Today is packing day. Since we’re leaving for only three weeks, packing is relatively easy, as I’ve run around the house collecting items we will need for this short period.

When the mongoose appeared for their usual morning meal, I used the last piece of paloney. They’ll likely visit again tomorrow morning, but I’ll dice bite-sized pieces of cheddar cheese and beat the remaining two eggs after I make breakfast for Tom. As carnivores, they can also eat dairy products.

To make grocery shopping easy when we return, while still experiencing a bit of jet lag, I have already made a grocery list on the app on my phone since my memory may not be sharp until we recover for a few days.

When we arrived here from Mumbai, India, during COVID, after traveling for 59 hours, I easily recall how impossible grocery shopping was when we went to Komati the next day. I told Tom we’d have to return another day when my thought process was more focused. Not sleeping for three days made it impossible to focus on shopping.

When we return in three weeks, we’ll have traveled for over 36 – 40 hours, and again, shopping must be put off for a few days.

However, with the new market here in Marloth Park at the Marlothi Centre, we can pick up a few items to get us through the first few days, entirely avoiding a big shopping trip to Komatipoort as soon as we arrive.

Also, I made a short grocery list in the Cub Foods online app for some basic items we’ll want to have on hand in the Minnesota hotel room, including a kitchen. We won’t be cooking dinners in the hotel room. Instead, we’ll dine out for dinner, or on those few nights without plans, with family or friends, we’ll order GrubHub delivery using our delivery-free membership with Amazon Prime.

Tom decided he’d rather eat two plain old-fashioned donuts from Cub than the complimentary breakfast at the hotel. The hotel’s scrambled eggs are processed with unhealthy ingredients, and their bacon is deep-fried in awful oils. I offered to make him bacon and eggs daily, but he chose to have two donuts with his coffee rather than eat the homemade breakfast.

He can’t get plain old-fashioned donuts here or in many countries, so he loves to have them while we are in the US. I guess the donuts are the lesser of two evils, says the Food Poice. I’ll be happy if he doesn’t buy ten pounds of those awful jelly candies, shown below, that he loves from Fleet Farm. He’ll go through ten pounds in a week. See the story about this at this post:

Since we arrived in Marloth Park at the beginning of March, he has lost 15 pounds, 6.8 kg. It would be a shame if he gained it all back while we were in the US. If he eats the two donuts and a reasonably healthy dinner, he should be able to maintain what he’s lost and then begin the low-carb lifestyle again when we return.

We’ll see how it goes for him. I’ve lost 23 pounds, 10.4 kg, and need to lose another 7 pounds, 3.2 kg, to fit into those jeans I have been carrying for the past few years. I was taking heart medication that causes weight gain and other horrible side effects, which I no longer take it as instructed by the doctors at the Cleveland Clinic.

I’d gained 30 pounds, 13.6 kg, from that drug, hoping that when I stopped taking the medication, I’d automatically begin to lose weight, but that didn’t happen. When we arrived in Marloth Park, we both began cutting back on how much we ate and how often we ate… and just like that, we lost weight.

I lost more than Tom because I didn’t eat unhealthy food when dining out and stuck to a strict keto diet, eating less food, less often. It worked.

Now, I will pack, and I should be done in no time at all. Tonight, we’re off to Jabula for dinner.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 23, 2015:

Our final video of the Laysan Albatross as we prepared to leave Kauai after our four-month stay. For more photos, please click here.