We seldom do the stay up for the midnight thing at New Years’. We like to go to sleep at our usual time, and wake up the next morning, at our usual time. I think the last time we stayed up to see the new year in, was at the 2000 turn of century, but that was just to make sure we had a story to tell future generations. And to make sure we could get out the way in time, should any aircraft fall from the sky, for those of us that can recall the whole Y2K hype. The next time we stayed up, was going into 2020. Do you remember all the jokes around the date, stuff about 20/20 vision? It made us all excited, and had us looking forward to another momentous date, getting ready with more tales to tell future generations. Well, 20/20 is indeed hindsight, and I doubt we will even want to remember that year, let alone tell future generations about it. 2021 had us cautiously optimistic, which made the disappointment of the past year just so much greater. I am too scared to wish any of you a happy and prosperous 2022. The Devil has ears. Let us not tempt fate.
Just as we do not do the stay up till midnight thing, I also do not make New Years’ resolutions. I did, however, make one the previous 2 years.
Going into 2020, I had made up my mind, that it was going to be business UNusual. I had decided to make a few personal changes as to how I approached my job (such as: this year, if I get sick, I will be sick, and stay at home!) Oh my. I sometimes think I must take responsibility for the business unusual we then experienced in 2020. We all stayed home, sick or not sick. We all had to change our ways, and in order to survive, had to adapt to business unusual. This resulted then in having a 2021 New Years resolution. After a year on the couch, eating everything from culinary delights to cheap shop biscuits, it was time to get active and eat better and healthier. This resolution we managed to stick to. (I say we, because Colin was informed of “our” resolution, and unless he was going to take out a yearlong subscription to Uber Eats, this was it.) I am pleased to say, we both ended 2021 a little fitter and trimmer.
My getting fitter regime in 2021 involved challenging myself with the number of exercise steps I did every day. It also became my unofficial “Covid tracker”. If I could walk 10 000 steps, I knew I was still Covid free. On my walks last year, I had several walking partners. Some willing, and some not so willing, and I had a route that I walked every day. It was fun, and predictable. Now, in my new space I have neither, and I had to find a new route and a new walking partner. The one I found accidentally, and the other 3 I would rather not have found.
Opposite to our temporary home, is the Beaumont Estate. It is one of the original “Companje” Farms, established in 1750. I heard some local folks talking about the farm (stories of a river, and a dam – walking to the dam was the thing to do) and so I started snooping around Beaumont farm, not sure if it was OK to be doing so. On one of my snooping walks, I bumped into the owner of the farm, and I had to come clean about my clandestine walks. After an introduction, short chat and a confession as to my trespassing, I finally had the owners’ permission to walk as much as I like, when I like! The downside is, they have 3 rather big dogs, and they have self-invited themselves to be my new walking partners! Can I take a moment to remind you: I am a cat person, not a dog person.
And so, I go walking on Beaumont most days. With no longer feeling that I have to sneak around, I now am exploring parts of the farm. Not only do they grow grapes (as most farms do in this part of the world), but they also have fruit orchards. I walk down little paths, with pear trees down the one side, and apples on the other. There are numerous beehives dotted around, the occasional lemon trees, fig trees and strawberries, as well as some type of fruit that I can’t quite identify as the fruit are too small to see what it is just yet. I am a city girl. Apart from a stint in a small town when I was little, I have always lived in a city. Apples and pears come in plastic thrift packs from the supermarket. Seeing them grow on trees, getting a little bigger every week, is just such a treat, and I can’t get enough of looking at them. The same goes for honey. It is no longer something in a bottle on a shelf (Ingredients: Honey, and then a rather non-committal description as to where it comes from but guaranteed there will be an imported-from-China-with-a-dash-of-sugar-syrup added in very small print, if you are not discerning) I can now buy honey coming from the very hives I walk past every day. Every step walked on Beaumont, is like a small blessing, a little pat on the back, from our Creator, as “Sure as God made little green apples”. (Sung by Roger Miller, 1968 if you want to find the song on YouTube.)
Other than getting my steps in, watching the little apples and pears grow and staying away from the streams (so my walking companions can stay dry), this gives me plenty time to be in quiet contemplative thought. It gives me time to reflect on where I am, what I plan to do. It gives me time to think on what I have walked away from, what I am walking to. What sort of changes I can expect to see in myself? How far have I strayed spiritually the past 2 years, and did I indeed stray, or am I simply evolving into the person I will be for the next chapter in my life? With all of these profound thoughts to contemplate, I had an AHA! Moment:
I think I should keep bees.
So then, I am going to learn (in person if I can manage to bump into the Beaumont beekeeper), if not: Aunty Google, on how to keep bees. Because:
God made bees; bees make honey.
The kids do all the work, the teacher gets the money.
On that note, I will leave you!
As always: Remain blessed.
Sjarlene