Maybe I'm exaggerating. But what's left of a good account if you can't stretch it? And somewhere in there is a kernel of truth, and the elements for a solution, if you listen carefully.
With all the space we have, it feels as if I’m limited in movement.
Here at Tafelkop it rains and rains and rains in summer. And if it's not raining, there's the mist. With the result that anything that can handle that much moisture, and the cold of our winters, thrives.
Which is mainly the grass in general and Kikuyu in particular. Like a wave it rises around the orchard and the garden. Our mowed lawn ends against a wall of green. It is a weekly effort to hold back the tide.
It is beautiful to behold, but it hampers movement. You feel like you’re going on an expedition just to reach the base of Tafelkop. It’s the same in whatever direction you venture.
It’s a challenge for the dogs as well. They totally disappear in the abundant growth. Molly has developed a leaps and bounds style of moving about, but 13 year old Jasper, who has to cope with a limp to start with, struggles. After such an outing, he is stiff in the evening, shuffling about like an old man.
Jasper’s age is a limiting factor all by itself. Wherever I go, he wants to come with. And he can’t anymore. Or, on the occasions that we go for a walk we try not to do more than 1 km, otherwise it’s too much for him, even though he’ll push himself. Matilda has suggested that I leave him with her when Molly and I go for a walk, but I feel terrible doing that. The moment I put on my boots and take my walking stick, they burst at the seams with excitement.
Maybe M and I should do our 1 km old-man-circuit with both Jasper and Molly, then I leave him with M and do a longer, more adventurous walk just with Molly. She poses her own challenges though. She’ll handle the distance and the exploring with ease, but she can be so boisterous that she can get herself into trouble. Her disappearance on Tafelkop is a case in point.
What if I do a 1 km old-man-circuit with M, Jasper and Molly, then a longer adventure only with Molly wherever I can find a path in the overgrowth, then M and I leave Jasper and Molly at home, take the bakkie (they’ll think we’re going to town and will accept that), drive a short distance on the farm, leave the bakkie there and do some exploring on our own? Where the vegetation allows us to do so.
I haven’t cycled once since we’ve moved here. There’s a lovely route to do just that, but we’e been so busy renovating the house and it has been raining. Maybe I can do that with winter approaching? But what to do about the cold then?
What to do, what to do?
The big herd of cattle is slowly being moved through the different camps towards the winter pastures here at Tafelkop. They’ll take care of the grass and open things up. But that’s still somewhere in the future.
In the meantime, what to do?
At his stage it feels as if I am constantly making plans to stretch my legs on this big farm. And with the list of different walks I’ve come up with to accommodate the challenges, there’s not much of the day left to do other work!
What fertile soil to be creative in.
George
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