Rushing to finish today’s post to watch football…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 28, 2024 with 0 Comment

In January 2013, we had our first of two experiences through the Panama Canal. We loved every moment.

We don’t get the NFL football games on TV in the condo. So today, I am rushing through this post to be done before the first of today’s two games starts. I am most interested in the Kansas City Chiefs game at noon, and Tom is more interested in the Detroit Lions game at 3:30 pm today.

We’ll most likely watch both games on the DAZN app, formerly NFL Game Pass, which changed in the past few years. Tom isn’t as happy with DAZN as with the former NFL Game Pass app. In the past, the games could be watched after the game ended without commercials. Now, they blank the screen while the commercials are playing. If it’s watched live, there is no way to bypass the blank screen while the commercials play.

The old way, the commercials would entirely be removed about three hours after the game ended, and the game would play continuously. When using the old app, NFL Game Pass, we could get through a game in about two hours after the game ends. Once the game ends, we have to scroll through the commercials, meaning Tom has to get up, get to the laptop close to the TV, and manually fast-forward through the commercials. What an inconvenience.

Plus, to watch games on DAZN, we have to use the VPN, in our case, Express VPN, showing we’re watching from another country since it won’t allow viewers in the US to watch games on the app. The app is only intended for use outside of the US.

So today, we’ll figure it out since we like to watch the games to determine the outcome rather than see the results on social media or the news. It makes the games more fun to watch when we don’t know the outcome.

There’s not much going on here today other than spending the entire afternoon watching NFL football. Last night, we enjoyed our Grubhub delivered from the Chinese restaurant, making today an easy day for me. I’m caught up on all the household tasks, including laundry, so it will be an easy day besides working out down the hall.

With our fantastic leftovers, I won’t be cooking, and all we’ll have to do for tonight’s dinner is heat up the second meal we each ordered last night from China Tango. The food was fresh and delicious. Surely, we’ll order from them again while we’re here in Lake Las Vegas.

Tom is talking to his daughter Tammy and grandson Vincent, and he left a message for his son TJ. I have been in close touch with my kids and grandkids since we arrived here since it’s easy to talk on the phone while in the US. It’s quite a convenience that we appreciate while we’re in the US.

When we left South Africa last April, we faced 14 months until we returned. Now, we’re down to only a little more than 4½ months until we return. So much has happened in the interim. We are certainly relieved to be spending this quiet time right now.

That’s it for today, folks. Soon, it will be time for the first game to start, which I am particularly anticipating since I am a big fan of Patrick Mahomes. He’s fun to watch.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 28, 2014:

We found this bug in the house in Marloth Park. We opened a window, sending her on her way. For more “small things,” please click here.

The cost of “takeaway” or “carry out” delivered meals…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 27, 2024 with 0 Comment

Me and the chef on the cruise through the Panama Canal in January 2013. The chef was excited to prepare special meals for me. He did a fantastic job!

When starting my day this morning, I decided I didn’t feel like cooking tonight. And after dinner out on Wednesday night, I wasn’t quite ready to go out to dinner, nor did I think we should spend another $100 for dinner in a restaurant. Tom said he’d be fine going out again since our grocery bill has been so reasonable, and we aren’t paying for a rental car.

Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for dining out and suggested we arrange for takeaway/carry out through Grubhub, where we have a free delivery account through Amazon Prime. I was definitely in the mood for Chinese food, and when I suggested it to Tom, he enthusiastically agreed.

Usually, when we order dinner delivery in the US, we buy enough to last for two nights. We’ve found with tips and Grubhub’s service fee, it’s more economical to order for two nights as opposed to one. Since we love Chinese food, it’s a logical plan for us.

I usually order steamed vegetables with shrimp or chicken. But today, when I placed our order, I found that I was more in the mood for shrimp egg foo young. Tom wanted his usual sweet-and-sour pork and pork fried rice. We’d ordered takeaway once since we’d been here, and when I started searching through Grubhub, it was easy to find the restaurant we’d ordered from early on after we arrived.

China Tango is nearby, and using my phone in two minutes, I had our order placed, paid, and ready for delivery today. As mentioned recently, since we eat so little during the day, if at all, I requested the delivery for 5:00 pm. I usually pop my food in the microwave for a few minutes since I prefer my meal to be very hot, whereas Tom is fine if his meal has cooled down. Of course, on the second night, we both use the microwave.

Here is a preview of today’s order plus the costs:

Your order

Jan 27, 2024, time ordered 11:28 am

1. 2 Sweet and Sour Pork $32.50

2. 2 Shrimp Egg Foo Young $35.90 “No oil, please.”

3. 1 House Fried Rice $12.95 “NO CHICKEN OR SHRIMP. ONLY PORK, PLEASE

Your payment method will be charged for the amount of this order within the next 24 hours.

Items subtotal

$81.35

Service fee

~~$9.00~~$6.51

Sales tax

$7.36

Delivery fee

~~$7.49~~$0.00

Driver tip

$10.00

Total $105.22

When ordering through Grubhub or Door Dash or another such service, it’s surprising how much the tax, service fee, and tip come to; in this case, those totals were $28.87. However, if we’d had a rental car and picked up this order, we’d save $16.51 for the service fee and tip. However, it’s worth it since we aren’t paying $40 daily for a rental car. Even when we have had a rental car, the convenience of avoiding traffic and saving time makes the extra fees worthwhile.

This total of $105.22, divided by two nights, is $52.61 each night. We’d easily have spent $105.22 for one night dining out in a restaurant, let alone dining for two nights. Besides, having a meal delivered and watching a good movie is always fun, a special evening “at home.”

All the ingredients I have for the dinner I planned to make today will easily stay fresh until Monday, when the meats are frozen. The vegetables, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and cauliflower, will remain fresh.

Since we’ll be in the US for another 4½ months until we leave for South Africa, most likely, we’ll order through Grubhub on other occasions, especially when we so much enjoy Chinese/Asian food.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 27, 2014:

Ms. Turtle scooted across the edge of the driveway. We’ve spotted her in the same general garden area on several occasions. For more photos, please click here.

A new day in the life…Customer service calls…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 26, 2024 with 0 Comment

Shoe display in the souk in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2014.

Gosh, we’re almost at the end of the month of January when it will be only two more months until we depart Las Vegas. Each day passes so quickly. As we’ve aged, we’ve noticed how time seems to fly by more quickly than it did when we were young. That’s why it’s so important to treasure each and every day, let alone every moment. We’ve made a point to live in the moment, as opposed to anticipating what is yet to come.

Sure, with our lifestyle, we have no choice but to plan ahead, which can often preoccupy us for days at a time as we book venues, flights and activities. But, once that part is completed, we revel in the pleasures and joys of this otherwise uncomplicated life.

However, now and then, regardless of where we may be at any given time, it’s impossible to avoid dealing with customer service departments of various businesses we employ in our day-to-day lives. This morning was a perfect example of the issues in dealing with customer service departments.

Our Smith’s grocery order arrived right on time at 10:00 am. When the “picker” knocked on the door, letting us know our groceries were in plastic bags outside the door of our unit, Tom jumped up and started bringing in the items. The order total was $167, which I noticed was more than the amount of the order I’d placed.

Tom noticed there were two packages of bottled water included with our order. Immediately, I texted the picker that we hadn’t ordered two cases of bottled water. As a matter of fact, we never use single-serve bottled water since we both feel it’s a waste of plastic. We always put water in our reusable mugs from five-gallon bottles or from the tap if the water is safe to drink.

Fortunately, I caught the picker in time before she left the building, and she returned to pick up the two cases of water, stating it was intended for another customer. When I checked our receipt, it showed we were charged $3.99 for each of the two cases, for a total of $7.98.

As indicated on the app, I could enter the error and request a refund of $7.98. Carefully, I followed the instructions for the refund, But, wait a minute…it wasn’t so easy. I entered a “chat” to get it corrected but realized the chat was automated, and as expected, I didn’t get anywhere. At this point, I’d already spent 30 minutes on this error made by the picker.

I ended the chat and called the phone number. It was another 40 minutes until a “human” corrected the error. In total, I spent an hour and ten minutes dealing with this, most of which I was on hold once a human came onto the line and had to keep putting me on hold to work on the error.

At one point, the human realized I’d been working on this for quite a while, and he not only credited me the $7.98 but an extra $5 for “my time and inconvenience.” Gee…my hourly wage is infinitesimal! But, in my usual way, I stayed calm and polite and finally appreciative of the correction made by the human.

This is not an isolated circumstance. I have been waiting for almost a month for the Railroad Retirement Board to process my enrollment for Medicare Part B. I tried calling again, but there’s a minimum of a three-hour wait. I finally found an email link and sent a message asking for the status of my request. There was nowhere on their site that I could check my enrollment status, although there was a link for it that didn’t work. Oh, good grief.

I’m certain every one of our readers could tell a recent similar story of dealing with customer service for one business or another. We live in a digital world. It would be nice if all the kinks were worked out and if humans were properly trained to be fast and efficient. If everything worked as well as the automated laundry here in this building, using a flawless app on my phone, life would be easier for those of us looking for speedy resolutions.

As I said, each moment is precious. It’s a shame to waste them on customer service calls.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 26, 2014:

We were so excited to get this shot of one of the two monitor lizards living in our yard. This photo was taken at the hottest point of the day. Louise and Danie told us that they’ll swim in the pool from time to time. We’d have loved to see that! For more photos, please click here.

Great evening out at Luna Rossa…Short attention span?…Pigs are smart…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 25, 2024 with 2 Comments

My entree consisted of grilled barramundi, one of my favorite types of fish we discovered in Australia, with scallops and shrimp. Divine!

It was a lovely evening last night when the four of us had a drink in our condo after we gave them a tour of our condo, then walked down that one flight of steps for the short walk to Luna Rossa. We love that restaurant, the quality food, the ambiance, and the service. It couldn’t be better.

Plus, the conversation at our table was lively and animated, with a seemingly endless stream of laughter. The evening passed too quickly, and before we knew it, by 9:00 pm, we said our goodbyes. In no time at all, we were situated comfortably on the sofa, me in my PJs and both of us watching the first episode of Season 4 of True Detective after struggling through Seasons 2 and 3. Season 1 was fantastic, but it went downhill from there.

Tom is way more patient than I am. I want to change to something else if I am not engrossed in a series after the first episode. Tom, on the other hand, will stick it out to see if it improves. When I don’t like it, I play games on my phone and do not pay attention. Admittedly, I have a short attention span.

Once I get bored, I tune out and search for something stimulating to keep me entertained. I’ve never been one to sit patiently in one spot when I have lost interest in the situation at hand. No, I won’t be rude to those engaged in a dull (to me) conversation and will make every effort to appear engaged and interested and pay attention.

When in school, the teacher often yelled at me if I was distracted by a boring topic. I was a straight-A student through high school, but I often felt like I “skated through” by studying well for tests and diligently completing my homework. By doing so, I was able to tune out when I wanted. Also, I always enjoyed writing essays, and good scores on those always added to my final grade.

No wonder I have no trouble writing a new post each day. When we do what we love, it’s not complicated.

Since I am this way, it’s not hard for me to spot others who also may have a short attention span, and on occasion, l find myself making eye contact with them, smiling in acknowledgment that we are the same.

Last night, there never was a moment that I lost interest in our lively banter. I was so engaged I was using my hands too much when talking, a habit more frequently seen from Tom, that I spilled the balance (a small amount) of the wine left in my glass. I felt terrible to have sprinkled our guests with red wine.

Richards’ chicken piccata with roasted vegetables.

Today is a low-key day. I am making baby back ribs for Tom, and I’ll have something else. I don’t often eat pork, mainly since I love pigs. Due to my necessary low inflammation diet, I’d never be able to give up meat entirely, but pigs…well, that’s another matter.

We love pigs (warthogs) and look forward to seeing them again.

Tom always makes fun of me for a Facebook site I always follow, “Arthur’s Acres Animal Sanctuary in Parksville, New York.” Todd, the owner, is a fantastic guy who loves animals, mostly abandoned and mistreated pigs. He has devoted his life to the pigs and animals he rescues that their former owners grossly neglected. Check out his site for a chuckle and some heart-warming entertainment. Go to search on Facebook and type in Arthur’s Acres. This site instantly picks up your mood if you feel out of sorts. It always makes me smile.

Pigs are listed as #5 of the top smartest animals worldwide.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 25, 2014:

On either side of the face are two hanging red-tipped hanging pieces of skin. When the helmeted Guinea fowl moves about, these swing around like dangling earrings. For more photos, please click here.

The TV is not fixed…Using a workaround…We stumbled on a way to save on groceries and eat like royalty…Who knew it could be done?…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 24, 2024 with 2 Comments

A thick-tailed bush baby enjoying yogurt we left out for her. These larger bush babies aren’t as cute as the little species.

Late yesterday afternoon, the owner of this condo, Zoltan, stopped by to help us get the sound to work when plugging my laptop into the HDMI cord. Zoltan brought a new HDMI cord to see if that was the problem. It was not. We spent at least an hour trying to find a setting or solution to keep us from having to use our JBL Bluetooth portable speaker.

Alas, we didn’t find a solution. However, after making many changes to the settings on the TV, we found ourselves unable to revert to our initial workaround using our speaker. We had no sound using any method. Determined as I was working with Zoltan, I asked him if we could retrace our steps and get our original workaround working once again. That took another half hour.

Finally, we resolved the issue and returned to the original setup we’d been using. Whew! Once we leave here on March 31, Zoltan will have to find a way for other renters to stream shows using their laptops. However, the Samsung TV is a Smart TV, and if I had known all the passwords for the multiple streaming services we use, we could have used the various links offered on the TV.

In most countries, the TV monitors are not Smart TVs, and we haven’t ever used the features provided to get into Netflix, Prime, and Hula, for example. But we are also currently using Paramount+, Peacock, and others. I didn’t feel like going in to change all the passwords, many of which we’d had for years. Many of our passwords are automatically set up by Google, and the system remembers them when we try to log in.

Oh well, we’re back to our initial setup, and we’re okay with that for the remainder of the time we are here another two months. We leave here on March 31. Gosh, the time is flying by quickly.

Tonight, Richard and his girlfriend are coming here to see our place, and then the four of us will walk down the one flight of stairs for the short walk to Luna Rossa, where we’ll have dinner. I made the reservations for 6:45, so we’ll eat later than usual, as we did last night. We are excited to share this lovely condo and its location with our first visitors since we arrived almost six weeks ago.

I wanted to share what we consider somewhat of a phenomenon, although on a small scale, of how we’re saving hundreds of dollars on groceries each month. I know we’ve mentioned this in the past. But this morning, I submitted this week’s online order from Smith’s Marketplace, delivered by Instacart using our Boost membership as described below. (Kroger owns Smith’s):

“Kroger Boost membership fees are $59 per year for next-day delivery or $99 per year for same-day delivery. Both options require a minimum order of $35.

Boost is part of Kroger’s Kroger Plus loyalty program. Kroger Loyalty program members can enroll in Boost online and pay the fee with a credit or debit card. Members can cancel their Boost membership before the end of their first year by visiting their membership page.”

When we arrived here, we shopped a few times in person to get essential supplies, most of which we’ve since used, except for about $30 in various spices I ordered on Amazon. As shown above, we selected the annual fee of $59 since we plan ahead enough not to need same-day delivery.

As the weeks marched on, I noticed that our weekly/monthly grocery bill now averages about $150 weekly. This is about $75 less per week than we’d spend if we shopped in person at the market. How is this possible? See our list below:

1. The elimination of impulse buying. Also, when preparing the online order, I don’t do so when I’m hungry, which is often suggested for those who suffer from impulse buying.

2. Planning a menu for the week, most often using recipes, and only buying the times needed as indicated on the recipes(s)

3. When running low or out of an item, instead of writing it down, go to the app and enter the item(s) immediately on the list of other items to be ordered.

4. Be willing to eat leftovers not only to save money but also to save time. I often make a recipe we love to last for three nights.

5. Submit the order based on your selected program, either next-day or same-day delivery, to avoid paying extra fees.

6. Pay special attention to coupons offered in the app. We often save $10 to $15 on needed coupon items, but… if the item is not required, don’t add it. Most often, it’s a one-click process to use the coupon, which will automatically be reflected in the total bill.

7. Tips are automatically included in the total price. Stick with the tips suggested by the system instead of paying an additional amount. If you pay more, pay it in cash when the delivery is ordered to avoid the system automatically filtering the higher amount for subsequent orders.

8. Use up your perishables to avoid food waste. It is a rare occasion that we’ll throw out any food. The only exception to that was when we were in South Africa during lengthy power outages (load shedding). We have no food waste with the inverter system in the house we usually rent.

9. Be willing to freeze uneaten leftovers. Each time I make a more time-consuming recipe, I purposely store a fourth portion in the freezer. Those are when we may have planned to go out to dinner and changed our minds, preferring to eat at home. Also, frozen leftovers are ideal for busy days when there isn’t ample time to make a new meal. Often, on those occasions, all I have to do is make a fresh salad and cook the frozen entree in the oven or microwave, whichever you prefer.

Our food bill may be less than others since we don’t buy unhealthy snack items such as chips, cookies, cakes, and candy. However, if you are trying to save money in these tough economic times with increased costs, it might be a good time to rethink such purchases and put hundreds of dollars back in your pocket.

When we were in the US on past visits, spending up to $250 a week was easy, considering we ate high-quality meats and vegetables. Right now, we are spending an average of $150 a week, although, on occasion, we may purchase some staples from Amazon. Yesterday, I saw Amazon had a great price on garbage bags and zippered gallons for storage bags. I had both items on the grocery app but removed them to ensure no duplicates were purchased. I ordered the two items and received them in less than 24 hours without a shipping fee since we also belong to Prime.

In most countries and other US cities, you can set up a regular online grocery order app that works for you. It’s not exclusively through Kroger/Smith’s, delivered by Instacart.

That’s it for today, folks. Have a fantastic “hump day.”

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 24, 2014:

A pair of waterbucks, posing from afar, across the Crocodile River. Waterbucks do not live in Marloth Park. But they can be seen on the banks of the river on the Kruger National Park side. For more, please click here.

TV problems…Tom needs a new laptop…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 23, 2024 with 0 Comment

The Wildebeest family was in Kruger National Park last January.

Technology can fail, leaving us searching for solutions. I’m adept at figuring out most digital equipment, but recently, I have been baffled after multiple attempts to get the TV monitor in the condo to work correctly. For a while, the TV wouldn’t come on. I called Network and Samsung, but they couldn’t figure it out.

After hours of playing with it, I finally got it to come back on, but it went out several times after that, and my first fix didn’t work a second time. There was no point in spending hours on the phone with the two companies. I kept working with it and got it to come back on again. This time, I can’t even say what got it going again. It was a non-stop trial and error-process.

We need the TV to work to allow us to stream what we’d like to watch in the evenings. We don’t watch anything on Dish since we prefer to binge-watch streamed series, although we occasionally watch news if there’s a story we’re interested in. Otherwise, we read most news online.

For a few weeks, everything worked fine. Then, on Friday night, the sound disappeared for no reason. I spent the better part of the evening trying to get sound to work and finally gave up, and we didn’t watch anything. During the night, I reminded myself about our JBL portable Bluetooth speaker. Could that provide sound while my laptop is plugged into the TV via an HDMI? I thought it might be a conflict, but I decided to give it a try first thing in the morning.

Turning on the well-charged portable speaker and plugging the laptop into the TV, much to our delight, we had sound. This is what we’ve been using successfully since Saturday. However, the battery life on the Bluetooth speaker is only good for a few hours. We keep it plugged into its charging outlet to keep it charged while using it.

In any case, I thought it was important for the owner to know about this new issue, and he agreed to come out today, Tuesday, to see what he can figure out. He lived here for several years and may know something I can’t figure out. He wanted to come by around 5:00 pm today, but I asked if he could come closer to 4:00 so we could have dinner at our usual 5:30 or 6:00 pm. He could easily spend a few hours figuring this out, as we’d done in the past.

Then, a few days ago, when I helped Tom with something on his laptop, I realized his computer was outdated and running poorly. I could improve the “running poorly” aspect. Still, the cumbersome nature of his small monitor and the awkwardness of his small keyboard were issues that could only be improved by purchasing a bigger and better laptop, preferably one like mine.

We couldn’t remember exactly where and when he purchased his laptop. Today, I searched my email messages for “Asus Chromebook.” To my surprise, I found the original receipt when he bought that laptop in June 2021 from Takealot in South Africa as follows:

Asus Chromebook Celeron N4020 4GB 32GB 11.6″ HD Notebook – Grey

R 6199.00

Subtotal:	R 6199.00
Shipping:	R 0.00
Total:	R 6199.00

In today’s dollars, the price, as shown above in rand, would be $325.58 in US dollars. This morning, I perused Costco’s laptops since he’d like to use a rewards/shop card he’ll receive in his email soon from using his Costco credit card for buying fuel. The card’s value is only $44.00, but it will more than cover the tax and shipping for a new laptop. We’ve often used Costco to buy laptops since their prices are competitive, and they extend the warranty for a second year. Plus, they have a 90-day return policy.

After looking today, I found a laptop he’d like to buy with the following important-to-him features:

Touchscreen
Backlit (lighted) keyboard
HDMI outlet
Bluetooth capability
14″ to 15.6″ monitor
Lower weight for travel and solid state for durability
Windows operating system (he’s ready to return to Windows after using a Chromebook for the past 2½ years).
Other standard features regarding storage, RAM, sound, screen acuity, and brand names

We’ll purchase as soon as the credit appears in his email. He’s already received an email alerting him that it will arrive quickly. Most likely, he’ll be spending about $500 for the new laptop plus tax and shipping, which is what we expect for the quality equipment he so well deserves.

We’ll be back with updates on these two technological issues. Have a wonderful day!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 23, 2014:

The “Three Little Pigs” are getting big. Mom is standing off to the side while they all wait for us to throw out a few pellets. Of course, we complied. For more photos, please click here.

Late start again today…Monday, Monday…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 22, 2024 with 2 Comments

In 2016, we lived on an alpaca farm for three months in New Plymouth, New Zealand, one of our most wonderful experiences. Check our archives for details for January, February, and March 2016.

Yep. We slept in again today. I didn’t get up until 9:30 after a great night’s sleep. According to my Fitbit, I slept for 8 hours and 21 minutes. I believe working out six days a week has improved the quality and duration of my sleep. I no longer feel that I suffer from insomnia, which plagued me for years.

Last night, we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner of low-carb loaves, as shown in the photo below. I made enough of this recipe to last for three nights, plus one more night’s batch for the freezer. It was delicious. I hadn’t made these for a few years and it was enjoyable to make them again.

One of our favorite recipes: baked, low carb, almond flour chicken stuffed loaves. I doubled the recipe to result in four meals, freezing part of it. We each eat one loaf per meal. Please see this link for instructions and the recipe.

This morning, I did my nails, which I do once a week, and just got started on today’s post. Soon, I’ll head to the kitchen to make tonight’s salad and also have a bite to eat. We often only eat one meal a day, but today, I am feeling like I need to eat something. I won’t eat much since I am conscious of this higher-calorie dinner. Most likely, I’ll make some veggies to hold me over.

While we were still working in our old lives, Mondays weren’t my favorite day of the week. For Tom, he would end up working all days of the week. When we first met, he had Tuesday and Wednesday off. But sometimes, on the weekends, which worked better for me, he’d get done working early, and we’d be able to have fun on a weekend day, together or with friends.

However, he often worked on holidays when they occurred on his working days. There were many holidays he had to work. After a while, I got used to it and worked around it, still celebrating the holidays with our kids and saving him some of the good meals we had to reheat as leftovers.

As the years marched on, with his seniority on the railroad, he was able to have the weekend off, but this was only the last few years. I often worked during the week with weekends off, but we both worked around his schedule. Now that we’ve both been retired for over 11 years, I still get that funny nagging feeling on Sunday night that Monday morning is fast approaching and back to work is on the horizon.

As much as I try to psyche myself that Mondays are like any day of the week when retired, it still stays with me. As a result, when I have undesirable tasks to accomplish, I sometimes put them off until Monday, which ultimately leaves me thinking about Monday coming up.

Since most businesses are closed on weekends, if I have business-related calls to make, I have to wait until Monday anyway, again leaving me with that dreaded feeling of “things to do” that I don’t particularly enjoy. Right now, I am all caught up on to-do tasks, but with tax time coming up before too long, there will be more tasks to accomplish on Monday or other weekdays.

In other words, regardless of our state of retirement, Mondays bring a plethora of responsibilities that even nomads have to face, whether we like it or not. I often think of the phrase, “You can run, but you can’t hide.” So true.

I have to run…the laundry is ready to be hung on the rack. See, even laundry still has the connotation of being a task to complete on a Monday! Ha!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 22, 2014:

The exquisite view from our room at the Blyde River Canyon Lodge, Hoedspruit, South Africa, where we stayed for three nights while we toured the many sites in the area. For more, please click here.

Fun time last night…Busy Sunday cooking, football and working out…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 21, 2024

Selfie…the two of us at The Pub last night in Lake Las Vegas.

A patron at The Pub spoke to us only when he wasn’t paying attention and bumped into me to apologize when we were looking for a table. We arrived at 5:15 pm, and the place was packed. If we’d arrived 30 minutes later, we wouldn’t have been able to get a table.

If we prefer to have a drink at this bar before dinner, we’ll have to arrive by 4:00 or 4:30 or come on a different day of the week, not Saturday night. Many TV screens broadcast football games, but no one seemed to pay attention. The loud voices made us chuckle. This certainly is a busy pub, aptly named. No doubt, we’ll go there again in the future.

This guy was standing in a little area with two bar stools, but they weren’t at the bar.

The drinks were priced for happy hour at $6 each. Tom had two beers, and I had two small glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon. Tom had a Reuben sandwich with fries included, and I had a grilled buffalo chicken salad with blue cheese dressing.

After ordering our drinks, we were content and engaged in lively chatter between us. It was nice to get out of the house and be in different surroundings, as much as we love the condo.

There was no room at the bar, so we selected a table. Minutes after our arrival, the place was packed.

We slept late this morning, and I didn’t start prepping tonight’s dinner until 10:00 am with a cup of coffee. It is a complicated recipe, and I spent almost two hours in the kitchen. I sat down to prepare today’s post only a short time ago and have yet to make my second cup of coffee.

Once I am done here, Tom can use my laptop to broadcast today’s football games. I’m only interested in the second game, with Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, which is on until 3:30 pm. That gives me plenty of time to make the salad to go with dinner and work out in the fitness center. Now, as I write here, it’s only 1:00 pm.

This was my buffalo grilled chicken salad with blue cheese and dressing.

If I’d got up earlier, I’d have more time to get everything done by 3:30, but since we began traveling the world, we don’t feel compelled to get up at any particular time unless we have specific plans. Tom is always up before me, but I am always awake before him. I read the news on my phone in the mornings or reply to emails and texts from family, friends, and readers, never feeling any pressure to accomplish this.

We love the leisurely pace of our lives right now. So little is required besides the basic daily housekeeping and cooking tasks. I do most of it, except Tom takes care of the dishes and trash and helps with the weekly cleaning day, which we decided is Friday.

We’ll also do the cleaning when we get to Arizona on April 1st for about six weeks. But when we get to Minnesota, we’ll be in a hotel with a living room and kitchen, which will be cleaned for us. I love not having to clean! Of course, once we get to Marloth Park in mid-June, once again, we’ll have our dear Zef and Vusi, who clean daily when there is so much dust from the wildlife, stopping by.

That’s it for today, folks. Now, I need to relinquish my laptop for the football games since Tom’s computer won’t work with the HDMI, regardless of what we try to do to fix it. Soon, he needs a replacement laptop, and perhaps next time, we’ll buy him one with an HDMI outlet.

Our bill with the 18% tip was $70.79, about $20 less than we paid last Saturday at Luna Rossa, which was a better meal. I ordered two glasses of wine when the first glass was only about 3oz. I asked for a stemmed glass since I don’t care to drink wine in a water glass, and the waitperson brought me a champagne glass, which was fine.

Have a fantastic day, and be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 21, 2014

Wow! Bourke’s Luck Potholes in South Africa was our favorite. For more photos, please click here.

Feeling good…Enjoying life and each other…Are other patrons friendly in public venues in the US?…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 20, 2024 with 0 Comment

Dawn and Leon are dear friends and owners of Jabula. This photo was taken on the day of my 75th birthday when the four of us went out to lunch when my birthday party, which they also attended, was a few days later.

With our coughs almost completely gone., we’re both feeling great and grateful at the same time. We had an excellent night’s sleep, and after a few cups of coffee, we are ready to tackle the day.

Today, I won’t be chopping and dicing for dinner since we’re heading out to a restaurant in The Village, down the one flight of stairs to the lovely area. We were heading to The Pub at the bottom of the steps when we found their menu appealing to both of us. We’re hoping it’s good since their prices are reasonable, and we may decide to dine there more often than once a week.

Tomorrow, we’ll report what we’ve discovered with photos and comments about the environment and the food. It appears to be somewhat of a sports bar, which we don’t mind at all. Hopefully, it will be a friendly place where we can chat with a few other locals and visitors to the area. But, our expectations regarding socializing in a restaurant in the US are in check. In all the years we lived in Minnesota (Tom, all of his life), we seldom chatted with other patrons in any public venue.

An occasional “hello” in passing while walking was all we could ever expect. On occasion, someone would talk to me at the supermarket, but never at the health club or any other public environment. I will always remember the time I met a lovely woman at a CVS pharmacy, and we chatted for 30 minutes.

And yet, we can recall during our world travels when we conversed with other patrons, and there were few countries where this transpired. You may say, “Do we make an effort to converse with others?”

And yes, we do. We are both friendly and approachable when we say hello and smile at other patrons, encouraging conversation. But our friendly approach is often ignored when the person turns away. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but they are few and far between.

The number one most friendly environment we’ve experienced in our world travels has been on most cruises, with only three cruises we’ve found to be less so….the Mekong River cruise in 2016, the Antarctica cruise in 2018, and, again, most recently, on The Galapagos Islands cruise. In each case, the passenger count was low: 60 passengers, 160 passengers, and 14 passengers, respectively. (No offense intended for any of the few passengers on those three cruises with whom we may have interacted occasionally and thoroughly enjoyed).

Cruises with larger passenger counts seem the most friendly, perhaps mainly based on the numbers. However, we have had exceptional social experiences on cruises, making many friends with whom we remain close.

Then, of course, the most friendly of all has been at Jabula Lodge and Restaurant in Marloth Park. South Africa. I know we’ve mentioned this repeatedly, but there is nowhere like it in the world that we have seen during our over 11 years of travel or…even in our old lives. Is it any wonder that we are looking forward to our return?

The food, the ambiance, Dawn and Leon, the owners, and all of the locals whom we’ve come to know over the years we spent sitting at the most fun bar in the world. We often equate it to the same kind of bar many of us watched on the old TV show, Cheers, “Where everyone knows your name!”

So, we don’t expect the restaurant and pub where we’ll dine tonight to be anything like Jabula, but as we have in the past, we will thoroughly enjoy each other’s companionship, lively chatter, and hopefully good food.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 20, 2014:

Tom was thrilled once again to be back on the water since it was seven months since our last cruise. We were on the Blyde River on a tour of the Blyde River Canyon in South Africa. For more, please click here.

Thanks for all the positive comments about yesterday’s posts…Not much going on right now, but our readers remain…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 19, 2024 with 2 Comments

On January 19, 2021, we had a highly venomous boomslang snake with a frog in its mouth; visit us on the veranda, very close to us. It was good for us since he was preoccupied with the frog in his mouth. See the story and how we handled it in this post here.

We were flooded with many messages and comments about yesterday’s post, a topic we’ve covered in past posts. One reader wrote that we may have haters, but we don’t. We have some highly opinionated readers, but none that are hateful and toxic, aimed at us or our site. We appreciate that more than we can say.

Our biggest concern regarding our readers is that they become bored with our posts when we don’t have much going on, such as right now. Much to our delight, we don’t lose readers during our quiet times. It will be pretty quiet for us during the next few months. We won’t be traveling outside the US until June.

However, we will be making the first of the road trips beginning on April 1, as follows:

4/1/2024 – Las Vegas, Nevada to Apache Junction, Arizona – 5 hr 19 min (336.3 mi) via US-93 S
5/15//2024 – Apache Junction, Arizona to Los Angeles, California – 6 hr 42 min (407.9 mi) via I-10 W
5/18/2024 – Los Angeles, California to Milwaukee, Wisconsin – 30 hr (2,057.1 mi) via I-80 E
5/20/2023 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Minneapolis, Minnesota – 4 hr 52 min (337.1 mi) via I-94 W

As you can see, three of the above road trips won’t require an overnight stay in a hotel, based on the short duration.

From there, on June 14, 2024, the average flight time from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Nelspruit, to South Africa – is 30 hours and 10 minutes. The exact time will be determined by the length of layovers along the way. The flight covers a distance of 14,514.61 miles.

While traveling across the US on these road trips, we’ll stop to take photos and make every moment of our road trips enjoyable for both of us. We’re definitely looking forward to these four trips. Perhaps this will be a foray into what we may do in the future when health may limit our traveling the world as much as we’ve done in the past. We’ve often discussed traveling in the US at some point.

As our readers know. We came to the US for several months to get me signed up for Medicare Part B and a supplement. We needed to be here for Tom’s pulmonology appointment in Chicago on January 10. In the months to come, I’ll go to the Mayo Clinic to have more tests on my heart to determine if further treatment is crucial in the next year.

Of course, spending time with family is also a huge motivator in spending time in the US. During this trip, we’ll see more family than we have in the past in any single stay. We’ll have accomplished a lot by leaving in June and feel at ease returning to South Africa.

Today is cleaning day. This morning, I did laundry and my share of the cleaning, and now Tom is vacuuming and will wash the floors. We’ll dine in tonight, and tomorrow, on Saturday, we’ll head down the one flight of stairs to the Village to go out to dinner.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, January 19, 2014:

Year: 2024