Part 2, Graduation party last night…What is a “Walking Taco?”…30 food trends from the past decade…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 8, 2024 with 0 Comment

Vincent and his two moms, Tracy on the left and Tammy on the right were at Vincent’s graduation party last night at a regional park.

Everyone enjoyed last night’s party for Vincent’s graduation. The food was plentiful, delicious, and catered by “We Cater to You,” a local company that may be found here at this site.

They did an excellent job preparing (and cleaning up) beautifully presented food that included the typical taco fixings, bags of chips, a fruit salad, and a colorful green salad with blackberries that I topped with the chicken taco meat, which was perfect for me.

There were party gifts, root beer on tap, canned beer for the adults, and plenty of added decor to highlight the graduation theme. Most likely, about 60 people joined in on the festivities, including several Lyman family members, Vincent’s birth dad and family, and other family friends.

This is a “walking taco” in a large-sized Frito bag. Everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Minnesota’s notorious barrage of mosquitos attacked me a few times, but when I didn’t have to be concerned about malaria, I didn’t think about it much. I wore socks to protect my vulnerable ankles, long pants, and a shirt with sleeves. Alas, the nasty little buggers bit my hands, my only exposed skin.

We arrived promptly at 5:00 and headed out around 8:30 to return to our hotel to spend the remainder of the evening relaxing before retiring for the night. I awoke at 5:00 am to the sound of hotel room doors slamming as guests were checking out, stayed awake for about an hour, and finally drifted off again, somehow managing to sleep through a lot more noise in the corridor, which continues now as I write here.

Getting back to food trends from the past decade, here are the remaining items from the story we started yesterday for Part 2:

Latte art made a splash as coffee culture intensified. Latte art, or art made using espresso, steamed milk, and frothed milk to create images in foam, took over social media for a spell in the mid-2010s.

Hard seltzer will go down as one of the biggest trends of the 2010s, with consumers flocking to the lower-calorie boozy beverage. The summer of 2019 was the summer of hard seltzer. The boozy beverage was so beloved that there was even a national shortage of White Claw, the most popular hard seltzer brand.

The fast-casual explosion hit its stride with chains such as Sweetgreen and Shake Shack. Fast-casual restaurants lie somewhere between fast-food and full-service, meaning they usually don’t offer table service with a waitstaff but are generally regarded as having higher quality food than the average fast-food restaurant.

Soylent and other meal replacement shakes got a face-lift in the late 2010s. With its modern, minimalist branding and marketing, Soylent caters to a younger crowd looking for quick, on-the-go meals.

Though they’ve been around for hundreds of years, macarons were popularized in the States in the 2010s. The French cookies use whisked egg whites and sugar to make meringue, the main ingredient in macarons.

macarons french — Macaroons are still popular. Not our photo.

Food trucks have become hotbeds for chefs who might not have the resources to open a brick-and-mortar kitchen. The mobility of a truck allows entrepreneurs to reach a large audience and announce their location on various social media platforms.

Kale, a nutritious leafy green, became a popular smoothie on social media. Leafy green became so popular that Beyoncé was even seen wearing a “kale” sweatshirt stylized in the collegiate format of Yale University.

Edible gold leaf has become a widespread decoration for fine-dining dishes. From a $2,000 gold-covered pizza in Manhattan to an Australian burger made with 24-karat buns, the fancy ingredient has become an over-the-top addition to various foods.

Natural Wine has both divided the wine community and spurred various young enthusiasts. Natural wine, a broad term for wines produced with minimal intervention from the winemaker, has become popular in recent years.

Juicing fruits and vegetables has become a popular trend in the wellness scene. Juicing vegetables, including celery, carrots, and beets, made raw vegetable consumption cool and easy. However, home juicing has lost a bit of steam as many fast-casual restaurants and grocery stores have started offering pre-juiced vegetables in bottles.

A juicing machine churns out some kiwi-lemon juice. Shutterstock. Not our photo.

Cold brew coffee is everywhere nowadays, as iced coffee lovers flock to the highly caffeinated coffee beverage. Cold brew is made by steeping ground coffee with highly caffeinated, creating a coffee “concentrate” that often has more caffeine than your average cup of joe.

Negronis made a comeback as cocktail lovers have embraced the bitterness of various Italian liqueurs. The Negroni is made with gin, vermouth, and the bitter Italian liqueur Campari. It’s also the staple cocktail of the world’s best bar of 2019.

Though smoked and cured meats never go out of style, charcuterie boards dominated the 2010s. Charcuterie boards often feature a selection of smoked or cured meats, various cheeses, and a sweet component — whether it be dried or fresh fruit, honey, or sweet vegetables.

jamón ibérico and charcuterie platter — Charcuterie board. Not our photo.

Session beers, or beers brewed to have a lower alcohol content, are becoming popular for their dri. Low-ABV session beers are meant to be enjoyed in larger quantities. The lower alcohol percentage allows people to drink more of them in a “session” without getting too intoxicated.

Mocktails and nonalcoholic beers, such as Heineken’s 0.0, also made a sober splash in the 2010s, as more consumers sober-curious” or give up booze altogether. Mocktail bars are also opening nationwide to cater to customers looking for a way to socialize at bars without alcohol.

Founder’s All Day IPA, a low-ABV session beer. Founders. Not our photo.

Fermenting foods made a significant impact on small and large restaurants. Fermenting food, or allowing bacteria and yeast to break down carbs to preserve food, became a huge trend in the 2010s as fine dining establishments and mom-and-pop locations went into practice. The Noma Guide to Fermentation, a guide to fermenting pretty much everything, was also released by the team at Noma.

Farm-to-table restaurants, or those aiming to shorten the distance between ingredients’ sources and the restaurant, were popular. Though its actual meaning is often hard to define, farm-to-table became a popular phrase in the 2010s as consumers tried to eat more locally-grown, organic products.

Zero-waste cooking has become a trend as professional chefs and home cooks try to lower their carbon footprints. Cooking with as little waste as possible — leftover food or plastic packaging — has become a goal for many restaurants as the industry becomes increasingly conscious of its environmental impact.”

Thanks to Business Insider for this great article, which can be found here.

Thanks to Tammy and Tracy for Vincent’s fantastic grad party!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, June 8, 2014:

A long set of stairs, without handrails, up a steep hill in Madeira. For more photos, 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:

Tom volunteered to feed the vultures raw meat at Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre in Hoedspruit, South Africa. He wore a leather sleeve on his right arm from fingertips to shoulder. As soon as our guide put the raw meat into his hand, several vultures flew at him to grab it, leaving two to fight over it. It’s exciting! For more photos, please click here.

Corrections to our posts…Redundancy…Today is our 32 year anniversary of meeting…More Tuscany photos…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 28, 2023 with 0 Comment

In Tuscan, laundry is typically hung outdoors from windows and make-shift clotheslines. Photo from this post.

In the past week, we made a few errors which a few readers kindly corrected. One was the birds in yesterday’s post when I described two birds at a golf course as Red-headed Herons when they were Sandhill Cranes. The second was the date the Titanic sank. I posted May 31, 1012, when it was April 15, 1912.

In both cases, I researched online, and in both cases, I noted the wrong information. Not everything we find online is accurate, as we so well know. Besides, I’m not exempt from typing incorrectly or inadvertently assuming information that may be inaccurate. In any case, I appreciate the correction and take no offense.

This small clothesline worked except for sheets and towels. For those, we made a clothesline that did the trick.

Writing a daily post such as this is bound to have errors, typos, inaccuracies, grammar and spelling errors, assumptions, and the relaying of inaccurate information I may have found online. Although, on a day-to-day basis, I try to be as accurate as possible.

The most frustrating error I face daily is paragraph spacing. In most cases, I cannot correct them, although I continue to try. Also, copying and pasting an article or photo from another source often impacts the format of my entire post, making specific corrections impossible.

In those cases, I decide the content I am adding is more important, removing the formatting errors, and I let it fly. These incidents slow me down; preparing a post often takes an hour or longer than usual.

Another issue we face with our posts is redundancy, described as follows:

“Redundancy

Linguistics

Description

In linguistics, a redundancy is information that is expressed more than once. Examples of redundancies include multiple agreement features in morphology, multiple features distinguishing phonemes in phonology, or the use of various words to describe a single idea in rhetoric.”

It would be tough to avoid redundancy after writing almost 4000 posts (we’re at 3956 today) over the past 11 years. In the first few years, we didn’t do a post daily, but as time passed, we decided daily was more meaningful. Besides, doing it daily made it easier for me to be consistent and motivated rather than writing sporadically.

I went for a walk by myself down this narrow passageway.. It was like a maze.

To avoid redundancy, I’m not making a big deal here of our 32nd anniversary of meeting on this date in 1991. In the past, I’ve written and posted photos about this special day (for us), but today, we’ll enjoy it among ourselves. It’s funny, but this date has more meaning for us than our wedding anniversary of March 7, 1995, neither date of which has as much meaning as the anniversary date of the beginning of our world travels, October 31, 2012.

The anniversary date of our world travels represents so much for us, our choice of freedom to decide how we live our lives, a powerful sense of adventure, the continuing challenges that test our resiliency and adaptability, and the opportunity to experience the cultures, wildlife, nature, people, and scenery. We are truly blessed and grateful.

I suggested we use the rain gutter to dry the sheets. Tom ran to get the hangers to avoid getting the sheets dirty. Then, he moved the table and chairs to ensure the sheets didn’t touch the tabletop. It worked. Most locals hung their sheets outside their windows.

It looks like we won’t be going out today. There is wild thunder, lightning, wind, and rain. It makes no sense to go out in the golf cart today.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, June 28, 2013:

As we walked to the garden in Tuscany, we noticed these live vines over a doorway to another “attached house. Tom grumbled, “You’d never catch me walking through those vines each time I went outside!” I thought they were cute. For more photos, please click here.

Oops…forgot to upload yesterday’s post…Tom returns today!…11 year anniversary of our posts!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 15, 2023 with 0 Comment

A kudu mom and her young son who will eventually become a Big Daddy.

Gee… late last night, I started getting messages that there was no post yesterday. Then it dawned on me that I hadn’t uploaded it since I was waiting to hear from Tom since he always proofread the posts within minutes of it being uploaded so we can correct any errors.

The time slipped away when he was on the plane for 16 hours. And I became so distracted by hearing his voice when he arrived that I forgot entirely about uploading the post. Neither of us thought of it when all that was on our minds was him getting back to me in the bush. Gosh, it’s been a long ten days.

Once he got situated in his hotel room in Joburg after we’d talked, he noticed I hadn’t uploaded the post and sent me a message. By then, I was under the covers and thinking about dozing off. It had to wait until this morning. If I got up and turned my laptop back on, I’d lose the sleepiness I was feeling.

Zebras wander over to the railing for pellets.

First thing this morning, I uploaded yesterday’s post, and now I am busy doing today’s, which I will remember to upload. I am still in one piece, counting the hours until Tom returns. I can’t tell you how many readers wrote to me wondering if a lion had eaten me.

A few minutes ago, I got a message from Tom that his Airlink flight from Joburg to Nelspruit had been delayed, a rare occurrence for that airline. They are always on time, from our experience. Oh, dear, so close and yet so far away. Now, I am waiting to hear from him as to when his expected arrival will be. He still has a long drive from Nelspruit to Marloth Park, with lots of traffic and endless trucks traveling on the N4 highway during the week.

I just heard from Tom. He’s on the plane. He should be landing in about 40 minutes. Then, he’ll get his bag and the rental car to begin the drive.

This morning I started working on tonight’s special dinner. I’m planning to make Chateau Briand with a fine piece of beef tenderloin with a lovely red wine mushroom sauce with roasted carrots and onions. But we may decide to have fillet mignon steaks with the mushroom sauce since we both like a different degree of doneness…he prefers medium-rare, and I like rare, which is tough to do when making Chateau Briand. It’s got to be one or the other. Plus, there’s load shedding from 5:00 pm, 1700 hrs., to 7:30 pm, 1930 hrs., and we won’t be able to use the oven. This dish is best prepared in an oven as opposed to a grill.

So we shall see. He’ll have rice, and both of us will have salad which I already prepared this morning, adding the homemade dressing at the end. It’s an easy dinner to prepare, leaving us plenty of time to catch up and enjoy the remainder of the day and the evening on the veranda.

We often find ourselves rereading specific posts, often many we’ve forgotten we ever wrote. It was 11 years ago today that we uploaded our first post, which may be found here. Maybe we will reread that post together this evening during sundowners on the veranda. It’s such fun to review our lives in such detail whenever it appeals to us.

Hoppie’s Mom and piglets can’t resist breaking through the fence to get into the garden.

Also, seeing old photos is a special treat. We didn’t post many photos in the first year, but after our readership grew in leaps and bounds, we realized adding photos was a must, along with uploading a new post daily. Initially, we thought we were doing the posts to keep the family updated. Little did we know it would eventually grow in leaps and bounds to reach readers worldwide. We are very grateful to all of our readers.

Soon Vusi will be here. He’ll fill the water dispenser with water so I can make Tom a huge batch of his favorite iced tea. Then, he’ll refill the pellet bucket so Tom won’t have to do it when he arrives. Plus, Vusi will fill the birdbath with fresh water and the birdseed containers with seeds. I’ve made lots of ice using our ice cube trays, so Tom won’t have to do that either. I want his first few days back to be free of household chores so he can relax and do what he loves.

Thanks for all the love and support from so many while I’ve been alone in the bush these past ten days and nights. It’s meant so much to me that I never really felt alone.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 15, 2022:

Warthogs often photobomb! For more photos, please click here.

Happy New Year to all of our family and readers/friends…The little things…Where were we the past 11 year New Year’s Eves?

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 1, 2023 with 2 Comments

We hope that all of our readers/friends had a safe and enjoyable New Year’s Eve and that today will be a special day for relaxing, eating good food, watching sports, and spending time with family and friends.

We stayed in last night but had a great time, just the two of us. We enjoyed drinks, music on our JBL speaker, and a great dinner of ham sliders, salad, and rice. Having an actual ham sandwich was such a treat for me now that I can have my homemade keto bread, which doesn’t raise my blood sugar.

I only ate one small sandwich but took little bites to savor every morsel. I added a thin slice of Maasdam cheese, lettuce, and mustard. The ham was moist and flavorful. It wasn’t a precooked ham and had to cook long enough to be thoroughly done for about 90 minutes. We have one larger ham left and can’t wait to have those sandwiches again.

One pellet landed on the veranda floor, and this female kudu was determined to get it.

Tom hadn’t had anything like this in a long time, and he had four little sliders with the soft mini buns buttered, ham, and cheese. He was in food nirvana. I could tell by the look on his face. It’s funny how the most seemingly simple things give us so much pleasure.

After dinner, we hung around outside for a while until the bugs became unbearable and went inside. We stayed up to bring in the New Year and ended up watching the entire fifth season of Peaky Blinders. We never had trouble staying awake and sent New Year’s wishes to family and friends when the clock struck midnight. It was a lovely evening, after all.

A few minutes ago, we laughed out loud when a little piglet got lost from his mom and finally found her. When he saw her at a distance, he squeaked so loud with a thumping sound, as he ran, we were hysterical laughing. It was the cutest thing! Earlier this morning, Tom rescued a dung beetle stuck in a hole in the dirt, unable to get himself and his ball rolling again. Tom took a little stick and gave the ball and the dung beetle a little nudge, and he was on his way again, searching for a mate.

This is Bossy. She came over from the old house two km away. It’s always good to see her.

The bush is filled with little wonders that leave us reeling with delight. All we have to do is sit at the table on the veranda, as we do all day, watching carefully for what treasures Mother Nature can send us. Ah, the little things always make us laugh the hardest and the most often.

Yesterday, we recalled where we spent the past 11 New Year’s Eves. Our list includes the links for the specific posts that appeared on January 1. Here they are:

January 1, 2013 – We were in Scottsdale, Arizona, wrapping up the final details for our first cruise, sailing out of San Diego, California, on January 3, 2013. The post may be found here.
January 1, 2014 – We were here in Marloth Park and attended a fun party at Jabula, staying until after midnight. The post may be found here.
January 1, 2015 – We were on the Big Island, Hawaii, in the town of Pahoa with our family, where lava was expected to wipe out the city while we were there. For the exciting story, please click here.
January 1, 2016 – We were in Pacific Harbour, Fiji, staying in a lovely teak house with a big pool. The post may be found here.
January 1, 2017 – We were in Penguin, Tasmania, one of Tom’s favorite places on Earth (so far). The post may be found here.
January 1, 2018 – We were in Palermo, Buenos Aires, waiting for the upcoming cruise to Antarctica. The post may be found here.
January 1, 2019 – We were in Marloth Park, attending a party in the bush. The post may be found here.
January 1, 2020 – We were in Apache Junction, Arizona, with Tom’s sisters, awaiting our adventure on the Maharajas Express Train and then a private 56-day tour of the country. The post may be found here.
January 1, 2021 – We were in lockdown in a Mumbai Hotel (for 10 months) on New Year’s Eve. The post may be found here.
January 1, 2022 – We were here in Marloth Park, attending a party with a big surprise. The post may be found here.
January 2, 2023 – Here we are in Marloth Park for our fourth New Year spent in this wildlife wonderland, filled with the many friends we’ve made over the years.

A young zebra was rubbing her nose on the pool pump roof.

Today, Dawn and Leon are stopping by for fun food, drinks, and, of course, lively conversation with endless stories to share. We will surely spend another fantastic New Year’s Day in the bush.

Be well. Happy New Year!

Photo from one year ago today, January 1, 2022:

Last New Year’s Eve was one we’ll never forget. Our dear friends, Rita and Gerhard, unexpectedly arrived from the US and showed up at the party to surprise us! Everyone knew but us! From left to right, Tom and I, Danie, Louise, Rita, and Gerhard, are in this photo. For more, please click here.

Fun photos from friend’s holiday home in the bush…Email posts issue resolved…

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 31, 2022 with 2 Comments

Zoom in to see a warthog between the table and the bench, hoping for some pellets and hiding from the wildebeests.

It was a busy morning, not in the way of animals since we’ve had few in the past two days, but in the household. Tom is finishing off the last of the blueberry muffins (not low carb) since he’s decided to give them up for a while when they cause him acid reflux, a sure sign that eating sugar and flour is not suitable for him.

When we arrived at Marylin and Gary’s holiday bush home, we were greeted by a dozen wildebeests living at their house for days.

I had avocado toast using the keto bread I’d purchased online from local keto bakers with salad for breakfast, a weird combination but a delicious and nutritious way to start the day. I am full and won’t eat another morsel until dinner tonight. Tom will have bacon-wrapped filet mignon with rice and salad, and I’ll have seasoned garlic prawns with green beans and salad. I don’t mind making two separate dinners a few nights a week.

They had lucerne delivered, and within hours, the wildebeests had consumed all of it.

I’ve already prepped everything for tonight’s dinner except cooking the steak and the prawns, which we’ll prepare at the last minute. The salad is made, the green beans cleaned, and Tom’s seasoned pan of purified water for his rice is ready. Since I make rice for him every other day (two batches at a time), I’ve got it down to a science. I can get everything ready in about 30 seconds, other than later, boiling the water, adding the rice with the lid, and cooking it for 20 minutes at a low temp. So far, he’s not tired of rice with dinner since we don’t eat potatoes, bread, or other starches.

Marylin and Gary get a huge kick out of their resident wildebeests but are disappointed they can’t feed the bushbucks and warthogs when the wildebeests won’t allow it.

After breakfast and some work online, we both got busy making our favorite breakfast, a crustless quiche with cheesy Russian sausages, mushrooms, onions, and hand-grated mozzarella cheese topped with parmesan cheese. The two big pans are baking in the oven now.

Once cooked and cooled, I’ll cut the quiche into single serving squares and freeze them to take out one at a time to reheat in the microwave. There should be enough to last Tom for a month since I’m on this avocado and keto toast kick right now. Once I find something I love, I tend to eat it day after day until I’m sick of it and then switch to something new.

A determined female warthog hung close to the veranda, hoping for a pellet or two. Marylin didn’t hesitate to give her a little pile of her own.

Right now, while I am not feeling well, I am focusing on good food, good sleep and rest, and a degree of exercise via steps in the house. I am taking the meds Doc Theo prescribed, but it could be weeks before I see any improvement. From time to time, the headache and facial pain are gone for an hour, and I get hopeful. But a short time passes, and even a single hair brushing my face hurts like an electrical shock, typical symptoms for trigeminal neuralgia, in this case, triggered from having Omicron in April.

With the increased dose of meds, my blood pressure is back to normal, which is a huge relief. Regardless of how I feel, we continue to live as we would, socializing, cooking, and spending time with the animals. Oddly, we haven’t seen Norman and his family since Monday.

After eating, they all lay in a clump, cuddling with one another to nap. We couldn’t stop laughing.

It’s been cold and windy, and the animals tend to stay in the bush when the wind blows. Finally, this morning the wind stopped, so hopefully, they’ll all return soon. Of course, Lollie, several kudus, our favorite bushbucks, and some impalas have stopped by. Now we wait for the rest.

We don’t have big social plans over the next few days except for Jabula on Friday night, a visit to friends Sindee and Bruce’s home on Sunday, and a group get-together again at Jabula on Monday evening. It will be the last time we’ll see Rita, Gerhard, Lee, Marylin, and Gary for a while when they are all moving on to other adventures or back to their homes in the US.

Since Rita and Gerhard haven’t returned from their trip to Botswana yet, their friend Lee joined us. At the table from left to right; Lee, Tom, Gary, me, Marylin’s sister Jean and niece Debbie (from Pretoria). Marylin was taking the photo.

The time we’ve all spent together has been fantastic, and we’ll miss them all. Soon, in a little over two weeks, friends Connie and Jeff will arrive to spend two weeks with us. We’ll undoubtedly be busy with game drives, bush dinners, drives through Marloth Park, dinners in and out, and enjoying time together in the bush. We are looking forward to their arrival. I will not let this pain in my head and face impact our time together while sharing this magical place with them.

Yesterday afternoon, I started receiving messages from many of our readers that they are now receiving the auto email with our daily posts again. I hope this problem is resolved once and for all. However, if you have an issue, please let us know, and we’ll try to figure it out. Thank you for your continued patience through this tricky situation.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, August 31, 2021:

A young giraffe drinking from Frikkee’s Dam in Lionspsruit. For more photos, please click here.

Today is the fourth of my past nine travel birthdays to be spent in Marloth Park…It’s truly a gift to be here…

Posted by worldwide-admin on February 20, 2021 with 3 Comments

We wrote in the caption of this photo, on my 70th birthday in 2018, at my party at Jabula with friends: “We’ll always remember this birthday as a special event for both of us; celebrating life, health, our experiences, and the fine friends we’ve made along the way.” For more from that date, please click here.

Today’s photos are from this post on February 21, 2018, the day after my birthday.

This morning, it dawned on us that today is the fourth of nine birthdays since we began traveling that we’ve spent in Marloth Park. We were here on this date in 2014, 2018, 2019, and now 2021. Of course, 2019 wasn’t so pleasant when I spent it in ICU in Nelspruit after open-heart surgery. But I leave that memory behind and think of the joy of the other three birthdays, among friends, my dear husband Tom, and the beautiful wildlife surrounding us.

Dawn had decorated the table beautifully for the party. Thanks, Dawn! By the time we were all seated, it was dark, cozy, and romantic.

In 2018, Tom decided we’d return to Marloth Park for my 70th birthday as a surprise to me. I couldn’t have been more excited! Tonight will be no different than the fun we had on three of those birthdays, spending this evening with Louise and Danie at Jabula Restaurant at a socially distanced outdoor table.

Our friends filled a big table on that date at Jabula Lodge and Restaurant. At the same time, we drank wine and cocktails, dined on fabulous food, and enjoyed the companionship of everyone at the table, along with many others who stopped by. Dawn and Leon, dear friends and owners of Jabula, made it very special as well.

Linda, Mick, and Louise, with Ken and Don standing. Linda and Ken will be here in Marloth Park next Friday, and others will follow in the months to come!

But, with Covid-19, every celebration must be different. There will be no large groups, no hugging, and no proximity to others. We’ll especially load up on repellent when, after weeks of rain, the mozzies are on a rampage with risks of malaria higher than ever.

At the moment, we’re outdoors on the veranda waiting for visitors to come to say hello. So far, only Ms. Dove and Helmeted Guinea-fowls and the Chicks have stopped by. But the day is young, and a lot more could happen between now and 4:45 pm when we head to Louise and Danie‘s for sundowners before we all head out to dinner. No doubt, it will be a good day.

Wow! We were thrilled with the “cake of the world!” Local baker Janine even made the two representations of Tom and me totally by hand.

I’d thought about sharing past birthday posts but chose only to highlight the “big one,” my 70th, in 2018, although the others were special and memorable. In the realm of things, especially during these difficult times of Covid-19, and considering our current ages, birthdays aren’t as important as they once may have been.

However, few of us mind the love and attention we receive on our special day, once a year. That’s not to say that other days aren’t unique. At this stage in life, every day is truly a gift.

After the dinner plates were cleared, the cake was delivered to the table. Thanks, Kathy, for bringing the candles!

It’s hard for me to grasp how old I am. For some reason can’t wrap my brain around it. Gosh, it was only yesterday that Tom and I met when I was 43 years old, and he was 38. This June we’ll celebrate 30 years together. The time has flown.

Although, like everyone’s life, at times there were challenges, Together, we have stuck like glue, appreciating and embracing our loving and close union, which certainly was tested in those 1tenmonths in the hotel room in Mumbai, India. We stayed strong and determined together, and surprisingly, we came out on the other side unscathed. If anything, we are closer than ever. That, dear readers, is the best gift of all.

Kathy, me, Tom, Lynne and Danie at the end of the table.

No, there won’t be a cake or candles to blow out (a gross thought in times of Covid, anyway), no gifts to open (i don’t need or want a thing, no cards in the mail (although I’ve received some very thoughtful online cards), Before the day’s end, I’ll have more birthday wishes from family and friends, greetings from many Facebook friends and all the love and attention a person can imagine.

I am truly blessed and grateful. Thank you for all the warm wishes. Thank you for sharing this journey with us!

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, February 20, 2020:

The celebration on the Ganges River at night in Khajuraho. The nine umbrellas represent the nine planets. Hindus value every aspect of the planet and the universe. For more, please click here.

Day #158 in lockdown in Mumbai, India Hotel…Cleaning up old posts…

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 28, 2020 with 0 Comment

Note; We hope everyone can find our site. I have no way to get a message to our readers who may be having trouble getting our usual link to load due to the necessity of emptying the cache on your browser. Your computer remembers our old hosting site, Blogger, and not our new hosting site, Hostinger, making it impossible for you to log in. If you clear your cache, the problem will be resolved, and no harm is done to your other settings. I have contacted our web developer to see if there is a way we can handle this on our end, but I don’t think there will be. We only hope you’ve found a way to find us. We still are at www.worldwidewaftage.com.

Enjoy our photos, yet again from South Kensington, London from this date in 2014, and found at this link. There are numerous food photos on this particular post from dining out in the area.

A prehistoric creature, at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London.

Since our new site went live, a few issues occurred that prompted me to make a tough decision to go back through every one of almost 3000 posts to correct any errors. There are 147 pages of 17-18 posts each. I will have to go through each post, one by one. I started yesterday from the first post on March 15, 2012, and have completed two of the 147 pages. I plan to do one page per day.

This is referred to as a Football Fish.

Another issue is that all old posts show a duplicate of the main photo at the top of each page. I’ve contacted our web developers today to see if they can correct this. Hopefully, soon this will be resolved. Please be patient with us as we work through this issue and a few other remaining issues.

More fish from rivers, lakes, and streams.

At this rate, if I do one page of 17 posts per day, I will complete the editing process in about five months. I finished this same process of correcting old posts about four years ago. However, with the recent transition to the new site, many lines and paragraph issues occurred. Also, in reviewing old posts, I’ve realized I’d missed many grammar and spelling errors in my past mission to correct the mistakes. Now, my goal is to correct everything. No doubt, it’s a daunting task which each day will take about an hour.

A lizard that puffs up the frill around the neck to scare off predators. This could not be very safe.

At first, I thought I’d do this each day before preparing each new post. But now, two days later, I realize I’d instead do it first thing in the morning. It’s not a pleasant task, like preparing a new post is for me. I’ve always been one to get the complex functions out of the way first thing in the morning, leaving me free to enjoy the remainder of the day’s tasks.

“Jaws!”

I was very disappointed to see how many errors there were in the old posts. I had no control over the line and paragraph spacing going wonky in the transition. But, the typos and grammar errors were all on me. It’s frustrating to face a 3,000 post string of errors when I think back over how hard I’d tried at the time to prepare each post correctly.

Komodo Dragons are found on the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, and Flores. We’ll be spending four months in Bali, Indonesia, in 2016, where tourists have spotted Komodo Dragons on occasion. Komodo Dragons are of the species of Monitor Lizards, two of which lived in our yard in Marloth Park, South Africa. Please see this link to see our photos when they made a rare appearance by the pool.

I do not doubt this new process; I’ll still miss a few corrections; Fortunately, WordPress, as opposed to Blogger. Is more aggressive in reminding writers to type correctly and avoid making errors. This is a tremendous help. I’ve been using the apps Gingerly and Grammarly the past few years, but even they have missed several mistakes I’d made.

More marine life.

I give myself a break on this because I realize I am preparing the equivalent of an essay 365 days a year, at times during challenging and stressful periods, comparable to those most recently. These scenarios are a breeding ground for making errors.

We saw a smaller version of similar crabs at the beach in Kenya which is on the eastern coast in Africa. They moved so quickly. We couldn’t get a photo.

I laugh when texting family and friends over spellcheck changing words to unintelligible words and phrases, often leaving me in stitches. Then again, I usually type incorrectly since I’m slow when texting on my phone. I bet many of you relate to this laugh-worthy scenario.

Many of us lobster enthusiasts would appreciate a lobster of this size on a platter.

We love technology. But, technology is only as good as our skills to use it. I am not adept at web development, although I played a significant role in designing our new site. I am slow at typing, even after all these years of banging away on a keyboard. I pick away at a keyboard in a meager attempt to avoid typing errors. Even that hasn’t worked so well.

After many visits by Zebras in our yard in South Africa, seeing this lifelike rendition made me miss them. Click this link to see Zebras that visited us in South Africa.

I am hoping to get done early enough today to watch an episode of The 100 on Netflix before 3:00 pm when Tom and I try to have time to start streaming a few shows together. We’ll see how it goes. Of course, whatever I do is interrupted by the necessity of walking every hour for at least ½ mile, .8 km, to reach my daily goal of 5 miles, 8 km.

We saw Rhinos in the wild in Kenya. Some of the displays of Rhino were taxidermy. There was a sign stating that the horns had been removed and replaced with man-materials. Please click here for a few of our Rhino photos from Kenya.

Through all this recent sadness over the loss of my sister and the stress of getting this site up and running, I’ve never missed a day of walking. Knowing this may be beneficial for my heart is my sole motivator. Consistency is important.

Ah, my heart did a flip flop when Tom spotted this warthog. The first time either of us had ever seen a warthog was in October 2013, in the Masai Mara, Kenya, while on safari. Of course, later in South Africa, we joyfully saw them each day. Click here for the first time we saw a live warthog (scroll down the page).

Have a healthy and peaceful day!

Photo from one year ago today, August 28, 2019:

While on a walk in the quaint town of Falmouth, Cornwall, England, we encountered these vegetables for sale in a front garden. We selected a zucchini and a small pumpkin. We left the money in a jar sitting on the table. For more photos, please click here.

Sure, we’re living in the moment, but reveling in the past for entertainment during the lockdown…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 8, 2020 with 0 Comment

While on a walk in the neighborhood, while in Sumbersari, Bali, in 2016, we spotted this friendly neighbor (she spoke no English) making bowls as shown that are used for offerings at the Hindu temples.

Note: To all of our readers visiting our site via a smartphone, please click the “View web version” tab under the word “Home” at the bottom of the page to access the web version enabling you to access all of our archives on the right side of the page. We’ll be updating our site in a few months, making these extra steps unnecessary. Thank you. Today’s photos are from June 8, 2016, while living in Sumbersari, Bali. See the link here for more photos.

It’s terrific for us, now more than ever, to review our past posts to easily be reminded of the fantastic experiences we’ve had in the past seven years, eight months.

Perhaps at some point in the distant future, we’ll look back at this period in lockdown, recalling how we managed to get through it, still laughing, while still having some good times amid the madness.

Each time we walked by her home, we’d find her working a few blocks from the villa.

As we review our old posts, we easily laugh over the peculiar situations, feel a new sense of awe over the incredible experiences and smile from ear to ear over the wildlife and scenery we’ve been blessed to see in the process.

If we had to stop traveling by no fault of our own, we’d still feel we’ve had an expansive view of the world during this extended period of travel. And yet, both of us long to continue to those wished-for experiences we’ve envisioned on the horizon.

This is a temple in the neighborhood where locals congregate for prayer and meditation.

We realize that some of the experiences we’ve imagined may be curtailed due to changes in travel due to Covid-19 and my ongoing cardiovascular situation. These facts will always be a consideration when we doubt if either situation will ever change in its entirety.

However, we feel confident to be able to adapt future travels to consider these scenarios. For now, our goals are simple… Get out of India to a place where we can cook our meals, live in a more spacious environment, be able to look out a window or door to pleasing scenery, and have the opportunity to be outdoors to enjoy our surroundings.

Low tide from the second story of the villa.

With all this walking I’ve been doing since the lockdown, the thought of being able to walk in the fresh air, breathing in the scents of nature, and seeing plants, trees, and hopefully, wildlife, is utterly exciting.

Of course, if we were in Marloth Park right now, with lions on the loose in the park, caution would be imperative when walking. But, the excitement of the possibility of spotting the female lion and her cubs along with a wandering male would make the sacrifice well worth it.

Abandoned old barns and buildings were tucked away behind vegetation.

The concept of visiting with friends in South Africa brings a massive smile to our faces. A glass of wine or cocktail, the great companionship of our friends, a tasty dinner cooked on the braai along the sights and sounds of the bush makes my heart flutter.

It’s not as if we didn’t appreciate it while we were there (or anywhere for that matter). We cherished every moment, every interaction with friends and nature, along with the innate magic of this remarkable place.

Most Hindu homes have an elaborate family temple on site.

There’s news floating around the internet that South Africa may open its borders as early as September instead of February 2021. This would be fantastic. Knowing this, if confirmed, would make the next three months easier to bear, especially once we also know Mumbai will open its borders to outgoing international flights.

All of this is still up in the air. For now, we’re holding our own, checking numerous sites with updates on borders opening in countries throughout the world along with the status on Covid-19 and which locations would be safe for us to visit down the road. Right now, we have plenty of that! Time will tell.

We enjoyed walks in the neighborhood, although early mornings were best before it became too hot.

Stay safe and hopeful!

Photo from one year ago today, June 8, 2019:

Rainbow view from our window in Connemara, Ireland. For more photos, please click here.

Photos from past adventures…Prescription challenges while in lockdown…Improvising…

Posted by worldwide-admin on April 18, 2020 with 0 Comment

A lone female lion was stopping for a drink. The edge of the open vehicle is shown in this photo, illustrating how close we were to her.

This playful baby elephant we spotted in Kruger hangs on to her mom.

Since we were focused on today’s photos, we haven’t included a video today or any Kauai photos. Instead, here is a combination of images we posted five years ago on April 18, 2015, at this link and also last year on this date on April 18, 2019, at this link. We hope you enjoy some of these favorites that many of our readers may have seen in past posts.

Hippos along the Mara River while we were on safari in the Masai Mara.

Of course, being in lockdown right now prevent us from taking photos. We can’t go outdoors, and most wouldn’t be enlightened by seeing photos of a hotel, however appealing it may be. If, by chance, you are curious about where we’re holding out, please click here.

As you can see, if you click the above link, it’s a charming hotel, but most areas are closed during this time. We only have access to the restaurant, the corridors on the fourth floor, and our standard room. Only one lift is in use which we never enter when occupied by others.

Crocodiles sunning along the Mara River in Kenya.

Not only does being in lockdown in India present its challenges, but also there is the harsh reality that we may not have everything we need on hand.
For example, once every four weeks, I refill my pill case with three prescriptions I take each morning along with a handful of vitamins.

Spread out through during the day, we each take 1000 mg of Vitamin C and an extra dose of Vitamin D3, both of which may improve the immune system’s ability to fight off colds and flu (so they say).

As shown here, the cheetah and leopard are distinguishable by the cheetah’s tear lines running down her face.

As I was refilling the pill case, I noticed I was running out of a proper dose of blood pressure medication which is Lisinopril 12.5/10. Amid the recent COVID-19 mayhem, I’d forgotten I needed to head to a pharmacy while in India, where prescriptions aren’t required for non-narcotic medications.

Many of us have heard that India produces a huge portion of the drugs used in the US and other countries with all the news lately. Thus, I wasn’t concerned about purchasing any medication while here from any popular pharmacy.

In the first 10 hours on safari, we saw the Big 5. The black rhino is one of the Big 5.

Before lockdown, while on tour, we stopped at a pharmacy and explained exactly what I needed. The above described Lisinopril, which included 12.5 mg of HCTZ (hydrochlorothiazide) and 10 mg of Zestril in a combination pill.

Unfortunately, they only gave me Lisinopril with 12.5 mg HCTZ)/5 mg Zestril. I need 10 mg Zestril. At the time, I requested additional tablets containing 5 mg Zestril to make up the shortfall.

The pharmacist left for a while and returned with a handful of tinfoil-packed tablets with what I thought was the 5 mg Zestril. Foolish me, when I couldn’t read the tiny print on the tinfoil, I assumed it was the correct add-on. As I said, foolish me.

We couldn’t resist posting this contented lion who was, at the time, engaged in a mating ritual with the female about 15 feet from him, leaning on another tree.

I didn’t notice this error until yesterday when I started filling the pill case, running out of my old 12.5/10, and started including what I’d purchased here. I discovered using a magnifying glass that when the pharmacist took off for 10 minutes, all he collected was more of the same. I now have 100’s of 12.5/5.

They were a meager cost, so that I won’t complain too much. Besides, it was my error in not checking diligently enough for something so crucial in the long run. I don’t think the pharmacist did this on purpose. I believe he also thought this was the correct item when he, too, couldn’t read the small print on the tinfoil-wrapped tablets.

So now, the dilemma. It is legal to go out to a pharmacy here and straight back. But, with the escalating cases of the virus in Mumbai, the new India hotspot, there’s no way we’re going to stand in line at an outdoor pharmacy with sick people. I had to figure out a better solution.

Closeup of hippo face. Charming.

With the single pill at 12.5/5, there was no way to double up and then cut part of a pill. It would result in a really peculiar dose. I looked online to see dosing instructions for this drug at a few reliable US pharmaceutical sites but found no answer.

The question became, “Could I take two tablets resulting in a dose of 25mg HCTZ/10 mg Zestril? What would be the consequence of doubling the amount of HCTZ, which is a diuretic I need to control blood pressure, especially important in light of ongoing coronary arterial disease?

A female lion looking for the next meal. The lion is the second of the Big 5.

An idea popped into my head. I still had Dr. Theo’s email address I’d used when sending him updated photos on the healing of my legs before and after the two surgeries one year ago. I’d send him an email.

Within hours I had a response, and kindly Dr. Theo told me I could double up on the drug and take two for the total dose of 25/10, but it was imperative to check my blood pressure daily to ensure it didn’t go too low.

Fortunately, we have a sphygmomanometer, which we purchased as part of our medical supplies. I used it frequently after I had surgery, but seldom did it seem under control over the past few months, and I was feeling so much better.

Males lions are always on the lookout for a female making a kill. Why? So he can steal the kill from her.

I’ll start checking and charting my blood pressure before taking the higher dose (for a baseline). If my blood pressure gets too low, I can alternate between the higher and lower doses every other day to hopefully stabilize it enough until we get out of here and I can get the proper dose, hopefully in South Africa in a few months.

Oh dear, there are other items we need, but we’ll improvise to the best of our ability in the interim. We don’t want to risk going out in public. And, we hope you feel the same way too. Please avoid going out unless it’s absolutely imperative or life-saving.
Stay safe. Improvise.

Photo from one year ago today, April 18, 2019:

Female lion showing off her tongue. For more photos, please click here.