The Restory Retreat Centre

I have had one of my poems and quotes-series experiences again. Where all of a sudden I encounter poems and quotations on the same theme within days of each other. Usually it is an indication that I should take notice, or that I should pass it on. And so I do. The theme that announced itself again this time around is the sacredness or holiness of ordinary everyday objects. One of my favourite subjects and definitely not new. But there must be a reason these words introduced themselves now. I share them gladly. What if our religion was each other If our practice was our life If prayer, our words What if the temple was the Earth If forests were our church If holy water--the rivers, lakes, and ocean What if meditation was our relationships If the teacher was life If wisdom was self-knowledge If love was the center of our being.                                                                          ~ Ganga White Knysna Forest. Photograph by George Angus

The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.”                                                                                              - Robert Frost On my 50th birthday, I am sitting on a low stone wall next to Matilda and Jan Badenhorst. It is late afternoon in the Luneburg valley, with the sun low in our backs. Jan is busy telling us about his horses in his gentle, calm voice. The beautiful stallion strides past us, all power and elegance. Photograph by Matilda Clifford In the card Matilda gave me early that morning she quoted Wendell Berry: And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long,  but only by a spiritual journey,  a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful,  by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet,  and learn to be at home. I am grateful that my life, up to now, has brought me to this afternoon. George