Checking in

I'm sorry I have been away from this blog for so long, but my mother died on April 8th, and life has been a bit of a blur ever since. April was taken by grief, and then I had to go on a scheduled trip to Africa (not to complain about a trip to Africa, but it came at an inauspicious time), and so I spent two weeks in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Although I hadn't wanted to go, the trip was beautiful and restorative. South Africa was for poetry, the Poetry Festival of the Western Cape, convened by Breyten Breytenbach, and Zimbabwe was a visit to a dear friend, who took me on safaris! So I saw many wild animals and even petted a cheetah. My favorite place was the farm where orphaned and wounded animals are rescued, and live out their lives in gentle protection and freedom. There I met giraffs, kudu, pangolin, cheetahs, lions, baboons and some kind of small monkeys whose name I didn't learn. The sunsets across the savannah were firey, the champagne flowed, and Africa entered my soul.  Now I'm home and catching up, to be soon off to Canada, Greece and beyond and will pretty much be on the road all summer, which is too much, I know. Our time together beneath those ticking palmettos is becoming a dreamscape in memory, so please be back in touch here to make it tangible again. I'd love to know all of your news. I hope you are writing!  Much love, Carolyn