The Restory Retreat Centre

  Tafelkop Spring “The woman said, “Sir, give me this water...” ‭‭John‬ ‭4‬:‭15‬ ‭MSG‬‬                                        Somewhere in the distance is Wakkerstroom The Conversation Elements From The Conversation The path to the fountain changes with the seasons. Here in high summer it is overgrown and difficult to walk. You will not get lost, because the cliffs of Tafelkop lie just to your left on the way to the spring and serve as a beacon. But you often wander off course and with great difficulty get back on the faint footpath around massive rocks and over fallen tree trunks.     Lost   Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you  Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,  And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,  Must ask permission to know it and be known.  The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,  I have made this...

More About George If I want to tell more about myself, the very best might be to just start by saying "I love..." and then list things that I love. So: I love...... ....Tafelkop. The big world of which I am a part, silence and to walk. The Conversation ...time spent with my M. Where we talk for long stretches, and laugh, or are just quiet together for long periods of time. Elements From The Conversation ....our granddaughter, Ariana. Who loves books very much and keeps asking: "Oupa, tell me a silly story!" ....books. And dogs. And cats. And tea. ....a good conversation. Sculpting and woodwork. To write. ....poems. More so by the day. Basically impossible to pick a single one, but on my birthday, this one from Billy Collins. It talks about things one thinks about at 60. Design I pour a coating of salt on the table and make a circle in it with my finger. This is the cycle of life I say to no one. This is the wheel of fortune, the Arctic Circle. This is the ring of Ke...

“Francis called all creatures, no matter how small by the name of brother and sister; because he knew they had the same source as himself.”                                                     Saint Bonaventure's Life of St Francis "If humankind could have known God without the world, God would never have created the world."                                                     Meister Eckhart "In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!"                                                   Colossians 3:11 ...

George worries about the strangest things. He asked me this morning: Do you think the dogs have settled in allright after the move here to Barrowfield? This is what came to my mind. "Oh, I think so," I said. Matilda

Photograph by George Angus With the shaper running and me busy making a set of blades for a silage cutter, the rhythm of the workshop sets in. Somebody coming in from outside might think I'm running a veterinary field hospital with dogs strewn all over the floor. Jasper the Border Collie close to the small welding machine, Roxy the Labrador with her cheek against the shaper. Healthy and happy. We're just working. God’s in His heaven - All’s right with the world! George

Photograph by Wills Angus Do I need seed capital? A strategy to ensure success? Must I apply for a loan? Must I register a partnership? Must I attend workshops and get guidance in starting a day? No. Stand in the kitchen with your cup of coffee. Draw the curtains apart. The dogs look at you from outside, as if they waited all night for you to do just that. They wag their smiling tails. Look at the sun arriving from New Zealand. How it colours the dark into light. Listen how it becomes Wednesday. The start of a day is actually no business of ours. George

Photograph by George Angus The following usually serves one, but more can be nourished by it as well. Ingredients: * A workshop * A lathe (other machinery will do as well, but I find the rhythm and sound of the lathe to be soothing) * A job (not job as in “At least I have a job”. In the workshop we use it more in the sense of “Can you do this job for me, or do you have another one in the lathe?”). What works well is something repetitive, without being too complicated. Otherwise you have to concentrate too hard. A fairly big diameter or reasonable length is also an advantage. It ensures a nice long travel for the tool. *All the paraphernalia that goes with working on the lathe: enough soluble oil in the sump to keep the job lubricated, the necessary drills and tooltips, the wire hook that you use to remove the shavings from the bed, the splash plate to prevent the soluble oil from being flung in a fine spray all over the floor by the fast turning chuck, the peg spanner to fasten t...