Thank goodness, we have power. Unfortunately, we don’t have WiFi. Apparently, a line went down due to the relentless pounding rain. Hopefully, it will be up sometime today. In the interim, Cyclone Eloise is still hovering and should be out of our area in the next day or two. We are bracing ourselves for more rain and power outages in the next 24 hours.

Yesterday, we made the long, muddy, pot-hole ridden drive to the Crocodile River to see how high it had risen. I was only able to take a few photos since I was determined not to get my shoes and ankles muddy. I only have a few pairs of shoes and didn’t want to muddy them.

The feet and legs of the few animals that visited, were caked in thick mud. It was funny to watch the four bushbucks that stopped by trying to shake it off their feet. They, too, hadn’t seen such rain in quite a while.

After the challenging drive on the uneven, muddy roads as Tom averted one outrageous pothole and sunken ravine after another,  we made our way out to Olifant Rd, the only paved road in Marloth Park. Out of meat in the freezer, a stop at The Bush Centre’s meat market was a must. Besides, I needed more cream for my coffee when my liter container spoiled in the refrigerator during multiple power outages.

It was concerning going into the two shops we visited when mask-wearing was either non-existent or worn below the nose. In South Africa, there’s a law to properly wear masks when outdoors in public areas and inside all enclosed shops and public spaces. Some shop workers were careless in this regard. I didn’t hesitate to ask those who didn’t comply to “please cover your face and your nose.” No doubt, I got a few dirty looks. I don’t care.

Still, we haven’t gone to Komatipoort to grocery shop and to stop at the pharmacy. With the storms of the past several days, it made no sense. Today, Louise is heading there and will pick up a few items for us. With our more strict way of eating, our ingredients list has downsized considerably.

With the storm still brewing, we don’t expect to see much wildlife today. However, yesterday’s outing reaped some rewards when we spotted a number of giraffes along the way, shown in today’s photos. Hopefully, if the house’s WiFi isn’t back on by the time we’re ready to upload today’s post, I can get my phone’s hotspot to work well enough to accomplish this.

Now, at almost 10:00 am Tuesday, the WiFi is back on for the first time in almost 24 hours, except for a few hours, here and there.  Last night, after dinner and the necessity of going indoors when the mozzies got bad, we couldn’t stream any shows or do anything online. As a result, we went to bed early and played installed games on our phones.

We could read books on our phones on Kindle, but after reading so many novels during the first few years of our travels, we lost interest in reading books, instead finding ourselves listening to podcasts, watching videos, and streaming TV series, movies, and documentaries. With no WiFi, we can’t do any of these. We both tried reading books on our Kindle apps, but neither of us could get into it.

Now, much to our delight, as I continue to write, the house’s WiFi has returned. With both power and WiFi working, we’re practically giddy. I’ve already done two sessions on the treadmill this morning, and I’m now able to listen to some of my favorite podcasts to make the time pass more quickly.

Tonight’s dinner is planned for the gas braai with a few simple tasks required to put it all together. We were able to get two loads of laundry done last night and placed them on the portable clothesline to dry indoors.  Soon, Zef will arrive to clean the house, after which we’ll head to the hardware store to pick up a lighter for the citronella candles and insect repellent coils we use at night on the veranda. (No, Tom is still not smoking. Yeah!)

As always, here in Marloth Park, when weather conditions are tolerable, wildlife is visiting, power is restored and WiFi is working, we don’t need another thing. Of course, the coup d’etat will be when we are able to get together with some of our many human friends. Today is day #13 of self-imposed quarantine. One more day to go.

Happy day!

Photo from one year ago today, January 26, 2020:

In Kauai, Hawaii, on this date in 2015, our friend Richard, who sadly has since passed away, sat behind the impressive magistrate’s desk, gave us a feeling as to how it would have been to visit his office in St. Louis, Missouri might have been, before he and wife Elaine moved to Kauai. For more, please from that post, click here. For the post from one year ago, as we approached time to leave the US, please click here.

As I began to prepare today’s post we’d been out of power for the past 19 hours starting at 4:30 pm Saturday. Last night, a storm came through and knocked out a transformer several kilometers from here. We have no WiFi after the inverter also quit working and subsequently no WiFi. The power finally came back on at  1:00 pm today.

I wrote most of today’s post off-line in an attempt to be ready to post shortly after the power returned,  Mostly, we were worried about the food in the refrigerator. This morning, Tom cooked the burgers we had planned for tonight’s dinner on the gas grill which we had for lunch instead of dinner. Louise suggested we put all the perishables in the freezer hoping they will survive until power was restored and it appears they did.

Are we upset about this? Not at all. This is the bush in Africa, not Palm Beach, and one must expect these situations to occur on a fairly consistent basis. In any case, this is a whole lot better than sitting in a hotel room in Mumbai, India. Right now, we’re situated on the veranda, enjoying various visitors, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Hornbill building their nest in a bushbaby house that they’ve taken over.

It’s cooler today after the rains, although still very humid, typical for the bush. But, we’re fine. It’s nice to see the bush is a little greener this morning after the downpour, creating more food for the wildlife. After all, it’s summer here now. January is equivalent to July in the Northern Hemisphere, so we have months to go until it cools down.

In the interim, we’re both handling the heat as well as we can, which is often as high as 108F, 42C, during daylight hours and dropping only slightly at night. After spending 10 months in air-conditioned comfort in that hotel room, it’s taken us a few days to adapt to the temperature differences. But, now, we’re good.

There is air conditioning in the two bedrooms here, none elsewhere in the house. Due to frequent power issues and the expense of running air-con, few, if any Marloth Park residents have or use full house air-con which is common in the US. Whether it’s power outages, load shedding, snakes, scary-looking insects, flies, ants, and bees, we’re prepared to handle it all.

Certainly, being here wouldn’t be ideal for some nor may this lifestyle fulfill their objectives for holiday/vacation time. For us, it’s a way of life that is totally befitting our desires and interests. We thrive in this environment. Will we be able to do this as we age, making our way into our 80’s or more (God willing)? The answer to that will be entirely predicated by how well we care for our health, a goal we strive to achieve each and every day of our lives.

For now, we are grasping at every morsel Mother Nature tosses our way, whether it is Wildebeest Willie, who was here all morning and rested for hours in the bush near us, his big tail swishing every few minutes to bat off the flies, or a flower blooming among the thorns of the sickle bush trees, it all matters to us.

Now, totally off two blood pressure medications as of the past month, checking it today, as I do every so often, I was reassured by my state of relaxation and low stress, at a measly 114/60. Peace, pleasure, and purpose can bring each of us a state of being that is not only good for our health but also, our state of mind and spirit.

And our purpose? What is that? Are we doing this entirely for our own personal pleasure? Believe me, spending over half of each day writing and taking photos to share with all of you gives us tremendous purpose when hundreds, if not thousands, of readers worldwide, write to us explaining how the minutiae of our day-to-day lives somehow give them a moment to pause and enjoy nature, culture, people, and more, right along with us.

Yes, selfishly, we revel in your kind comments as a wave of warmth passes over us each time we read such an expression. But we’ve found that, in some small way, we may contribute to a moment of joy for others as they “traveling along with us.” So today, we thank you for your kindness and support as we extend our love and caring for all of you.

Without all of you, we may never have lasted this long, over 8 years, on this seemingly never-ending journey which we blissfully continue here in Africa, once again. It calls to us. It calls to many of you. It’s grand to be “home.”

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 17, 2020:

Two years ago today, Ken set up the camera on a timer to take this photo of all 10 of us as we celebrated Rita’s birthday at our place.! Fantastic! For more about the year-ago post, please click here.