Hello, Monday morning…Tom’s birthday week and Christmas…

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The elephant on the left is resting his trunk on his tusk.  

Tom’s birthday couldn’t be at a more inconvenient time. In this life, it’s less of an issue that his birthday is on December 23. We don’t have a lot going on right now. However, in our old lives, it wasn’t easy to figure out how to celebrate his birthday with anyone other than ourselves when everyone was so busy getting ready for Christmas.

Two giant elephants in Kruger National Park.

In the early years, when our adult kids were younger and didn’t have families of their own, they’d join us for his birthday celebration, whether it was out to dinner or a full-blown party. Over the years, as their families grew along with work responsibilities, it wasn’t always possible for them to join us on the day of his birthday, so close to Christmas.

This could be a mom and two calves from different birthing seasons or other scenarios.

Ironically, out of five houses on our peninsula, the men in every other house also had a birthday on December 23, our dear friends and neighbors Doug and Chip, and then, of course, Tom. Doug and Jamie have a large family, so we couldn’t celebrate with him.

A mom and baby were moving along in the bush.

For many years we celebrated with Chip and Sue, who over the years, we’d become very close. Our dear Chip passed away shortly before we left for our travels in 2012, but surely we’ll send Doug a birthday greeting as we’ve done each year since we’ve been gone. There are many great memories of those days.

Elephants don’t hesitate to be close to one another.

In Marloth Park, South Africa, we have celebrated three of Tom’s birthdays in the bush. With most of our friends gone during the hot summer months, it made no sense to plan a get-together to celebrate his 69th birthday. Thus, we made a reservation for Thursday, the 23rd, for the two of us, and we’ll celebrate at the bar at Jabula. There’s no doubt that whoever joins us at the bar will celebrate with us, Dawn, Leon, Lyn, and their new assistant David.

Tom is delighted with this plan, especially when he knows upon our return on Thursday night, his favorite dessert, a homemade German Chocolate Cake, will be waiting for him. I plan to bake it from scratch on Thursday morning. Since he’ll be the only one eating it, it may last him through Christmas, even if he cuts the three-layer cake into six huge portions, which I am sure he’ll do. He may even eat more than one piece per day!

A mom and a youngster.

Now will be the first time I have baked this cake for him since we left the US. In most countries, the ingredients weren’t available to make the cake. Oddly, this time, at the Spar Market, I was able to find everything I needed for the recipe.

Grazing in the dense vegetation.

It may seem weird to be so enthused about a cake. But, after being gone from the US for over nine years, I can surely understand why it’s so appealing to him. Besides, it’s the best birthday gift I can give him since we never have room in our luggage for gifts from each other.

We hope all of you who celebrate Christmas are enjoying activities, socializing, and preparations for the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s week with your friends and loved ones. Although most of our friends and family are far away, we’ve been staying in close touch with everyone via text and WhatsApp. Doing so never makes us feel as if we are too far away.

A baby elephant was sleeping in the grass.

Today is a quiet day. It’s started warming up again, but it’s still not as hot as a few weeks ago. We’re enjoying this cooler period, although it will begin to heat up again in a few days. We’re prepared for whatever may come our way. As long as we have each other and good health, we can handle any inconveniences that come our way.

Enjoy the season!

Photo from one year ago today, December 20, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #272. We were thrilled to be able to watch the nightly Hindu ceremony on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Smoke from the fire rituals wafted through the air. For more, please click here.

Omicron…We can’t ignore what’s happening in South Africa and the world…More Kruger photos…

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Open mouth crocodile on the bank of the Sabie River. Crocs don’t have sweat glands. Instead, they open their mouths to cool off.

It would be easy for us to ignore what is happening with Omicron throughout the world and for us here in South Africa. Sure, we could write about “travel” and travel-related topics or continue with the mindless drivel of our day-to-day activities while living in the bush.

But, we can’t possibly ignore what’s going on in South Africa and throughout the world in many countries as Omicron spreads like wildfire, doubling every two days. We have no doubt you’ve seen endless news reports on this topic and most likely would prefer not to read it here.

But, over these past nine years of writing these posts, we always promised to “tell it like it is,” and we have diligently done so since the first post we uploaded in March 2012, only three months short of ten years ago. Please, dear readers, understand that sharing what we know, if doing so saves one life or one serious case of the virus, it will have been worth it. It is from that perspective that we write this today.

Another photo of a hippo mom and baby.

No politicization is included or intended here. This is entirely from our perspective, based on the research we’re conducting now and how and when it may impact our lives in the future. After all, in only 113 days, we hope to board a ship from Fort4 Lauderdale, Florida, to sail across the Atlantic Ocean for a two-month stay in and around the UK until the next cruise on June 29, 2022, sailing out of Istanbul.

At this point, Omicron is infecting the world so rapidly that everything could change in the next 30 days. But, in 38 days, we have to figure out what we’ll be doing about extending our visas. Do we dare fly to another country in Africa for a visa stamp and risk becoming infected if President Cyril Pamaphosa doesn’t extend visas for foreign nationals?

Baby elephant resting in the grass.

Based on the fact the borders are still open, in light of the rapid increase of Omicron, we seriously doubt he’ll be extending visas for foreign nationals. He’s getting a lot of pressure about new lockdowns after the already developing country has suffered so much loss over the past two years of the pandemic.

We have some tough decisions ahead of us. Returning now to the US is not on the table when we see the number of cases escalating there daily. This chart from the stats presented on the website, Worldometer, certainly impacts our plans. See the stats on the screenshot I made with yesterday’s numbers:

Please zoom in to see these numbers in detail. I removed some of the columns to fit on the page for this chart.

Some scientists and immunologists are predicting there will be 1,000,000 cases per day in the UK by January. The US will follow shortly behind. And, as far as South Africa is concerned, 35% of all Covid-19 tests are positive for Omicron, and 90% of all cases of Covid-19 are Omicron cases, even in the fully vaccinated. There are claims that contracting Omicron results in a less severe illness with fewer hospitalizations and deaths.

But, uncertainty about that immunity provided by Omicron, when science isn’t definitive, about whether or not the variant is less severe or that those getting it may already have some protection from prior exposure and vaccines.

Elephants were grazing in the park.

There are many theories that Omicron could be the end of the pandemic when most of the world’s population becomes infected, which may provide herd immunity? Is this variant the magic bullet that may give the herd immunity, the world so desperately needs to end the pandemic?. Not enough is known at this time to answer all of these questions.

But, as world travelers anxious to get back “out there,” we wait in anticipation of more definitive science and what travel restrictions may impact us.

Rapids on the Sabie River in Kruger National Park.

This has been a tough couple of years for all of us. We are saddened by the loss of life and lingering illness many have experienced. My sister has been suffering from long-haul Covid for the past 16 months, along with one in four patients undergoing the same worldwide. We are saddened by the financial strife experienced by business owners and workers during extensive lockdown and restrictions, including our friends here in South Africa, the US, and the world.

For now, what can we do? Avoid crowds? Wear masks? Maintain social distancing, which is now more confusing than ever, when the fully vaccinated spread Omicron? There’s no easy answer, but we’ve decided to remain vigilant in doing everything possible. But, we have no desire to stay in lockdown, totally isolated from other people.

Yellow-billed stork.

We have two outdoor parties we’re planning to attend; Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. Are we prepared to discontinue our Friday night dinners at Jabula? No! It’s always a highlight of our week.

Take care of yourselves the best way you can as we watch how this variant rolls out.

Photo from one year ago today, December 16, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #268. A cave we spotted at Cape Horn on our way to Ushuaia, Argentina. For more photos, please click here.

Deciding what to do…CDC tagging South Africa travelers into USA…

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Hippos aren’t necessarily the cutest of animals. Hippos cannot breathe underwater.

After spending ten months in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, in 2020, we may have become particularly cautious and sensitive about spending more time in quarantine, even if it’s in the US. After reading the following article a few days ago, we can’t help but ask ourselves if we’re prepared to travel to the US in 50 days.

United States

Exclusive: U.S. CDC to collect data on southern Africa passengers over COVID variant

By 

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) – U.S. officials ordered airlines to disclose passenger names and other information about those who have recently been in eight southern African countries and will give it to local and state public health agencies, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told airlines in a letter late Tuesday that they must turn over names and contact information for any travelers who within 14 days have been to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, citing “the emergence of the Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19/

(The CDC) will provide the contact information of these passengers to jurisdictional state and local public health partners for public health follow-up. This follow-up may include recommendations for potential post-arrival viral testing and quarantine and isolation,” the agency told airlines.

Effective Nov. 8, the CDC required all airlines to collect contact tracing information from all international air passengers but had not required them to turn over those names.

The new directive, which took effect late Tuesday and was seen by Reuters, mandates airlines to turn over the information within 24 hours of passengers arriving in the United States who have been in one of the eight African countries.

The collected information includes full name, full address while in the United States, primary contact phone number, secondary or emergency contact phone number, and email address.

The United States effective Monday barred nearly all foreign nationals if they have been in one of the southern African countries.

Separately, the CDC confirmed late Tuesday it is moving to require that all air travelers entering the country show a negative COVID-19 test performed within one day of departure in response to concerns about a new coronavirus variant.

Currently, vaccinated international air travelers can present a negative test result obtained within three days from their point of departure. Nearly all foreign nationals must be vaccinated to enter the United States. The unvaccinated must now get a negative COVID-19 test within one day of arrival.

The new one-day testing requirement would apply equally to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals.

The Biden administration is also considering whether to require air travelers to get another COVID-19 test within three to five days after arrival in the United States, officials said.

The administration could require international passengers to submit an “attestation” that would also require them to follow all state and local public health orders.”

Hippos often come up for air. We’re always trying to get that wide-open-mouth shot. No such luck this time. A hippo’s gestation period is 243 days.

So much can change in a day’s time that we may find ourselves feeling ostracized with weird restrictions that we may not know at this point. The day we moved into the hotel in Mumbai, we thought we’d be there for days, not ten months. We didn’t know at that point that we couldn’t have a glass of wine or cocktail for ten months, that the restaurant would close, that we wouldn’t be allowed to leave the fourth floor.

Also, we must ask ourselves if we’re willing to bear the expense of living in a hotel, with high room rates during peak season, expensive car rental rates, and the high cost of quality food, which is tricky for my way of eating. Fast food doesn’t work for me.

There is no way we can avoid spending 18 days in quarantine before the official wedding celebrations begin with fears of infecting the bride and groom and many seniors with precarious health conditions. After the 18 days, we’d move to yet another hotel for three more nights where the wedding is being held.

Hippos can live for 40 to 50 years.

This would be a choice we make, which at this point, is not required by the government. However, so much can change in the next 50 days, with cases of Omicron increasing worldwide. Perhaps, lots of testing and mandatory quarantine will be required, and who knows, what else?

Will those, like us, arriving from South Africa, have to stay in certain hotels? This is entirely possible. In the UK, mandatory quarantine required travelers to stay at specific hotels at exorbitant rates. The hotels were guarded and monitored to ensure no one left the building. How will we purchase clothing for the wedding? We’d anticipated heading out shopping without an issue. This may not be possible. Neither of us has a single wardrobe item appropriate for what we are sure will be an upscale wedding.

You may think we’re over-reacting. But, please, we may be the only people you know who spent ten months in confinement in a hotel during Covid-19 from March 2020 to January 2021. It isn’t easy to convince me we’re over-reacting. We’ve been through it.

Giraffes were munching on treetops.

On top of all of this is the fact that once again, we’ll be traveling for almost two days with massive exposure to other passengers. That fact in itself is concerning. Of course, if we decide against going, we’ll be disappointed to miss this special event for our dear friends.

What would you do if you were us?

Tonight, we’ll speak to our friends, Karen and Rich, and make a definitive decision, which we’ll share here in tomorrow’s post.

Be well. Be safe.

Photo from EIGHT years ago today, December 3, 2013

We decided to post this “eight-year ago photo” from December 3, 2013, when we arrived in Marloth Park for the first time. This giraffe didn’t seem to mind photo-bombing us. Readers wrote that it looked as if I was wearing a giraffe hat. This photo was taken in our neighborhood. Louise explained that the giraffes would soon come to our house, which they did. For more photos, please click here.

Twenty year anniversary of 9/11…

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No photo we could post today would be of any significance on this sorrowful day.

This morning, as I stepped outdoors to see at least eight wild animals in the garden, I was reminded of how fortunate we are. Thoughts of 9/11 flooded my mind as I sat at the table and reminisced with Tom as to where we were that day in 2001, and the moment we discovered the news, and how devastated and angst-ridden we were for many days and months to follow.

No, we didn’t lose anyone we loved in the devastation, but surely each of us in the US and many throughout the world felt the immense sorrow coupled with fear for the future. Now, as we’ve traveled, we’ve found that many in other countries have expressed the impact it had on their lives as well.

And for those who lost loved ones, co-workers, and friends, we offer our heartfelt condolences over your loss and the lingering sorrow you must still be feeling 20 years later. That type of grief never leaves us, imprinting an image we can’t erase, even as the years pass.

Glued to the TV for weeks, none of us could escape the horrific scenes, replayed over and over, each time, creating more profound wounds while escalating the fears associated with this terrible event in history. Time doesn’t heal these wounds, especially for those who lost someone they loved or even knew.

And for the first responders, many of whom have passed away from the ravages caused by their heroic involvement and support during the nightmarish event, and many with lingering and devastating health consequences, that have taken away their quality of life, as well as that of their loved ones and caregivers.

We offer condolences for the loved ones, co-workers, and friends and the children, now grown, who were never allowed to know their parent who was snatched away on this date, 20 years ago.

And now, today, we are entrenched in another disaster of epic proportions, whether you “believe” the numbers of lost soles or not, to Covid-19, an entirely different kind of devastation that has impacted millions throughout the world. These lives are no less significant and meaningful to loved ones than those lost on September 11, 2001.

When we were in lockdown for ten months in Mumbai, India, we watched in horror footage on the news of intubated Covid-19 patients lying on army cots in parking lots when all the hospitals were filled, and there was no alternative for these sick patients. This was a devastation that, in my heart and mind, impacts me very similarly to 9/11. People were lost. People loved them.

Today, it was impossible to post a few animal photos and share the infinitesimal details of our lives when we were experiencing this profound date…9/11 and the past 20 months with the loss of 4,632,374 people worldwide Covid-19. We can believe these numbers or choose not to, but the reality remains that now, few of us have not been personally impacted by the loss of life, the changed manner in which we live our lives, and the uncertainty of times to come.

Regardless of an illness, an accident, a crime, or an injustice, every lost life matters to someone who knew and loved them. Today, we bow our heads in quiet contemplation over the loss of those souls. At the same time, we all thank God, our higher power, the universe, or whatever one believes, for the gift of life, the opportunity to heal, and the realization of our purpose in this world and to one another.

May we all find peace in this “touchless’ society in which we now live and reach out to one another in our hearts.

Photo from one year ago today, September 11, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in hotel lockdown for ten months in Mumbai, India, on day #172. We spotted these flowers in Kenya in 2013, known as Plumeria, also known as Frangipani, also grown in Hawaii, where we were 15 months later. For more photos, please click here.

Special trail cam sighting…No water today…

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    Last night’s trail cam photo #1 of the porcupine visiting our garden.

Every morning Tom removes the data card from the trail cam and carefully goes through each photo, looking for something other than warthogs and bushbucks. We see plenty of them during daylight hours. The nocturnal wildlife piques our interest, which was the purpose of purchasing the trail cam many months ago.

Last night, once again, we were gifted with a visit from a porcupine, as shown in these two photos captured by the trail cam. No, they aren’t as clear or bright as we’d like. I tried editing them, but the result was less visible than those posted. Right now, we don’t see a wide variety of wildlife. Mostly, it’s those same warthogs, including Little, about eight bushbucks, Broken Horn, hornbills, and of course, Frank and The Misses.

Last night’s photo #2 of the porcupine.

Don’t get me wrong. We love seeing our “regulars” and respond to their visits with enthusiasm at every opportunity. But, we are limited right now on the number of photos we can offer on each days’ post. We will soon return to Kruger National Park, but we are busy making plans for the future this week, considering our visas expire at the end of October.

After booking flights and places to stay, we will post what we’ve decided to do in the next several days. With the state of the world now, we have many considerations as we watch the increase in Covid-19 cases in most countries, even as more and more become vaccinated. It’s crazy! Why are the numbers going the wrong way?

On occasion, we move Frank’s seeds to the table when other animals try to eat them. He’s content to jump onto the table even when we’re sitting there.

No doubt, we are in a quandary as to where to go next. At this point, we know for sure that we are heading to Howey-In-The- Hills, Florida, in February for dear friends Karen and Rich’s wedding on February 11th. Yesterday, we booked three nights at the resort where the wedding will be held.

At either end of the wedding, Karen and Rich have invited us to stay with them at their house In Apollo Beach, right on the water. It was hard to resist their invitation. After staying with them in 2019 for our three-week visit to Minnesota, we know the four of us to have a great time together and can easily live under the same roof.

Handsome Big Daddy stopped by for a visit.

Yesterday, after considerable research, we managed to book a car with Budget in Tampa, Florida, for around ZAR 13411, US $900, which is reasonable for vehicles in the US. In this case, it paid to book as early as possible. Florida is a busy place in the winter months.

Staying with friends and family isn’t always easy. We each have our peculiarities and routines, Tom and I included. But somehow, Karen and Rich have similar routines and habits, making staying together easy and seamless. Plus, we have so much fun together. It’s irresistible!

We’re looking forward to spending time with them once again. We plan to be in Florida for about a month.

Old Man also stopped by for a visit and a few pellets.

But, the dilemma now is what we will be doing when the end of October arrives and our visas expire once again. The more and more research we do, the less confident we feel about traveling to other countries in Africa. Many African countries aren’t reporting Covid cases, nor have they since the onset of the pandemic. It’s a guess to determine which countries are safe and which are not.

Breakthrough cases of vaccinated individuals are rapidly rising worldwide, and the unavoidable reality is…where do we want to be if we become infected? What countries have adequate medical care? Also, we’re not well informed yet whether or not the one jab J & J vaccination was sufficient to provide ample protection. At this point, no medical organization has definitive answers about the necessity of boosters or the long efficacy of the various vaccines.

Hal likes to wander the park with his friend, Old Man.

It is no wonder that so many “vaccine objectors” exist worldwide when information is sketchy and uncertain, with endless exaggerations from social media impacting people’s views. However, we don’t judge others for refusing the vaccine. Each person has the right to choose what is appropriate for themselves and their loved ones.

We chose to be vaccinated based on our desire to continue to travel the world. Only time will tell if our five booked cruises will set sail in 2022 when such awful news is posted daily about Covid cases on cruise ships, even for the vaccinated.

There’s no water pressure today in Marloth Park. Some thieves ripped off electric cables to run the power for the water plant. As a result, we are without running water at this time. Thank goodness we have bottled water for drinking and hand washing. We’re using pool water to flush the toilets.

May our world become safer in months to come.

Photo from one year ago today, August 18, 2020:

One year ago, there was no post on this date while in lockdown in Mumbai, India, on day #148, due to my dear sister Susan’s passing

Losing loved ones in times of Covid-19…Today is a sad anniversary…

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A few days ago, we read a post on Facebook that the husband of a well-known couple in Marloth Park passed away from Covid-19 at 52 years old, only after two days in the hospital. Their adult daughter, a popular singer, and performer has been in hospital in ICU for the past five weeks, hanging on for dear life, also with Covid. Neither had yet been vaccinated since their age group for the jab hadn’t come up yet. This is heartbreaking.

There’s no doubt that many of our readers have suffered such losses due to Covid-19 in the past 18 months since this nightmare began, impacting all of our lives in one way or another. Whether we lost a loved one, lost a job, lost income due to cutbacks and closings, lost a business, and lost a dream for the future, no one has been exempt from the ravages of the pandemic.

What brought this to mind, especially today, is that one year ago on this date, my elder dear sister Susan (four years my senior), who was already bedridden and suffering from many conditions (primarily hereditary), passed away. My sister Julie and Susan’s daughter Kely were at her side when she took her last breath.

A lone yellow-billed stork at Sunset Dam.

A few days later, Julie, who hadn’t worn a mask while at Susan’s side, tested positive for Covid-19 and experienced a horrifying case of the virus, still plaguing her yet today, suffering from what is called “long haul Covid.” Little is known as to how to treat these lingering symptoms.

After these events, I felt confident that although Susan was suffering from many conditions, none of them were imminently life-threatening. With Julie getting sick only days later, I am convinced that ultimately Susan passed from Covid, or at least her many conditions were exacerbated by contracting Covid while living in a small nursing facility.

The hardest part for me was finding out she’d passed by a phone call, which transpired while Julie read one of our posts to her, while we were on day #145 in lockdown in a hotel room in Mumbai, India. There was nothing I could do. Tom, who also cared for Susan, cried along with me that day when the only thing we could do was sit on the edge of the bed in each other’s arms in our hotel room and let the tears flow.

Elephants were heading to the river.

At that point, unbeknownst to us, we were only halfway through those ten months in lockdown in India, waiting for the Mumbai and Johannesburg airports to re-open to international flights so we could finally be on our way to South Africa. I wonder if we’d known then that we were only halfway through the lockdown if we’d have done as well as we did, with the grief of losing my dear sister and the fear of losing other loved ones in the process.

Our inconvenient situation in lockdown was nothing compared to the sorrow of losing loved ones and becoming ill with the dreaded illness. The fact we stayed safe all those months still surprises us. At that time, if one of us had become sick and required hospitalization, the public and private hospitals were full. Ill patients were placed on “Army cots” outdoors in parking lots.

The terrain along the Sabie River.

That was a terrifying thought to both of us, especially as the months passed and new guests entered the hotel, staying on our floor, talking loudly, with few wearing masks and social distancing. We often forgo walking in the corridors when other guests were careless coming in and out of their rooms.

Today, again, I mourn the loss of my dear Susan and will do so each anniversary to come, along with the anniversaries of others we have lost over the years, regardless of the cause.

May you all find peace and comfort in recalling great memories of loved ones you have lost over the years. Stay well.

Photo from one year ago today, August 15, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in Mumbai, India, on day #145. Good thing I couldn’t eat any of this. We’d have spent a fortune, and I’d have gained so much weight I wouldn’t fit into my clothing. For more photos, please click here.

Enjoying relaxing and quiet times, too…Three days and counting…

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Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa is a fabulous property. When we return to Las Vegas in years to come, we’d love to stay here again.

Since we arrived in the US on July 1st, the time has flown by so quickly that we can hardly believe it. Hey, “Father Time,” slow down! We still have lots of life to live, and it’s moving way too quickly for our liking. We arrived here three weeks ago and now are left with only three more days until departure.

But, as we prepare to depart, we feel comfortable with the quality of the time spent in the US with our family members and a few friends. Now, as the days dwindle toward departure, we are reminiscing about the good times we’ve had, with more to come over the next few evenings.

Tonight, we’re heading to Richard‘s home for dinner at 7:00 pm. While there, we’ll use his washer and dryer to do one load of laundry since there are no laundry facilities in this hotel other than pricey laundry service, which we seldom use other than as necessary on cruises.

Last night we were on our own. After eating out so many nights, we decided on takeaway with the many options available in the hotel’s food court. We found an Asian restaurant with several stir-fried, non-battered options that work for me. It will be a long time before we have access to Asian food again. We’ve never seen an Asian restaurant anywhere in South Africa, other than in the big cities.

We set up a small table and two chairs in our room to use as a dining area while we streamed an episode of Shark Tank as we ate our delicious food. We chatted while eating since we’d already seen the older episode and thoroughly enjoyed the meal and each other’s company.

Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa is huge, with 496 rooms and massive grounds.

The remainder of the evening flew by as we easily entertained ourselves, talking and streaming a few more shows. Later, sleep was elusive. Several times during the night, we were both awake, looking at our phones. At one point, from sheer desperation, I got up and took an aspirin. I didn’t have a headache or any pain, but on a rare occasion, I took one aspirin since it makes me sleepy. It worked, and by 1:00 am, I drifted off. Tom said he did the same without the aspirin.

Today, we’re staying in, continuing to research the future, which, at this point, is still vague and uncertain regarding Covid-19. It’s unbelievable how many states in the US and other countries have been experiencing spikes in cases over the past week.

Today, I have been chatting back and forth via text with several of our friends in South Africa. Somehow, they manage well with the Level 4 lockdown, including an alcohol ban and mask-wearing anywhere out in public. Once we return, we’ll follow suit with mask-wearing while proceeding with caution in public places.

Other than small get-togethers with close friends, several of whom are now vaccinated, we’ll follow the Covid-19 requirements and be extra careful when heading to Komatipoort to shop for groceries. The small town is a hotbed of Covid-19 and has been so all along.

This resort is beautifully decorated and appealing to the eye.

Tomorrow morning, we go for our Covid-19 PCR tests at a drive-up Minute Clinic at a nearby CVS pharmacy, required for us to enter South Africa, even though we’ve been vaccinated. We’d have preferred to get the test on Friday, but there was nowhere in this entire city that offered 24-hour results.

All of the regular PCR testing sites only offered 48-hour turnarounds. This is cutting it close since South Africa requires the PCR test to be completed within 72 hours before entering the country. There’s a rapid test available, but we were concerned that South Africa wouldn’t accept the quick test when all the online information stated it must be a PCR test, not a rapid test. We didn’t want to take any chances.

Calling the airlines to check on this is pointless since it requires two to three hours on hold on the phone to get through to a representative. No thanks.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.

Photo from one year ago today, July 21, 2020:

This photo is from our post on Day #120 while in lockdown in Mumbai, India, one year ago. Most beaches are rocky in Madeira, Portugal. Wooden planks are provided for sunbathers to avoid sitting on the rocks. On many beaches, these thatched umbrellas are also provided. For more, please click here.

Part 1…We’re back to booking future travels!!!…Building a new itinerary…

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Yesterday, we not only booked the cruise on the Black Sea but also booked the “back-to-back” (the next cruise, on the day of arrival), which we’ll share in tomorrow’s post. Tomorrow is a travel day for us as we make our way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to see Tom’s sister, Sister Beth, where we’ll spend two days in a hotel.

I will undoubtedly use the workout facility.

As for the itinerary for this ship, see below:

Azamara

11 Nights – Azamara (Istanbul – Round Trip)

Cruise Line: Azamara

Ship Name: Azamara Onward Not Yet Rated

Cruise Length: 11 Nights

Departure Date: 06/29/2022

Embarkation Port: Istanbul, Turkey

Return Date: 07/10/2022

Disembarkation Port: Istanbul, Turkey

Sailing Itinerary

Date Port of Call Arrival Departure

06/29/2022 Istanbul — 06:00 PM

06/30/2022 Varna/Bulgaria 08:00 AM 08:00 PM

07/01/2022 Burgas 08:00 AM 08:00 PM

07/02/2022 Constanta 07:00 AM 08:00 PM

07/03/2022 Odesa/Ukraine 09:30 AM —

07/04/2022 Odesa/Ukraine — 08:00 PM

07/05/2022 Cruising — —

07/06/2022 Sochi 08:00 AM 09:00 PM

07/07/2022 Batumi 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

07/08/2022 Cruising — —

07/09/2022 Istanbul 08:00 AM —

07/10/2022 Istanbul — —

Once we arrive back in Istanbul, Turkey, we’ll move to another cabin on the same deck but on the opposite side of the ship for better viewing for the upcoming itinerary on this ship’s next leg for another ten days, July 10 to July 20, 2022, ending in Athens, Greece. We’ll include our costs for the balcony cabins for both cruises and the second leg’s itinerary in tomorrow’s post.

The theatre for nightly shows.

As for today, our last family day in Minnesota, Tom will be joining his family for the Thursday barbecue at his sister Mary’s home, while tonight, I’m going to a movie with Greg’s family. At 11:00 am this morning, we’re heading to visit our dear friend Sue, former neighbor and widow of our beloved, since deceased friend Chip, who passed away five months before we left in 2012. We hadn’t seen Sue since we were here in 2017 since she spent the winters in Florida. It will be wonderful to see her again.

This morning, Tom took our vaccination certificates to Office Max and had them make copies to be laminated and kept the originals to be amended for boosters in the future if required. Oddly, Office Max didn’t charge to do this. Go figure.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow, perhaps later in the day, completed after arriving at our hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, July 15, 2020:

Some flowers continue to bloom through the summer season, as is the case in this Alstroemeria. For more photos, please click here.

Day #4…We’re “back in the USA!”…

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Mongoose and kudus in the side garden,  munching on treats we tossed their way.

The lyrics to the song written by Chuck Berry, “Back in the USA,” (see the link here), are as follows and ring true today in many ways;  “Chuck Berry first issued the song on Chess Records in 1959 as a single which reached number 37 in the Billboard Hot 100. The song’s lyrics were supposedly written based upon Berry returning to the United States following a trip to Australia and witnessing the living standards of Australian Aborigines.”

Lyrics
“I woke up to a bitter storm (bitter year)
And Noah’s Ark came washed up on the shore
The riot gear has lined the dawn (bitter year)
Like dogs that shit on your neighbor’s lawn
Let freedom ring with all the crazies on parade
Let them eat poison, and it tastes like lemonade
Back in the USA for a small town serenade
With fireworks on display
Tonight, it’s a hero’s welcome home
And there’s no place to go
And I’m taking it to the grave
Back in the USA
The saddest story ever told (bitter year)
Is feeling safe in our suburban homes
Like soldiers of an endless war (bitter year)
And every church can have a liquor store
Let freedom ring with all the crazies on parade
Let them eat poison, and it tastes like lemonade
Back in the USA for a small town serenade
With fireworks on display
Tonight, it’s a hero’s welcome home
And there’s no place to go
And I’m taking it to the grave
Back in the USA”
Many of these words remind me of the trials and challenges most of us faced during the past 18 months of the pandemic. The music to this song is an “earworm” playing over and over again in my head, as we both deal with a severe lack of sleep since Tuesday night, In total, we each may have slept only  10 to 12 hours, and we’re both feeling the brunt of the long journey.
I knew that preparing a post today wasn’t going to be easy. So, on the last leg from Chicago to Minneapolis, I wrote the following on my phone when I had a sudden burst of energy. Doing so made the short 55-minute flight fly by quickly and read as follows:

“I wrote today’s post while on the flight yesterday afternoon from Chicago to Minneapolis. Packed like sardines on the United Airlines Airbus with nary an empty seat, we should be landing in MSP in less than 90 minutes.

Our long journey, albeit tiring, was moving along seamlessly until we arrived in Chicago. Several things went wrong, and honestly, aside from the loss of Tom’s suitcase, it’s not worth getting into each of the other issues.
Facing time constraints with our upcoming Covid-19 vaccines scheduled for 5:45 at the MSP airport, the inconvenience of filing a claim for the lost luggage put us in a severe time crunch.  Maneuvering back and forth to the vaccine center in the terminal and baggage claim area will keep us busy.
The 5:45 pm vaccine times for both of us is a priority over filing the claim. We’ll have to juggle picking up my one bag, making the lost luggage claim, and keeping the vaccine appointments. On an average day, this would be no big deal. After traveling for three days with only a few hours’ sleep, we’re both raggedy and out of sorts.
I haven’t eaten anything all day, and Tom ate high-carb, primarily junk food. We need a shower, good food, clean clothes, and sleep. (Oh yeah, Tom doesn’t have any clothes other than what he’s worn since Tuesday morning when we left Marloth Park).
We’ll see how all of that goes. Now, if we can get the vaccine without incident, I won’t complain too loudly. Tom, sitting across the aisle from me in the “sardine can,” reminded me, “Eight years, eight months, and we never lost a bag!”
I laughed! We have been pretty lucky, haven’t we?
Ah, after a good night’s sleep and food, our attitudes will change exponentially. We’ll report back as to how all of this evolved in tomorrow’s post. Please check back for the update.”
We’re at “tomorrow,” and we wanted to update our readers on our receiving the J & J vaccine, surprisingly in the airport upon arrival. Before heading to the luggage area, since we didn’t have enough time to do both, we made our way with our two carry-on bags to see if we could be vaccinated a few minutes earlier than the 5:45 appointment time.
The two very professional nurses were delighted to have some vaccine recipients. They mentioned, “the business has been slow with few passengers interested in getting the vaccine. In the early part of June, when they first started offering the jabs, they were busy. But, in the entire 45 minutes we were with them, including a 30 minutes waiting period after the jab, not another patient appeared.
As it turned out, we chatted with them during our waiting period, and the time flew by. It didn’t allow us to be concerned or worry about possible side effects. Neither of us experienced a thing. Even today, as tired as we are, we have not had a single twinge of any reaction or side effect.
When done, we headed to the baggage area, picked up my bag, and filed a claim for Tom’s. They have no idea when his bag will arrive. Today, he has to buy some clothes, after wearing the same things since Tuesday. I couldn’t get my clothes off fast enough to sit on the bed and eat my Chipotle bowl. Oh, what a treat that was! Tom did Wendy’s.
Dining around here will be easy. We’re in an area where there are tons of takeaway and eat-in restaurants. Plus, we’re across the road from Eden Prairie Shopping Mall, making it easy for any shopping we need to do, mainly the clothes Tom needs to buy today until his suitcase arrives, if it does at all.
That’s it for today. We’ll be back tomorrow with some unusual details about our hotel. Please check back.
Photo from one year ago today, June 2, 2020:
This flock of ostriches is often found in a particular area near the river we often visit when on daily drives. Note the chick on the far left. For more photos, please click here.

Today, a social day and evening in the bush…

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Wildebeest Willie has now become a regular visitor, stopping by a few times each day.

Today, at 4:00 pm, a small group of us will be meeting at one of Marloth Park’s favorite Crocodile River overlooks, known as Two Tree for sundowners. Doing so requires the participants to bring lawn chairs. Without a single such chair in our bush home, we were able to borrow two chairs.

Linda and Ken, who will participate in the Two Trees gathering, have invited us for dinner following the event. No doubt, it will be a fun and entertaining late afternoon and evening. We so much appreciate being able to socialize after such a long dry spell months ago in India.

He doesn’t take any guff from the pushy warthogs who jockey for pellets.

It certainly has been a social dry spell for citizens throughout the world over the past 14 months since Covid-19 precipitated lockdowns in almost every country. At this point, we can’t help but wonder how safe the lessening of lockdown will impact the new cases of the virus as more and more private and public gatherings pick up the pace after all this time.

Surely, what’s transpiring in India now, with almost 400,000 new cases daily, has something to do with the lack of protective measures exercised by the masses attending political, social, and religious gatherings. It saddens us when we especially recall hotel guests wandering the corridors in the hotel in Mumbai, talking loudly and gathering in groups without wearing masks or social distancing.

Willie, in the morning shadows, drinks from the top section of the birdbath.

On several occasions, we were shocked by the hotel hosting weddings, conventions, and other events with little regard for the risks of Covid-19. This mentality carried through the entire country, and now, India is paying the price with these outrageous numbers of cases and subsequent deaths.

On the occasions where I went downstairs to pay the hotel bill, which later we had them bring the bill to us, again, I was shocked by the resistance to wearing masks, wearing masks properly, and lack of social distancing. The hotel staff tried desperately to get the guests to comply to no avail.

Willie, later named Broken Horn, spends a lot of time staring at us in an attempt to get us to give him more pellets.

But, the desperation by the privately-owned hotel to recoup some of their losses prompted them to allow social events to transpire during the worst months of the pandemic, which surely continued long after we left. We wonder if the hotel or any other hotels in India are still open for non-Covid guests.

Gosh, we’re grateful we were able to leave India. It’s so much safer here in Marloth Park. We often wonder about the accuracy of the stats here in South Africa when it appears cases are dropping at this point. And yet, just yesterday, we read a news article from what seems to be a reputable source, stating a potentially new lockdown on the horizon.

These two wildebeest were new to the garden, an adult and a younger male.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post here, the uncertainty during these times of Covid-19 is palpable for all of us. Many are frustrated over being unable to visit loved ones, and many miss traveling to their favorite locations. Of course, cruising has been out of the question and may continue to be so for a few more years to come.

We currently have four cruises booked for April 2022, most of which we expect to be canceled. One of our cruises will require a payment in full in July which is scheduled to set sail in November 2021. We feel compelled to pay the final payment since we got such a great price, which is now priced 50% higher. So, just in case it isn’t canceled, we’ll pay the final payment to lock in our price. It’s all up in the air.

That’s it for today, dear readers. Thanks for hanging in there with us during these peculiar times. Hopefully, as restrictions lessen (or not), we can still provide ample fodder to please our readers.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 5, 2020:

Tom and I were at Amazing River View in October 2018, when friends Lois and Tom visited for three weeks. For more photos, please click here.