The Restory Retreat Centre

Sometimes On A Journey....   The Conversation Elements From The Conversation Tastings of....... The Karoo Barrydale in the Little Karoo Cape Town and Simon's Town  Back at Tafelkop Music   With all our love. And deep gratitude for the love we receive.  George & Matilda  

 This weekend past is one of those we will talk about in future, stating the date, and reminiscing on how extraordinary and special it was.     We knew up ahead that the unusually hot Spring days would be countered by a severe cold front that was moving in from the Southern part of the country and which would be reaching us around Saturday afternoon.   Snow was being predicted for the higher parts of the country and this would send icy winds our way. We were also looking forward to a family visit and felt comforted in the knowledge that the old stone house would keep us cosy and warm as we shared time together.      Naturally, a menu was planned with all of this in mind. I had pampering in mind, Grandma style: -               -  A vegetarian pasta with hot lemongrass tea for Saturday lunch -              ...

We have found that a very handy tool to use in meditation or any quiet practice is drawings. It helps to free us from the tyranny of the rational mind and leads to unexpected insight and discoveries, literally something not being thought of. You can make your own drawings or experiment with doodles. The use of existing drawings or intricate designed patterns is another option. There are lovely mandalas (literally meaning “circle”) available on the internet that can be downloaded or printed. At our recent introductory retreat into mindfulness, we had copies of mandalas available for retreatants to choose from should they wish to use it in their meditation sessions. For the uninformed it might have looked like pages from a child’s colouring book lying scattered on the table. After you’ve chosen your mandala or mandalas (we suggested that they take two each at this specific retreat) it is totally up to you to use it or discard it. And should you decide to use it the ways in which...

My father, soon after a visit from the angels.  I have not seen him so collected and relaxed in a long time.  Not long ago a dear friend went through the worst experience a mother can ever face: the terminal illness and death of a child. It came too close for comfort and I was terrified for her sake and my own. I did not know how to help so I shied away. I felt my words would be useless as comfort and my visits inappropriate or awkward.      How to help? Going through this difficult time with my father, I find that our friends and family experience the same feelings of uselessness. I do not have a ready answer. Maybe one could ask: what is needed and see what one’s own circumstances allow you to offer.      In our close family circle we have members living very far away. They help financially and also manage my father’s finances. They keep encouraging us and try to look for a solution with us. They offer their opinions and concerns honestly...

Eylene at four years old (left) and at thirty (right). Not much that's changed. And yet. Eylene turned thirty yesterday. To celebrate the occasion, we went on an adventure, not unlike Winnie the Pooh and his friends when they went in search of the North Pole. We, a party of ten, however, went searching for the Neighbourgoods Market  in downtown Johannesburg.        We took the Gautrain, which is South Africa's only super modern express train. It runs between Pretoria and Johannesburg and we are very proud of it as the stations are kept neat and clean and one can pretend you are travelling abroad somewhere in a first world country.        Stepping off the train and following a myriad of cell phone gps's and hard copy maps, we set of to walk the 750 m to the market through an area we would normally not venture into. I felt excited by this, and sensed it in Eylene also, as we walked into the stomach of this vast African city, the sun ho...

I asked, "Why have I received only this?" A voice replied, "'Only this' will lead you to That. From the facebook page of Rumi                                                                                                                                        It is always difficult to put a dire personal situation ou...

My father with the four of us, at some beacon somewhere on one of our excursion, back in around  1969. When we were little, Pa took us to the places he discovered during the course of his working week as an electrician. It sometimes took him deep into the bushveld and later into the rain forests around Tzaneen. We even did a spell of six months down in Cape St. Francis where he worked on the electrification of a brand new 5 star hotel.       We lived in dire conditions in a little house we called "the train house" and I hated going to school in the nearby town of Humansdorp. Mainly because there were no grass playgrounds, only concrete and we traveled by bus, leaving home in the dark and wet of the Cape winter mornings. Accustomed to the dry, mild winters of the Lowveld,  we felt truly miserable.  But I rem ember best how we used to run up and down the corridors of the hotel, the smell of brand new carpets and a newly thatched roof. Looking through ...