We spent the weekend at the Henning farm. Numbers like those and what (other than farming) can you call it?

Not entirely spent at the Hennings. We drove through to the park for a few days, to spend time away from away and with my half-brother, Nicholas, and his girlfriend, Emma. The park is probably my favourite place on Earth. Admittedly, my sample set is small, but that part of the world takes some beating. The inset picture was taken at sunrise at a bird hide just outside of Skukuza, on Lake Panic. We sat there, wrapped in blankets to ward off the icy morning, and watched the lake wake up.

Just off the hide were a collection of about 30 Hippo, who did little initially beyond occasionally snort, but as the morning progressed became more and more active, before finally swimming off to the other side of the lake. Birds (my favourite aspect of my favourite part of the world) were in no short supply and we (or rather I) spent a large part of the few hours at the hide watching a yellow-billed stork hunt for frogs and fish in amongst what turned out to be a handful of crocodiles.

The rest of our break was spent back in Pretoria with the Hennings. I really like my second family. I think I scored twice with this little arrangement.

There are three things in particular that I enjoy about a break at the Hennings. The first is a near limitless supply of tea. The second is the opportunity to do nothing at all, with books. The third is the people (residents and migrants). It's an interesting mix of chaos and calm.

And to top the week off it snowed in Joburg today. The last time it snowed was about 25 years ago. I was small. Much smaller than I am now. I had hair!

It was sad to say goodbye, always is, but it had to happen. Armed with a bag of pistachio nuts and a new book by Neil Gaiman we boarded the plane for the return flight. It struck me for the first time as we came into CT international just how much the world looks like a plastic model from the air. I tried to look for the transition between plastic trees and reality as we touched down but couldn't quite pin it down.

And then home. To a fire, and connectivity, and our own bed.

We went for a (very pleasant) walk through our suburb this evening and stumbled across an African Goshawk. I'm not sure if it's resident in the suburb or if it was just passing through, but I'll certainly keep an eye (and ear) out for it in future.

It always lifts my spirits to come across an unexpected bird, even if it isn't particularly rare.