The Restory Retreat Centre

Photo: George Angus When doing stone balancing I wish to be as open and receptive as possible. I do not want to force my ideas or wishes onto the structure taking shape under my hands. It is at root a meditative, creative process with amazement and surprise important elements as well. During our monthly Quiet Day last Saturday, the rock pile I erected down at the river was done against that backdrop. I did not venture far from the big rock that acted as the platform for my structure in search of stones – maybe 5 metres in any direction.  It’s difficult to describe how you know when you have gathered enough stones. I do not count them and do not look for any particular shape. When I feel I have enough I simply stop and start building. And I trust that these rocks came together and that they will settle in such a manner on top of each other that all will be used and what will eventually stand there in the river bed will be a unique expression of this collectio...

The Southern vista from Barrowfield Photo by Hanna Jacobs  I have lived in many places throughout my life. The earliest home I can remember was when I was about four years old and we lived in a tiny hamlet called Mica, where my father took a job as electrician in a vermiculite mine. It was very remote and truly unspoilt. It was glorious for my sister and me but nerve wrecking for my mother. It being very much Africa, there were huge spiders and scorpions and green grasshoppers, not to mention deadly creatures like green mambas and malaria mosquitoes. On weekends my father would take us to the banks of the huge Olifants river and we would watch the hippos lazing in the muddy water. We moved to a bigger mining town when we had to start school and from then on every few years my father would find a different job with better prospects and we would move again. For some of the most memorable places we lived I don't have fond memories of. At one stage, when I was about ten ye...

Kateri Tekakwitha We had the pleasure of staying at the Madonna Retreat Center while attending the Living School Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico this year. We loved our spacious and neat room with a marvelous view over the Rio Grande River, with Albuquerque town across from the river and the Sandia mountains as an imposing backdrop. We loved the quiet and the friendly and helpful staff at the center. We loved walking to the nearest bus stop on Cours Avenue and taking the bus in to the Old Town and then walking along the narrow streets to the Albuquerque Hotel where the Symposium was held. We loved all of Albuquerque. What struck and impressed us was the strong influence of the Pueblo people in the architecture and culture of the city. Our very first visit to the US could not have been to a more exceptional place. Since being back home in South Africa, I often find myself missing Albuquerque. I recall the coyotes calling at night in the open space down by the river and...

Note: Matilda and I attended our first Living School Symposium from 24 - 26 August in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was the official beginning of our 2 year program at the Center for Action and Contemplation's Living School. We arrived back in SA on Wednesday evening but were so tired and disoriented after our 40 hour return journey that we had to stay over in Johannesburg for a day before undertaking the 4 hour trip back home. On Friday night we finally arrived back here in the Balele mountains. It is all so much - the whole process, our marathon trips, America, the people, our peer group where most of our work and study will be done, the Symposium. I am filled to the brim and do not know what to do with it. I would love to dump it all in one go onto everyone asking, "And so,how was it?" I just can't. Just as it is impossible to pass Table Mountain through a funnel down a little bird's throat. And besides, as Richard Rohr said at the symposium, ...

  Never talk away the magic.                                                             Danish saying “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”                                                         Roald Dahl Matilda has her sunbird (See Les...

Photo by Matilda Angus An update is long due on where we are on Adventure: Living School. (See The Living School  and The road to Gaza ). We left off in The road to Gaza  where we applied for financial assistance for tuition at the Living School and were awaiting their decision. We have made it out for ourselves that should we be awarded less than 100% it would be impossible for us to accept the invitation to be part of the 2016 intake. Then the email arrived. Matilda and George, The scholarship committee met and congratulations you have been awarded $3600 each in tuition assistance for the Living School ...Welcome to the Living School. All the Best, Tom 100% Tuition assistance. For the both of us. We couldn't be more surprised. Then elated. Then scared. But we knew without a doubt that there was no turning back from this huge door that has swung open for us. So here we are, filling in the online application forms for our American visas and sco...

"Sometimes your life comes into focus one frame at a time."                                                                                         From the movie The Majestic Acts 8 has always fascinated me. That part that tells of the turn of events immediately following the death of Stephen, with a young Saul standing and watching to the side, holding the coats of those busy throwing stones. After that tragic event the young church scatters all over the Roman Empire and one of the late Stephen’s companions, Philip ends up in a Samaritan city. The Samaritans, despised by the Jews and low down on the social ladder, are very receptive to Philip’s message. To such an extent that the church leaders in Jerusalem come down to witness this success story ...