From time to time we all feel unmotivated to tackle tasks that must be completed, whether or not we have a timeline.  Lately, these past five months, I’ve been seriously lacking in motivation to do paperwork that is piling up.


Throughout our years of world travel, I’ve never failed to scan receipts and log expenses into our spreadsheet.  When we left South Africa almost three months ago, I had logged everything from our time there but I’d failed to mention the total numbers in a post.


At this point in time, I doubt I’ll ever get to that.  For those of you anxious to see what we spent during our 15 months in South Africa, I can say it averaged about Euro 4457, US $5000 a month, including rent, rental car, fuel, groceries, dining out, tours and safaris, travel and miscellaneous.  

There was no less than a dozen sailboats we could see.

These figures exclude massive medical expenses and lost deposits and payments for future travel we had to cancel.  However, the totals include the two trips we made to Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana to safari and tour, in order to renew our visas and, have more fantastic experiences.  


When 2018 tax filing was due on April 15th, I’d only been out of the hospital for a short time and literally could not even conceive of gathering the information for the tax prep necessary to send to our accountant in Nevada.  He filed an extension for us, good until October 15th, 2019.


I’d promised myself I’d tackle this big task before we left Ireland but I think I will hold off until we get to the UK in August.  Hopefully, by then I’ll feel up to tackling this daunting task.  Most likely I can complete this task in two days.

Most of the sails were dark red.

This week I’ve promised myself to scan the receipts we’ve accumulated for Ireland and enter them into the spreadsheets.  Our scanner died but the camera takes decent photos of receipts.  


What makes this task more time consuming is converting from Euros to US dollars.  Of course, we have an app for that on my laptop but it still takes time to do each one. I do all of the currency conversion first, writing the US dollars on the receipt, separate the receipts by category and then enter them.  I will do this task in the next few days.


Why am I so lacking in motivation?  For those readers following our posts on a consistent basis, the answer is clear.  For new readers, the reasons are easily found here beginning on our posts from the later part of February.  This post explains it all along with all the posts that follow to present day.


What do I do all day?  I spend the better part of each day walking in the house.  It requires an enormous effort to walk 5,000 to 10,000 inside on the main floor.
Recently, I added climbing the steps as many times a day as possible, not necessarily consecutively.  It’s getting a little easier each day.

The wind speed seemed suitable for the race.

Spending all morning researching and preparing the daily post, dealing with photos, cooking dinner and taking care of laundry every other day takes up the better portion of the day.  Incorporating the walking and step climbing into the daily routine also monopolizes a good portion of each day.


By the end of the day, I’m done.  After dinner, all I can do is sit in my comfy chair and watch a few shows on my laptop, sent to the flat screen TV via our HDMI cable.  It’s my favorite time of the day when I allow myself to totally relax and unwind.  


Every so often we sign up for various streaming services for a period of time.  Right now we have CBS All Access through Amazon Prime for Euro 2.63, US $2.95 a month, other free shows available through Amazon Prime and Graboid, a for-pay streaming/downloading service we’ve used for years.


Some nights it takes everything I have to stay awake.  But, Tom is good at saying, “Are you awake?” He’s well aware that sleeping in front of the TV can seriously impede a good night’s sleep.  With daylight lasting so long in Ireland, we often don’t head upstairs until after 2300 hours, 11:00 pm.

A nicely horned sheep with a dark face with a white body.

And you may ask, what does Tom do?  He cooks breakfast each day, helps with dinner, does all the dishes and kitchen clean up, all the heavy lifting, vacuuming floors, booking travel-related venues, and checking daily to see if any our booked cruises have had a price reduction.  


A few days ago, he saved us Euro 401, US $450 the day before the final payment was due on the upcoming cruise from the UK to the US at the end of October.  Once final payment is paid on a specific cruise, the cruise lines won’t honor the benefit of a price reduction. Tom is able to get these reductions on many of our booked cruises by watching daily pricing and informing Vacations to Go to lower our price for the same cabin cate.


In addition, he literally waits on me without an attitude or complaint.  If he sees my glass of water or ice tea is low, he’ll refill it for me.  If I didn’t do all the exercise and other tasks, it would be wise for me to turn down his help to force myself to perform more tasks.  At this point, I’m doing all I can.  His help is greatly appreciated and I’ve had to learn to graciously accept it.


Most people have ultra-busy days and nights in this world we live in.  Whoever thought retirement would be relaxing was kidding themselves.  As we’ve heard endless retirees say, they are busier now than when they worked.  How did this happen?


Hope you find time to relax, get in a little exercise, enjoy a great meal, good companionship and appreciate every day of life.  Join me in this, dear readers.

Photo from one year ago today, July 22, 2018:

Male bushbuck can be dangerous with their sharp horns.  See this article where a farmer was gored to death by a male bushbuck. We loved for them to visit but we kept a sensible distance. For more photos, please click here.

The last few mornings I’ve gone back to sleep after Tom gets up, usually at 6:00 am.  On both days, I didn’t awaken until after 9:00 am which is unusual.  The only justification I can provide in this regard is entirely about an escalation in the healing process.

Fishing for income isn’t uncommon in Ireland even by these smaller boats.

Since the plasters (bandages) came off my legs a few weeks ago, the wound on my left leg has quickly begun to fully heal.  It still looks scary to someone who may not know about my situation.


To draw less attention to myself on the upcoming cruise I’ll only be wearing long pants.  Once the wound is less obvious and just a scar, I’ll be willing to wear Capri length pants.  The former hematoma on my right thigh continues to be painful but also appears to be improving but, it will leave a nasty scar from the top of my thigh to my ankle.

Partial view of Twelve Bens (mountains).

I’m doing well, although it’s painful to climb the stairs to the second level of the house several times a day to build stamina.  The walking up the steep hills continues when it’s not pouring rain and, I make a concerted effort to log as many steps as possible on my fitness watch, never missing a day.


Walking around the house over and over is boring.  Often, Tom listens to his favorite radio stations and podcasts, which help distract me while walking.  With his poor hearing after years of working on the railroad, he makes it loud enough that I can hear it as I wander through the main floor. 

We see mountains wherever we travel.

Storage on my South Africa-purchased smartphone is eaten up and I can’t download any podcast apps to listen to shows, although I’ve uninstalled all the apps I don’t often use. 


We’ll be getting new phones when we go to the US in a little over three months.  I can’t wait to have enough storage to download any apps I’d like.  But, as we’ve said over and over again, adaptation is the key to managing with less available options of products and services.

From our window, fiery looking sunset overlooking Bertraghboy Bay.

There are numerous products I use which I’d always purchased from CVS pharmacies and other stores in the US.  Most of those products do not even exist in this or many other countries.  


As a result, I’m using unfamiliar brands that don’t quite fulfill my expectations.  I’m looking forward to shopping in the US to stock up enough items to last until we return again.  This time, as we had while in the US in 2017, we’ll purchase supplies and new clothing.  Those we purchased at that time are showing signs of wear and tear after so many washings.  


And the shoe situation?  For me, at present it’s awful.  I have boots for the bush, running shoes for working out, water shoes, and two pairs of worn-out sandals.  At this point, I don’t have a single pair of appropriate shoes to wear to dinner on the upcoming cruise.

Kylemore Lough (Irish: Loch na Coille Móire)is a freshwater lake in the west of Ireland. It is located in the Connemara area of County Galway.

I checked out the shoe departments in a few stores in Clifden (there’s no specific shoe store).  I’m hoping, once we’re in Amsterdam for two days, I may be able to find a few options.  Tom seems to have enough shoes to last a few years.  Deciding on how long items will last is entirely unpredictable.  Of course, quality is a factor but we have tee shirts from Old Navy priced at Euro 8.90, US $10, that have held up as well as more expensive items.  Go figure.


Today is another dark, windy and rainy day.  We’re making low carb Italian meatballs with homemade low carb pasta sauce topped with grated mozzarella cheese.  Each meatball is stuffed with a chunk of fresh mozzarella cheese with one extra chunk on the top. I only eat a small amount of this dish adding many veggies on the side.


Hope you have an opportunity to enjoy a delicious Sunday dinner.

Photo from one year ago today, July 21, 2018:

It’s always thrilling to see elephants along the road.  For more Kruger photos, please click here.