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

— @HaggardHawks

I did not leave as early as I had wanted to, but once I was on the road, everything went smoothly, rain and all. Driving on the N1 out of Cape Town always reminds me of my first trip to South Africa with my brother, February 2004: we travelled on the N1 all the way up to Joburg and beyond. It was amazing.

McGregor has a different history. I have been coming here regularly for nearly seven years – for two reasons: restoration and poetry, sometimes both at the same time – like now.

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The Poetry in McGregor Festival begins on Friday night, but I am here early to simply be, rest. I rented a little cottage on the outskirts of town but within walking distance of every place one would want to walk to in McGregor, like the tiny grocer that sells milk or the local garagist wine cellar, Bemind. Being here without tasting a glass of their MCC would feel incomplete.

I arrived, walked, bought milk and bubbly, watched two talks I have been meaning to watch on YouTube for a long time, had biltong and a G&T, listened to the rain, had a long, hot shower, and walked to Tebaldi’s for dinner (one can do that here, alone, without fear). On my way back, I looked at all the offers of properties for sale in McGregor and surroundings. The seeming calm of the place is always tempting. But maybe it appears like to this to visitors only?

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Dinner for one, with poetry manuscript and cat.

It is going to be an early night, and probably an early morning. There will be dreams in new places, coffee, and a chocolate muffin I brought with me specially for the occasion. I also brought with me many great books to read (I always travel with a library), but I might just watch the birds build a nest outside my cottage. It’s soothing.

Good night from McGregor.

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

A very long day with an even longer to-do list, but the most important stuff got done, and at the end of it all was my love and a HARU burger (two for one on a Tuesday night, and they are THE BEST burgers in town).

And tomorrow, rain is supposed to fall, so my sitting in the sun might be metaphorical, but no matter what the weather, I can’t wait for some rest. I am falling over with exhaustion, physical and mental.

Early night.

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

Unmoored. Maybe it’s just my hormones, or the prospect of travelling again, or maybe I am under too much pressure – whatever the reason, unmoored is how I feel.

I did manage to rest on Sunday morning, but since then the to-do list has been relentless. What keeps me going is that spot in the sun in the middle of nowhere that has my name on it. It’s waiting … Soon.

Highlight of the weekend: picking up my love from the airport after his trip. Everything is better when he is near.

The last Karavan Press title of the year is at the printers and we are reprinting one other book. Ahead of us is the Poetry in McGregor Festival, three launches at EB Cavendish, the Karavan Press Literary Festival (fully sold out), and two more book launches at the Alma Café. The last event is on the 8th. It will be amazing to interact with readers on such a scale again. Then: the festive season, which in my case will be the doing-nothing season. I am putting pink bubbly on ice.

I was picking up a pizza for dinner the other day when I heard a song on the radio that just stole my heart after only a few seconds. I jotted down a few lines of the lyrics on the pizza box to find it again, and I have been listening on repeat ever since:

‘Take Me To The River’ by Connell Cruise

Great to discover that this is a local singer/songwriter. I will have to do some more research. But for now, this song is enough.

Darkness surrenders softly
The sunlight caresses your skin
You’re my forever lover
I’m your original sin

Good night.

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

A good day. Work in the morning and rest for the rest of the day (word repetition intended). James Leatt had a book signing at EB Somerset Mall today and I went to make sure that he had company between the signatures. I met friends for coffee beforehand, and while at the bookshop, I found The Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Anthology Vol VIII on sale: in it, poems by Lester Walbrugh and Luthando Dlamini, among others, but I bought the book because of these two poems, both stunning. I feel honoured to be working with the two writers who wrote them. And I look forward to the rest of the anthology.

My friend Debbie came to visit in the afternoon and could be persuaded to stay for a simple braai on my stoep in the evening. As a gift, she brought me the beautiful wire bird pictured above. And as always, she also brought a lot of wisdom and kindness into a few hours of our conversation. People like her are the greatest treasures in my life.

And talking about treasures: my love is coming home tomorrow.

But first: I intend to spend Sunday morning being super lazy. That’s the plan.

Good night.

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

Friday felt like a marathon with one pit stop. It started at the printers with an attempt to make pool water look blue, not green, on a cover of a book, and at the same time not to make the author look sunburnt on the flap of the same cover. And all of this on paper that is not entirely white, and when it is laminated, it looks slightly different than before, too. I think we got it now and I can’t wait for readers to dive into Melissa’s first novelette, The Pool Guy.

The rest of the morning was reserved for the final corrections of the last Karavan Press book of the year: Cathy Park Kelly’s Boiling a Frog Slowly. It is going to print on Monday.

I returned home just in time for a book pickup by another Karavan Press author and wanted to lure her into having lunch with me at HARU (no time for breakfast, so I was starving), but she had to run, and so I decided to enjoy the delicious break on my own, pink wine and all.

Luxury of all luxuries nowadays: while eating, I started reading a new book just for the pure pleasure of it. I picked Abudulrazak Gurnah’s Memory of Departure. The reading itself is a pleasure, but the content is shockingly sad. I am almost scared to turn the pages.

Is the latest Harry Bosch out yet? Even a crime novel might be an emotionally safer read in comparison.

The rest of the day: A D M I N. I finished late in the evening. After a leftovers dinner, I watched one episode of Star Trek: Picard with Krystian. By the time it ended, it was well after ten and I could not keep my eyes open any longer.

Karavan Press has one cover shortlisted for the GBAS Book Cover Design Awards, and Disruption also made it!

Disruption is now available as an audio book, too:

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

The Moti brothers were freed. FW de Klerk died. The mini-budget speech was delivered. Eskom announced that loadshedding will be suspended tomorrow morning (for now). And it wasn’t even three in the afternoon yet. Interesting times on steroids.

I just worked all day long until four-thirty when I left Noordhoek (where I was completing work on a manuscript with an author) and went to join a few lovely friends for drinks and a light supper. It was a beautiful late afternoon/evening full of true magic.

But all day long I have been thinking about McGregor. I am going there for the Poetry Festival and a few days of just sitting in the sun and doing NOTHING. The idea of these idle sunlit hours in McGregor makes me want to travel there immediately, even now in the middle of the night. Soon …

Until then, I continue dreaming.

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

Five years ago, I sat at a dinner table, feeling too miserable for words and watching the man sitting across tell wonderful stories with an exuberance that was charming and inspiring. All others at the table were also entertaining and kind, and I went home feeling a little bit less sorry for myself than before.

Today, that man is my love and my life is millions of miles away from the misery of that life-changing evening. We cannot have dinner together tonight because my love is travelling, but we did have a few minutes to ourselves this morning and he gave me a beautiful gift – an Alice Toich | Beagle & Basset artwork that is balm for the eye and gentle comfort to the touch. Simply beautiful.

A day of work otherwise. An evening of remembering, quiet love and gratitude.

Good night.

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

• 

• 

Glinka and the vet survived this morning’s visit to the clinic. I am still nursing my wounds. She was IMPOSSIBLE in the car, and WORSE at the vet’s, but we made it. She is now fully vaccinated for another year and the only totally healthy cat in the family. Mr Mozart’s blood test results showed the beginnings of a kidney issue, but we hope he will respond well to a different diet. We are getting older and frailer. And all my loved ones are officially on special diets. Me too: the pink bubbly diet (the only thing that helps).

The rest of the day was just an avalanche of work-related issues – the highlight was the delivery of author’s copies of Beat Routes to Justin. The poetry collection has been many years in the making, so it feels special to have it finally ready to face the world. I also had the privilege of reading Stephen Symons’s latest poems and am awed. We are so ready for the McGregor Poetry Festival!

I visited our printers today. Loadshedding is ridiculous to manage for such businesses. We might not get all the books printed according to schedule, but we have to be kind and patient under the circumstances – everyone is struggling.

This wasn’t exactly struggling, but I got myself takeaway breakfast this morning and had it in the car in my driveway, listening to the radio, during this morning’s power failure. It almost felt ordinary … In all this chaos, no wonder.

My love is going off on a short business trip tomorrow and we had dinner at HARU tonight. The small-big pleasures in life.

Did I mention I am tired?

Baie moeg.

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

Loadshedding galore. Before the lights went off this evening, I thought: let me use this time to catch up with my ironing. Duh. Then: maybe I can mow the lawn before it gets dark? Duh. And finally: backwash the pool? Triple duh.

I braaied a simple dinner for us and, when my love went home, I drank a glass of red by candlelight and wrote this post on my fully charged laptop. Will put it up when the power comes back on.

But otherwise, this has been a good day. Lots of work got done and the vet gave me relatively good news: Salieri’s results have improved in two out of three areas. The most important one – the thyroid – is finally within acceptable levels. Still on the high end of the scale, but better than it has been in months. The liver is just lagging behind after the onslaught it has endured. No operation. Raincheck in three months. We continue with the strict diet.

And Mr Mozart also braved his annual visit to the vet today and got all his vaccines, especially his rabis refresher now that there is an outbreak in the Cape. I am a bit worried about his kidneys, but let’s see what the blood results will say in his case. He was very dapper in the car and at the vet’s, but was completely disorientated after our return home. Poor thing. It took him a while to figure out where he was and what was what. And he is staying close to me now – just making sure that he is safe.

It’s Glinka’s turn tomorrow. I am expecting some hissing bravado and a complete refusal to travel in the cage. Whose resolve will be stronger? Well, no points for guessing it right!

For the rest of loadshedding, since I can’t do my ironing, I am getting into a bath with a book that has been begging to be finished for weeks (not much time for reading for pure pleasure these days). Thank goodness that we are not approaching day zero while this eskoming goes on! What would I do during loadshedding evenings without the possibility of getting into the bath …?

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

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

— NICD

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

— @HaggardHawks

What a great weekend!

It started off with a few hours of work on Saturday morning and, to be honest, the work should have continued around our social engagements but, in the end, the fun took over and it was just great.

On Saturday, we met friends for lunch who, due to serious health concerns, had been in self-imposed lockdown level five until they could get fully vaccinated. This was their first outing to Cape Town since March last year! And we made the most of it. A feast at FYN and post-feast drinks at Culture Wine Bar.

There were two literary wines involved in the afternoon, one from the UK (!), the other from France.

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The Jane Eyre was a gift that I brought home with me that evening and it will be waiting to be opened for a special occasion. Not too long, it seems … there are so many reasons to celebrate, especially after this weekend!

When I finally fell into bed on Saturday evening, my heart was filled with gladness – that our friends made it through the madness of hard lockdown for one and a half years, and that they are now safe enough to go out of their house and celebrate life and friendship with us.

And if I hadn’t know it already, the fact how precious all of this is would have been brought home to me on Sunday morning when I briefly met with a friend at the Baxter for the Christmas market and she told me about one of her friends who has been fighting for his life due to COVID-19 in ICU for the past three months. It was good to see my friend, but so sad to think that this is still happening all over the world despite lockdown and vaccination efforts.

Sunday lunch was with new friends on a farm in the stunning Banhoek Valley. For someone who usually does not drink white wine, I enjoyed myself tremendously throughout the afternoon. The company was amazing and the wines a beautiful surprise. I might turn out to be a white wine drinker after all …

And because we hadn’t had enough fun yet, in the evening we went to the Alma Café to hear Derek Gripper perform magic on his guitar. He is a genius. To listen to him play is a spiritual experience. And there was Retha’s lemon meringue pie … Bliss.

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During the first half of the show, though, I was also trying to watch with one eye on my phone the live feed, on silent, of the SALA ceremony, so I did not really know what was going on, but eventually the fantastic news reached me that Karen Jenning won the K. Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for her An Island. Is there a better way to end a weekend?

And we are reprinting the book again! It will need a new sticker …

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

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

— NICD