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...

Garden Android back chairs Boksburg, Gauteng  ·  over a week ago  ·  R500 We make good furniture I’m browsing for two single beds to replace the double bed in one of our guest rooms. It being a room in a century + 9 year old house, I feel it is befitting to fit it out with something truly antique and beautiful. But cheap, in keeping with our non-existing budget for interior decorating. As luck would have it, old, solid and often antique furniture is not in vogue in South Africa and there are loads to choose from on the myriad of Classified sites and of course, facebook’s Marketplace. The prices are often really ridiculous and if I had the money, we would have a storeroom full of beautiful antique rocking chairs, solid oak headboards, antique dressers, wardrobes and an oddment of beautifully crafted chairs to die for. “Look at this!” I show George. "Can’t we make a garden gate out of this wrought iron bedste...

Photograph by George Angus For a while now I’ve been walking around with a printout of a poem by Wendell Berry in my journal. I had it in a file on my computer, totally forgot about it and while I was searching for something else I discovered it again. On face value it is a beautiful poem, but it was as if it somehow struck an even deeper chord in me. I found it difficult to describe why exactly that was the case. So I made the printout and read it every now and again, meditated on it and wrote in its margins. I wanted to get out of the way so that it could work its magic on me in every way it pleased. Words 1.    What is one to make of a life given    to putting things into words,    saying them, writing them down?    Is there a world beyond words?    There is. But don't start, don't    go on about the tree unqualified,    standing in light that shines    to time's end beyond its summon...

Photograph by Hideyuki Katagiri The purpose of fish traps is to catch fish. When the fish are caught, the traps are forgotten. The purpose of rabbit snares is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snares are forgotten. The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where is the man who has forgotten All words, He is the one I would like to speak with.                                                                     Chuang Tzu

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...