Tempus Fugit

How time flies is the mantra of the more mature. Days blend into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. At the best of times, it all goes by so fast. However, throw in a pandemic and subsequent lockdown and suddenly my perception of time is completely distorted, is time is going more quickly or more slowly? Well, it’s certainly a blur. The dates of my mother’s death nearly four years ago and Isla’s birth six weeks later are my anchors; these are the dates I go back to in order to measure the time in between, because I have no mental grasp of it. This was the beginning of much emotional upheaval for me – grieving my mother’s death for such a short while before celebrating my grandchild’s birth.  And then there was much toing and froing between SA and the USA and the inevitable sense of dislocation after each trip, before Covid put me in my place and America imposed cruel travel restrictions which got between me and my family. After almost two years of no Isla hugs, we found a way around the restrictions and I spent six months away, before returning home in February this year. It feels like years ago, it feels like yesterday!

Sometime, during all this gemors, Peter and I decided to convert my mother’s wee house into a holiday rental. I threw myself into renovating and decorating the cottage as a distraction from any grief I was feeling and the sadness of being separated from my family. I renamed it Ingadi Cottage (Ingadi meaning garden in isiZulu) to avoid being constantly reminded that my mum was no longer living there. However, before we could start renting it out, Covid hit and I just didn’t want to have to deal with members of the public and all the palaver that went with it. Then I was away from the farm again. So finally, in mid-May this year I managed to get my act together and listed the cottage on Airbnb, and have been absolutely blown away by the response. The demand took me completely by surprise and at first, I was quite disorganized, caught in a never-ending cycle of frantically washing and drying towels and sheets. However, I’ve since bought additional linen and put a system in place that streamlines getting the cottage ready from one guest to the next. As I’ve mentioned before, I do love a list and so we have checklists galore! Airbnb is great because it takes care of all the bookings and payments and so far, I’ve had nothing but praise for the guests we’ve had. And their reviews have been really good with all of them saying they would like to return. Here are some snippets:

The cottage is welcoming and comfortable, with a lovely wood fireplace. …. stunning sunsets over the Drakensberg. It’s quiet and restful. I loved the sounds of birds and wind in the trees.

Amazing cute little spot for a wonderful getaway! Such a special finding.

Awesome cosy cottage!

Cathy’s place is a gem. She is attentive and has gone out of her way to make sure the cottage is comfortable (even during loadshedding!!). The place is peaceful and lovely.

All my favourite adjectives: welcoming, quiet, restful, cosy, peaceful.

It’s so easy to take what we have here for granted – looking up at the brilliant blue sky and hearing only the rustle of wind and leaves and twittering of birds; stargazing at night with owls for company hooting softly to each other; technicolour sunsets; afternoon mist swirling down the koppie, enfolding the house while we sit cosily in front of a flickering wood fire. I have a postcard that I picked up from Roger Young’s Kruisrivier gallery many years ago, which has a picture of his porcupine sculpture and the words: kom lê jou gedagtes voor die vuur, which roughly translated means, come and lay your thoughts in front of the fire. And that’s exactly what we do! This is a place for contemplation.

It may seem strange to start something like the Airbnb when we have already made up our minds to leave here one of these fine days to be closer to our family. However, we don’t know when that day will come and I can’t just sit around waiting. Knowing that our time here is limited has helped me to become much more appreciative of everything we have around us and I’m making a concerted effort to live in the present, taking nothing for granted. I am reminded of a quote from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross:

It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.