However, some houses with early colonial and Dutch-influenced furnishings and fixtures were very appealing. The following historical facts influenced South African decor:

In the second-level lounge room.

“The two European countries which occupied the land were the Netherlands (1652-1795 and 1803-1806) and Great Britain (1795-1803 and 1806-1961).”

“What is the Dutch style of interior design?”

Dutch design focuses on minimalism, functionalism, and innovative yet simplistic designs. But what truly sets Dutch design apart is its focus on the designers. The designers that create this beautiful and modern home decor are integral to the entire development and production process.”

Above the headboard in the main bedroom.
“British style is loved because its austere elegance, classic luxury, high quality materials, the presence of many decorative elements, and is an example of elegance and good taste in its best form example of elegance and good taste. But, to recreate it in its entirety, it will take a significant investment.”
The lounge room is on the second level under the thatch roof.
As we’ve learned over the 3½ years we’ve spent in Africa in the past almost ten years, the wealth and abundance seen in the US are not necessarily seen in this country. Sure, there is a wealthy faction, but overall, the South African people living in bush houses are on a budget and strive to create as pleasant an environment as possible, at a cost they can afford.
In the second-floor lounge room.
The decor in this bush house is not unlike others we’ve seen in Marloth Park, containing many decorator items that depict the nature and beauty of the bush and also an upbeat and optimistic ambiance. Today, we have the opportunity to share our surroundings with our readers that depict that persona.
Bespeaks African art.
Please remember that today, when I took these photos, it was a dark and dreary day. Windows are kept to a  minimum when houses are built here to keep out the monkeys and potential burglars. Using flash caused unpleasant reflections, so I did the best I could.
In the second-floor lounge room.
It’s funny how I overlooked the items shown in today’s photos after living in this house for over a month. We’ve been so busy noticing the inclusion of many things we love to use and watching the activity in the garden we’ve hardly paid attention to the decor.
In the second-floor lounge room.
Instead, we ask ourselves…Is the bed comfortable? Yes! Is the shower good? Yes! Do we have all the kitchen gadgets we need to cook our favorite meals? Yes! Does the WiFi work? Yes! (Most of the time). Do we have a good security system? Yes! We notice these things during the first month of living in a new holiday home. As time passes, we pay more attention to the little details, such as those we’re sharing today.
The interior thatched roof as seen in the second-floor lounge.
Last night, as always, we had a fantastic dinner and social time at Jabula Lodge and Restaurant. But, by 2000 hrs., 8:00 pm were back at our house. There was load shedding, so we hunkered down on top of the bed and watched a few more episodes of “The Offer,” the excellent show on Amazon Prime about making the movie “The Godfather.”
The table and chairs are on the second-level veranda.
We’ll watch the last episode of The Offer, and we’ve decided to watch the actual movie, which neither of us had seen again since we watched it in a movie theatre when it was released in 1972. This will be a great way to spend Saturday night!
The hooks in the main floor lounge room where I hang my two Africa bags.
We hope you have a great Saturday night, whatever you choose to do. Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, June 25, 2021:

This is so typical for Broken Horn. He peeks around the house to see if we’re outside. He always makes us laugh! For more photos, please click here.

Figuring out credits from canceled cruises…How much was Tom’s dental surgery today?…

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Wildebeests, zebras and warthogs in the garden.

I won’t get into all the convoluted particulars regarding the confusion on when and how we’ll get refunds and credits for canceled cruises we’ve booked in the past few years during the pandemic. Most travelers book one cruise, and it’s nowhere near as confusing as to when we’ve booked seven or eight, many of which have canceled after collecting our final payments.

Hmmm…I wonder why they don’t cancel them before we make the final payment. Are the cruise lines in such a dire financial situation that they need the “float” of our money for three or four months until they get on their feet? That’s a harsh reality and frustration for world travelers like us, who book several cruises over a year or two.

That’s wildebeest Bad Ear looking at me.

In almost ten years of world travel, we’ve sailed on 27 cruises, few of which we ever canceled. If there were cancellations, there were precipitated by the cruise line for one reason or another. In our case, we may have moved several bookings to future dates before the final payments were due to satisfy the needs of our upcoming itinerary. Still, none of these incurred any penalties or refunds.

With the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, we’re seeing some of the cruises we booked making changes we didn’t request, and now we’re struggling to get our money back consistently and seamlessly. Often, a small amount appears as a credit on a credit card we used to pay for a cruise. We never know which one it is without calling Costco, being on hold for an hour, and often holding on the line for another 45 minutes while Costco Travel calls the cruise line to get it figured out.

Tom was checking out Bad Ear after he jumped the fence to get closer to us.

We don’t blame Costco Travel. The long hold is the only issue we have with them. But, the perks they offer as an incentive to their customers are well worth the inconvenience of continuing to work with them. The refund issues are not their doing. That’s entirely up to the cruise line.

When we think about how much money we’ve lost due to the pandemic, it’s in the thousands. This was no one’s fault. It was the nature of the dreadful virus, and many lost money on travel-related expenditures, wages, and business revenue. When we were in the US, we couldn’t believe how many small and medium-sized businesses have failed due to these tough economic times.

Bossy often jumps the fence to remind us she is here.

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on most of us in one way or another. Now, we are all faced with rising fuel prices, let alone the cost of living in most areas worldwide.

At this point, we have a few airlines holding credits for us that won’t provide us with a refund. We have no idea if and when we’ll ever be able to use those credits. All of these losses certainly have impacted our budget, and we’ll proceed cautiously to ensure we remain vigilant and maintain control of our expenses.

In the interim, we’re happy to be in South Africa, where the cost of living is considerably less overall than in many countries. Tom just spent an hour in the dentist’s chair having dental surgery for his implants and the total bill for that hour was ZAR 1266, US $79.78, as shown in the statement below.

Tom’s dental surgery bill for today was ZAR 1266, US $79.78.

After the appointment, he headed to the pharmacy for three medications due to the surgery, including antibiotics, non-narcotic painkillers, and probiotics, which are always prescribed with antibiotics in South Africa. The total pharmacy bill was ZAR 424.05, US $26.71, as shown in another photo below. Where would we pay so little for this amount of service and products? Nowhere that we know.

Tom’s pharmacy bill, ZAR 424.05, US $26.71.

As “they” say,…it all comes out in the wash. We’ll continue to stay on top of the credits we’re due for the cruises via more phone calls and diligence, ensuring everything is accurate.

Have a delightful weekend!

Photo from one year ago today, June 24, 2021:

A red-backed shrike was sitting atop Rita’s hat while we were at Two Trees. For more photos, please click here.

Comment section activated again…Tom is improving…Two days and counting…

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Rapids on the Sabe River in Kruger National Park.

.Our “comments” section at the end of each post is working again. We disabled it almost a year ago due to an excessive amount of pornographic spam we received each day. If this happens again, there are “plug-ins” our web people can implement on our site to avoid spam, and your comments will come through.

This feature is set, allowing me to see each comment before posting it. This does allow me to moderate any reader comments that we’d prefer not to post, such as unsuitable language, hater comments, and politically incorrect or racist comments. Thus, none of the spam will be published.

We won’t hesitate to post comments from our readers that may not agree with our point of view, and most certainly, we will respond. However, comments intended to denigrate, ridicule, or harass us in any manner will be passed by. Life is hard enough for all of us to be subject to hateful comments in these trying times.

Several days ago, before we went to Urgent Care for Tom, when we were sneezing a lot with tremendous nasal congestion, we started over-the-counter Flonase. This nasal allergy spray has dramatically improved those symptoms. (Please see your medical professional for any medications you may use for the treatment of Covid). As for today, although Tom is still coughing a lot, he is feeling a little better and less exhausted, with fewer headaches and nasal congestion.

Tom has stopped using liquid cough medicine and cough drops based on the prescribed gel caps, which seem to help. I’d anticipated he may have trouble sleeping after taking the first dose of Cortisone yesterday, which is used to treat the inflammation in his lungs, but he slept well last night.

As for my symptoms, I still feel sluggish, out-of-sorts, and tire easily. I have a few short periods of headaches off and on throughout the day and a fair amount of coughing with congestion. But, the dry cough is gone. It’s been 23 days since we both tested positive and developed symptoms. Fortunately, neither of us continues to test positive.

Tomorrow afternoon at 4:30, we will drive to son Greg and DIL Camille’s home to say hi to them and three of our grandchildren. We won’t be getting out of the car or hugging anyone. Grandson Miles is still testing positive. We can’t take any chances. The hard part will be not being able to hug anyone. We saw them last July, ten months ago, but a hug would have been nice.

We’ll do the same with Tom’s family and are setting that up today…a drive-by hello and goodbye. Gee, what is this world coming to? This pandemic has changed all of our lives in so many ways.

In two days, we’ll be flying out of Minneapolis to Las Vegas, arriving in the evening, hoping Tom is feeling well enough by then that we can see Richard. By then, next Monday, we shouldn’t be contagious anymore. But, we’ll leave it up to Richard if he is comfortable being around us. Here again, we can only play it by ear.

As for today, it’s another low-key day, mainly working on getting well. We’re eating healthy food and have enough on hand to last us until we check out this hotel on Sunday to head to the airport. We’ll be asking for a late checkout since our flight isn’t until 3:39 pm.

We won’t be required to produce a negative Covid-19 test since the flight is domestic, and none is required. While in Henderson, Nevada, we’ll need to get a negative test before we depart for South Africa, which hopefully won’t be a problem.

That’s it for today, folks. Take care and be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 13, 2021:

On the return drive from Kruger, we encountered this intentional fire in the sugar cane fields. For more photos, please click here.