The Restory Retreat Centre

Scholars, I plead with you, Where are your dictionaries of the wind, the grasses?                                                                                                                                        Norman MacCaig English painter, John Constable, did more than looking at clouds. He spent much of his time collecting and classifying them. In a letter written in 1821 he expressed his conviction that clouds carry the mood of a painting, calling it the key note. He would leave his house in the morning with a bundle of papers and his pocket full of brushes and spent hours on t...

  Our brother-in-law, William, loves the simple things in life – sunsets, a nice cup of coffee, hearty meals with family, a bowl of home made Barrowfield yoghurt, a good joke. Growing up in Douglas in the Northern Cape instilled in him this deep appreciation for the gentle beauty and value of ordinary things. For the largest part of his adult life – 31 years to be exact – he has worked as an electrical engineer at Sasol in Secunda. Not the ideal setting for someone touched by matters that feed the soul.  We weren’t surprised when he started beekeeping a number of years ago. It suits his character and acted as a very good counter-balance to his work at Sasol. He placed 2 hives behind the stone wall in our garden and it has been a wonderful journey for us too, learning through William more about these little miracle workers of nature. And we feel rich beyond belief when our bottles of “liquid gold”, tasting of Barrowfield, stand on the pantry shelf at the end of a good season. I...

Photograph by Hanna Jacobs We’ve had a wonderful rainy season this year. One of the results is that the grass and everything else are growing at such a rate that Skhumbuzo cannot keep up. To help him get ahead a friend of his, Siyabonga (his name means “Thank you” in Zulu) comes in on Saturday mornings to cut the lawn. During the week he goes to school, grade 11. This morning, on arrival, he walks up to me and says earnestly: “Sir, I need to write a short interview with somebody on bees. I know nothing about bees, except that they are dangerous. Can you help me?” “Yes, I think I can help you. How long must the interview be?” “About a 100 words.” “Goodness gracious,” I think to myself, “the teacher doesn’t know much about bees either!” “Must you sit down and have the interview with me and Matilda, or do you write a piece on bees in the form of an interview?” “No, I only write it in interview form.” “You do know that bees are very important to us as h...

We’ve just completed the first unit of our Living School program. Not the easiest of entries I might say. It’s like learning a new language while reading St Bonaventure (1259), The Cloud of Unknowing (late 1300’s) and Teresa of Avila (1577). “It sounds quite boring” you might think. “Being busy with all that old stuff of ancient dead people long forgotten. Their thoughts and words are of no use for us living in the 21 st century; merely the eccentric interest of a few nerds busy naval gazing. There are such a large number of recent exciting authors and books. Why not stick to them? ” I am totally with you on the exciting recent authors and publications. But we are only now discovering the value of the long dead and buried for our survival and for daily living. I experienced it in a very concrete manner again this past week. My brother-in-law William, a budding bee keeper, earlier this year, placed two bee hives close to our vegetable patch. The bees’ presence and cons...