I loved every second of it – Poetry in McGregor: the time with my love; the reconnecting with friends in the literary community; the readings, launches and performances; the screeching of the peacocks in the garden at Temenos; the great coffee from the coffee truck and the Clemengold G&T’s; the hearty food at Tebaldi’s; the country sunsets; and the beauty of all those words washing over us during the entire weekend. We are hungry for real live engagement and entertainment and, when it is poetry, it feels a million times more special.

It was Nadine Gordimer’s 98th birthday on Saturday. I owe her so much and have been celebrating the occasion for as long as I have known her. Her words brought me to South Africa in 2004. And who said that poetry ‘makes nothing happen’ … :)

But we also received very sad news that day from the furry family at Oudrif. Beloved Peanut, Dassie Huntress Extraordinaire, passed away. She will be missed. She was one of my favourite dogs ever. I am so glad that we saw her recently and had the opportunity to hunt dassies together (even though we never caught one, of course) …

While away, I had nightmares about Salieri being ill and our festival audience not turning up for the event and, and, and … Anxiety manifesting in weird ways at night. But we had a great audience at the festival, and my lovely catsitter was so kind to the Furry Ones that they only missed me a little. And they are all fine and happy. They were all relaxed when I returned home. And this lovely gift was waiting for me from Sue Brown, a Karavan Press author:

I do work with the most wonderful and generous people. And it is so good to be back home with my furry loved ones.

But the return was also chaos. The to-do lists are mushrooming around me. And it was time for Topolino’s 50 000 km service! ‘Your car is in very good condition,’ I was told. Thank all motor-goddesses!