The Restory Retreat Centre

There are places we need to return to every so often. It’s as if the storerooms inside of us where we store the energy of these places slowly get depleted, and then, on a good day, you know: I need to get to the mountains, the sea, the green of a forest, the wide open spaces of a desert. I need to stand under the full moon, or the dark sky with no other light in sight but the stars.      I’m quite sure that this need is different for everybody. For me personally, it’s mountains I hunger for, preferably decked in indigenous  rain forest with waterfalls and huge trees to feel small against. And to be by the sea.      With the memories of our visit to Prague still fresh, it felt almost unduly indulgent to pack for yet another glorious vacation. This time to spend a week at San Lameer, on the South coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Again, as in the case with Prague, this was not something we had planned or saved up for; I had won a week’s accommodation at Sa...

To look at anything, If you would know that  thing, You must look at it long: To look at this green and say “I have seen spring in these Lovely leaves on the dune trail at San Lameer Woods”, will not do – you must Be the thing you see: You must be the dark snakes of Stems and ferny plumes of leaves, You must enter in To the small silences between The leaves. You must take your time And touch the very peace They issue from.                           John Moffit

On a glorious spring morning I’m driving on the dirt road down to the creek. On my way to town, I’m in no hurry. All around me are signs of spring – the sprinklers irrigate the crops in a silver spray, tender leaves and shoots can be seen in the trees. It therefore almost seems appropriate, although somewhat strange for this time of day, that the hare appears from nowhere and runs a few metres ahead of me in the road. There isn’t much of a possibility that he can turn left or right from the road because of the fences on either side. It forms a sort of passageway for me and my guide running ahead. Down at the creek though, it opens up and the hare can go into the veldt in all directions. So on this beautiful morning I’m driving to town with a hare ahead of me – a convoy of creation in harmony. There are sheep in the pastures next to the road and down in the creek a herd of cattle is grazing leisurely. And as I am driving down to the creek, the hare a few metres in front of...

 Some critics are of the opinion that a movie with a number in the title (Die Hard 6, Terminator 8, Rocky 9) is not worth watching. I was pondering that bias, but decided to stick to my title. Hopefully this is the first in a series of articles on restoration. I love restoring things. Anything. However, my love for wood tends to often nudge me in the direction of furniture. Restoration differs from making something totally new, from scratch, in the sense that with restoration the product is already there. You do not come with a design or plan and apply the wood accordingly. The challenge in restoration is to work with the given. To bow to the wood and the previous craftsman and do the work in such a way that the end product says something of your respect for them. That is done through all the stages – the stripping, dismantling, making of new parts, mending what is broken, applying the finish. For me restoration has a deep spiritual quality to it. It is the a...