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

— @HaggardHawks

It was all about food: Salieri’s and ours. The day started off badly – with syringes and my desperation – but by noon, Salieri was eating the special thyroid food on her own, and most importantly: visibly enjoying it. I think the trick was the temperature, either room or slightly higher. She does not want the stuff straight out of the fridge. Full success. I broke out into a horrible rendition of “Ode to Joy” several times during the afternoon. My poor neighbours.

My love and I could celebrate tonight with a feast at The Hoghouse and what a feast it was. It all went very well with a pint of their porter, my favourite of their wonderful beers. And I brought some goodies home that are going to keep me happy throughout the weekend :)

The best pastéis de nata in town, and way beyond, me thinks.

The rest of the day was work and … READING! Yes, two mornings of reading in a row. I finished a manuscript that I hope to publish, and tomorrow, I will finish a novel I have been ‘reading’ for weeks. It feels good to be able to focus.

A friend phoned at lunchtime and we spoke about lottery wins and travel – the days we could just go places without giving it much thought …

I also met with one of my authors on Skype to discuss ‘what’s next’. It’s a good question in all respects. But since yesterday, I have been thinking about the advice David Duchovny got from one of his teachers: ‘You don’t have to go back.’

Two more weeks until my second jab. Fully vaccinated by mid-September. Just imagine!

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“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 scatterbrain kind of day despite an unusually restful night and a morning with Meditative Story – an episode with David Duchovny, who, it appears, is also a novelist. In the past, I loved fiction written by Ethan Hawks, Carrie Fisher and James Franco. I hope to add Duchovny to the list. Time for another visit to the Book Lounge to order some books.

Today, I confused the time of a meeting, forgot a promise I made, wanted to reply to an email I’d already answered on Wednesday – and so it went on, BUT, in the end, all was well and a lot got done.

Salieri and I did not have an ideal day. Special diets have never worked for either of us, so I shouldn’t be surprised that we are both struggling to adapt. Big sigh. We hope for a better day tomorrow.

My love and I are trying out new foods/dishes with more success and tonight’s dinner was purely vegetarian. But tomorrow night we return to a favourite restaurant. Table booked and I can’t wait.

Together with Michael King and Masande Ntshanga, I recently spoke to Nancy Richards about sixty years of Contrast/New Contrast and the future of the magazine. You can listen to the BooksStoriesPeople episode here: “MICHAEL KING, KARINA SZCZUREK & MASANDE NTSHANGA – By complete Contrast”

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“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

Karavan Press is going to be a home not only for Karavan Press books, but also for other titles in need of local distribution. Today, I met briefly with the first author whose books we will be distributing and she gave me a bunch of beautiful proteas to celebrate. I loved both her books as a reader, and it will be a great pleasure to represent them on the local market.

The rest of the day was one meeting and errand after another, all ending with good news for the present and the immediate future, but by the time I got home, there was no time left to cook dinner and my love and I ended up at HARU – always a treat.

I found a 20c coin today. And had an enlightening session with my counsellor. I haven’t slept properly for a week again now, but maybe tonight is the night. It’s up and down, up and down. Salieri and I are struggling to get her diet right, but I consulted with the vet today and I hope that I can implement the new strategy starting tomorrow.

Nearly six hundred Covid-deaths in the last twenty-four hours. The third wave nightmare continues.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“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

Spoilt rotten. That’s how I felt at the end of the day when my love invited me to dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, FYN. They were closed for a while (you know why) and have now reopened with a bang and a winter menu to live for.

This feast tasted even better and the evening was more relaxed than it would have been only a few days ago, because I knew that my feline patient at home was also enjoying her food. The first time we tried the thyroid diet, it was very difficult to get her to eat, but now she is gobbling it all up, and I still have tears in my eyes seeing her enjoy her food. I am frightened of what still lies ahead of us, but every day I have more and more hope that it will all be soon behind us and Salieri will enjoy many more years of her beautiful life.

The day itself was exhausting, but in a good way. Meetings, deliveries, admin, visits to two bookshops and PostNet and the post office. I feel like I should have a frequent visitor card for both. They know me by name at all the local branches.

I also saw my counsellor and we spoke about my timeline and dreams and crocheting and meditation and enabling, and most of it is not easy, but it helps to make me feel less afraid. I had a few nights of real sleep in the past week. Miracles in progress.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“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

Karina Day, or 2 August, my name day. My best friend from Austria was the first one to send wishes just after midnight. I slept! I am managing to sleep again; it feels like a miracle. A day of drinking bubbly followed, but mainly because of other celebrations. My dear friend Debbie cooked a delicious lunch for us and we opened a bottle of bubbly to celebrate Karen’s Booker longlisting. Debbie was one of the novel’s first SA readers and she is the artist behind the beautiful cover illustrations.

I returned home just in time for another botte of bubbly and another lovely celebration: Nancy, Monique and I toasted The Skipper’s Daughter on my stoep. The book is making its way into the world and I cannot thank Nancy and Monique enough for the amazing time we spent working on it together.

In the evening, my love and I had a simple but delicious takeaway dinner from a new Greek place in my neighbourhood: Yiayia’s Table. I spoke to Mom and Krystian on Skype afterwards.

I spent the rest of the evening at my computer, trying to catch up with work. I dropped into bed at midnight.

And today was one of those days when I found myself running around from one place to another, doing a million things and feeling as if I had achieved nothing. I need a PA.

Two beautiful bunches of roses arrived at my gate today: name day flowers from my family and a sunny bouquet from one of Karavan Press’s authors to congratulate us on the longlisting. I am still smiling – what a privilege it is to know such lovely people and to work with them and to call them friends.

Salieri and I are working on her diet transition. She needs to go on the thyroid diet before her operation. I think we are doing well. The most important thing right now is that she is eating and not losing weight. And her beautiful fur is gradually re-growing in all the shaved spots.

An ADT technician came to replace another faulty beam in my alarm. He had been here a few times before and has always been kind and efficient in solving my alarm issues. He and his immediate family have managed to avoid getting Covid-19, and he has had both vaccines, but he was asking me whether I have had mine, whether I was okay and keeping safe, not only from theft. A stranger who cares about others.

On a day when another five hundred plus people have been reported dead from Covid-19.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“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

• 

• 

• 

Weekend, a real one. There was a little bit of work, but mostly because I felt like it. For the rest of the time, I indulged in creative activities: compiled my timeline, continued crocheting, listened to Meditative Stories, read a few snippets here and there (the hunger and concentration for books are gradually returning) and gardened. It was good to watch the rugby with my love and to go for a walk around the Rondebosch Common together. But the highlight of the weekend was the live Derek Gripper concert at the Alma Café.

I listed to one of Derek’s live online concerts during hard lockdown last year while cooking dinner one evening, and the joyous memory stuck with me. Last time my brother was in Cape Town just before the lockdown, we went to see Derek live at Maynardville. Today, after weeks of not being able to operate, the Alma Café reopened with a live concert and, together with twenty-odd socially distanced patrons (nowadays that’s a packed venue), my love and I basked in Derek’s guitar storytelling. His music and the tales he told brought the world into the small space of the café and transported us into a time beyond the relentless present. I am listening to “One Night on Earth: Live in 2021” available on Derek’s website as I type. It is sublime. Pure magic.

To be under the same sky or roof with a performer of such talent and skill has always been a privilege. Now, it is what keeps hope for a better tomorrow alive. Thank you, Derek and the Alma Folks, for nourishing our souls – with beauty and deliciousness (the world’s greatest lemon meringue pie was on the menu tonight!).

Good night.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“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

Another day of Salieri eating all on her own. I got a scale for her, so that we can monitor her weight until her operation. It pleases me no end that she has gained a little bit of weight since her return from the clinic. We must just watch out that she doesn’t get too much exercise while crocheting … ;)

A lovely visit from a friend in the afternoon. We had tea on the stoep.

I picked up the author’s copies of the latest Karavan Press book today and will be handing them over to the author tomorrow. This is always such a joyous moment. The book turned out so well. Even though I have read it several times during the production process, I find it highly inviting in its published form again.

At the end of the day, I received an incredibly kind and generous email. There are some really decent people out there, and it is a huge privilege to be working with them.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“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

I slept through the night, for seven straight hours. I don’t remember when was the last time this happened. And I fell asleep in all my day clothes, just after flossing my teeth in bed. I meant to brush them and to get into PJs, but … I know I was too tired and too frustrated with my laptop (suddenly very slow, but all back to normal today after some TLC) to write Oysterhood last night, but I did not know that I was this tired. In general, yes (exhausted for months now), but not in particular. Yesterday seemed like a rather calm day. I listened to another Meditative Story, read (yes!), met with a lovely author on Skype, did some work and ran some errands (I am still on leave, but a certain longlist cannot be ignored and it is the loveliest of things to have to think about and do things around), and in the evening had another delicious Kitchen Republik dinner with my love, while we finished watching Mare of Easttown (an excellent series).

I slept, and it felt like a miracle.

My brother reported that he did have a reaction to his second jab: fever, tiredness, chills in the night, etc. Nothing that he wasn’t expecting. My Mom also suffered a little after her second dose, so I guess, if it runs in the family, I will have to take a day or two off after my second jab at the end of August. I can’t wait anyway!

Over five hundred people reported dead in the last twenty-four hours, and the same the day before. Official warnings about local hospitals at full capacity this weekend. This is not the time to do stupid things that might lead you to the trauma unit.

Joburg experienced an earth tremor this morning.

I keep thinking: Are there volcanoes in South Africa?

Good news is the GOLD and world record at the Olympics for Tatiana Schoenmaker. Congratulations! And I still haven’t watched a single Olympics event … Hopefully, this weekend!

Friday. I am starting a new crocheting project. And I have to do therapy homework – something I am really looking forward to: my life’s timeline.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“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 story! Yes, I am still pinching myself. Even though I had felt how special this book is from the very first page of the manuscript, and the longlist is not a surprise in this respect. But when I think back under what kind of circumstances Robert from Holland House Books and I made the book happen in the UK and here respectively, it all feels like a miracle.

I will continue believing in these stories, the ones that need a home where kindness lives. Holland House Books is such a home. And I hope that Karavan Press is, too.

I have loved Karen’s writing for so many years now. To see it shining in the world like this is pure joy.

The other reason for celebration is that my brother had his second jab today. All three of the people who are closest to me are now fully vaccinated and so much safer than they had been for much too long. My heart is beating with a calmer rhythm.

I saw my counsellor today again. It was only our third meeting, but she also makes my heart and mind calm down. I feel safe with her. And at a time when I am battling fear and anxiety on many levels, this is a huge gift.

Another gift was the arrival of Penny Haw’s latest novel, The Wilderness Between Us, just released in the US. I am still struggling to read – I am struggling with everything, really – but I have a sense that I might be able to lose myself in this story. Can’t wait!

• 

• 

I cooked a version of lecsó tonight for the first time in years. It was delicious, even if I say so myself. Cooking also relaxes me. And sharing food with my love is always a highlight of the day.

Sharing food with Salieri is not as easy, but we have managed another day without syringes. It wasn’t entirely easy to find things she wanted to eat, but we are getting there. Yesterday morning, she vomited again, but luckily it only happened once. Her fur is growing back everywhere. And she loves meditating with me. I think she is soothed by the music and the voices. I definitely am. Small steps.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

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

— NICD