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

— @HaggardHawks

My birthday week begins. Best present: Mom and my love got their booster shots and both feel fine.

Present to myself: writing. My beautiful friend Joanne and I decided to meet once a week for a morning of writing and just sit together in a room and do nothing but write and then have a simple lunch together and chat. Last week, I felt like the words were flying off my fingertips. This week they were flying on steroids. It is an amazing feeling to write again – to write the book which has been burning in me for over five years. Finally, it’s happening.

Monday is also household duties day, so I did a lot of that and then went for a swim, and in the late afternoon attended the first of five lectures by Karen Jennings at the UCT Summer School. It was wonderful to see Karen again and to listen to her was pure enlightening joy. I mostly had a great time during my university days, so I return to a lecture room with many good memories. Karen’s topic is fascinating: HOW SOCIAL INSECTS HAVE SCUTTLED ACROSS THE THRESHOLD BETWEEN SCIENCE AND LITERATURE THROUGH THE AGES. I can’t wait for the next four lectures.

It was lovely to see a young woman walk up to Karen after the lecture and ask her to sign a copy of An Island for her. She said that Karen has become her favourite writer and she is reading everything that Karen has written. I know how she feels – to discover writers through one of their books and then seek out everything else they have written is one of my favourite occupations.

In the evening, my love and I met up with two dear friends who are visiting from Europe and we exchanged stories while watching a spectacular sunset outside their cottage and delighting in delicious food and drink. It was the best end to a really good day.

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

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

— NICD