OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.
Weekend, a real one. There was a little bit of work, but mostly because I felt like it. For the rest of the time, I indulged in creative activities: compiled my timeline, continued crocheting, listened to Meditative Stories, read a few snippets here and there (the hunger and concentration for books are gradually returning) and gardened. It was good to watch the rugby with my love and to go for a walk around the Rondebosch Common together. But the highlight of the weekend was the live Derek Gripper concert at the Alma Café.
I listed to one of Derek’s live online concerts during hard lockdown last year while cooking dinner one evening, and the joyous memory stuck with me. Last time my brother was in Cape Town just before the lockdown, we went to see Derek live at Maynardville. Today, after weeks of not being able to operate, the Alma Café reopened with a live concert and, together with twenty-odd socially distanced patrons (nowadays that’s a packed venue), my love and I basked in Derek’s guitar storytelling. His music and the tales he told brought the world into the small space of the café and transported us into a time beyond the relentless present. I am listening to “One Night on Earth: Live in 2021” available on Derek’s website as I type. It is sublime. Pure magic.
To be under the same sky or roof with a performer of such talent and skill has always been a privilege. Now, it is what keeps hope for a better tomorrow alive. Thank you, Derek and the Alma Folks, for nourishing our souls – with beauty and deliciousness (the world’s greatest lemon meringue pie was on the menu tonight!).
Good night.
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
— NICD
Karina Magdalena 