Okay, it was inevitable. You start a blog. You try to keep it highbrow, literary, interesting for a wide audience. But sooner or later, you post pictures of your dog. Here’s Koffie, doing his best impression of a charming stray.

After many weeks of silence, I’m back. And I am not alone. A small black dog watches me as I type this. It’s early morning, the weather’s good, and I’m out on the terrace overlooking the vegetable patch – the tomatoes are huge and just starting to ripen, long green cayennes twist and dangle from [...]