The quietude of the bush has returned….Lovely human visitors…

This is Marigold. She visits daily.

I’ve been sitting outside for the past 20 minutes, and not a single car has passed on the dirt road adjoining our holiday rental. We are situated on a stand (lot) that borders a dirt road, often used by tourists when going to and from their various holiday homes. Today, there are none.

Yes, many homeowners in Marloth Park live here year-round. The last I heard, it was about 800. The remainder of the houses and resorts are rented during the busy holiday times. But, many holidaymakers rent homes over the weekends and the week during regular times.

This is Spikey. He always jumps over the fence for his pellets since he doesn’t like sharing with Lollie, our resident pig.

We are happy for our friends that own and manage houses, such as Louise and Danie, when they are busy now, especially after the horrible slowdown during the pandemic. Currently, petrol prices keep many holidaymakers away, and international travelers are still uncertain about flying with many restrictions and protocols.

We were delighted this morning at 10:00 am when Louise’s parents, Estelle and Johan, stopped by to see us. We love this lovely couple and have seen them each time they visit Louise and Danie from their home in Cape Town, South Africa. Louise is younger than most of our children, so they are only a little older than us.

Spikey, eating a piece of lettuce.

It’s always wonderful to see them once again. Their primary language is Afrikaans, but they speak English quite well. The conversation flowed with ease, and we had an excellent chat. Indeed, we’ll see them again during their month-long stay here, which we’re both looking forward to.

I can’t believe Rita and Gerhard will be here on July 30th. They’ll need a day or two to recover from their long journey, and then we’ll all be together again. We’re invited to Alan and Fiona’s bush house this Saturday for sundowners. It will be fun to see the two of them again.

Tom was feeding a few Big Daddies.

The last time we saw Alan and Fiona, about a month ago, they came here for sundowners at 4:30 pm, 1600 hrs. and stayed until after midnight. There’s never a shortage of conversation with this fun couple. We love our social life here, and over the next few months, it will pick up as more and more friends come to the park.

Due to the excessive load shedding, we’re trying to use the frozen items we have on hand as much as possible. We are tired of worrying about food in the refrigerator and freezer spoiling during extended power outages. The 2½ hour load shedding periods usually don’t cause food to spoil, but on many occasions, the outages last longer when power poles are knocked down, or the equipment is vandalized or stolen.

Big Daddy, Norman, Lollie, Rueben, and Busybody were sharing pellets.

It was only a few days ago; the power was out for almost 12 hours. Also, due to load shedding, major appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines can stop working or have issues working properly, which are both problems at our house. We’ve found that unplugging the appliances for a while or even 24 hours seems to reset them to start working correctly again.

But, this requires completely emptying the refrigerator, which is bothersome and time-consuming. Hopefully, we don’t have to do that too many more times.  News popping up that load shedding may come to a halt soon, but nothing is being done to warrant these news reports. We shall see.

Four Big Daddies were in the garden.

Soon, we’ll head out to the little market for a few items we need to round out some dishes we’ll be preparing in the next several days while using up some of the meat in the freezer. Otherwise, it will be a quiet day in the bush, as we’re only distracted by the endless stream of wildlife visitors who come to call.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, July 19, 2021:

My breakfast at the Lucky Penny Restaurant at the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Sa in Henderson, Nevada, consisted of flourless egg-white wraps containing chicken, avocado, and cheese, topped with pickled onions. Delicious! For more photos, please click here.

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