OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

It’s snowing in Salzburg.

I had a secret hope that I would still somehow make it to Austria this year. Oh well. My secret hope was just that. I haven’t made any plans, bought any tickets, reserved any accommodation. Many of my friends and people I know have, but the world is shutting down its borders and all those plans are coming to nothing. It is devastating.

I don’t even dare to think what this is doing to the travel industry.

It’s raining in Cape Town. I had to readjust my plans for the festival tomorrow, but I hope that everything will proceed smoothly anyway. One needs to be flexible nowadays. The other options is staying in a corner and weeping. Not tomorrow.

Two manuscripts arrived on Karavan Press’s doorstep, one with a fresh bunch of basil. I look forward to reading both. But first, we celebrate the arrival of the first copies of Cathy Park Kelly’s triumphant memoir, Boiling a Frog Slowly. Fresh off the press today.

It was a long, difficult day. But Nancy Richards brought flowers and my love and I went to The Hoghouse for dinner, so the day ended on a delicious note. Now: sleep. If all that thunder and rain allow.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD