Dust and Heat

This morning Favourite Man and I were watching one of those short nature programmes where various folk check in from parts of the world with a report-back on what's going on in their corner of the planet. One of these was from Botswana, telling of elephant, leopard and lion sightings.

Here I sit - with the cold Cape winter wind howling outside my window, an icy rain spitting down, locked up tight with tea and hot water bottle... and dreaming of dust and heat and bushveld.

I'm a summer child. Cold is not my scene. Give me zinging cicada-laced summer, thunderstorms building up in the afternoon and spattering rain down on thirsty veld anyday. Only give me cold when I can spend the day cuddled up in bed. Today is not that day!

Yes the Cape is beautiful. There's nothing like the vineyards and mountains, snow-capped peaks in winter and arums all over in spring. The curve of the bay backed by towering cliffs, amazing vistas wherever you look.

But sometimes I miss the bush, the landscape I grew up in - running barefoot, living outdoors. Sometimes I long for dry grass, acacia trees, sun beating down and the smell of the summer earth. Today is one of those days - a day for dust and heat, not cold and rain.

If only...