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

— @HaggardHawks

Excavations at home continue. I have a lot of stuff. My house needs urgent TLC. In the last two days, I have carried so many books from one place to another (rearranging bookshelves etc.) that my body is broken. I feel worse than after climbing Table Mountain without any preparations. But: the results are great. And I am finding the most fascinating things – long forgotten or never remembered – among my belongings. It all feels good. The house is sighing with relief. I am getting rid of things that need to go. This is the year of dealing with the past, and of renewal.

Yesterday, my counsellor and I had another breakthrough. The excavations are not only physical.

After the session, a dear friend took me out to a birthday lunch at the Hoghouse. I am still smiling.

I have so much literary work to plough through, I don’t know which way to turn first, but this too shall pass, this chaos. Bird by bird …

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

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

— NICD