Three days and counting…Getting things done…

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Locals were walking on the steep roads during the procession last night. The woman on the far left in navy blue is our own, Santina, our precious cleaning lady.

Note: Today’s photos are from this date in 2013 while living in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy. For more details, please click here.

It is so busy around here. This morning we finished your order to have the suitcase shipped to the hotel in Minnesota, waiting for us when we arrive on September 9. I contacted the hotel’s general manager that the briefcase will arrive in a few days, asking him to store it for us until we arrive. I also included a photo of the bag with the message.

As we stood on the road outside our house, the procession stopped for a few minutes for prayer. There’s Santina again in navy blue. Notice the heels on her shoes!

Then, we headed to the postal station, but three items I ordered from Amazon weren’t in the mailbox, nor was anyone at the postal station, so I could inquire if they had the packages. Now, we’ll have to return later on Wednesday or Thursday. There’s a huge rainstorm occurring right now with lots of wind, thunder, and lightning. We’re not going out in the golf cart in this weather.

Tomorrow is my much-needed pedicure appointment at 11 00 am. While I’m busy with that, Tom will fill up the tank on the golf cart at Walmart and buy a dozen eggs to get us through the remainder of the week.

This patio is where we suntan a few times a week. These impatiens attract the bees, as do most flowering plants requiring us to pay special attention during our hour in the sun, quite close to the planters.

Once back at the house, I’ll finish the post, upload it, and then return to packing. We already arranged transportation through Groome from The Villages to the Orlando International Airport, which picks up for the international flight at 5:50 pm for our 10:30 pm international flight. It’s over an hour-long drive, especially with rush hour traffic at that time of day.

We’ve gone through all our remaining food, and we need one more dinner to wipe out everything we have. Thus, after my pedicure tomorrow, we’ll stop at the Mexican restaurant in Colony Plaza and order food for tomorrow night’s dinner.

The second of the two planters. As you can see, the giant leaves belong to the zucchini. We’ll see more zucchini over the remaining summer as well as the abundant herbs we’ve been using.

For Thursday evening, we have frozen burger patties for Tom with bacon, cheese, onion, and canned tuna for me, which I’ll make into tuna salad using the remaining eggs, onions, and celery, using sour cream for the salad dressing. This will be the best we’ve ever used up our remaining food. In the past, we were happy to leave food for the household staff but with no household staff here, there was no one to leave it with.

Speaking of household staff, yesterday I got a wonderful message from one of our housemen in Marloth Park, Vusi. When we left, I had reformatted my old laptop, which worked well except for one key on the keyboard. I cleaned the exterior, screen, and keyboard so it looked brand new. Vusi was thrilled, hugging me several times, saying, “Oh, thank you, Madam.”

A zucchini that grew in the garden box on the patio.

Thus, yesterday when checking my email, there was a sweet message from Vusi that warmed my heart. He wrote:

“Morning, madam, hope everything is good there, I just wanted to say we (the animal, us) miss you, have a great day🍹🙏may God bless you

And thanks for the laptop. It’s still working good. I really appreciate 🙏Vusi.”
Immediately, I wrote back to Vusi, thanking him for his thoughtful message and how much we’re looking forward to seeing him in less than 11 months from now. We have so much to look forward to.
That’s it for today, folks. We have lots to do and look forward to being on our way soon.
Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 25, 2013:

Here’s a Ziplock bag half-filled with water and a few Euros to ward off house flies. See the story for the results of using these well-placed bags over the past 48 hours. (BTW, it didn’t work). For more photos, please click here.

Four days and counting…Packing has begun…

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We took this photo on Volstruis Street. The word volstruis means ostrich in Afrikaans. Sadly, in the past year, the lions killed all the ostriches in Marloth Park. For this post, please click here.

Note; Today’s photos are from a post on this date in 2018. For the story, please click here.

It’s been a long and enjoyable three months living in The Villages in Florida, but we are ready to move on. We never had a chance to look at any real estate for sale when neither of the agents we contacted returned our calls. They must be so busy they didn’t have time to deal with our curiosity.

Not only do they gravitate toward the river for food but also for water, where they drink, play, and swim.

We would have liked to peruse a few houses, but we had to let that option waft away with only the golf cart and the new construction very far from here. Besides, after three months here, we’ve decided we have no interest in ever living here permanently when and if this time comes that we must settle somewhere.

The summer weather is unbearable, and with the small backyards and gardens, there’s little chance or desire to be outdoors, which we’ve missed. It’s just not for us with the lack of wildlife and nature, although the scenery is quite lovely driving through the vast retirement community.

I am not a photographer by nature, but hopefully, over time, I will improve. Photo from 2018.

We loved seeing so many of our friends here, but we can and most likely will return to Florida for a visit sometime in the future and see them all again if it works out. We like that it’s an income-tax-free state, like Nevada, our state of residency, but that would never inspire us to live here.

We weren’t here during the busy winter season when many residents told us they couldn’t get a place to park when visiting any of the town squares for dinner, let alone getting a reservation for a meal. They said the traffic on the roads and golf cart paths is indescribable during winter when tourists and property owners return from colder climates for the excellent weather.

The green grasses along the river are pleasing to the elephants.

That’s not for us. We’re happier living in remote areas, away from crowds, long queues and traffic. Looking back at our almost 11 years of world travel, most of it was spent in remote locations.

You may ask, “Why would we enjoy cruising with the crowds on the various ships?”

The answer is simple. Sailing on a large ship with 500 to 2000 passengers doesn’t feel crowded to us. We can freely wander about the ship, find places to relax and socialize in the various areas and venues and really feel like we are in a small town. Plus, socialization on a cruise ship is ten times easier than it’s been while out and about here in The Villages.

Wildebeest Willie and a friend, along with some warthogs, at night.

We thought it would be more social, but we found many residents have their own little “cliqies” and don’t easily include “newbies” in the conversation. However, I must add we did meet several wonderfully friendly and interesting people while out and about in the town squares on several occasions.

I suppose my problem is comparing everywhere we go to Marloth Park, where strangers smile and stop to chat while at the market, the pharmacy, and then again…our favorite place, Jabula, “where everyone knows your name.” (Remember that line from the TV series, “Cheers?”

Trying out a few of the camera techniques I learned from our friend Ken, I still see that I have a long way to go.

Now, I must wrap this up and get to packing my stuff for the bag we’re shipping to the hotel in Minnesota, where we’ll arrive in less than seven weeks after the two cruises, one day in Boston with my cousin and the nine-day visit to Henderson, Nevada, to see Richard and renew our driver’s license. We’re looking forward to it all.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 24, 2013:

This was one of the many photos we took on the beach in Belize. As we’ve traveled, we’ve found that each beach has its breathtaking beauty, memorable in its way. For more, please click here.

Six days and counting…Ordering food delivered by Grubhub…

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Difficult to distinguish in this distant photo…two male lions were sleeping.

Note: Today’s photos are from Marloth Park on this date in 2018. Please see the link here.

Last night, after a pleasant dinner at Cody’s, we headed back home and discussed that it was our last night dining out in The Villages. Instead, we’d order takeaway Chinese food for tonight and tomorrow and then cook our remaining food in the freezer Monday through Thursday.

This morning, I perused Grubhub for options that work for us. As most of us know, delivery food can be sketchy at best, especially when ordering from restaurants we don’t know. In The Villages, our best bet has been ordering Asian food, but we’ve been frustrated with the prices through Grubhub.

When we ordered Asian food through Grubhub for two nights, the cost was around $100. Considering it’s less than what we’d pay to dine out for two nights, we went ahead and placed our orders on three or four occasions, never disappointed with the food, only the cost, which seemed high to us.

This morning, I decided to compare costs if we ordered from the  China Gourmet Asian Restaurant in Colony Plaza, which supposedly has equally good food as Sunrise Asian, which we can’t get to by golf cart. But it’s about 10 minutes to Colony Plaza by golf cart.

Tom spotted this lion napping across the Crocodile River as we peered through the fence between Marloth Park and Kruger National Park.

We placed our usual order for enough food for both nights, and the total bill was $55 (after a $5 coupon offered by the restaurant) instead of the usual $100 we’ve paid in the past. Grubhub charges a service fee as shown below:

Grubhub Order Sunrise Asian (no delivery fee due to a one-year coupon we received).

Delivery fee $0.00
Service fee $8.95
Tax $6.27
Driver tip $10.00
Total $114.74
China Gourmet pickup order 
Same items ordered as Grubhub order
TOTAL $55.00

Good grief. We should have checked this out earlier and saved over $200 based on several prior delivery orders through Grubhub. The ordering process wasn’t quite as easy at China Gourmet, and Tom will go pick up the food soon, but it’s certainly worth saving $59.74 to drive the cart for about 20 minutes round trip. It will make us think twice about placing online orders through Grubhub and other such services, especially when we are in the US, where prices are higher.

When we were stuck in two hotels for two weeks, one in Southampton and another in Gatwick, England when we had Covid-19 in 2022, we had no choice but to order through Grubhub and Ubereats. The prices were high there, but the food was good, considering what we could eat while sick.

Today, I am washing all of Tom’s shirts since many have been sitting in a closet for a long time, even as far back as when we were in South Africa. He wears a favorite few repeatedly, leaving the others gathering dust in the closet. Hopefully, they’ll come out of the dryer without wrinkles, but I’ll use the wrinkle-free setting and see how that goes. I’ll only dry three shirts at a time to see how it goes, folding them neatly when done so they’ll be ready for his suitcase.

A female bushbuck was preparing to take a drink from the cement pond.

That’s it for today, dear readers. Thank you for your continued support and readership!

Be well

Photo from ten years ago today, July 22, 2013:

There was no photo posted on this date in 2013. For the story about getting stung by a potentially dangerous flying insect, please click here.

Seven days and counting…

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Sports cars drove through the winding and narrow roads of Bovegio, Tuscany, Italy. This is an MG, year and model unknown.

Today’s photos are from a post on this date in 2013. For more, please click here.

It’s noon on Friday. We just finished a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs and will dine out tonight at Brownwood Paddock Square. We plan to arrive after 5:00 pm when the outdoor karaoke has ended, and most likely, we’ll be able to get two seats at the bar. As usual, we’ll stay about an hour and then head to Cody’s Original Roadhouse for yet another hopefully good dinner.

A Porsche, year and model unknown.

This will be our last Friday night out in The Villages since we arrived almost three months ago. We accomplished what we came here for…renewing our ten-year passports and, in the process, seeing several of our friends who live in Florida. We didn’t have an opportunity to see all of our “snowbird” friends who come to Florida in the winter to escape the cold weather up north.

By the time we arrived at the end of April, some of our friends had already left for cooler climates during the summer months. Once we’re in Minnesota for a month in September and part of October, we’re hoping to see some of those friends, those who may not have left yet for the upcoming winter.

Another Porsche, year and model unknown.

This will be our most extended stay in Minnesota since we began our travels in 2012 which will give us lots of valuable time with our family, including our grown kids and grandkids. Plus, Tom has many family members in Minnesota, including. His sisters spend the summer and early fall in Minnesota before they head to Arizona for the winter to get away from Minnesota, the frozen tundra.

Today is easy with two loads of laundry washing and drying and with little else to do. Soon the Salvation Army will pick up my eight pounds of clothes. After sending Tom’s suits and my dresses yesterday, we’ve lightened our load by about 14 pounds, 6.35 kg.

This is a Mercedes, year and model unknown.

When we begin packing on Monday, we’ll have a better idea of our baggage weight and can make any adjustments we may need before departure. We’ve added some new items while we’ve been here, but nothing of any substantial weight. The heaviest was my white jeans for “white night” on the Azamara cruise, coming up first.

On the Azamara cruise, guests can use laundry facilities for a fee. On the next cruise, Celebrity, we have a high enough rating for their Captain’s Club to each get one complimentary bag of laundry and two dry-cleaned items, and one pressed item each.

This morning, I tried something new for my head, a freezer hot and cold pack. I’d tried cold, and it helped, but nowhere near as much as the heat helped. As a result, I ordered a neck and head heating pad from Amazon that heats using a UBS plug. Thus, I can use it on the plane and in our hotels and cabins without needing a microwave to heat the gel packet. Also, it will work plugged into my portable charger.

This must be a Triumph.

I’m continuing to do acupressure exercises and particular movements to improve the condition, which is about 50% better than weeks ago. I hope the improvements will continue over time.

That’s it for today, folks.

Be well.

..Photo from ten years ago today, July 21, 2013:

Is this an MG? Year? Notice, at a distance, the red Ferrari or Lamborghini. A car show, per se, driving through the winding roads of Boveglio. For more, please click here.

Questions from a long time reader…

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Old-fashioned community washing pool, where locals gathered to do their laundry in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy. The larger pool is for washing. The smaller sink is for rinsing. Of course, they’d bring their laundry home to dry outside their windows. For more photos, please click here.

Today’s photo is from our three-month stay in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy. See the post here.

Yesterday, I received the following message from a long-time reader, Pam,  as follows:

“Dear Jess & Tom,

My husband and I are 70, and I’m beginning to think that cruising may be our best travel option as our mobility is becoming more limited. The research and planning are also mostly done by me, which can be a bit exhausting. We flew to Vegas in April and rented a car for an 8-day road trip to Bryce, Zion, Monument Valley, and Grand Canyon. We saw some amazingly beautiful sights, but walking even short distances was very difficult for me, especially in the higher altitudes. We spent much time just touring from the car and the tour buses. So I think that cruising may be easier for us. We have only cruised twice. The first time was 1999 (eek!!! Really that long ago?) Western Caribbean, which we aren’t interested in doing again. The second was in 2012 (wow, time flies!) to Alaska, which was wonderful. Both on NCL. We aren’t fancy and kind of like their freestyle cruising.

I know that you have recommended Vacations To Go in the past, so just wondering if you still do. Also would welcome your thoughts on Costco Travel, United Cruises, or just booking directly with the cruise line. I also recall that Tom has a website that alerts him when prices go down, but I can’t remember which one. Could you kindly remind me? We would love to cruise the Med, but I read a comment on a YouTube video that said if you have any mobility issues, it may be difficult.

Just wondered if you would be willing to share your thoughts. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Happy sailing!

Pam”

Thank you, Pam, for writing! It’s lovely to hear from you, and we’re thrilled to hear you are considering cruising again. I am relisting your questions below (for ease of reading), and we will answer them individually.

  1. I know that you have recommended Vacations To Go in the past, so just wondering if you still do. Also would welcome your thoughts on Costco Travel, United Cruises, or just booking directly with the cruise line.

Answer: We prefer using Costco to book cruises and car rentals. (Annual membership is required). Their prices and perks for cruises are the same as most other cruise booking agencies. However, through Costco, you will receive gift cards (shop cards) each time you book a cruise, which motivated us to use them. Unfortunately, reaching them by phone to book a cruise or ask questions subsequently is awful. You can wait on the phone for an hour or more; contacting them by email is sketchy at best. This fact alone prompted us to return to Vacations to Go, which we’ve used for years. Our rep is Heather. She can be reached here:

“Heather Thompson
Master Cruise Counselor, Luxury and Multi-Cabin Specialist
Vacations To Go (16 Years)
hthompson@vacationstogo.com
My office hours: Mon-Fri: 11 am-8 pm (US Central Time)
US and Canada: 1-800-338-4962 ext. 7317
For toll-free numbers from other countries, click here.”

With us booking cruises while out of the country with huge time zone differences at times, having easy access to our booking company is important to us. Heather is very responsive and quickly responds to emails and phone calls. Please tell her we sent you. We don’t receive any remuneration for referring you to her, but we love sharing good service with our readers.

We’ve never used United Cruises and rarely have booked directly through a cruise line. They are also hard to reach and don’t have better pricing or service.

2. I also recall that Tom has a website that alerts him when prices go down, but I can’t remember which one. Could you kindly remind me?

Answer: Mainly, Tom has used Cruisecritic.com at this link that takes you directly to their cruise roll call, where you can enter the cruise you’ll be taking and see if there have been price drops. If there is a price drop (only applicable to passengers from the US and Canada), only prior to the final payment, you can find the information there and then contact your cruise booking company and ask them to lower your price. This has saved us thousands of dollars over the years. But you must carefully analyze if the price drop is beneficial for you since you may lose some perks if you take the price drop. Your booking agent will provide you with this information

(You must sign up for a free account at Cruise Critic here to see the roll call for each cruise. It’s straightforward to do so).

3. .We would love to cruise the Med, but I read a comment on a YouTube video that said if you have any mobility issues, it may be difficult.

Answer: We sailed in the Mediterranean on three occasions. At many ports of call, walking can be long and up and down hills at times. However, many easy-access “Hop On Hop Off” buses are available at the various ports, taxis, and vans you can arrange to take you to see the highlights. It’s essential to negotiate a price for taxis before you embark on such private means of transportation. “Hop On, Hop Off” buses have a fixed price for passengers, which is usually reasonable. In these cases, you can decide if you want to get off the bus or taxi and walk around or not. You will still see plenty.

We hope these answers help you decide what may work for you. Please feel free to contact us at any time with more questions. We’re always happy to help!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 19, 2013:

The flowers of Tuscany never ceased to amaze us. The colors, the smells, and the varied designs make them appear more artistically rendered than real life itself. For more photos, please click here.

Fun night out on the town!…Only two more weekend nights to go…

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These are the locked iron gates closing off easy access to the church. We’d have to walk through dense weeds to get closer to the church tower. Knowing there were many ticks in the grass, we drove to the other side without getting closer to the church.

Note: Today’s photos are from this date in 2013, when we spent three months in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy, as shown in this post.

It’s a lovely Sunday! We’re watching the weekly news series “Sunday Morning”; the bedding is in the washer, and we’re looking forward to enjoying a quiet day at the house on yet another cloudy and stormy day. Tonight’s dinner is already made and ready to go into the oven later, and all I have to make is a salad to go along with it.

This unattached separate building on the church grounds may have been the original church.

We love easy days like this and never feel bored having no specific plans. If we feel like it, we may stream a movie, a perfect thing to do on a rainy Sunday. We still have another week until we have to start packing and deciding on what items we’ll ship in the suitcase heading to Minnesota before our arrival on September 9, to be held for us by the hotel where we’ll stay.

A part of the entrance to the larger church.

Since I am feeling better, I’m not dreading packing. When Karen and Rich were here on Friday for dinner, I loaded up all our excess food for them to take home, items we wouldn’t be able to use by the time we depart. Also, with the good storage in this house, with plenty of space in the walk-in closet and drawers in the bedrooms, the packing will be easier than usual.

This translates to: “the companionship SS V Del Rois,” which appears to be the name of someone of significance to these church grounds.

We must pack with this in mind with limited storage space on cruise ships. I like to unpack everything once we get into our cabin since there is no space to store an opened piece of luggage, as there often is in a hotel. After the cruises end, we won’t need to unpack at the resort when we get to Nevada since the enormous rooms have several luggage racks.

Ferrari family members from Boveglio.

Once we get to Minnesota, since we’re staying a month, we’ll need to unpack. When we get ready to leave Minnesota to go to Galapagos, we’ll have to purchase two cloth-sided duffle bags, which is all that is allowed on the small 16-passenger ship. We’ll leave the bulk of our luggage at the hotel where we started in Ecuador, which we’ll return after the cruise has ended, which is already booked through the cruise line and included in the cruise fare.

We were overlooking the iron railing around the cemetery.

Last night, we drove to City Fire to lounge at the bar for a while before we went to Cody’s Original Roadhouse for dinner. By 5:30 pm, we hopped in the golf cart, drove the short distance to the restaurant, found a good parking spot for the golf cart, and headed to their indoor bar, an excellent place for people-watching and chatting.

Tom, ancestry.com obsessed, was fascinated with the stories revealed by the many headstones, names, dates, and photos.

At a preferred booth by 6:00 pm, we perused the menu and chose our dinners; scallops and salad for me and ground sirloin with mashed potatoes and salad for Tom. As always, the food was excellent, and the service was equally good. Our bill was $52 before a generous tip to our waiter.

We were back at our holiday home by 8:30, streamed an episode of “The Good Doctor,” and got to bed by midnight for a good night’s sleep. This upcoming week will be easy with few plans while we ramp up for the following week when we depart on Friday.

Enjoy your Sunday, and be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 16, 2013:

It was surprising that many of the headstones in the cemetery in Boveglio weren’t older. The earliest date we saw was in the early 1800s. However, the oldest markers were embedded into the surrounding wall and were difficult to read due to age. For more photos, please click here.

Fantastic evening with friends…Tonight, back on the town…

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This photo, from five years ago today, at a fair in Marloth Park, is of Barend Bloem, nicknamed Slangman (snake man in Afrikaans). We’d have loved to be able to “wear” this Yellow Burmese Python for a photo, but it wasn’t possible when children were waiting for a chance to touch it. See the post here.

Gosh, we’ve had a good time while here in The Villages. As the days wind down, we’re reminded of how many friends have come to visit and how much fun we’ve had on each occasion. Now, we look forward to a few more nights “out on the town,” and then off we go to our next adventure.

We’re excited about the future and can’t believe we’ll be cruising again in a few weeks. From past calculations, this upcoming journey will be our 30th cruise since we began traveling almost 11 years ago. Of course, we have bad memories of our last cruise in April 2022, when we both got Omicron and suffered dearly for months.

Plus, getting Covid-19 on that first of two cruises in 2022 necessitated canceling the next cruise when we were too sick to travel and still tested positive. We’d looked forward to sailing on the Queen Mary 2, when we’d purchased dressy clothes of no value to us now, for the upscale transatlantic cruise. Also, we lost the cruise fare when they only gave us a short period to rebook it using the credit they gave us.

We had other plans we couldn’t change and would have incurred additional costs to take advantage of the nine months they allowed us to use the cruise credit. We were disappointed but had no other options. Life went on…recovery was more important.

But, like so many of us, we all incurred losses and frustrations over the pandemic impacting income, canceled plans, medical expenses, and the emotional stress of the awful scenario that lasted so long. Like many of you, the pandemic cost us months of good health and lots of money.

Now, we continue with our dreams of ongoing world travel. No, it won’t always be easy. It never was, but we are grateful when we think about how fortunate we are to live this life, the freedom we enjoy, and an endless stream of unique experiences.

And we’re grateful for all of our readers, who follow along with us, providing support and appreciation for our travels and our continuing posts, day after day. No doubt, some days when it’s quiet and nothing special is happening; we wonder how our readers are interested in what we’re doing and have to say about those mundane days and nights.

But our worldwide readers continue to hang in there with us during these quiet times. We are very grateful for this, especially now, as our activity level is more geared toward getting ready to leave than initiating new experiences.

Also, I’ve focused a lot of time on healing this pain in my face and head and continue to diligently do the exercises and acupressure that will aid in my full recovery. It’s not over yet, but with these new improvements, I am more hopeful than ever, although several times a day, I am reminded that it is still there when the pain comes and goes.

Today, we’ll hang around the house until around 5:00 pm, when we’ll head out in the golf cart and make the pleasant drive to Brownwood Paddock Square for socializing and dinner.

Thank you, dear readers…be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 15, 2013:

No photo was posted on this date ten years ago. For the story, please click here.

Two weeks and counting…We’ll be on the move!…Company coming for dinner tonight…

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Interesting insect.

Note: Today’s photos were taken and provided by a professional photographer, Chris Kelly, whom we met in Tuscany during our three-month stay. We were impressed by his skills and excited to share his photos. See the post from ten years ago for more details.

This morning, as I began to prepare this post, when I looked at the date on my laptop, I realized that we are leaving two weeks from today. We’ll be back in the US in about seven weeks from now and will be staying to see family for about six weeks, and then we’ll be on our way to South America for an extended stay. How long that will be is yet to be determined.

A bee collecting nectar from purple flowers.

We decided to make our stay in South America for only as long as it appeals to us. It will be for at least three months, maybe six or more months, depending on what we plan after the Galapagos cruise. While in the US, we’ll book a holiday home in Ecuador to round out the 90 days we’re allowed to stay, visa-wise. From there, we shall see.

All we know for sure after the South America stay is that we’ll be returning to Marloth Park, South Africa, on June 15, 2024—eleven months from now. We’re unsure at this point how long we’ll stay there either. The visa situation is always an issue we must address within 90 days in most countries.

Chris said he shot all these photos in one day during the prior week.

This morning, I got busy preparing the dish below for tonight’s dinner for our guests, Karen and Rich. It’s our favorite dish that we haven’t made in over a year. So, I made a triple batch using two large baking pans, having plenty for tonight with leftovers for Sunday. I’ll freeze the second pan for some time in the next two weeks, enough to get us through another three nights. We don’t mind delicious leftovers several nights in a row.

This is some moth.

When I mention a delicious dish in a post, I often get countless requests for the recipe. To be proactive, I posted it below. Today, so we’d have plenty of leftovers. This recipe is sufficient for four people, and depending on portion size may have some left for the next dinner or lunch.

Jess’s Low Carb Sausage, Mushroom, and Chicken Casserole

Servings: 8

This hearty and delicious dish tastes similar to chicken and dressing. I am sure that this would be terrific with turkey, also.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 -4 cups diced cooked chicken
  • 1 lb cheesy sausages
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped fine
  • 1 tablespoon onion, chopped
  • 1/2 lb mushroom, sliced
  • 8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
  • 16 ounces frozen cauliflower, cooked well and drained
  • 8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese shredded
  • salt (for the top)
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • paprika (optional)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Brown the sausage with the celery, onion, and mushrooms.
  2. Stir the softened cream cheese into the sausage mixture until well blended.
  3. Coarsely chop the cooked frozen cauliflower.
  4. Mix all ingredients and spread in a greased 9″x13″ baking dish.
  5. Cover with Parmesan cheese
  6. If desired, dust the top with paprika.
  7. Bake, covered with foil, at 350º for about 30 minutes.
  8. Uncover and bake until hot and bubbly, and the top is lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Also, this morning I also made a huge salad with colorful baby bell peppers, red onion, celery, tomato, carrots, and romaine lettuce in bite-sized pieces. Ever go to a restaurant and are served a salad with huge pieces, hard to handle? This frustrates me since cutting the lettuce isn’t always easy if the salad is on a small plate or in a bowl.

Amazing capture.

I didn’t make a dessert this time since our guests have to leave right after dinner to return to their home, two hours from here. No doubt, as always, we’ll have a great evening, although it will be short. This will be the last time we see them until the next time we return to Florida or, if down the road, they’ll visit us in South Africa. In the interim, surely we’ll stay in touch, as we always do.

That’s it for today, folks. Our guests will be here in about three hours, and we’re all looking forward to being together once again.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 14, 2013:

On his recent visit to Tuscany, Chris Kelly, a professional photographer, provided these “bug/flying insect” photos. He, too, observed the vast number of flying insects inspiring him to take these excellent photos. Thanks, Chris! Great photos! For more, please click here.

“White Night” on the upcoming cruise…More photos from Tuscany…

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The bell tower in Colognora is almost identical to our everyday view.

Today’s photos are from a post ten years ago today, while we were living in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy, found at this link.

    Hundreds of years later, Stone endures to provide excellent insulated housing for generations of homeowners.

This morning, it dawned on me that I didn’t have anything to wear for the upcoming “White Night” on the Azamara cruise beginning three weeks from today. I went through my neatly hung clothing in the closet, fully aware of what I had and didn’t have, and couldn’t find a single possibility.

I’m not really a dress person. I prefer to wear pants, especially these days with all the scars on my legs from the heart surgery. If pantihose were still fashionable, I could wear the opaque style, but I don’t want to look like an old lady wearing nylons (no offense intended to anyone of any age who still wears nylons). They could hide a multitude of flaws. (Only women will get this).

Many old houses show water damage and wear due to heavy precipitation and humidity in the Tuscan regions.

No, I haven’t lost all the weight I’d intended to while we’re in Florida. All I can say is it’s been hard to do while I’ve still had this dumb facial and head pain. It seems impossible right now to focus on losing weight when I’m trying everything possible to eliminate this chronic pain since I had Covid-19 15 months ago.

We were looking back from Bagni di Lucca to Colognora as we continued our journey to Pescia to load up on groceries and find a Barbieri (barbershop) for Tom. He hadn’t had a haircut since March in Belize.

Of course, I am a little apprehensive about getting Covid again going on these two cruises, but I am comforted by the fact that we hear less and less from our cruising readers that they’ve become ill with that virus. Passengers get other viruses on cruises, but now that we’re obsessed with hand washing and close contact, maybe we’ll be ok. It’s a risk we take to continue on with our lives of world travel.

This looks almost identical to the above photo of Colognora, but it’s the bell tower at Villa Basicillica, another village we visited today.

Anyway, back to the White Night issue. We want to participate, and Tom has white clothes that work for him. So this morning, I looked at the tags on two pairs of jeans that fit me well and tried to find the exact jeans in white online. It wasn’t as easy as I thought, but I finally succeeded, placed the order, and a pair of white jeans will arrive within five days.

Once they get here, I try them with one white shirt I have that may work, and if all is well, I’m good to go. If the shirt isn’t good, I’ll buy something on Amazon to arrive in a few days. Problem solved. I hope.

Old, abandoned property that most likely burned many ago. In the US, most burned-out structures would be torn down.

This morning, again, II slept late and feel better today. It seems that my head pain is less on the days I sleep more. I wish I could find another way to get some relief, but for now, I will accept this for whatever reason it helps. Once we get on the ship, I won’t sleep so late since we’ll want to go to breakfast in the dining room and begin our day aboard the ship, which is always fun for us.

It’s pouring rain again today. I’d hoped to go to Walgreen for a few things, but we’ll wait and go another day. We can’t believe how much it rains here. Neither of us had ever spent so much time in Florida in the summer months and had no idea as to the number of storms that roll through, day after day. We haven’t gone on our walk for a few days due to the weather but hopefully can resume soon.

Many years ago, the creek running through the village created an enticing backdrop for the many homes along its banks.

Today, again, we’ll stay in. We are never disappointed to stay in. We so enjoy our days and evenings whatever we do. We love the stimulation and adventure of traveling, but soon, we’ll be doing plenty of that. We’re also looking forward to seeing my cousin in Boston in September, my son in Nevada, and our three adult children and grandchildren in Minnesota. Since we began our travels, we’ve never stayed in Minnesota for a month. We’ll have plenty of time to spend with family and friends before we start our long journey to South America.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 11, 2013:

The red paint slashed across the town’s name indicates leaving the village limits. We’d purchased a half-a-cart full of the freshest organic vegetables, grass-fed meats, locally made exquisite cheeses, and free-range eggs, enough to feed us for 14 days and nights. Why is it so much less than what we paid in the US, never less than $200 per week, using coupons and scrambling to get the most current specials? Who knows? For more photos, please click here.

Change in weekend plans…Getting things done…

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A waterbuck on the riverbank with her calf.

Today’s photos are from five years ago today from this post…

Our plans for this upcoming weekend have changed. Originally, we’d planned to have Karen pick us up on Friday for a weekend at their new home two hours from here and then drive us back to The Villages on Monday. The more we thought about this, the more it bothered us that with Karen still working, this was ridiculous to have her drive all this way and back.

We considered renting a car to drive ourselves to their home, but at the cost of about $100 per day, plus transportation costs to the Orlando Airport to get and return the car (one hour each way), plus dining out while we’re there, the cost was prohibitive for us right now. We are on a tight budget with all of the travel we have coming up and hadn’t planned on these additional expenses.

We have to maintain our budgetary goals as much as possible. We’ve allowed dining out twice a week and a generous amount for groceries and miscellaneous items, but we try very hard not to deviate from our plan.

We’ve rarely observed this many waterbucks lying down.

As it turns out, Karen and Rich had planned to visit her mother, Donna, who lives about 20 minutes from here, so instead of us going there, they will visit Donna and then come here Friday afternoon and stay for dinner. This works for us. I will make a gluten-free, low-carb chicken, mushroom, cauliflower, and sausage dish with a salad for an easy dinner.

Thus, we may go out on Thursday night and then again on Saturday as we wind down our time in The Villages. However, if it doesn’t storm on Wednesday, we’ll go out on Wednesday night to play bingo at 3:00 pm at City Fire. We’ve been trying to do this for weeks, but there have been wild storms every Wednesday for the past several weeks.

This morning, I sent everything off to the accountant for our taxes. We’d had him prepare an extension for us when we were getting ready to leave South Africa, which gave us until October 15 this year to get it done. Getting everything ready has been hanging over my head. Finally, after a few finishing touches, after working on it yesterday, this morning I emailed our accountant the tax prep spreadsheet and requested the tax documents be sent to him from our mailing service in Nevada.

What a relief to have this off my mind! I was anticipating doing it while we were in Nevada or Minnesota in September, and that would have created stress during this time when we want to spend time with family and friends.

From this site: “The waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus Kobus of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. The thirteen subspecies are grouped under two varieties: the common or Ellisprymnus waterbuck and the Defassa waterbuck. The head-and-body length is typically between 177–235 cm (70–93 in), and the average height is between 120 and 136 cm (47 and 54 in). A sexually dimorphic antelope, males are taller as well as heavier than females. Males reach approximately 127 cm (50 in) at the shoulder, while females reach 119 cm (47 in). Males typically weigh 198–262 kg (437–578 lb), and females 161–214 kg (355–472 lb). The coat color varies from brown to grey. The long, spiral horns, present only on males, curve backward, then forward and are 55–99 cm (22–39 in) long.”

Now, I’m thinking in terms of what toiletries we’ll need to get us through the few months until we get to Minnesota on September 9, when we will have a car and can easily go to the store whenever we need something for the upcoming extended period we’ll spend in Ecuador.

When I go for my pedicure appointment on July 26, we’ll head to Walmart to fill up the fuel tank on the golf cart and go into the store to get the remaining items we’ll need, enough to last until September 9 when we arrive in Minnesota.

Today will be another quiet day for us. We’re making a great dinner and don’t have any household tasks we haven’t yet accomplished. The laundry is done, the floors are clean, and this morning, I cleaned the bathrooms. Before Karen and Rich arrive on Friday, we’ll do a thorough cleaning, but at the moment, everything is clean.

Yesterday, we put some slivered almonds on the lawn outside the lanai. There’s been a mating pair of cardinals hanging around the garden the past week, and this morning, we saw the female pecking on the nuts. That was our wildlife fix of the week. Hopefully, soon, we’ll see the more colorful male doing the same.

Elephants on the Crocodile River.

The sky looks ominous right now. It’s uncanny how hard it will rain, and then moments later, the clouds have moved on, and the sky is clear, very typical weather for Florida this time of year.

That’s it for today, folks. We hope you have a great week, and we’ll be back with you soon.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 10, 2013:

Never much of a gardener, I think these flowers in Tuscany were hydrangeas. For more photos, please click here.