Late yesterday afternoon, I received a return call from the Cape Town immigration lawyer we hired to assist with our extensions. Keeping in mind, Tom has a 90-day visa he received when returning from the US weeks ago after his brother’s funeral. He can stay until June 15 without incident.

After yesterday’s post about new rulings, which may be found here, a recent ruling from South Africa’s Home Affairs (immigration) stipulates entirely new guidelines for visitors who’ve applied for extensions, such as us. We requested we could stay until our planned departure date of June 8, 2023.

That’s out the window now with the new rulings, which are vague and unclear, as admitted by the lawyer who clearly understood our concerns and confusion. She, too, is confused by the lack of clarity regarding dates we need to exit the country. Unless some clarification comes through in the next ten days, we must Africa by April 30, 2023. That leaves us one month to make travel plans and to clear out of this house.

As it turns out, there are 7000 visa extension applications, such as ours, in the works. Based on staffing issues after the pandemic, there is no way they will be able to process all of the applications. Hence, we fall into the category of having to leave by April 30 or be considered “undesirables” if we go one day later.

Initially, when we filed, the rulings stated we could stay without issue until the extensions were granted. At that point,  three months ago, the lawyer felt confident we’d have our approval in plenty of time, based on history. Filing earlier wouldn’t have helped since they don’t allow earlier applications.

So now, we are facing April 30 as our departure date. As the lawyer explained, our only option is to leave the country, not to a bordering country, and try to get back in, as we’ve done many times. Right now, we are discussing our options and will report back here what we decide sometime in the next ten days; when we commit to each other, we’ll make a decision.

Last night, I contacted Louise and asked her if we left the country would this house be available for us upon return? No matter our plans, we have to be in Edinburgh, Scotland, by July 31, the day before we sail away.

Here we are once again, trying to figure out immigration issues when we’d settled into peace of mind that the extensions would work out well. I guess we were wrong. Unless the South African government clarifies its rulings in the next few weeks, no matter what, we are leaving here on April 30.

The lawyer explained that if we continued to stay and wait to see if they ever get to our application, if we had to leave and it wasn’t approved, again, we’d be considered “undesirables.” We’re not willing to go through that again when it occurred when we overstayed after my heart surgery four years ago.

Many would say, “Why bother? It’s too complicated to stay for longer periods in South Africa.” The reasons are many. Those of you who have been reading our posts for years certainly understand, but I won’t get into that again today.

Soon, we’re off to Koomatipoort for our appointments with Doc Theo. This will be my first cardiac stress test since the surgery, and I will be glad when it’s over and done; praying for good results. Tom is having the same test, and we’ll receive his test results from the past week. We’ll report back tomorrow.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago, March 31, 2022:

No words can describe how enjoyable it is to experience these more comfortable days in South Africa. The sun is shining, and the high today will be 93F, 34C, but the humidity is low at 25%, although the dew point is high at 78. With the lower humidity, there seem to be fewer mosquitos buzzing around my head as I sit outside preparing today’s post. What a relief after all these months.

That’s not to say we won’t have many more hot and humid days in the near future, but for now, it’s ideal. This morning, we had our usual breakfast of bacon and eggs. The bacon here is excellent and turns out perfectly made in the microwave. This morning I made extra bacon for tonight’s dinner of bun-less burgers on the braai topped with purple onion, tomato, lettuce, and homemade keto ketchup, along with a side salad and rice for Tom.

We decided to make the same meal tomorrow since we’ll return to Jabula on Friday and Saturday evenings and didn’t need leftovers from Thursday.

On Friday, we go to Doc Theo, where both of us will have cardiac stress tests. I am a little nervous about having this test since I haven’t had any heart-related tests since surgery four years ago. I don’t have any heart symptoms, but I can’t help being apprehensive about having this test which Theo says is more accurate than most scans. So, we’ll see how it goes for both of us and report back on Saturday.

Tom had numerous blood tests and an aortic aneurysm screening test yesterday in Nelspruit. We’ll know the results of all the tests by the time we leave his office on Friday.

Yesterday and this morning, we had dozens of wildlife visitors, including the fun main photo of four different species of antelopes in the garden simultaneously. It was exciting to see them all together. Speaking of antelopes, Norman, often accompanied by his family, has been here no less than six times a day over the past several days. It’s always such a joy to see him and, of course, Nina and Natalie.

We realize we are taking a significant risk by not booking where we’ll be staying in a little over 60 days when we leave Marloth Park for a year. But we have so much to deal with before we go. Once we get my visa extension, we can apply online for our US passports. If anything goes wrong with applying in Pretoria, we may have to fly to the US to do the renewals.

Tom got his visa renewed for a new 90-day period when he left for the US for his brother Jerome’s funeral weeks ago. We can’t apply for the US passports until we get my visa extension; otherwise, it appears I am here illegally, and we’d have trouble getting the passports renewed in South Africa if I appear to be an illegal alien. Thus, we’re leaving everything up in the air until we have the visa extension.

In the worst-case scenario, if we can get the extension and the passports, we can easily plan a trip to a preferred location while we wait for the next cruise out of Edinburgh in August. We are confident it will all work out. We no longer feel we need to plan far in advance as we had in the past, especially since we don’t want to risk losing deposits or prepaid venues.

That’s it for today, folks. We hope you have a fantastic Wednesday! We’re planning on it!

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 29, 2022:

Today is the coolest day we’ve had in months at only 72F, 22C at 11:00 am. The humidity is somewhat high at 66% with a dew point of 65 which is still considered tropical. This will be the coolest day of the week with an expected high of only a few more degrees, although we can see the temperatures finally dropping as we get further into the Southern Hemisphere’s fall season.

With the black moths gradually disappearing to lay their eggs for more slimy black worms and the temp dropping, today, slightly overcast, is a perfect day. Vusi is here now, changing the bedding and cleaning the house. I already have tonight’s dinner made and ready to eat, leftover chicken salad with coleslaw on the side.

Today, I will update the month’s expenses and set up Bill Pay for the first of April. We are still waiting to hear about my visa extension, but we should hear something in the next 30 days. Once that comes in, we’ll apply to the US Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, for our new 10-year US passports, which, if it gets too late, we’ll have to do in person. We aren’t looking forward to the long drive, but we’ll stay overnight and make it fun.

The cortisone tablets are helping tremendously. I no longer have allergy symptoms, and the pain in my head is less each day. I still have another week to take the meds and am hoping, along with the other allergy meds Doc Theo prescribed, that once I finish the cortisone, I will still feel well. Much to my surprise, I can sleep at night when typically, Prednisone (cortisone) causes insomnia.

Tomorrow morning Tom leaves for Nelspruit to Mediclinic for his chest x-ray and aortic aneurysm screening, which must be done on an empty stomach, so he won’t have breakfast before he leaves. I continue to offer to go with him, but he says he’s fine making the three-hour round-trip drive on his own. If he needs any further tests, I plan to go with him. It’s a good day, and we are very grateful.

Yesterday afternoon’s party in the bush at a friend’s house was fun and laughter filled. We knew everyone in attendance, and it was fun to be included in this group of lively partygoers. South Africans sure know how to have a good time, and although we don’t keep up in the drinking department with my 5% light wine and Tom’s few beers, we certainly can get in on the lively chatter and good times.

By 6:00 pm, we were back home and settled in. Tom cleaned the contents of the cooler box where we kept our chicken salad and coleslaw ultra cool, and since the bugs were getting bad outdoors, we decided to hunker down and stream a few shows. We’d eaten before 5:00 pm, 1700 hrs., but neither of us ate another bite in the evening.

Now that Tom has been off sugar for a while, he’s losing the weight he gained from the 10 pounds, 4.5 kg, of jelly candy he purchased in the US and ate back here in less than a week; he’s losing the extra weight rapidly. I restarted my diet, which I’ve been struggling with for months, and now I am losing again also.

I realized I was eating too many low-carb foods and having some sweet keto desserts, keeping me from losing weight. I am committed to sticking with this, which includes eggs on small pieces of keto bread for breakfast and a normal keto dinner (reduced portions) with no keto snacks after dinner. This way, I can lose weight at the rate of about two pounds, 1 kg per week. This way all my old clothes will fit me. I plan to lose all I want by the time we leave on June 8.

Not feeling well with this allergy stuff these past months has been a poor excuse for not sticking with my diet when a healthy weight is instrumental in my good health. Feeling bloated in tight clothes never makes me feel healthy.

Today, after three busy social days, we’re laying low while I tackle the financial stuff, and Tom continues with more research for our upcoming travels. Now, if Tom’s tests all come out with positive results and I continue to improve my sinus and head thing, life will be on track as planned.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 27, 2022:

As mentioned in an earlier post, based on Tom’s family history and his age of 70, he felt it was time to have a screening for Aortic Aneurysm, resulting in several deaths, treatments, and surgeries for several of the men in his family. Also, he needs a chest x-ray since he coughs more than he should.

Doc Theo arranged for these tests for him at Mediclinic, where I had open heart surgery in 2019. I offered to go with him, but he insisted he was happy to make the drive on his own when he knows I don’t like that long drive through the gorge and don’t necessarily feel enthused to relive the memories of being in that hospital for four surgeries. I didn’t press the issue.

Obviously, if something were wrong, I’d go with him. But, he has no symptoms of heart or artery disease. This test is for preventive care and caution only. He should be done in a short period, other than the waiting time, which can be for hours at the busy hospital. His appointment is on Tuesday at 11:00 am, and he’ll leave around 9:00 am, hopefully returning mid-afternoon.

Tom takes no medication and has no known medical conditions. Theo said it was time for him to get checked out, and he ordered a plethora of blood tests and scheduled not only the two tests at Mediclinic but also next Friday, at Theo’s office, he’ll have him do a cardiac stress test on the treadmill, all of which is set up in his office.

Then, it was my turn, and of course, the big topic of conversation was the long-term Covid triggered headaches, itchy eyes, runny nose, and overall itching. He put me on a 10-day regime of Prednisone, tapering off gradually over this period, and prescribed three other allergy medications to help me get through this challenging period.

We then headed to the Komati pharmacy, where I got the prescription filled and then grocery-shopped for everything on my list. I was prescribed six-five mg. tablets as soon as we got home. By then, it was 1:30 pm, and within three hours, my eyes stopped itching and burning, my nose stopped running, and the pain in my left forehead was almost completely gone.

I took the remaining meds as prescribed, and today, I feel much better. There’s still a little discomfort on the left side of my head but nowhere near as much as I had a few days ago. The pharmacist told me many people have been suffering from severe allergy symptoms over the past many months. Mine started with Covid and continued with the massive amount of allergens in the bush.

This issue has come and gone, as I described many times in past posts. There were times I thought it was gone and wrote about it here. Alas, a week later, the symptoms were back. But that’s how allergies are…they come and go when exposure to allergens changes with weather and circumstances.

Doc Theo explained that the more accurate and comprehensive treadmill street test would be a better assessment of how my heart and arteries are doing, so I am scheduled with Tom for next Friday morning. We’ll have the stress test results right away, along with the results of Tom’s blood tests, and we are praying all is well for us to continue. It will give us both peace of mind.

Of course, we’ll report the results here next Saturday, and hopefully, no further testing is required. As “they” say, “it’s hell to get old,” and such testing becomes necessary as we age, whether we have health conditions or not.

After returning from Komati, we put the groceries away, and both of us took a nap. It’s a rarity for me to nap, but after being awake sneezing the last night, the rest was refreshing before we got ready to go to Jabula for sundowners and dinner. As usual, we had a very fun evening and are returning with Louise and Danie tonight for another great evening.

On Sunday afternoon, we’re going to another party at a house overlooking the Crocodile River hosted by local friends, where we bring our meat to cook on the braai with sides prepared by the hosts. Since we don’t eat most South African side dishes since they rarely are low carb (Tom is back to healthy eating with me now that he wiped out the disgusting jelly candies he brought back from the US).

This morning we made a keto chicken salad which we’ll eat instead of bringing meat for the braai, which makes the party more relaxing for us when we don’t have to wait for a turn on the braai or watch some type of meat cooking. I like steak rare; it is often difficult to cook correctly when sharing a grill with multiple conversations occurring nearby. Invariably, when we’ve brought steaks to such events, they end up overcooked.

Tomorrow morning, I will make coleslaw and place them in two individual containers along with the two containers of chicken salad, which will also serve as plates. We’ll bring a few forks, napkins, and our beverage with glasses and ice. Easy peasy.

If we’re hungry later in the evening, after returning to the house, we can also have leftover chicken salad and coleslaw so we won’t have to cook. Many of these early afternoon parties end by 6:00 pm, 1800 hrs. when everyone goes home to continue their evening plans. We don’t mind these early parties.

As for today, we’ve had a busy morning feeding the wildlife, prepping food, and doing a few loads of laundry. Norman and Big Daddy have stopped by several times, and of course, after chopping vegetables, Norman had a nice bowl of “Norman’s Lunch,” including a few bananas and apples tossed in. He enjoyed every bite. When we got up this morning, he was the first visitor of the day waiting in the garden, as often is the case. We never tire of seeing him, Nina, and the baby.

We’ll be back with more tomorrow. Have a fantastic weekend.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 25, 2022: