Hiding in the bathroom during tornado warnings!…A delightful surprise from a local reader/friend!!!…Three days and counting…

What a fantastic surprise and treat. I couldn’t be more grateful to friend/reader Joanette for her thoughtfulness.

We were watching another episode of Outlander. With Tom’s bad hearing and now stuffy head, we had the streaming show on the TV loud. Surprisingly, these rooms in the hotel are fairly sound-proof. But I heard some strange noises outside,  sounding like a train.

Immediately, I jumped up from the bed, and then we heard the sirens. Tornadoes had been sighted in Eden Prairie, exactly where we are located. Indeed, we were in the midst of a severe weather warning, requiring everyone to take shelter. We turned off the streaming show to get to the news.

This container is filled with delicious low-carb chocolate muffins. Note the recipe on top by zooming in.

Opening the door when I heard noises in the hallway, I saw no less than 20 people sitting on the corridor floor, their backs to the wall, waiting out the storm. We decided to stay in the room but moved all the “important” stuff into the windowless bathroom where we’d be safe from flying glass or worse if this hotel complex were to be hit directly.

We couldn’t get a good stream on our phones or laptops with weather reports. When the sirens ended, we returned to the room and checked the TV for weather reports which continued for hours. Winds in the range of 80 to 90 mph (128 km to 145 kph) came through along with some “touching down,” but fortunately not enough to do much damage other than to roofs and trees).

We sighed with relief. It had been a while since we encountered such a tornado-producing storm. It had been almost ten years ago when we still lived in Minnesota. Severe spring and summer storms are common in Minnesota and the midwest. Entire towns are wiped out due to significant tornadoes.

The bag of sugar-free chocolate chips will come in handy when we return to Marloth Park.

In any case, last night’s storm died down, and we could finish watching our show until we were ready to go to sleep. More of the same caliber storms are predicted for today, so we’ll keep an eye out and take shelter again if necessary.

Yesterday, Joanette, a long-time reader/friend who lives in the Minneapolis area, sent me an email stating she was stopping by with a container of low-carb chocolate muffins she’d made. I was blown away by her generosity and thoughtfulness. We’ve been sitting in this hotel room for the past 11 days, and a treat like this means the world to me.

Joanette had included this lovely card with a special message on the inside and the back. See below.

I explained we wouldn’t see her when she and her hubby came to the hotel. We didn’t want to take any chances whatsoever, for them, for us. But, when the front desk called at noon, saying a package had been delivered for me, I swooned with delight.  Joanette included a good-sized container of the most delicious low carb (2 grams each) chocolate muffin, but she included a thoughtful card, a bag of sugar-free chocolate chips, and a beautiful card, photos of which I’ve included here today.

It was hard for me not to try the muffins all day, but I resisted and waited until after dinner, when I made a dessert-like ritual of putting two muffins on the glass plate and savoring every bite. Tom doesn’t do well eating dark chocolate, so he won’t eat any of the muffins, which is a plus for me.

In 2017, we met Joanette for the first time when we had a get-together here in Minneapolis for our local readers. She brought me one of those muffins on that occasion, knowing I followed a low carb/keto way of eating. Since I can’t get all of the ingredients in most countries, I never made them, although I often thought about that muffin when craving something chocolate. I devoured that single muffin that night, and she remembered how much I loved it.

This message, on the back of the card, reminded us of our lives, always on a mission to adapt to circumstances, regardless of how hard they may be. We’ve used pool water on many occasions to flush the toilet!

Now in the tiny kitchen is a container stocked with the chocolate muffins (minus the two I ate last night), and it’s such a treat for me. It couldn’t have come at a better time. Thank you, Joanette!!! You are a kind and generous soul!!!

Now, Thursday, we are only three days from departing for Las Vegas. Tom started the Cortisone today, as prescribed, in addition to day three of two antibiotics, along with the other medications. Hopefully, this medication will escalate his recovery to another level, making it possible for us to fly to Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon. He says if we were leaving today, he could do it. But, I am happy it’s not for another three days, giving him more time to recover. He’s got a long way to go to recover.

When the housekeeper cleans our room today, we’ll head back to Cub Foods for a few more items to get us through the next three days so we won’t have to go out to eat or do takeaway. We haven’t had a single meal in a restaurant since we got off the ship infected with Covid-19, on April 21, over three weeks ago.

Since we can’t see family, I can’t wait to return to Marloth Park to make a tasty, healthy dinner with a big side salad to savor while seated on the veranda overlooking the garden, watching an entirely new batch of wildlife stopping by to check us out. New wildlife friends will be made, new names will be introduced, and if “safari luck” prevails, we may see a few familiar wildlife friends from our last house in the bush.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 12, 2021:

What an interesting bird! It’s a spooned-billed stork we spotted at Sunset Dam in Kruger National Park. For more, please click here.

Living in limbo…Uncertaintly prevails in times of Covid-19…

Holey Moley and a warthog pose for a photo.

Last night during our second night in a row at Jabula for dinner, the conversation centered around what will happen with many of us foreigners currently living in the bush when we choose to leave the country. Flights to many countries are being canceled right and left.

Fritz, a local we’ve come to know at Jabula, is scheduled to fly back to his home country on Tuesday, to The Netherlands, to be with his family for the Christmas holiday. It’s doubtful he’ll be able to fly out. The country is refusing flights arriving from South Africa.

A female kudu grazing on greenery in the garden.

This headline was posted online yesterday at this link:

“61 travelers from South Africa in Netherlands positive for COVID-19 -authorities

AMSTERDAM, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Dutch health authorities said that 61 people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa on Friday tested positive for COVID-19, and they were conducting further testing early Saturday to see if any of the infections are with the recently discovered Omicron coronavirus variant.

Around 600 passengers arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on the two KLM flights on Friday and then faced hours of delays and testing due to concerns over the new virus variant.

The Dutch health ministry said early Saturday, 61 tests had come back positive.

“Travelers with a positive test result will be placed in isolation at a hotel at or near Schiphol,” health authorities said in a statement.

Of the positive test results, we are researching as quickly as possible whether they are the new variant of concern, now named ‘Omicron.'”

Young Daddy and others.

The Dutch government banned all air travel from southern Africa early on Friday. Health Minister Hugo de Jonge determined that passengers already en route to the Netherlands would have to undergo testing and quarantine upon arrival.”

No doubt, this dilemma will impact travelers worldwide, including many of us currently in South Africa. We’ll likely fly to the US as planned, but we have to wait and see what transpires. From this article, we’re hopeful we’ll be able to continue with our plans to travel to the US with our booked flight on Delta Airlines on January 23, 2022:

“United and Delta say they aren’t cutting flights to South Africa as new travel restrictions throw a wrench in the recovery of international travel.

The US government will implement new international travel restrictions that will affect the two US airlines that fly between the US and southern Africa.

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are currently the only American airlines serving South Africa, where travel will soon be restricted. Non-US travelers who have been to that country and seven others in Africa within the last 14 days will not be allowed into the US starting Monday due to new fears stemming from the COVID-19 Omicron “variant of concern.”

Both airlines currently fly to Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, and United plans to resume flights to Cape Town in December.

Delta confirmed to Insider that it is not currently planning any service changes in light of the new restrictions.”

Lori and Barbara checked out the pellet situation.

This is good news for us, but another aspect of this current scenario is that we’ll need to quarantine when we arrive in the USA. Staying in a decent hotel for 18 days in Florida, dining out for 18 days, paying almost US $100, ZAR 1627, a day for a rental car we won’t be able to use but need to get food.

Not only do we have to consider our dear friend’s safety for their wedding and their friends and family members, but we also have to consider who else we may come in contact with during those days; the hotel staff, staff in restaurants and the shops where we’ll need to go to purchase clothing for the wedding and the three days we booked for the wedding at the golf resort.

Mom and three piglets often stop by.

I don’t think either of us is prepared for all of this, especially after the restrictions we faced in lockdown in Mumbai, India, for ten months.

Based on what President Ramphosa says in his next “family meeting,” usually conducted on Sunday nights at 8:00 pm, 2000 hrs, we may begin soon to make some decisions. At this point, there’s no announcement that such a meeting will transpire tonight.

A couple of young kudus and a Young Daddy.

We realize we wrote about this in yesterday’s post, and we apologize for the redundancy. But, we’ve always promised to be “real” and share our concerns as they appear in our lives of world travel. This is on our minds right now. It’s not realistic to avoid sharing our views and concerns. As we advance, we’ll share what we’ve decided to do about the upcoming trip to the US on January 23, 2022, but also attempt to avoid rehashing it over and over. Thank you.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 28, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #250. Many beaches in Maui are left in a natural state, with vegetation growing along the shoreline. For more photos, please click here.