Date: 3rd July 2014
“Find beauty – and praise it.” That’s the killer quote I picked up somewhere last week.
If someone can tell me who first thought of those words, in that particular magical order, I’ll give full credit and thanks.
And if someone else asked what my wife Jules and I were doing out here in the currently wintry Karoo, how we made a living crust, I would default to the above phrase:
“We find beauty – and then we praise it.”
Finding beauty at lunchtime in mid-winter here in the Karoo Heartland can be a challenge.
After hectic weekends, the wind blows like blazes, picks up a KFC box (complete with its chicken bones) and kicks it down Adderley Street (Cradock), where it joins Steers packets and shopping bag on a merry dance.
The light is harsh. A chill sets in and the air is blue from the winter veld fires.
But then you step into the foyer of the Victoria Manor Hotel on Market Street, there’s a fire going and Lambert the hotel dog comes to greet.
There are hugs and handshakes from Lisa, Amos, Sandra, Gibson and Tendai.
And just there – you’ve found your beauty.
Beauty in the Karoo is a late afternoon spent on the Rooiplaat Loop up at the Mountain Zebra National Park outside Cradock.
Getting the soft light just right on those orange muzzles of the curious zebra herd, with the Spekboom Berge lining up in background – there’s your beauty.
I could bang on forever about finding beauty in the Karoo, but let’s just stop here and say that it’s all waiting for you in our newly-minted, fresh-as-hot-bread Karoo Space e-Bookstore.
On the reading menu, this season, we have for you:
- Karoo Collection – a free sampler of five Karoo books. A generous look-see before you buy;
- Karoo Keepsakes I – e-Book version of the best-selling, award-winning original print book;
- Karoo Keepsakes II – e-Book version of the sequel to Keepsakes I;
- Knapsakvol Karoo I – at last, the Afrikaans translation of Keepsakes I;
- Knapsakvol Karoo II – the Afrikaans translation of Keepsakes II;
- 101 Karoo Towns – a colourful tour, with live links to the best and most relevant websites, of more than 100 Karoo towns, villages and settlements.
The books are easy to acquire and download, and you can purchase them using your PayPal account or your credit card. They come in colour-rich PDF format, designed by Cape Town-based Neil McCreadie, the website wizard who has been working with our Karoo Space brand for six years.
There are plans for more Karoo books, based on content gathered in the course of many long journeys. But for now, we’ll stoke the fire, pat Lambert on the head and race after that trash before it all ends up in Graaff-Reinet…
We have just launched our Karoo Space eBookstore. Visit the shop and download Karoo Collection for free – it’s a 70-page sampler of the five Karoo eBooks in stock.
By Chris Marais, Karoo Space
