It will be a wonderful 75th birthday!…Gratefulness is at the forefront….Attack of the black worms…

There are no words I can say to express my gratitude for this milestone birthday. Well, it’s a milestone by my standards, three-quarters of a century…good grief. I never imagined this would be my life when I was 75. I’d imagined we’d be living in the US in a senior community of one sort or another, going out to dinner for the early bird special, having breakfast at Perkins or Denny’s on occasion, lots of family gatherings, playing cards, and making a monthly visit to our primary care physician, as most seniors in the US do.

Instead, our physician, Doc Theo, his two associates,(his brother) Doc Mel, and Doc Philip, and their wives, along with many other friends, are joining us for my catered birthday party on Saturday in the bush. My biggest concern is that we have plenty of South African wines and beer to serve at the party, and many animals stop by for a visit. It’s all so fun and exciting.

This morning our garden was filled with animals. Even Norman stopped by to wish me a Happy Birthday, to which I tossed him “Norman’s lunch.” But, speaking of lunch, in a short time, we’re heading out to meet Dawn and Leon (great friends and owners of Jabula) for lunch at Tamborina in Komatipoort, known for their fantastic seafood.

Since we prefer not to drive in the dark, a lunchtime event was more suitable today, the actual day of my birthday. The birthday party is being held on Saturday, February 25, at the gorgeous Khaya Umdani house, with lots of room for our 28 guests, rain or shine. Our home isn’t big enough to accommodate that size of a group, so Louise and Danie offered this house to us for my birthday. Wow! This will work out well!

We wish we could have invited more of the many lovely friends we’ve made in Marloth Park, but space is limited, and the magic number was 28, with seating for everyone. We’re bringing our Bluetooth speaker for music, and we’ll be mainly playing oldies from the 70s and 80s. For all we know, there will be dancing on the veranda.

Although the party will be casual, the food will undoubtedly be over the top. Louise and Danie are catering the food and accouterments. They have hosted weddings and other special events and are excellent at this. Of course, we’ll post many photos from the party and hopefully from today’s lunch.

Since yesterday, we’ve noticed an invasion by some ugly black worms. They are common this time of the year, but we’ve never seen them until this year. Most likely, they are due to all the rain we’ve had in the past several weeks. Supposedly they are harmless but annoying when they land on us.

Now that my long-haul Covid symptoms are improving, on Monday, I am having a tooth pulled by Dr. Singh in Malalne. Hopefully, he will be able to place a temporary tooth to avoid me walking around with a gaping hole that will show when I open my mouth or smile. I will report how that works out next Tuesday. If it didn’t still hurt, I wouldn’t be doing this! I despise going to the dentist and, even worse, having a tooth pulled.

Thanks to all of our wonderful family readers/friends for the birthday wishes. Every one of you is so thoughtful to think of me on this special day. You have no idea how much this means to me.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, February 20, 2022: