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...

Photograph by Matilda Clifford And so, on this 3rd day of February in the year of our Lord 2014, our new tank here on Barrowfield overflowed. After all the disappointment and hard work it is truly a sight to behold.  I told Matilda that it would be such a joyous occasion that we'll celebrate with champagne. But it  came much quicker than anticipated with the result that there was none of the  intended beverage at hand. The much lesser substitute, vintage last Wednesday, was wonderful though. The label mentioned that it goes well with joy if I'm not mistaken. Comments like “Small things amuse small minds” won’t sound strange under the circumstance. It is only water out of a short pipe falling into the air after all. Percy Bysshe Shelley has a different angle: First our pleasures die—and then Our hopes, and then our fears—and when These are dead, the debt is due,  Dust claims dust—and we die too. For now, I'll settle on life. George

Photograph by Marinetha Naude Like somebody dropped to the ocean floor we are slowly rising. I think we’ve broken the surface, but only our faces are above water. We’re not swimming in long relaxed strokes. Not yet. But it is very good to breathe again. This old lady that has become our home here close to Wakkerstroom is on the one hand very generous and helpful. All her lights were working when the power was finally switched on. Her roofs aren’t leaking. She is warm and inviting. We are surrounded by beauty. But she is not easy letting us get to her water (I am not sure whether that is generally an old lady thing?) First the windmill wasn’t working properly. I fixed that and in the process got to know its workings better. No, no, first I fixed the pipes running from the windmill to the tank. Then I fixed the windmill. We had to learn the rhythm of water and wind. The borehole being shallow and a seep-hole does not supply gushes of water. You wait till it’s full. Then you ...