The long term commitment…

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Tom’s dinner at a restaurant in Morocco in 2014. I can’t recall the meat, but there sure were a lot of chips (as fries are called in other countries).

If someone asked me if I could commit to writing an essay every day of the year, my answer would be, “No way.” The daily constraints of taking the time and attempting to be creative would be far beyond my level of consistency and dedication to such a repetitive event.

Well, here we are, in three days, on March 15, having done these posts daily, except for the first year, posting for the past 12 years. We began in 2012, before we started our travels, to share the experiences we had even before we embarked on our years-long journey.

We initially thought we might last a few years, maybe even five years, but we never anticipated we’d be in 2024 and still be homeless and traveling most of the time. The exception has been, lately, the necessary time we’ve been spending in the US to do paperwork and medical appointments.

Now, as that time in the US is creeping toward an end, with only about three months to wrap up this time, visiting family and these important other objectives.

When we recently discovered there would be a “Jubilee Celebration” for Tom’s sister, Sister Beth’s 70th year as a nun, we’d have been on our way to South Africa on June 15. Instead, we may leave a day or two later, not arriving in Marloth Park until June 18th.

This morning, Louise and I chatted back and forth on WhatsApp when I asked her if we could change our arrival and departure dates, assuming we’d get there by June 18th, give or take a day. Of course, Louise was happy to accommodate this change. So we can relax, not be concerned about our late arrival, and attend Sister Beth’s event.

But, soon enough, we’ll be moving on and, at that time, have more exciting posts to share with all of you. Many of our readers have written about how much they enjoy wildlife photos, and when we get there, we will be on a mission to share as many photos as possible, along with pictures of social events and local food.

As far as what we’ll do at the end of the 88 days in Marloth Park, at this point, we don’t have a clue. We’re waiting to find out the results of my cardiac ultrasound on March 27 to decide where we’ll go after we’re done in Africa. We’ll be very excited to make new plans if all goes well with the test.

Today, Tom will leave for an appointment at our bank to get several documents notarized and in the mail. He’ll take an Uber for the five-mile trip and should return a few hours later.

With the pizza gone, we’re making one of our favorite dinners, keto “unwiches,” which we haven’t had in a few months. We typically go through the litany of favorite meals, cycling through every two months, occasionally trying something new. I think most home cooks do the same, repeating the same favorite meals over and over again.

Have a fantastic Tuesday. See you tomorrow!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 12, 2014:

This photo was taken from a third-floor rooftop of a restaurant where we dined in the past week. For more photos, please click here.

Getting things done…

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Water on the floor of the center courtyard in the riad in Marrakesh when it rained the previous night. For more, please see the post here.

With tasks we needed to complete that were on our minds, we wrapped up most of it this morning. All that’s left is for Tom to get 20 identical pages notarized at Richard’s office or our bank.

We checked the cost of having this done at the nearby UPS store, but it will cost upwards of $300. We’re hoping the bank will do it without cost, which it states it will do on its website. It will undoubtedly be worth the round-trip Uber ride for about $65.

Also, this morning, I sent all our tax statements and tax prep forms to our accountant here in Nevada. It will be a relief to have that out of the way.

As I always say, “You can run, but you can’t hide!” There’s always something that has to get done that requires lots of paperwork and, on occasion, outside help. This, we cannot avoid.

I continue to do the daily exercises from BetterMe which is going well. My muscles definitely are feeling it. As for the walking, I have been making a point of walking more in the house such as when I do laundry.

I take one item out of the washer at a time and walk it to the second bedroom where the drying rack is located. Doing so, I manage to get in an extra 1000 steps.

Soon. I will take the garbage to the trash area, a long walk down the corridor. Then I will walk the long route of the entire floor and back, another 1000 steps. A short time later, I will do several more corridor walks to ensure I get in another 5000 steps.

My goal is 7000 steps daily. Add in the yoga exercises and I am getting about 45 minutes of exercise each day which is plenty for now. It feels good to be able to do all of this without a fitness center. In the future I can do these exercises without concern as to the availability of local facilities.

Tonight, we will finish our recent big batch of homemade keto pizza. It’s been delicious! Tomorrow, we will start something new which I will make enough to last another three nights.

It may take longer to prepare the three night’s dinners all at once, but it’s so worth it when I only have to cook one night out of three and only make a fresh salad each day. By doing this twice a week and dining out once a week, we have the entire week covered.

That’s all for today, folks. Have a great Monday!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 11, 2014:

This similar costume is found on many men in the Big Square. He is referred to as a “water boy” from the period when the nomads came across the desert needing water. These costumes indicated that he was the provider of water. Now, with less of a need for providing water, he poses for photos for a small sum while still carrying the cups and supplies for the water to add to his authenticity. For more photos, please click here.

Fully insured…What a relief!…A pharmacy plan?…

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Silver and brass teapots and decorative items are sold in the souks in Morocco.

No words can describe how relieved I am to be fully insured as of March 1, 2024. After 11 years of unreliable travel insurance, we paid out of pocket for my four surgeries in South Africa in 2019. The freedom of knowing I am fully covered, minus a one-time-per-year $240 deductible, gives me peace of mind I can hardly describe.

I didn’t choose a pharmacy plan since the cost was prohibitive and required I purchase my few medications in the US. Plus, the copay and using US pharmacies also didn’t make much sense. I currently take a costly blood thinner, Eliquis, with a retail cost of $594 per month.

Sure, with some Medicare pharmacy plans, one can buy this drug for considerably less. But, if we’re traveling, it will do me no good. I won’t be able to walk into a pharmacy and buy this drug at a reasonable price in most countries. In South Africa, the average cost of this medication is $65 per month.

However, I will order this drug from Canadian Pharmacy Store before we leave the US again in June. Since I began taking this drug, I have been taking Apixaban 5 mg (the generic version, but the same drug) and will order from this company as follows:

Apixaban 5mg Tablet

90-day supply (180 pills at 2 tablets per day) is $71.99.

At this rate, a 90-day supply will average $23.30 per month, a far cry from any of the above. Of course, one needs a prescription from a doctor. It’s essential to check if you live outside the US to see if they will accept prescriptions from your doctor in a country other than the US.

This is another significant relief for me. Thus, before we leave the US, I’ll order enough to get me through the next several months. How long we’ll be away will be predicated on my heart test results on March 27.

As for insurance outside the US, my Plan G supplement with Aflac allows for a lifetime maximum of $50,000, so adding an emergency evacuation plan may be necessary while we’re outside the US.

There was so much research required to come to these final decisions. Also, it was good that we were in the US these past several months to ensure we could get all the paperwork done promptly. With snail mail an issue in some countries, it would have been challenging to process everything since documents have been sent to us via snail mail.

Now, as we complete the paperwork for Tom’s claim with the law firm for his lung damage (pulmonary fibrosis) from 42½ years of exposure to asbestos while working on the railroad, yesterday we received a snail mail package with 20 documents that must be notarized. We’d never have been able to do this outside the US, using a foreign notary.

Thank goodness we were here for all of this, including when Tom flew to Chicago for the required pulmonology appointment with a designated doctor. Many of our readers have inquired why we’d chosen to be in the US for this extended period. Aside from the necessity for me to have the cardiac ultrasound in a few weeks, for which I had to wait until I was fully insured, these other situations dictated the length of our stay.

Soon, when we leave for Arizona, we’ll have our taxes for 2023 done with the help of our Nevada accountant, insurance in place, the heart scan completed, and Tom’s paperwork situation under control. Hopefully, we’ll also have good news on my scan. This will be a relief when these items have been on our minds for quite some time.

Today, we’ll enjoy our delicious pizza leftovers and a big salad. All is good in the world with us! We hope the same for you!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 10, 2014:

This was our favorite photo of the night in the Big Square in Marrakech, clearly depicting the color, light, and energy occurring at night in the Big Square. For more photos, please click here.

Daylight savings time begins tonight…Set your clocks and more for safety…

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Daylight saving time in the world. Areas shown in the same color start and end DST within less than a week of each other.

Many parts of the world don’t observe Daylight Savings TIME (DST). Those that do include the following:

“As of 2024, DST is observed in most of Europe, most of North America, and parts of Africa and Asia around the Northern Hemisphere summer, and in parts of South America and Oceania around the Southern Hemisphere summer. It was also formerly observed in other areas.”

“As of January 2024, the following locations were scheduled to start and end DST at the following times:

Locations DST start DST end Shift
Second Sunday in March at 02:00 First Sunday in November at 02:00 1 hour
Second Sunday in March at 00:00 First Sunday in November at 01:00 1 hour
Last Sunday in March at 01:00 UTC Last Sunday in October at 01:00 UTC 1 hour
Last Sunday in March at 02:00 Last Sunday in October at 03:00 1 hour
Last Sunday in March at 00:00 Last Sunday in October at 00:00 1 hour
Friday before last Sunday in March at 02:00 Last Sunday in October at 02:00 1 hour
Second Saturday after Ramadan[b] at 02:00 Saturday before last Sunday in October at 02:00 1 hour
Last Friday in April at 00:00 Last Thursday in October at 24:00 1 hour
First Saturday in September at 24:00 UTC−04:00[c] First Saturday in April at 24:00 UTC−03:00[c] 1 hour
First Sunday in October at 00:00 Fourth Sunday in March at 00:00 1 hour
First Sunday in October at 02:00 First Sunday in April at 03:00 1 hour
First Sunday in October at 02:00 First Sunday in April at 02:00 30 minutes
Last Sunday in September at 02:00 UTC+12:00[d] First Sunday in April at 02:00 UTC+12:00[d] 1 hour

In the table above, the DST start and end times refer to the local time before each change occurs unless otherwise specified.r The shift is the amount of time added at the DST start time and subtracted at the DST end time. For example, in Canada and the United States, when DST starts, the local time changes from 02:00 to 03:00, and when DST ends, the local time changes from 02:00 to 01:00. As the time change depends on the time zone, it does not occur simultaneously in all parts of these countries. Conversely, in almost all parts of Europe that observe DST, the time change occurs simultaneously at 01:00 UTC, regardless of their time zone.

Morocco, including the portion of Western Sahara that it administers, also observes an annual time change but not related to seasonal daylight. The local time is decreased by one hour on the Sunday before Ramadan at 03:00 and increased by one hour on the Sunday after Ramadan at 02:00 (in 2024, the dates are 10 March and 14 April).”

For our fellow travelers, observing these changes wherever you may be in the world is crucial to ensure you don’t miss booked flights, trains, rental car pickups and returns, and any other time-sensitive plans you’ve booked for future travels, especially during the first 24 hours until you’ve become aware of these changes.

It’s important to check all digital equipment, even with GPS, to ensure the appropriate time change has been reset on your device. We’re often out of the US in other countries where DST is not observed; thus, the change has been irrelevant.

In the above chart, I noticed that Arizona, Hawaii, and US territories don’t participate in DST. Since we’ll be driving to Arizona in 23 days, we’ll have to change the time zone while on our way. When it’s not DST, Arizona and Nevada are in the same time zone, Pacific Time.

For everyone, including those not traveling now, please change the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Let the time change be a reminder to you to change batteries, along with changing the time on your non-digital GPS household clocks.

That’s it for today, dear readers. Have a fantastic weekend!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 9, 2014:

While in the Medina is Marrakesh Morocco…Smoke began to waft through the air as wood-fired grills were started for the evening’s foods. The smells were indescribable For more photos, please click here.

It was a lovely anniversary!…Pizza night!…An exciting addition to Marloth Park!!!…

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Off-putting to some, I was intrigued by all the parts of the fresh fish used in cooking in Morocco from this post here. As mentioned in the ten-year-ago photo, I managed to sneak a few pictures before being caught by the photo police.

It’s been a busy morning. I did half of my walking and prepped the pizzas for tonight, consisting of one sizeable three-night pan for Tom and two small pizzas for me, made with less cheese and chicken instead of sausages that will also be enough to last three dinners. Also, I made a salad, as always.

Tom’s pizza is made with a cheese and egg crust, baked atop parchment paper in the oven before adding the toppings, which include Italian sauce and sausage, onion, mushrooms, sliced green olives and mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

My pizza is made with coconut flour, baking powder, and egg-white crust, cooked in a non-stick skillet to resemble a giant pancake that I top with sauce, sliced baby bell peppers, onions, olives, mushrooms, and a lesser amount of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Mine is about 60% less fattening than Tom’s and easily fills me up with a few slices and a large salad.

Then, I made two cooked eggs topped with Wholly guacamole, Pace Hot Picante sauce, and a dollop of plain Fage Greek yogurt for breakfast. Lately, I have been having this same breakfast each day. It’s a great way to start the day. All of the above is all I will eat today. If I’m hungry after dinner, I will have a bowl of keto-sweetened plain Fage yogurt topped with ground flax seeds.

Keto meals can be as enjoyable as any meal one may prepare using starch and sugars, keeping one’s blood sugar in check and preventing weight gain. I can’t believe I’ve been eating this way for over 12 years, and love every meal I make. On the other hand, Tom craves sweets (donuts) and desserts (popcorn or ice cream). He doesn’t eat breakfast other than two plain cake donuts with coffee and then doesn’t eat anything else all day until dinner.

Yesterday, our 29th wedding anniversary was a quiet day. We stayed in, had a great dinner and streamed a new show on Netflix, “The Gentlemen,” which was very entertaining. There are two seasons to keep us busy over many evenings when we wind down from our busy days and relax on the sofa until bedtime.

Since I quit drinking coffee about a month ago, I’ve mostly been drinking water at room temperature. Never much of a fan of plain water, I’ve found I feel my best without any other beverages other than my one glass of red wine at happy hour that I finish during dinner, followed by water throughout the evening.

Oddly, I haven’t been able to find any decent low-alcohol wine while in the US. When we return to Marloth Park in three months, I will enjoy the many options of delicious low-alcohol wines readily available at the grocery store.

Speaking of grocery stores, we can’t wait to see the Spar Market opening very soon in Marloth Park, only a three-minute drive from our holiday home. I can’t imagine it will be large enough to have everything we use, but we could drive to the further away Spar in Komatipoort (25-minute drive) once a month to stock up and supplement weekly at the MP version.

May be an image of 3 people and text
Yesterday, this photo of a Spar delivery truck was on a Marloth Park Facebook page. It was exciting to see that this is happening!

This is very exciting for all of the residents in Marloth Park, more so than short-term holiday renters who don’t cook as often, mostly buying meat, potatoes, bread, fruit, and snacks. But for us long-term visitors and the locals, this will be a considerable time and petrol saver.

We’ll head to the new market within hours of our arrival, buying enough for a day or two since we’ll be too tired to shop for enough for a week. Then, after resting, we’ll return and have a better perspective of what’s available. We’re both looking forward to this convenience.

That’s it for today, folks. I have to return to my walking and exercises in the app BetterMe. This is going so well; I couldn’t be more pleased.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 8, 2014:

I managed to sneak a few pictures in the market to avoid being accosted by the photo police in Marrakesh, Morocco. These are steaks with all of the fat removed. In South Africa, fat is a delicacy left on the meat. That is not the case in Morocco, where all beef appeared lean and free of visible fat. For more photos, please click here.

Today is our 29th wedding anniversary…Ten years ago today…

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We dined at Le Jardin, a lovely restaurant with good reviews yesterday. The food and ambiance were excellent in this “riad,” a building with an open-air, center courtyard, as is the design of our current home. Tonight, for our anniversary dinner, Madame Zahra will prepare and serve yet another fabulous meal, which we’ll savor by candlelight. Here’s the link for the post. See the link for more photos.

We’ve posted about our anniversaries over the years, both our wedding anniversary, March 7, 1995, and the anniversary of our meeting date, June 28, 2011. Both have special meanings for us, as is the case for many couples. We don’t make a lot of commotion for either occasion, and the most we ever do is go out for lunch or dinner.

Over the years of world travel, we’ve rarely eaten lunch, instead preferring breakfast and dinner; after the first few years, we went out at night. This year, we discussed going out to dinner tonight, but this morning, after Tom said I could choose what I’d like to do, I awoke feeling like I’d prefer to stay in this evening. We may not dine out this weekend either when I plan to make low-carb pizza tomorrow, which should be enough to get us through the weekend.

When there are no giraffes, kudus, or warthogs to watch, birds can be fun to watch.

We can dine out any night around here and will do so sometime next week. As it turns out, only a few restaurants are within a reasonable walking distance, which is suitable for me. I can now walk two to three miles daily but can’t do it all at once.

I decided to share photos from our wedding anniversary ten years ago for today’s post when we went to lunch in Marrakesh Morocco. That restaurant wasn’t open in the evenings, like some restaurants in The Big Square. More often, while we were there, instead of dining out at night, we chose to go out during the day when, at night, there were tourists walking down the narrow alleys in the dark.

No more than two minutes after we were seated, we noticed this turtle on the floor, on a mission. In search of crumbs, he moved rapidly.

Pickpocketing was rampant, along with other crimes, and it was always safer to go out during the day. We went out several evenings but only to restaurants that overlooked the Big Square with easy access from the Medina in a well-lighted area. Fortunately, we never ran into any problems.

It was an interesting time for us. We lived in the riad for 2½ months. I loved the culture and the scenery, although Tom wasn’t as enthused as I was. He didn’t care about the restaurant’s food choices, although he liked Madame Zahra’s meals for the nights we dined in. Tom loves pork, but none was available, and there was a shortage of beef options. I could always figure out food suitable for my way of eating.

Later, during our meal, these two turtles were hanging out together.

When it rained, it rained into the open center courtyard in the riad. All the rooms in the house were overlooking the courtyard. Each time it rained, we had to run around and move the decorative items in the center courtyard. In the mornings, both of us loved the sound of birds’ wings flapping in the courtyard.

Often, we went up to the third-floor terrace to see and listen to the “call to prayer” several times a day. The smells emanating from the open food market in the evenings were enticing, but we were warned to be careful eating any local foods cooked at night in the Big Square.

Fresh produce from the farm, used in the menu items, were freely on display in the restaurant.

I got sick from dining in a restaurant the first few days we were there and ended up, three weeks later, having to rely upon my supply of Cipro, a potent and dangerous antibiotic. Within hours, I began to feel better, and within days, I was back to feeling well again.

Since we had no room in our luggage, we didn’t purchase items in the souks. There were many “knock-offs,” and most wares were centered around cooking and various bags: handbags, luggage, wallets, briefcases, etc. We had no use for any of those items. Instead, we frequently walked through the souks to see the many wares offered. However, the vendors seldom allowed us to take photos of their offerings.

This was Tom’s lunch, Moroccan seasoned penne and meat sauce. He liked this dish and asked for half as many spices as usual. There was no comment from me on him eating pasta.

We took a taxi to a market a few times to buy some nuts and cheese for those evenings when we had dined out for lunch and needed a little something in the evening. We were amazed by the beautiful displays in the grocery store and took a few photos. Moments later, a man in a black suit approached me, demanding I delete the pictures from my camera. While I deleted the photos, I showed him they were gone and never attempted to take pictures in a market again.

Enjoy today’s photos from our anniversary on March 7, 2014, while in Marrakesh. The memories are as fresh in our minds as if it were yesterday.

Happy anniversary, my love! I am grateful for every year we’ve spent together!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 7, 2014:

While out to lunch on our anniversary ten years ago, we sat next to a birdcage with two parakeets; Tom got a kick out of their playful antics. For more, please click here.

Busy day…Soon, on my way to the cardiologist…

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There are countless varieties of cactus in Morocco, such as this.

It’s already 11:00 am, and I have to leave here by Uber in less than 90 minutes. It doesn’t leave me much time to focus on today’s post. Please bear with me as I’m rushing through it since I’d like to get my exercising done before I leave since I don’t expect to return until about 4:00 pm from my 1:45 pm appoi’tment.

I was advised to arrive at 1:15 to complete a pile of paperwork. I hope it’s online rather than paper copies since my handwriting is illegible. Subsequently, I’ll have to arrange my Uber by 12:15 since its about a 25 minute drive to the clinic. I’d requested an appointment at their nearby clinic, but the only appointment available was at a further distance near the center of Henderson. Most likely, I’ll get there about 15 minutes early but that’s ok. I can always play with my phone while waiting.

This morning I prepped everything for tonight’s dinner except the bacon for Tom’s bunless cheeseburger (plus rice and salad) which we can cook while the burgers are cooking. Again tonight, I’m having a ground chicken burger, delicious topped with homemade sugar-free ketchup, onion and tomato with salad on the side.

Last night, I awoke several times but overall I managed to get in eight hours, much to my surprise. I feel good, so it’s weird to go to a doctor, but it’s a must-do now. Once there, I will book my next appointment which will consist of a variety of tests including the most important cardiac ultrasound to determine the status of my heart valves.

It’s hard to believe we’ll be leaving here in 27 days. Our rental in Apache Junction begins on April 1, and we’ll leave here the same day. Our rental agreement ended on March 31, but the kindly owner Zoltan said we could leave on the morning of the first, which works prefectly for us.

Zoltan has been a fantastic landlord/owner. Here is the link to this wonderful property. Without a doubt, we’ll make a point of staying in his condo next time we come to Nevada. As our regular readers know, we have loved it here, especially when we haven’t needed a car with either easy delivery for anything we may need plus a plethora of shops and restaurants down one flight of stairs from our floor.

Sure, today and next week, I’ll have to pay for Ubers for both cardiology appointments, which for two days of round trips could total $200. But at a rate of about $40 a day for a rental car, it is a small price to pay. If we’d had a car, most likely, it would have been sitting in the parking garage most days. In total, during all of our time here, we’ll have spent no more than $800 for Uber when three months of a rental car would have been over $3600. It was a no-brainer.

Today, in the next few days, we’ll book a rental car for March 30 to April 2 for our drive to Apache Junction and decide once there what we’ll do about a car during the five or six weeks we’ll be there when Tom’s sisters have offered the use of their cars that they seldom use. We may do just that, insisting they take some cash from us, which surely they’ll resist doing.

The washer just finished. I need to hang the towels on the rack and then get started on my exercises.

Thanks to many of our readers who’ve sent messages wishing me good luck at the appointments. It’s so appreciated knowing you are thinking of me.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 5, 2014:

Tom and Hamoudi, the spice shop owner in the souk, Jemma al Fna, in Marrakesh. For more photos, please click here.

My health hacks…

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This door led to our riad, only a short distance from the souk in the Medina in Marrakesh, Morocco, in March 2014.

As most of our readers know, I spend a lot of time researching every interest that comes to my mind. It’s not unusual for me to spend hours each day when something new piques my interest, which is more often than not. At times, I find myself so engrossed in a topic that hours can fly by, to my amazement, when I stop for a break.

Again, one topic in particular, as our regular readers know, is health and well-being. No, I am not a purist. I subscribe to specific modalities to which others may not agree. I am okay with that. It boils down to a few simple realities: sleep, diet, exercise, sufficient water, minimal alcohol, and harmony in my daily life with minimal stress.

I strive for the optimal benefits from these basic principles, but, like many of us, I falter from time to time. However, my next meal, exercise session, and night’s sleep is an opportunity to begin again, never feeling guilty for slipping, knowing I’m one step away from returning to my chosen path.

My recent goals have included improving my heart health, regardless of the outcome of my cardiology appointment tomorrow afternoon and what is to come in the future regarding the condition of my heart valves, which is precarious at this time and cannot be improved by lifestyle enhancements.

However, whatever treatment I may face down the road can only be successful if I continue improving my overall health daily. Over this past year, I have improved several aspects of my health. Although, at times, I went kicking and screaming, all the while knowing what I had to do.

Today, I will share some “hacks” with you that, without a doubt, have helped me substantially:

  1. Sleep – I have never been a sleep-though-the-night kind of person. Invariably, regardless of what I do, I wake up five out of six nights wide awake, anywhere from 2:00 to 3:00 am, feeling alert and unable to go back to sleep. But in the past several months, I’ve adopted a new state of mind when this happens…I don’t worry about it; trying to get back to sleep. I have trained myself to let my mind be free of concern, implanting the knowledge that eventually, I’ll be sleepy again and have sufficient hours of sleep for excellent functioning during the day without feeling sleepy. This state of mind has changed everything. I always fall back to sleep with seven to eight hours of good sleep. Sure, I have to sleep later, which may not work for everyone, but as a retired person, generally, I do not need to get up at 7:00 am or earlier.
  2. Diet – Since November, when we were in Ecuador and I was desperately struggling with Afib around the clock, I’d read repeatedly that losing weight can help reduce the incidences of Afib events. Over the past several years, since I had cardiac surgery in 2019, I’d gained about 25 pounds, creeping up slowly, partly from medications, partly from being less active, and partly from eating portions that were simply too large. Even on a keto diet, one can overeat and gain weight over time. I cut back on portions, and slowly, since November, I’ve lost about 22 pounds with five more to go. In the meanwhile, in November, I went on medication for Afib and have not had an event since then. I try to eat organic when possible, healthy meats, fish, and poultry, along with healthy fats, and every evening, I have a bowl of Fage Greek Yogurt.
  3. Exercise – Although I tried exercising in Ecuador, the Afib was a severe deterrent before taking the medication. Once we arrived in Nevada in mid-December, I committed to working out as much as possible while keeping the Afib in check. Recently, I escalated the program by adding an app called Better Me with guided exercises suitable for me. I am only on day nine of a repeatable 28-day program. Wow! Is this working for me! In this short period, I’ve noticed a considerable improvement in my stamina and flexibility. I’m still walking but have found ways to increase my daily steps, making reaching my 7000 daily goals much more manageable. For example, this morning, when I was folding and putting away the dry clothes from the drying rack in the second bedroom, I folded one item at a time and walked to the drawers or closets where that item was meant to go. By doing this, I added 1000 steps to today’s goal. Soon, we’ll walk to the market in the Village for more steps, and when we return to the condo, I quickly walk around the center island in the kitchen. It takes about 18 times to add 1000 steps. That sounds like a lot, but we usually listen to podcasts that occupy my mind.
  4. Sufficient water – I quit drinking coffee and flavored zero-calorie drinks a month ago. Now I only drink room temperature water, I never liked drinking water. I always reached for flavored drinks with lots of ice. But I am already feeling better and less bloated and have a better sense of when I am thirsty. No, I am not drinking gallons of water since I am not forcing it. Also, I eat a lot of vegetables, most of which have a high water content, and those, too, count toward a daily goal.
  5. Minimal alcohol – If I have wine, I don’t drink more than one average-sized glass (last Friday night was the exception) of a non-sweet wine such as a Cabernet, Merlot, or Pinot Grigio. There are carbs in wine, and I don’t care, or need, to use my daily allotment of 20 to 30 grams by drinking wine, nor is it healthy to drink more. I am having no ill effects from the one glass.
  6. Harmony in my daily life with minimal stress – I avoid stressful situations at all costs. That doesn’t mean I am unwilling to work through a stressful situation. Since Tom and I get along so well, our daily lives are relatively stress-free. We talk, laugh, and have a good time. But sometimes, things happen over which I have little to no control. During those times, I could feel my heart rate increasing and cortisol (the stress hormone) running through me. Those times, I realized how significant stress reduction is to maintain good health.

I don’t have any easy answers on how to live one’s best life. Nor do I rely upon “internet” suggestions on what we “should” be doing. Those suggestions change almost daily, and it’s impossible to decipher what is suitable for each of us. Even medical studies can be misleading when sponsored by companies trying to convey a message to increase sales of their less-than-ideal products. One must be very careful about the modalities they adopt based on skewed studies and opinions not backed by science.

When I say this today, I especially wish every one of you to “Be well.”

Photo from ten years ago today, March 4, 2014:

The sunlight in the open courtyard of our Moroccan riad provides a welcoming warmth as we acclimate to the cooler weather. For more photos, please click here.

Sunday Morning…A favorite ritual…

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Camel teeth when we visited camels in Morocco in 2014. It looks as if he could use braces!

Today, I am doing the post on my phone. Tom loves watching CBS Sunday Morning on Sunday mornings rather than later in the day. It’s slow typing for me using my phone, but with one eye on the show, while it’s streaming from CBS’s site, it’s no big deal.

While in other countries, with our minds a long way from the US, we rarely watch the show. Also, we don’t always have a conveniently located TV on which to watch.

In South Africa, our primary source of entertainment is the wildlife in the garden, and watching a US news program is hardly a priority. We spend most days and evenings cherishing our surroundings and time with our many friends in Marloth Park.

However, we do what other Americans do in the US, living our lives accordingly as we adapt to our surroundings.

This extended stay in the US was prompted by the need to sign up for Medicare Part B and a supplement, which required enrolling from here with documents requiring snail mail. From afar, it would have been more time-consuming and challenging.

Secondly, we both required medical appointments, and by the end of this month, we will have accomplished these goals. My cardiology appointment is this Tuesday, with tests a week later. Hopefully, I will have the answers I need before too long. I would have preferred only one appointment, but they insisted it be two, most likely to make more money from Medicare.

On top of these goals, we will have been available for important family events, including grandson Vincent’s high school graduation and Tom’s sister Beth’s 70th anniversary as a nun in June. The exact dates of these events are uncertain at this time. Once we know, we can book our flights to South Africa.

We booked our rent for Marloth Park to Begin June 15, but we may be a few days late. We didn’t know about Sister Beth’s event until last week. It will all work out for us to attend both events.

Today, we’ll stay in, working on financial tasks and preparing a nice dinner: leftovers of rare roast beef, mushrooms, carrots, and rice for Tom and grilled fish with broccoli for me, with salad for both of us.

I am walking again along with my Better Me exercise program,  heading into day eight today. Working out for 40 to 60 minutes daily is a huge commitment, but I am there 100%. The results and the satisfaction when I am done for the day are worth it all.

“See” you again tomorrow. Have a fantastic Sunday!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 3, 2014

The Souk in the Medina in Marrakesh is a wealth of colorful displays. We’d expected the salespeople to be more aggressive than they were, especially when we were not stopping to look at the merchandise. For more photos, please click here.

A date night in the Village…We had such fun!…

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It took Madam Zahra a few times to figure out our food preferences after we showed her photos on my laptop since she only spoke Arabic, not English. From there, every night, we were excited about her unique dishes.

Last night, we went to dinner at “The Bar,” a pub at the bottom of the one flight of stairs from our floor to the Village. We decided to go early, at 4:30, to ensure we’d get two seats at the bar. We’d dined there for the first time about a month ago but arrived after 5:00 pm, which was too late to claim two seats at the bar.

We were thrilled to see two empty seats at the bar, as if they were waiting for us. We couldn’t get situated fast enough. As it turned out, by 5:00 pm, the place was packed, and there was barely a regular table available. With the narrow bar top, we knew it would be better if we ate at a high-top table.

Fortunately, a table opened up after our drinks, and we quickly grabbed it. Usually, I only drink one glass of wine, but with the short “pour” from the bartender using the only stemmed glass in the place, I ended up drinking three glasses of the Pinot Grigio, the most I’ve had to drink in a long time. But, looking at the pour, each couldn’t have been more than 3 ounces.

When two people spend every day and night together, dining out may not necessarily be a time for lively conversation. But we are different that way. We turned our chairs to be knee-to-knee, with my feet resting on the base of his barstool, and the usual highly entertaining banter began with us. Sitting at a bar makes us both more animated when the atmosphere is all the more conducive.

There we were, almost 33 years later, and it felt like a fantastic date of the early days of a budding relationship. We couldn’t have been more fun. We never chatted with other patrons, just with each other. We had such a good evening that we decided to forego dinner out on our upcoming 29th wedding anniversary on March 7 and dine in. I’ll make something special for dinner, and then we’ll head out again next weekend.

How fortunate we are. We will never forget that. Getting along day after day is such a joy in itself, but actually having fun together, giggling, teasing, and showing signs of affection is all it takes for every day to be memorable. We often hear that marriage takes a lot of work. But, we are grateful that it never feels like “work” for our marriage to succeed.

Having had about a bit more wine than usual, I woke up at 12:30 and didn’t get back to sleep until 3:00 am. This morning, I could sleep in and make up for the sleep I lost during the night. When I finally awoke this morning, I felt great and ready to tackle another day.

It’s noon, and I’ve already made the salad and prepped everything for tonight’s dinner: roast beef with carrots, onions, and mushrooms for Tom, which he’ll have with his rice and wild-caught salmon with broccoli. All I have to do is put Tom’s dinner in the oven around 4:30 and mine about 15 minutes before his roast beef is done. Easy peasy.

Once I’ve completed today’s post, I’ll do day 7 of my BetterMe, 28-day yoga/pilates-type exercises. I am totally committed to this program and already feel some benefits from these at-home exercises. I may not have access to a fitness center in the future, and having a definitive at-home program is most beneficial. The exercises are not easy but each day I notice improvement.

This morning, we’re still smiling at one another or our fun “date night” and look forward to another beautiful day together “at home,” wherever that may be.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 2, 2014:

Finally, we made it to Marrakesh, Morocco. We were greeted by this man who hauled our bags in the Medina, The Big Square, to our riad, quite a distance away. For more photos, please click here.