toads

There are toads and toads and toads out here. They are to be found almost anywhere inside the house and everywhere outside.

I prepared dinner and we decided to have it outside on the large stoep. There is a breeze out and it is much cooler than inside, even with fans on. As we sat down, waiting for my father to say grace, one particular frog started up the most bizarre croaking I’ve ever heard. It was beautiful,

After dinner I went to my parents’ room to make a call. The corridor was dark. I stepped onto something squiggly and heard a sound like the last moist being squeezed out of a sea sponge. I gave a muffled scream and switched on a light. It was a small-ish toad. I was grateful to see it did not die and was hopping away in a hurry. Poor thing.

I enjoy the toads.

Besides the croaking toads I also have the privilege of hearing lions, hyenas and jackals at various times during the day.

A large monitor lizard crossed the road the other day on my way home. Some distance further was a ground squirrel. He ran into the middle of the road, grabbed something and made a u-turn back to the shrubs on the side of the road.

A hawk was flying low over my grandmother’s house when I went for tea yesterday, scanning the earth for easy prey. A pair of little birds were attacking it in an attempt to divert attention from their nest.

On the stoep light is a massive green praying mantis, catching smaller bugs attracted by the light. A fat gecko takes care of the bigger bugs.

I have left the convenience of sweet coffee shops, decent eateries and my friends in Cape Town two weeks ago. I have returned to all of this.

I am trying to make sense of it.