The First Day of Autumn...

Today is the first day of Autumn... I can see the change in the colour of the sky and the leaves starting to change colour and drop to the ground. The change of season always makes me happy, I love winter and this year I know I'm not going to miss the snow in Nieu-Bethesda. This year my Life Story is going to be "A Winter's Tale" but not just another winter's tale like in the song by David Essex, which I used to listen to when I was young. It's going to be "My Winter's Tale".

I am sitting on the stoep of The Karoo Lamb, watching the tourists go by, almost like watching the girls go by in Paris :) Feeling grateful that I don't have to leave the village, knowing my house is just around the corner. Feeling very happy and alive, I'm waiting for the quote from the builder to renovate my garage. Can't wait to get my little shop going.

This afternoon I will be visiting a friend, Hester, at Ganora Guest farm. Am so excited, they are currently rehabilitating a baby Meerkat named Timon and I'm hoping to meet the little fellow. They are so cute, but unfortunately not fit to be kept as pets. People take these babies and on realising they are not ideal pets, abandon them. And that's how they end up at Ganora.

I met Abraham Casper on Monday afternoon, gave him a lift into Nieu-Bethesda. He was born here in the village and have lived here his whole life, he is now 43 but looks 60. He makes the cement owls that they sell in front of the Owl House and he sells them over holiday periods, the rest of the year he works on the surrounding farms when there is work. A hard life, but he says he is happpy and content. He told me all about the surrounding farms and who lives where, about all the village folk who has died in car accidents on that treacherous road from the N9 to Nieu-Bethesda. He told me about growing lusern and when to take them off the fields.  We talked about life in the city vs life in a rural area. I want him to teach me to work with cement so I can make my own creations. hmmmm... We will have to see what comes from that...

I love the rural life :) but I also love my blackberry and my i-Pad, it keeps me connected and enables me to read my magazines and all the latest books... so many books, so little time.

So let me read further...

PS: as soon as I get my computer from Jhb or figure out how to post photo's from my i-Pad I will start posting pics, promise

Jules love & hugs <3

Life and Death in Nieu-Bethesda

Mita is dead... a sadness and cloud of mourning hangs over Nieu-Bethesda. Mita committed suicide. She was 21 years old, they found her dead with her  9 months old baby sitting next to her. Mita was a cheery and happy person, or so it seemed to everybody, no one knew she was not coping. But then, nobody ever really knows what goes on in other people's lives, hearts and souls. Mita's baby won't ever know his mother or remember her and will for the rest of his life only know that she deserted him and left him alone to grow up and find his way in this crazy and beautiful world. I didn't know Mita, but her death and the baby she left behind reminds me of one of my favorite poems, also the saddest poem... this is for Mita, from her baby...

Funeral Blues (W.H. Auden)

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message She is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the necks of the doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

She was my North, my South, my East, my West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Mita will be put to rest tomorrow, Mita may you rest in peace...

And yet life goes on, even in Nieu-Bethesda. The roosters start crowing at 6 and the birds chirp from early in the morning. People get up and go their way, walking to work or opening their doors for the new day. Tourists come and go, unaware of the cloud hanging over Nieu-Bethesda. Life in Nieu-Bethesda is intense and real. The dogs still walk around, as if the streets belong to them. The horses roam free and dust still hangs in the air everytime a car drives in or out of Nieu-Bethesda. Woman knock on my door to come say hello and bring me flowers, decadent quiches and glorious jars full of handmade jam... The stars still shine bright in the night and fills you with amazement  everytime you look at them, making you feel so small. It is warm during the day, the wind blows in the afternoon as if there is no tomorrow. And for Mita there isn't...

And as it is in life, even without Mita, Nieu-Bethesda is still a magical place... As it was
before I came to live here and as it will be after I go one day...

Life Stories and Time Travel

The decision to give up my life and career in the city was by no means an easy one. Being stuck in a comfort zone is easy, moving out from that zone into the unknown is difficult and scary.

"Thinking" !! Something I do to much, I am told, was what I did a lot during this process of decision making. And praying, looking for guidance from God. My health forced me to go through this process and this struggle got me to Life Stories. 

I wrote down my whole Life Story, from where I had memories up to November 2011. I wrote about everything, the good, the bad, the happy, the sad, that is what Life is, after all... a journey consisting of high's and low's and what I call in-betweens, the bits where life happens while you are busy.

Reading my Life Story aloud afterwards was an experience which gave me perspective on my life. On the things I chose to be part of my Life Story and the things I didn't choose, choices made by parents, husbands, employers, family and friends that I had to live with and built my life around. It wasn't an easy experience, reliving some parts of my life, others brought back happy and positive feelings. I looked at it holistically. As a journey, a journey of growth and learning, a journey that brought me where I was in November 2011, a journey who made me who I am today. And I felt content with who I am...

Then I went time travelling... I went to ten years from now and I looked back over my life as if I had already lived the next ten years. And I wrote my Life Story for the next ten years, as I would like it to be. Liberating indeed !! 

Making the decision after that was easy. Writing down my Life Story made me realise so many things - That life is truly a journey... That the choices you make everyday, or the ones you don't make, gives way to what will form part of your journey, your Life Story a year or two or ten down the line and at the end of your journey. 

So here I am...

Slowly but surely creating my Life Story and searching for Muchness... One day at a time...

Living simple and in gratitude

This year my only resolution is to live a simple life and in gratitude. I've always believed in the KISS principle - keep it simple stupid. However, life in the city is seldom simple... trust me, I've tried. City life is fast paced, busy, crowded, always more to do, more to accomplish, more to be... and so we end up living complicated lives. 

I said STOP, well ok my body said STOP, no more, enough is enough!! All I want is to live simple, with the bare necessities and grateful for my many blessings. Which I am... extremely grateful... Once you change your mindset, you are astounded by how little you need and how much of your life consists of wants and must haves and not needs.

Having said that, I have to keep busy and am planning to open a small country shop, selling decor and hand made gifts mostly.  Compared to my life in the city, this is living simple and much more fun. So let me get on with it, loads of planning to do and need to renovate the garage on a very limited budget (with hubby as main laborer - the man can do anything). I will post before and after photo's...

And all of a sudden I am humming a tune, a very familiar tune if you've watched Jungle Book as many times as I have...

Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipies
That brings the bare necessities to life

Wherever I wander, wherever I roam
I couldn't be more fonder of my home
The bees are buzzing in the tree
To make some honey just for me
When you look under the rocks and plants
And take a glance at the fancy ants
Then maybe try a few

The bare necessities of life will come to you
They'll come to you

So just try and relax, yeah cool it
Fall apart in my backyard
Cause let me tell you something little britches
If you act like that bee acts, uh uh
You're working too hard

And don't spend your time lookin' around
For something you want that can't be found
When you find out you can live without it
And go along not thinkin' about it
I'll tell you something true

The bare necessities of life will come to you...

Yeah ok, I don't plan on eating ants (uuurrgghh)... Am just downscaling from Woolworths to Spar (which is huge for me), but you get the picture :)

From Dream to Reality...

So… here I am… a mere mortal … my name - Juliette Illingworth- Meintjes… in Nieu-Bethesda!! I am here, this time not to visit. Not to leave a bit of my soul behind… like many times before, this time I’ve moved in with all my worldly goods.  I live in the old Stokkiesdraai house, I am told by locals, known as the Stokkiesdraai house because some previous owners ran the Stokkiesdraai Restaurant here. Before me a writer lived in this house.   After years of fostering the dream of one day living in Nieu-Bethesda… here I am, settled in my Karoo house...  

Why Nieu-Bethesda?... people ask me.  Because of my love and passion for the Karoo and Nieu-Bethesda, yes! But where did it all start, and I have to think back many many moons ago, to be precise 20 years ago.  That’s when it all started.  I went to watch a movie with my then friends, Loma and JP, the latter becoming my hubby later on. I chose the movie, not because I knew of the existence of Helen Martins or Nieu-Bethesda, I chose the movie because I love Cathy Bates… the movie - the story of Helen Martins, the Owl House lady… “The Road to Mecca”, based on the play by Athol Fugard.  I loved the movie, was intrigued and fascinated by the story of this woman, her story touched me deeply, made me feel sadness and excitement all at once, for what she created.

Many years later I first drove past the little village called Nieu-Bethesda and I said to hubby that I am too tired to drive the extra distance and that we could visit the village another time.  Reflecting back, it was not the time for me to meet the ghost of Helen Martins, the Owl House and Nieu-Bethesda… the right time only came much later. 

Four years ago I eventually came here for the first time, it was with awe and captivation that I entered the Owl House on that day… standing there on what felt to me like holy ground.  I walked around for hours and soaked up everything about this woman that once lived in the Owl House, who was rejected by the people of the village and is now the reason for people from all over the world coming to visit the little town… almost like the story of Vincent van Gogh…  The same sadness and at the same time excitement overwhelmed me… and I fell instantly in love with Helen Martins, the Owl House and Nieu-Bethesda.  That night we stayed in a little karoo house, had lamb potjie outside in the dust road at Katrin and Ian Alleman’s restaurant, now called The Karoo Lamb.  It was a special evening, we sat at long tables, Ian made the potjie outside in the dust road, we looked at the bright stars in the dark sky, laughed and had some serious conversations.  I fell in love with Nieu-Bethesda even more… the dust roads with no street lights, the stars in the dark sky… the smell of the night, the little children playing in the dust roads… the little Karoo houses, the white and “heritage green” colours, the beautiful old white NG Church (which was the original reason for the existence of the little town), the “windpompe”, cows and sheep and horses grazing in the village and dogs walking freely as if the little town belongs to them… My soul felt serene here… I belonged here. 

We had to return to Johannesburg the following day… I left a piece of my heart and soul here.  After the first visit I returned to Nieu-Bethesda many times, to get to know the little village where my soul dwelled and to find peace and quiet from the stressful life in the city and my job… Sometimes being a tourist, sometimes just being here and resting.  And ever since that first day in Nieu-Bethesda, I dreamt of one day living here permanently, a dream which has now after many years become a reality…

What now? A city girl in Nieu-Bethesda! Am I a little mad, sure “A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”. Someone asked me yesterday, “Are you an Artist?”, No I laughed (wishing deep down I was), just a boring lawyer who worked in the corporate environment for too long and now finds herself here in this little village with a pinch of creativity, a dash of imagination and an accumulation of business, legal and commercial knowledge I am not sure that will help me.  Then I read the words of Paulo Coelho, “You’ve got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense”.  Have I found my treasure? Yes! Do I know what to do with it… sort off... I think… Time will tell, and time I have…