Hello, I Am Back

Dearest friends, 

Hello! I am back.  After a wee break, I am ready to start blogging again.

Sometimes we need to press “pause” and “reset”, almost like being betwixt and between, that wonderful space where we get to breathe, dream, and think about life and living, and at the same time meditate on the sadness of the world.  

The untimely death of George’s beloved Aunt and Uncle left us and our extended family feeling bereft and shattered.  We decided that we both needed to see, feel and experience the vastness of the Karoo.

Both of us love and experience the Karoo differently.  

The ever changing scenery speaks powerfully to me; in fact it feels as if my soul rejoices at the untamed, wild, desolate, rugged, lush and alive space.  The Karoo has a distinctive smell of herbs, dry earth and Khakibos.  It is alive with birdcall, bees, insects, little lambs bleating, the occasional smell of wood fire and a dog barking in the distance.

It sings a melody of loss, betrayal, desolation and a deep, deep soul searching sense of love, compassion and empathy.

It is my place and space where I enter the deepest chambers of my soul in reflection, prayer and thanksgiving; it is where I meet God unencumbered, where I examine my heart, my motives, where I get to challenge myself, and reminded  myself of the fact that …….

“I am one of the searchers.

There are, I believe, millions of us.

We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content.

We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret.

We continue to explore ourselves hoping to understand.

We like to walk along the beach; we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty,

We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and lonely cities as well.

Our sadness is as much part of our lives as is our laughter.

To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know – unless it be to share our laughter,

We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide.

Most of all we love and want to be loved.

We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls, that will take us for what little we have to give.

We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful.

It is for those who are too gentle to live among the wolves.”  James Kavanaugh.

It is where I dance and laugh and shout at the moon, not in anger but in love,  I am in awe of her beauty and the comfort she gives to those of us who are restless, who question, who strive to be better, who fail and fumble and fall and rise again and again to try even harder  as she envelopes us insomniac, drifters and dreamers  in her arms in gentle reassurance that we are not alone, because there are others who are seekers, loners and lovers.

It is where I wish to accompany shepherds herding and taking care of flocks of sheep and whilst doing so I wish to listen and learn and draw knowledge from their real raw earthy wisdom about the secrets of plants and herbs and bees and butterflies. 

And learn about cures for real and imagined ailments, or how they understand the stars and the alignment of the moon and planets, in so doing how this information is used to figure out weather patterns and seasons –  when to plant and when to harvest.

In that space I challenge myself to let go of things, to forgive myself and strive to be better. And celebrate the Italian philosophy of life called 

dolce far niente;

 meaning –  the sweetness of doing nothing, it’s about being with yourself in a moment of inner peace and truly enjoying every detail even the simplest ones like having your morning coffee in silence or sitting alone with your thoughts  looking up at the sky and feeling a moment of gratitude no noise no people around you or no need to explain or justify life!

Wherever life my lead you  be at peace.