It’s down to the wire. The house is a mess with stuff everywhere as we wrap up the packing, which includes everything we’re taking with us and everything we’re leaving behind in the house’s storeroom across the driveway, between the two flats. Thank goodness Louise was more than willing to let us leave several bins of food supplies, the clothing we won’t need with us, and miscellaneous household items we accumulated in the past few years we spent in Marloth Park.

On Tuesday, after returning to Marloth Park, I couldn’t do anything other than make an easy dinner. I didn’t think I was feeling well enough to tackle this entire house full of “stuff,” but somehow, once I got started, I was on a roll. I stopped every hour or so to take a short break and managed to finish most of it in the past two days.

The next day, I started to regain my strength. and began tackling one area after another. Before I knew it, I had it under control. Tom would gladly have helped with the household items, but he didn’t have a clue what was ours and what came with the house. I remembered everything here and what we’d purchased since January 2021. It was easier for me to do it.

As I write here, Tom is in the bedroom packing his clothes and miscellaneous items. He also will pack all of our digital equipment, cords, chargers, inverters, and adapters. I’ll pack the camera and its equipment, all of which we’ll take with us.

Packing the kitchen was a challenge, deciding on what we can store and the few items we’ll bring with us. There were a lot of spices in the spice drawer, but I remembered what I’d purchased and what was here when we arrived. I didn’t want to lose some of the favorite pans I’d bought in the past 2½ years. I could have left many of those items here in the house for other guests, although we’ve heard that some guests take things home with them from holiday homes… stealing what isn’t theirs.

As for how I feel now, since many of you have written and asked (thanks for your concern and well wishes), which we so appreciate, each day, I regain a little more strength. It was quite an exhausting ordeal, and I am still getting some of the FDA-designed Black Box drugs out of my system, such as a drug called Amiodarone which stays in one’s system for many months and causes me awful side effects while receiving it in the IV while in the hospital.

Hopefully, soon, I’ll return to my usual energized self. Right now, everything I do requires an enormous amount of effort. We have been unable to continue on the walks on the uneven dirt roads. Once we get settled in Florida we’ll be able to start walking on the many paths and trails in The Villages. I’m looking forward to that time.

Tomorrow, we’re leaving Marloth Park at 2:00 pm, 1400 hrs. Our flight from Nelspruit is at 5:15 pm, 1750 hrs., and we have a 4-hour, 45-minute layover in Joburg. During that time, we’ll have dinner and play games on our phones while we wait. After the 17-hour flight from Joburg to Atlanta on April 30, I’ll do a new post while we wait for our next flight to Orlando, with another long layover of 5 hours, 50 minutes.

Although jet lag is usually not a problem for us, it will be straightforward this time since the time difference between here, and Florida is only six hours. We won’t even notice that little of a difference. But, we will notice the lack of sleep on the 17-hour flight. Neither of us is ever able to get any sleep on long red-eye flights. However, after one good night’s sleep, we’re always back to our usual eating and sleeping schedule. It may be a little trickier this time since I am still a bit under the weather.

This is the Freedom Day holiday weekend in South Africa, as described on this site:

Freedom Day on 27 April is an annual celebration of South Africa’s first non-racial democratic elections of 1994. It is significant because it marks the end of over three hundred years of colonialism, segregation, and white minority rule and the establishment of a new democratic government led by Nelson Mandela and a new state subject to a new constitution.  The holding of the first nonracial elections was the culmination of years of struggle and a negotiated settlement which led to the unbanning of the liberation organizations, the release of political prisoners, and the return of exiles, and the formal all-party negotiations which drafted an interim constitution.

The moment which changed the path of South African history came after long and tension-ridden negotiations held between 1991 and 1992. The South African government, the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party (SACP), and other liberation movements engaged in these talks.”

Due to the busy holiday weekend, we are seeing very few animals in the garden. The only visitors we’ve had today are the mongooses to whom we gave the last of the paloney. Tomorrow, we’ll leave them the remainder of our eggs after we’ve made breakfast.

I doubt I will have a chance to say goodbye to Norman, Nina, and Natalie. They usually visit many times a day, but we haven’t seen them since Wednesday, when the influx of holidaymakers began. It’s funny how we’ll see photos of Norman on Facebook when he visits holidaymakers for their “exceptional food,” which he loves as opposed to the healthy treats he gets from us. I will miss him and hope to see him when we return in 14 months.

So it goes. Life in the bush. Unique, memorable, and heartwarming. Tonight will be our last evening at Jabula, where some of our friends are stopping by for a final farewell hug. Before we head to Jabula, we’ll stop by Louise and Danie’s place and say goodbye. They are very busy with their holiday rentals and visitors to the Marloth Park Info Centre so we planned this short goodbye before we head to Jabula.

We’ll be back tomorrow with one more post until the journey begins, and post otherwise, as mentioned above. Thanks for all the love, support, and continued readership during this extended stay in South Africa. As we progress in our world travels in the 14 months, we look forward to sharing many more photos, stories, and adventures. While living in The Villages in Florida, we’ll write about what it’s like living in this massive retirement community of over 100,000 residents. It should be fun sharing all of this information with you.

Be well.

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