Sunday Morning…Eight days and counting…

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The air is smokey from the prepared street food on a typical evening in the Medina in Marrakesh.

We received our final grocery order from Smith’s Marketplace by Instacart this morning. I canceled our monthly delivery plan of $7.98, which more than paid for itself with special coupons and discounts on groceries we received over the months. Carefully, as always, I calculated how much food we’d need to get us through the next seven dinners since we are dining out next Saturday.

With Easter on the horizon, we didn’t make any special plans for next Sunday since we’ll be packing and preparing to leave the following day, April 1. On Sunday, Tom will take an Uber to the airport to pick up the rental car and return it here while we start packing. Since we can park in the secure parking ramp, we won’t be concerned about leaving bags in the car overnight.

So far this morning, I’ve done over half of the walking required for the day. Going back and forth down the long corridor helps me accumulate many more steps. Everything is prepped for tonight’s dinner: two small sirloin steaks and one leftover hamburger patty left in the freezer that we’ll add to the meal.

Also, I am washing two more loads to hang up on the indoor rack this morning, which will keep me busy. Before too long, I will set up Tom’s favorite news show, Sunday Morning, on the TV using the HDMI cord, which we’ll watch while I hang the wet laundry. Overall, it’s a busy day, but not so much so that I feel rushed. That will come next weekend when we pack, but we don’t experience any stress about packing and unpacking.

But even so, since we’re not flying, it will be a lot easier to pack this time when we’re driving. It only takes about five hours to drive to Apache Junction, Arizona. We’ll only be there for about seven weeks. By next Monday night or Tuesday, we’ll be unpacked and ready to enjoy our time with Tom’s three sisters, who will be there most of the time we’ll be staying at Robert’s Resort.

Not being concerned about the weight of our luggage is a nice bonus when driving to our following several locations over the next few months. That won’t be a concern until we return to Africa on June 17 or 18. We’ve yet to book our flight and will do so sometime next month.

We finished drying the bedding and jeans in the laundry room, a long walk down the corridor. Tom made the bed with the clean, dried bedding while I continued to hang the remainder of the wet clothes from the washer. It’s a bit weird that there’s a washer in this condo but no dryer. There is room in the laundry closet for a stacking washer/dryer combo.

Where we are headed next, Apache Junction, our unit won’t have a washer or dryer. Instead, we’ll have to drive to the resort’s laundry room since it’s too far to walk. It is a minor inconvenience, but in this case, we’ll wash everything only once a week instead of every three or four days.

Otherwise, everything else will be convenient while there. We know exactly what to expect this time when we stayed at Robert’s Resort in December 2019 and January 2020 before we left for India. Little did we know that Covid-19 would immobilize the world while we were there, resulting in us being in a hotel room for ten months in lockdown. Wow! What an experience that was!

That’s it for today, folks. We wish you a lovely Sunday!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 24, 2014:

We’ve yet to take one of these horses and buggies when we prefer walking in the Medina. Also, we feel uncomfortable with these poor horses working for hours in the hot sun, often without water. For more photos, please click here.

Why are we more busy now than before we retired?…What’s the deal?…

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Lovely fresh flowers were on the table when we dined in Marrakesh, Morocco.

When I think back to our old lives, before we started traveling in 2012, I don’t know how I ever accomplished all the tasks necessary to manage our lives and household. Often, I heard retirees mention that they were busier in their retirement than when they worked.

Tom worked 12-hour days, with two hours of driving time (an hour each way), and when he got home, he was exhausted and had no time to help manage a household. He didn’t shop, cook, or clean in those days. I often worked 12 hours a day during my career, but it was nowhere as taxing as Tom’s work. Also, there were many days that I worked for eight hours, leaving me time to do what I needed to do to keep things running smoothly in our lives.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I had a house cleaner once a week, which helped tremendously. In the later years, before we left, I had groceries delivered, which saved a lot of time and effort. I could whip through an online grocery order in less than 10 minutes, as I do now.

For most of my career, I was self-employed and often kept my workout clothes in the car, enabling me to work out whenever I had a break. Since Tom usually worked through dinner time, I would go in the evening if I missed working out during the day. Beginning in the 90s, I started shopping online when others thought I was risk-taking in doing so.

In my mind, shopping at a mall was a waste of time. Instead, I’d use that time to go to lunch with my friends and co-workers. This allowed me to build and maintain excellent relationships with my girlfriends, which I still hold today through phone calls and texts. Family time was usually reserved for the weekends when everyone was more readily available, except for Tom, who often worked on weekends with two days off during the week.

I always assumed when we retired, our lives would be spent with family and friends and time together with a sense of ease and few constraints. But, once I retired in 2010, I found myself busier than ever when I worked. My days and nights were jam-packed with errands and social events with family and friends, all of which were enjoyable but seemed to fill my days to such an extent that I had to figure out when to work out and maintain a pleasant home life.

Retirees often say how busy they are/were, and after only a few months, I understood what they were talking about. In a short time, I was spewing the same phenomenon. Did I schedule too much for myself since I now had an extra 10 hours a day to fill? Most likely, that was the issue.

You’d think that now, with no home to maintain and living away from family and friends, I’d have many extra hours to fill each day. But, much to my surprise, I am busy each day running this household, managing financial matters, cooking, cleaning, working out, and chatting with Tom, family, and friends. It’s almost as busy as it was before we began traveling.

I’m not complaining; I love the daily activities, except for the cleaning, as mentioned in yesterday’s post here. Even once I’ve prepared tax stuff for the accountant, I enjoy the time spent managing money each month. The tasks aren’t difficult or time-consuming, providing a tremendous sense of accomplishment when done.

Speaking of which, it’s time to finish exercising for the day, after which I’ll wrap up the preparation for tonight’s dinner: steak and rice for Tom and salmon for me, along with the big salad I prepared this morning. Last night, we dined at The Pub and had a fun evening and meal.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 23, 2014:

While walking in the souk, I often hold the camera and shoot, getting whatever I can. Sandals and shoes are popular items for sale in the souk in the Big Square. For more photos, please click here.

Unpleasant tasks….Are there many in this nomadic life?…

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“Throughout Morocco, each door has a different story and design that reflects Moroccan values and culture. While some doors signify Islamic values of humility and respect, others illuminate a past of colonialism and cultural cohabitation.”

Whenever I have a task to do that I don’t enjoy, I find myself wanting to make excuses to postpone it. I am not a procrastinator, but some tasks make me wonder if I have tendencies in that direction. This morning, on cleaning day, I thought of ten reasons why we should change it to another day, mainly the reality that I didn’t feel like doing it.

In my old life, I had the lovely Teresa, who cleaned our entire house every Wednesday. During the in-between times, I cleaned as necessary but only washed floors after we’d had company for dinner on the weekend. I cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms daily, and laundry was tackled every three days.

With Tom working 12-hour days, I didn’t expect him to clean the house, although he took care of everything outdoors on his days off. When he was home for dinner or when we entertained, he did a huge portion of the cleanup and always did the dishes, a huge help, even now.

With him retired, he’s very helpful in keeping things tidy and still doing all the dishes. I clean the counters, stovetop, and refrigerator’s front and handles. I thought by now, with modern technology, there would be fingerprint-free refrigerator doors, but I’ve yet to experience such a “luxury” in any holiday home.

Ten days from now, while in Apache Junction, we’ll do our own cleaning. The park model is small with one bedroom and bath, and once a week, we’ll clean everything, getting it done in about 40 minutes. We’re not willing to pay $200 or more for a weekly cleaning. That will be another six weeks of cleaning; we’re free from there! We’ll have at least four months when we won’t be doing the cleaning.

Overall, I’d say cleaning is my least favorite task. I’d better get used to it since we won’t have a cleaner until we get to the hotel in Minnesota around May 23. From there, we’ll stay in hotels, and then, pure bliss, we’ll be in Marloth Park until the latter part of September.

In Marloth Park, we have Zef and Vusi five days a week. On the weekends, when they are off, all we do is make the bed and clean up after cooking and doing dishes. I can’t recall a day when we didn’t make the bed or had someone to do so. That’s no big deal.

The next thing I procrastinate over is getting the worksheet done for our accountant to do our taxes. I did this earlier this year, and at the moment, our accountant in Nevada has everything he needs from us. Tom gets worried about this, and although he never nags me about it, I can tell he’s concerned. It’s a job I’ve assigned to be my responsibility since I handle the money, but I tend to procrastinate about getting this task done.

Regarding procrastination, these are the only two tasks that I fall short of my usual “get it done” mentality. Everything else, I do when it comes up or on a regular schedule without giving it another thought. Even getting the daily walking and exercises done doesn’t find me looking for excuses to avoid the daily responsibility. I just do it without giving it much thought.

Every one of us has tasks we dread. If you’d like to share some tasks you dread, please comment at the end of today’s post. I’m curious to see what nags at you.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 22, 2014:

Yesterday, this was my meal at Le Jardin: fillet of Dover sole with a spinach sauce made with a flourless cream reduction sauce. In the center is an array of cooked vegetables, including carrots, zucchini, and eggplant. The chef prepared this meal after the server showed him the restriction list on my phone. It was fabulous. Now, I can’t wait to have this again! See how tempting it is to return to my favorite restaurant in Morocco when I can order a dish as unique as this? For more photos, please click here.

11 days and counting…Looking forward to the next step…

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The sun was filtering through the uneven slats on the ceiling of the souk in Marrakesh. This display was colorful scarves, so often worn in Muslim countries.

Once we start getting close to the end of our time in any specific location, we both start looking forward to our next adventure. Even leaving this fantastic location in Nevada allows us the luxury of enthusiasm for our next step, which is upcoming in 11 days. The countdown has begun.

There’s no specific number of days that we start posting the days until our departure. It happens organically when I suddenly enter the countdown in our daily headline, perhaps mentioning it in the body of the post. Counting down the days until we depart a location has little bearing on whether we’re anxious to leave.

In this case, when we’ve enjoyed this location and condo so much while working our way into a delightful routine, we still have no problem knowing we’ll be leaving soon. The only time I feel disappointed to be leaving is when we are in Marloth Park, leaving all the wildlife and our delightfully engaging friends. But I can’t think about that now.

Will this upcoming visit to South Africa be our last? With my heart situation, traveling so far away may not be wise. However, after the cardiology appointment next Wednesday, I will know if this will be the hard facts about winding down our journey. That doesn’t mean we won’t keep traveling; it may change where we go and how long we stay.

Many world travelers only stay for a week or two in any location. But, as seasoned readers know, we tend to stay for a few months in any given area, partly because it’s easier than moving every week or two. We also love becoming immersed in a location, living somewhat like the locals, and learning as much as possible about the culture and surroundings.

We often read posts from other world travelers and find those who move around every week or two are usually much younger than us. Plus, few can constantly be on the move for the long haul and afford the added cost of moving frequently. When we stay in any location for a few months or more, we save money from added flights and travel expenses.

Also, short trips often require hotel stays or higher costs for holiday rentals for brief durations. We’ve often been able to negotiate a better rate for holiday rentals directly through an owner, sometimes saving thousands of dollars on long-term rentals.

There have been many exceptions over the years, especially when dealing with visa restrictions or traveling to meet up with a cruise or multiple cruises. In the past year, we embarked on three cruises, which required us to fly to specific embarkation points with many flights, layovers, hotel stays, and other travel expenses, such as transportation, tips, and meals.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, road trips to the seven states we’ll visit between April 1 and June 17 will require a lot of time and expense in the next few months before we fly to South Africa again.

Not much is happening today. Soon, I’ll prepare vegetables and salad for tonight’s dinner, when our main course is the final of the three-day portion of our delicious, most recent recipe. All is good here.

I’ll head out for another long walk in the corridor to ensure I meet my walking goals. I never miss a day or excuse myself from the responsibility. Since starting the yoga workouts from BetterMe, I’ve faithfully followed the routine each day for the past 23 days and will continue to do so along with walking.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 21, 2014

Humphrey Bogart is in front of Rick’s Cafe in the movie Casablanca, which we watched ten years ago in Morocco. There is an actual Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca, fashioned per the movie. For more, please click here.

Had a good idea…It didn’t work…

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Donkeys are frequently used in Morocco to transport products for vendors and shoppers in the souk and luggage for tourists.

Well, my good idea was dashed this morning when I tried everything possible to get it to work. Often, when doing the post, I like to listen to an online documentary or video podcast but prefer it to be displayed on the TV monitor instead of my phone. With my old laptop still here with an HDMI outlet, it sounded like a good idea to start using the old laptop with a broken monitor for streaming shows.

This way, I could still use my newer laptop to prepare the post while watching and listening to a streaming documentary on the TV. Sure, I could use my phone, but I often use it for other purposes while posting, such as setting the timer for walking sessions, conducting research and recipes, and responding to texts, emails, and comments.

My phone is practically glued to my hip. With a short attention span, I often refer to my phone while doing almost anything else, which keeps me entertained. Once done with the post, I set up my laptop on a chair close to the TV and HDMI cord, allowing us to stream throughout the day and evening.

No, we don’t stream all the time, but streaming is an excellent way to keep up with world news from various online news sources and to educate us on different topics. Tom doesn’t care to stream movies or series during the day and I’m okay with that. But, when I occasionally stream a documentary, he may pay attention along with me if it’s a topic he’s interested in.

I often walk indoors (as in the corridors on this floor). If a news show or documentary is on in the background, it helps me keep my mind occupied since I do not appreciate quiet contemplation, which is suitable for many but not necessarily for me. I don’t meditate or sit in silent repose while thinking of nothing. Although, while doing my daily yoga exercises, I do so quietly, paying attention to what I am doing.

While walking in the corridors, I listen to educational podcasts, making the time pass quickly. Walking alone is very dull as far as I’m concerned. Of course, conversation makes up for this if I’m walking with another person, which is a rarity. Tom doesn’t care to go for walks, especially since, at times, I’m slow.

Well, anyway, back to the laptop. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the old laptop online, although I tried several steps and reset the network to no avail. As it turns out, the network card must have been damaged when the monitor broke while we were in rough seas in the Galapagos Islands, the only time we ever suffered from seasickness.

As it turns out, we’ll take the old laptop with us to Arizona and drop it off at a recycling facility. We won’t have the rental car long enough to do this while still here. There doesn’t appear to be an electronics recycling facility nearby, and it’s not worth heading out in traffic to dispose of it. We can do this leisurely while in Apache Junction.

Today is another quiet day. We have fabulous leftovers from last night’s dinner, for which I made a salad. It feels good that all I have left to do today is more walking, the exercises, folding, and putting away one load of laundry. Easy peasy.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 20, 2014:

This kindly vendor allowed me to take a photo of his beautiful display. Most Muslim people do not allow photographs of themselves, which we respect when taking photos. As a result, he covered his face as I took this shot. For more photos, please click here.

Figuring it out…Lots of stops in the next few months…

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Beautiful flowers in Marrakesh, Morocco.

This morning, I have been busy making a dish to last through the next three dinners since we’re going out to dinner on Friday night. It’s a low-carb recipe: Mushroom Burger Scramble, made with grass-fed ground beef. It’s a favorite of ours, and we enjoy it every few months.

As a result of preparing this meal, I haven’t had a chance to walk today or do my regular yoga exercises yet. All of the ingredients are already in the baking pan in the refrigerator and ready to be baked in the oven for 40 minutes before dinner. The green salad is made, and we’ll have a little leftover chicken salad on the side. It will be a delicious dinner.

Also, this morning, we figured out when to get to Los Angeles to spend three days with my sister, Julie. We’ve yet to book a hotel for May 17 through May 20. Julie and my cousin Gayle are working on setting up a family reunion with all of our cousins who live in California. I haven’t seen most of them in 55 to 60 years.

I am the matriarch of the family, the oldest living relative on my mother’s side of the family. What a weird thought that is…me, as the oldest person in the family! It will be wonderful to see all of them and catch up after 50+ years. It will bring back a lot of memories of my childhood in California. Of course, I’ll take photos and post them.

We’ll travel to see family in many states, including Arizona, California, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and then off to Illinois to fly out of Chicago to South Africa. It’s a lot of driving, but we’ll be able to see everyone. This will be the first time we’ve ever done this long route. We’ll be driving across the country for the first time in our travels.

Once we leave California, we’ll stop in Utah for lunch or dinner with our friends Marylin and Gary, whom we met in Marloth Park (long-term readers who became such good friends). We’ll visit family and friends in seven states in the US, plus all the states we’ll drive through on our long journey.

Neither of us cares for long road trips, but driving this time makes sense. The amount we’ll save on flights and baggage will more than compensate for the hotels and meals along the way. For us, without a home, staying in hotels on our way is no big deal since we have to pay for each night anyway. We won’t book hotels for the long drive to South Dakota before heading to Minnesota.

When we reach a town with a WiFi signal, we can decide where to spend that night and book one daily. This way we’ll have a better idea of what town where we’ll be booking the hotels. We most likely will spend eight or nine hours each day driving, stopping periodically to get out, walk around, and use restrooms.

We’re enthused about this trip and looking forward to seeing everyone along the way. We’ll be able to do short posts with photos along the way. Usually, when traveling on major highways, there are few photo ops, but perhaps in some of the small towns, we’ll find points of interest worthy of taking photos.

That’s it for today. We hope you have a terrific Tuesday, and enjoy whatever you may do.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 19. 2014:

Sorry, but this is the only photo we have for today. Travelers must be reminded not to walk or step onto any grates, maintenance hole covers, or the like when walking in a foreign country. Many years ago, a friend fell into a grate, which resulted in a compound leg fracture requiring a US $25,000 fee for an air ambulance ride back to the US from Mexico. That was 30 years ago. Imagine how much it would be in today’s dollars! They had to borrow from family and friend’s credit cards to pay the fee in advance! As a result, both Tom and I do not step on grates or manhole covers, which are everywhere in the souk, the Medina, and the streets of Morocco. We ask our readers to consider taking this precaution, even at home. For more, please click here.

No more St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the Village…Questions regarding my supplement, Plan G…

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    While in Marrakesh, we visited Le Jardin’s Secret Botanical Garden, where we found many unusual varieties of cacti.

Last evening, we hoped to return to the Village since it was the actual date of St. Patrick’s Day, assuming there would be more festivities. The celebrations were on Saturday night, the 16th and last night was relatively quiet. On a few occasions, we heard voices of visitors wandering through the Village to check out the offerings, which, on a Sunday, were minimal.

Nonetheless, we had a pleasant evening, enjoying our chicken salad with a side salad of lettuce, cabbage, grape tomatoes, and celery tossed with homemade dressing. It was an easy and delicious dinner. We have leftovers and will have the chicken salad again tonight (plus rice for Tom). This morning, I made a fresh green salad.

Also, this morning, I called Aflac, wondering why they hadn’t taken out the payment from our bank account for our March premium. When I called them this morning, they stated they’d taken out the payment in February, one that I thought was a deposit but was the first payment. The policy began on March 1.

They accidentally canceled my policy earlier this month, but I resolved that error by an extended phone call. Thus, I was cautious and concerned when I didn’t see the payment come out in March. Now, I hope all is fine and nothing will go wrong. Next time I go to the cardiologist on March 27, I will pay my $240 annual deductible and won’t have to think about any future bills until next year, when another deductible of $240 will be required.

Time is passing quickly. In only nine days, I’ll have the cardiac ultrasound to determine if I need another heart surgery. It seems that everything in the future regarding our travel will depend on the results of this test. If all is well, I will be on Cloud 9, and we can proceed with worldwide travel. We shall see.

Our grocery order from Smith’s via Instacart will arrive soon. Once we have everything, we’ll walk to Season’s Market in the Village for a bottle of brandy for Tom. If there are any odds and ends, we need to supplement Smith’s order.

Much to my surprise, they are often out of things I need. I just received a message from the “picker” that he has checked out. He must have found everything we needed. I’d asked him specifically if anything wasn’t available to let me know so I could choose an alternate. He never notified me that there were any issues.

Since we’re leaving Lake Las Vegas two weeks from today, I’ve begun to think about packing, although I don’t plan to start until three or four days before we depart. Since we arrived here over three months ago, we’ve accumulated quite a bit of non-perishable grocery items and toiletries. I’ve ordered a few clothing items while here to replace many items that have become threadbare.

I’m making a pile of old clothes for Goodwill, for which we’ll arrange a pickup. We’ll also find a place to dispose of my old laptop. Other than those two tasks, we don’t have any errands to run before we go. Our efforts will be inside this condo before we depart on April 1. It only takes about five hours to drive to Apache Junction, Arizona.

That’s it for today, dear readers. We’ll be back for more tomorrow.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 18, 2014:

The souk is filled with tourists over the weekends, thinning out by Tuesday. For more photos, please click here.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate!…

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    Happy St. Patrick’s Day to our celebrating family, friends and readers!

Last night, we heard the sounds of bagpipes while putting dinner together. We ran out to the veranda to see what was happening in the Village.  Much to our delight, there was a flurry of activity in the Village.

We dropped what we were doing, put on our shoes and jackets, and headed out. The Irish music emanated from the Pub, one flight down from our floor, and wafted from other bars and restaurants in the area.

We didn’t take photos. The bars and restaurants were too busy to even enter for a few photos amid the loud activities. But it was fun to hear and see the celebrations. If it continues tonight, we will go downstairs again to see if we can take a few photos or a video to share in tomorrow’s post.

Tom is 100% Irish but rarely celebrated to any degree. Most often, he has no interest in sitting in a crowded bar with loud drinkers carrying on. Also, he doesn’t care for crowds if he can avoid them.

Before too long, we wandered back to our condo to finish making dinner, followed by a lovely meal and a relaxing evening. We couldn’t have been more content. The evening flew by quickly, and then it was time for bed. I was hoping for a good night’s sleep.

A few days ago, I wrote about trying to improve my sleep. I’ve been having trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. I had been awake for two to three hours during the night. To compensate, I’d awaken too late in the day and repeat the same process over and over again.

Promising myself to change this undesirable pattern, I decided to get up and out of bed earlier each day since I needed to be more tired when I went to bed. So far, so good. I still have trouble falling asleep but have not been awake for so long during the night.

I am a little tired from this change, but hopefully, I will soon be able to fall asleep before 1:00 am. I am only getting about 6½ hours a night, not quite enough to feel well rested but enough to not feel awful during the day. We shall see how it goes.

I am optimistic that this issue will be resolved by the time we leave here in about two weeks. I continue to work out daily and perform my usual tasks around the house.

We just finished watching CBS Sunday Morning, and at 12:30, we will start streaming the Las Vegas Golden Knights game. I’ve already prepared tonight’s chicken salad dinner with a large green salad and hung two loads of laundry on the drying rack.

I only need to walk in the corridor one more time to complete the two miles. When I return, I will do the BetterMe exercises, and then I can relax for the remainder of the day.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 17, 2014:

Colorful dresses are also offered in the souk in Marrakesh, Morocco. For more photos, please click here.

Twelve years ago today…A precious new little life in the bush…

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Norman and Nina’s daughter Natalie, the striped nyala behind this duiker, from December 12, 2022, who, at that point, had yet to be named based on gender, which we can’t yet determine. Natalie had her first foal a few days ago.

Please click the link below for a video of Natalie’s first foal, taken at Louise and Danie’s home, only a short distance from the Ratel house, where we’ll live for three months in the bush.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ij7JDeU85Pw

Above is the link to Nina and her baby, born only hours before this video was taken by our dear friend Louise a few days ago. It will be a long time until we can determine the gender of this little one, but once we know, we will give them a name, preferably one that starts with an “N.”

This photo is of Norman, Nina, and Natalie with the bushbuck we named “The Babysitter,” who always wandered the bush with Nina and Natalie.

We can’t wait to get to Marloth Park in three months, especially since our holiday home is only a few bush houses away from Louise and Danie’s home.

On another note, our first post was written and published on March 15, 2012, 12 years ago today. We didn’t begin traveling until October 31, 2012, but we started preparing posts with very few photos as we prepared to leave our old life behind. If you haven’t read that post, please click here.

Today’s post is #4218. It’s hard to grasp the concept of us posting 4218 stories, most containing photos. Initially, we thought more about writing than photos. Still, 12 years later, we certainly appreciate the importance of photos and look forward to the time when we’ll have new photos to share each day, rather than the repeated photos we’ve been sharing lately.

When we discussed the 12 years of posting, it’s hard to believe we began so many years ago. That first post and the day we published it is as clear in our minds as if it was only days ago. We’re both smiling over this milestone anniversary.

We want to thank every one of our worldwide readers for following along with us for so long and for our newer readers who found us online over the years. Your loyalty, friendship, email, and comments are always appreciated. We’ve never felt alone in our travels with all of you beside us.

Our passion for continuing to post hasn’t diminished over the years. But I must admit, having new experiences with photos makes it all the easier to write stories daily. No doubt, it’s been a bit tedious these past several months since we arrived at the less-than-desirable house in Ecuador, where we were so far from everything we seldom took photos.

Here in Lake Las Vegas, which we’ve thoroughly enjoyed, the lack of photo ops has hindered our objective of presenting varied and exciting posts. Soon enough, we’ll be back in Africa. How long we stay there beyond the three months we’ve booked will be determined by the results of my upcoming heart scan on March 27. If the results are good, we can begin planning more adventures. If not, we’ll go from there with a new plan.

Tonight, we’ll be out for dinner and a movie with Richard and his girlfriend, and we hope to take some photos in the process.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 15, 2014:

While at PepeNero restaurant for lunch, it was bright and comfortably warm from the sun in the courtyard as we were seated near one of the flowery fountains. For more photos, please click here.

Difficulty sleeping…What’s a solution?…Early riser?

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Lots of cheap shoes are offered for sale in the souks in Morocco.

Most nights, when I head to bed, I hope to get a good night’s sleep. However, I have discovered that not worrying about sleeping when I am awake for two or three hours helps make the awake time more tolerable. Overall, I get enough hours of sleep, but only if I try to go back to sleep until 9:00 am or even later.

That schedule makes my days too short when I have so much to accomplish, especially now that I spend so much time exercising. I’d like more free time during the day to read, research, and perhaps even relax when I’m done with everything else.

This morning, I decided on a new plan: getting up early, thus allowing myself to be more tired when I go to bed. That new time may be 6:00 or 6:30 am like I have for most of my life. It’s only been in the past month or two that I’ve had a hard time falling asleep, and now I believe it’s because I get up too late when I’ve finally fallen back to sleep at 3:00 or 4:00 am.

So today, my new plan begins, and regardless of how I am tomorrow morning, I will get up early. Hopefully, this new schedule will work for me within a week or two. No doubt I’ll be exhausted in the interim, but it’s the only way that comes to mind as a possible solution.

This morning, I forced myself to get up at 9:00 instead of 10:00 am and started my day knowing I had to wash and dry the bedding and other laundry. Tomorrow, I’ll shoot for an 8:00 am wakeup and so forth.

We’re going out for dinner and a movie with Richard and his girlfriend tomorrow night. I hope I don’t fall asleep during the movie after dinner. If a movie isn’t entirely entertaining, I can easily nod off for short periods. Hopefully, it’s entertaining enough to keep me awake.

Also, this new schedule will help prepare me for the cardiology ultrasound at 8:15 am on March 27. I’ll have to arrange for the Uber to pick me up at 7:30 am since the location is about 30 minutes from here. By then, the new schedule should make it easy to get up, get ready, and head out the door so early.

Months ago, when we frequently had to catch an early morning flight or go on a tour, getting to the airport or venue early in the morning was a lot easier than it would be to get up early right now.

Do you have any suggestions for better sleep you’d like to share? If so, please post in the “comments” section at the bottom of this page. We’d love to hear from you!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 14, 2014:

Locals commiserating in the Medina in Marrakesh, Morocco. For more photos, please click here.