The countdown begins

We will be leaving the continent one week from today. We have been waiting for this for a long time, and the days cannot go by quickly enough. I vacillate between feeling stressed out about things beyond my control and then being quite at peace. It’s hard staying occupied and we often feel bored and restless. That being said, we are trying to stay busy. We read and compose emails offline. We read magazines (although we are both in great need of a good book). We visit with the neighbor. We go for walks a couple times a day. We go grocery shopping and cook. Two days ago, we discovered what was a close cousin to a Whole Foods Market. Yippee!

We are watching more movies than ever before. Most of them are repeats which is ok. Pay it forward was one, which is such an excellent movie about being compelled toward random acts of kindness. Tonight it might be Zorro. Couldn’t do the Lord of the Rings saga, but think I might be up to see the Bourne trilogy again, especially if it decided to rain and we watched the movies as a marathon.

Russ feels better each day and his level of activity grows exponentially. We found a couple of places outside of the complex to go walking. But every day he still takes a short nap, which isn’t a bad thing. I often join him.

The days are beautiful and there are always a few hours in mid-day that are rather warm. Yesterday was downright hot. In the mornings and late afternoons however, it is quite chilly and we find ourselves changing clothes a few times a day. The house is not heated, which makes for lazy mornings under a big duvet in bed. Russ says it feels like October in Dalton; there is something about the air though that reminds me of Southern California in the middle of winter. There are even oak trees losing their leaves. In any case, it is lovely.

It feels like we are on weight watchers again, which again is not a bad thing, with now so much more motivation. I have no problem abstaining from red meat, as we focus on lean sources of protein. Russ is ready to totally cut out all foods high in saturated fat. Thank goodness that does not include avocados, fish, and nuts which we both love. Our weakness is French fries, so we are baking them. The fresh produce selection here is incredible and I am thankful for that.

Annette stopped by yesterday as she is in the area for a training program. It was good to see her again. It was also a national holiday because of municipal elections. Record numbers of people stayed away from the polls; they are disillusioned with ANC but will not vote against the party. One of the major issues was not having proper sanitation. Een toilet, een stem (one toilet one vote) was the rallying cry. Not sure if anyone was listening.

But I digress…time to go back out and sit in the sun.