This morning, I focused on getting lots of vegetables washed and cut to make Peanut Chicken Stir Fry for tonight’s dinner. I am making a huge batch and freezing the leftovers, so when we return from Zambia/Botswana, we’ll have dinner for the first few evenings and won’t have to shop right away.
We still have a few items in the chest freezer so that we may be good for the first week back. We return on Sunday, August 27th. It’s ironic that in our old life, before we began traveling, returning home was disappointing when we went on holiday for a week or more. There were piles of mail, bills to be paid, shopping to do, unpacking with piles of laundry and house cleaning.
When we return from a trip, we look forward to returning as much as we looked forward to going away. Our animals will be waiting for us, our human friends, and our delightful bush house will be clean and ready for us. While we’re away, Vusi and Zef will do a “spring clean” of the home, clearing out all of the dust in tucked away places that accumulate from animals in the garden as well as the general nature of the bush. We’ll return to a spotless dust-free environment
All we’ll have to do now when we return is unpack and laundry, with a new washing machine installed while we were away and ready to be used. How wonderful it will be not to run back and forth to the outdoor laundry area several times, resetting the washer, to get through one load. Louise did all of our laundry which is neatly folded and ready to pack.
Ah, the little things matter so much. I realize that we often write about the little nuances of our daily lives, and I hope it doesn’t bore our readers/friends worldwide. I’d also enjoy reading about the activities and challenges of another’s everyday life. It’s natural for you to compare your lives to ours, including the ups and downs, the illnesses, the unexpected events, and the excitement of world travel.
It’s especially interesting to hear how others living in Marloth Park spend their days and nights. We often wonder if other retirees spend their days outdoors on the veranda as we do and how they spend their free time. We’d love for any of you, our readers, to send us input on how you spend your days and nights, wherever you live.
All I recall from living in the US after retirement was that I was so busy each day with tasks, appointments, household chores, shopping, and financial responsibilities. Sure we have some of that now, but once a month, I pay the credit card online (10 minutes), which we use for all of our expenses, and since we don’t have a checkbook, we never write a check. Is that so peculiar in today’s world of technology? Probably not.
Often we went to Home Depot and the local hardware store for items we needed for household repairs and maintenance. We shopped for plants and flowers for our garden a few times a year. I spent hours in Target each month with a long list of items we somehow needed. Every so often, I went to the local mall or discount store to shop for clothes, shoes, and cosmetics.
Often, we had many activities centering around the family, which we thoroughly enjoyed, and we managed to make time for every possible event. The last few years, before we left, Tom often worked 12 hours days and was often exhausted. But that didn’t impede our desire to entertain, often making elaborate gourmet-type meals or in summer barbecues in the yard by the lake.
With only dinner to make for tonight with leftovers for when we return and packing, using a comprehensive list on an app on my phone to ensure we don’t forget a thing takes little time, especially when we have so few clothes and shoes.
I have to go now and cut up the chicken, and later on, I will stir fry the Asian spiced dish. There’s no more cooking for the next ten days since tomorrow night, 11 of us are going to Jabula for dinner. The following day, Saturday, we head to Nelspruit for our quick and easy flight.
Be well.
Photo from one year ago today, August 18, 2021:
