Day #168 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Labor Day weekend in the US…Please stay safe!…

To entertain us in Diani Beach, Kenya, two of the several goats in the backyard jumped up on the stone wall.

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Today’s photos are from this date in 2013, while living in the village of Diani Beach, Kenya. For more photos, please click here.

The Indian Ocean view from the rooftop. We walked to the desolate beach with the utmost of caution when often, crimes were perpetrated upon tourists.

It’s Monday morning here in Mumbai and the evening of Sunday, September 6th in the US. Americans are in the midst of Labor Day weekend, surely involved in barbecues, parties, and various types of gatherings, often centering around good food, drinks and entertainment of one source or another.

We don’t celebrate most US holidays anymore and haven’t done so for the past eight years since we began our journey (our eight year travel anniversary is upcoming on October 31st). Without family and friends nearby, celebrating such holidays is pointless.

The goats in the rear yard of this property posed for us when Hans‘ two small dogs, Gucci and Jessie, chased them into their goat house.

In South Africa in 2018, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Marloth Park, including several of our friends, a few of which are Americans and traditionally celebrate this popular holiday on the last Thursday in November. Last November, 2019, we celebrated with son Richard in Henderson, the day we arrived in Nevada in the early evening, too late for me to cook the usual turkey dinner. Instead, we dined out.

The kingpin goat nuzzled up to Hans when we entered the gate remembering his early days when Hans fed him with a baby bottle.

Of course, here in lockdown in India, there will be no Labor Day celebration, impossible under these circumstances. We’ll follow our usual routine, dine on our usual (same) meals and go about our day as always. Nothing will be different. And, as it turns out, we may actually still be in this hotel for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. We shall see.

The colors of the flowers in the garden were so pleasing to the senses

In regard to today’s photos, these were taken the first few days we spent (of three months) in a thatched-roof limestone house in a gated neighborhood with 18 houses in Diani Beach, Kenya. As mentioned in the post from a few days ago, security was a big concern, but with the owner living next door on shared grounds with tight security we felt fairly safe.

There were some features of the property that we dearly loved, particularly, the goats living in a walled backyard. The wall was constructed of stone and for security reasons the top edge of the wall was covered with broken glass embedded into mortar to discourage humans from climbing over it.

  • In 2009 a fire destroyed 18 homes in this neighborhood, this property next door, yet to be renovated after a new owner took over a few years ago. Hans, a builder, and our landlord wasted no time in rebuilding these two houses.

But, the broken shards of glass, mainly from bottles, didn’t discourage the goats from jumping up on the edge to peer over at us, often on a daily basis. From time to time, we visited them through a secure gate and howled over their antics. Baby goats are hysterical in their jumps and antics and it was delightful to watch them.

Overlooking the stone wall from the goat’s yard. To avoid cutting grass, Hans preferred to go the natural way with the goats grazing on  the grass.  Much to our delight, he didn’t slaughter the goats, as is the practice of many local residents.

The area in which we lived had many monkeys, birds, rodents and insects, but little other wildlife. We saw plenty of farm animals in the streets; cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens. So, why did we go to Diani Beach? Our goal was singular…to fly from the local Diani Beach Airport to the Masaii Mara National Reserve in a small plane to land on a dirt runway to spend days on safari while staying at a luxury camp. And that we did. More will follow on that in the days to come as we work our way through these old posts.

View of our house as we basked in the chaise lounges in the hot sun, lasting only 45 minutes due to the close proximity to the equator.

I’d return to Kenya in a minute, but Tom is less so inclined. We’ll see what options are available to us when international flights resume in India. If South Africa’s borders aren’t open, other countries in Africa may be excellent options while we wait for South Africa to open.

Spring is in the air, here in Kenya, seasons being opposite from the US and Europe.  With the close proximity to the equator, the weather is tropical year-round.

That’s it for today folks. Not much is transpiring with the hotel guests that moved onto our floor yesterday. We no longer walk down those corridors and haven’t seen more than a few while walking in the new confined space. Hum… More confinement. Oh well, so it goes.

Photo from one year ago today, September 7, 2019:

The main living area in the house in Tredarupp, Cornwall, England, included a den through the door at the far left end of this open area, which is spacious and comfortable with every possible amenity including Netflix on the new high-quality, high-def TV. The kitchen was beautiful, modern and well-equipped. We loved our time there. For more photos, please click here.

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