Happy Easter…A typical Easter Day in our old lives…What will we do today?…More favorite photos…

An elephant in the bush was watching us take photos.

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

Lounging lions.

We’d leave Sunday for the festivities with our kids and grandkids. I’d be lying if I said I don’t miss the fun times we all had together; the filled and decorated Easter baskets for each family member and their pets; the monstrous bunny rabbit cake (Tammy always wanted the bunny’s tail) covered in fluffy frosting and coconut; the games we played to find the plastic eggs with varying amounts of money in them (Greg always won the most); the Easter Egg hunt for the little ones and of course, the continuous laughter.

A tower of giraffes crossing the paved road in Kruger.

As the years passed and our kids had kids of their own and often “the other side of the family” to also spend time with, we spent the morning and early afternoon together, enjoying a great brunch I’d prepared ahead of time to avoid being rushed during all the fun events.

A parade of elephants on the move.

After they left, Tom and I did the dishes, tidied the house and put everything back in its place. For Easter dinner, we often ate brunch leftovers, just the two of us. It was a good day.

Now, we don’t engage in any of these activities, other than today, Tom baked a loaf of homemade coconut banana bread and made one of my low carb favorites, almond flour coffee cake, not made with coffee but with many excellent common carb ingredients.

Oxpecker on giraffe’s leg.

Tonight, our dinner will be a repeat of last night dinner of Low Carb Costco Copycat Stuffed Chicken loaves, a favorite of both of us. With a side salad and pile of fresh green beans, we’re content.

Tonight, after dinner we’ll watch a few of our favorite TV shows: Billions, Ray Donovan and Homeland since today we’re signing up with Showtime for a few months.  We do this a few times each year with various streaming services, watching the shows we love until we’ve completed the season’s series.

Elephants playing in the water.

Then, we cancel the first service and move on to another. Once we’re done with Showtime, we’ll switch to HBO for a month to watch the remaining episodes of Game of Thrones.

It’s not possible to watch certain streaming services outside of the US, UK or Australia, etc. Thus, we use a VPN, a virtual private network, that we can set to the country where the shows are being broadcast, and we avoid the message that says, “You cannot view this show outside of the US (for example).

I was taking a muddy break.

Recently, we switched from HotSpot Shield to Express VPN, which provides us with more options, although it’s more expensive. Whenever one is attempting to stream, the service picks up the country in which you’re currently residing. By using the VPN, we can set it to appear we’re steaming from the appropriate country.

Hotspot Shield was ZAR 422, US $29.95 a year, and Express VPN is ZAR 1392, US $99 a year. Some may consider this a huge expense, but since we don’t pay for cable, WiFi, or TV services, we find it is worthwhile. Also, for example, we’ll pay for Showtime at ZAR 154, US $10.99 a month.  

We had to wait quite a while for this elephant to move to continue on down the road.

We continue to use Graboid, at ZAR 280, US $19.95 a month, a service from which we can download shows and we’ve used since the onset of our travels.  Our maximum total monthly expense, including the VPN, adds another layer of security, is ZAR 436, US $30.99 plus. The costs for paying for any special shows we can’t get at any of these streaming services.

In our old lives, almost seven years ago, our month cable bill was ZAR 3303, US $235. We don’t flinch at the ZAR 436, US $30.99, comparatively.

The size of an elephant’s foot is astounding.

We never turn on the TV at any of the holiday homes we rent, during the day or evening. We find watching a few shows at night on my laptop relaxing and enjoyable, especially lately as I convalesce from surgery while it requires me to keep my feet up around the clock. 

If I didn’t have to be off my feet, we’d be dining on the veranda, often staying outdoors to watch and feed the wildlife until 2100 hours, 9:00 pm, then going indoors to watch one or two favorite shows on my laptop. 

A tower of giraffes in the bush in Kruger.

Of course, we have a few nights each week when we’re socializing with friends, which came to an abrupt end when I could no longer sit in a chair. It’s been almost three weeks without much socializing other than dear friends who’ve stopped by for a visit as was the case this morning, a delightfully pleasant surprise.

In a few weeks, Kathy and Don and Linda and Ken will be back, close to the time we’re supposed to fly away. Fun activities and gatherings are already planned during that last week, health providing.

Regardless of how you spent your Easter Sunday, we wish you the very best. Thanks for sharing it with us!