23 September

We are almost there.  The priory is all but complete.  To me it has been a long journey.  It will take us time to settle in and make the whole building work well for us.  As well we need to ensure that the refurbishment of the retreat centre is properly furnished so that it works really well and our ministry there can be relaunched.   Since the journey of building is almost over I wonder if I should keep up a version of this blog.  Any comments or suggestions?  Certainly our work on the property is not finished yet and you may be interested in life in the priory and what is happening in the retreat centre.

I am behind, once again, in posting.  This time I was tied up giving a retreat to the community of Poor Clare nuuns in Campbelltown.  It was an enjoyable experience for me to be with the sisters for the week.  I hope it was a beneficial experience for them.

I had a first yesterday while saying mass in Lurnea parish.  In 37 years of preaching I have never  had such a strong vocal response during a homily.  I mentioned the Anglican Diocese of Sydney's desire to change the wedding vows so that women would promise to submit to their husbands.  My! There was no doubt who was listening.  Let's just say the ladies were not convinced it would be a helpful change.  I enjoyed the interaction very much.

The photo below was taken some weeks ago from the hill behind the priory.  You can see the length of the building with the retreat centre in the background.

Priory in landscape setting

Here is another photo of the fountain in front of the priory.

Entry fountain

I took the photo below a couple of days ago in the early morning.  You can see the outline of an angelic or mystical figure surrounded by light.  The photo looks towards the last four bedrooms of the priory.

Mystical fgure captured

One sure sign the building was nearing completion was the removal of all the sheds.  Below is the view from the verandah outisde our dining room looking towards the fig tree.

From the dining room to the fig tree

Outside the dining room we have a planter box with a number of callistemon and a lemon tree.  There will also be some herbs planted here, including a rosemary bush.  There are planter boxes aoutside the recreation room, the offices and the south facing rooms.  These are planted with callistemon (bottle brush) which should attract more birds.

Lemon tree with callistemon

Here below we are looking from the garages at the end of the building towards the front.  It is a long building:  110 metres from the front door to the back door.

From the garage to the fig tree

Garage doors

The last courtyard garden has been planted.  There is a Japanese maple in the centre which looks fine.

Garden with Japanese maple

Here is view from our dining room looking over the porperty and showing St Antony's hermitage among the trees.

St Antony's hermitage as seen from our dining room

We have added a second table to our dining room and a coffe table near the lounge. 

Dining room

The Mongolian Pear in our courtyard near the library and oratory has blossomed.  It will grow to be a fairly large tree and will then help moderate the summer afternoon sun.



Mongolian Pear

 This is the garden looking towards the old novitiate.  There are three Mongolian pear trees here, one in blossom, one in leaf and one in bud.  A typically mixed Spring?

The old novitiate

Some of the plants on the bank between the priory and the chapel are now flowering.  To have Grevillia and Kangaroo Paws flowering is delightful.  They should attract the birds and bees.

Bank between chapel and priory

8 September

I hve been told by more than one reader that it is about time I posted some more photos so they can see how things are going.  Apologies for my tardiness.  But it is nice to have people asking for more.  Well the building is porgressing and in fact coming close to its completion.  Much is happening and we are quite aware we live in a building site.  We have been distracted by all manner of little things like needing to keep the retreat centre humming.  Enough of excuses, here are some photos.

Lunch room is taken away

One of the signs of progress was that one day the workmen's lunch room was put on a truck and taken away.  It was also the place where we had our site meetings.  So now there is a gap through which we can see more of the property from our dining room. 

New Bell Stump

Another sign of the end of building was the arrival of our new bell tower.  You can see the old belltower in the distance of the photo above.  Over twenty years ago we had a memorable accident when during the ringing of the Angelus the bell fell from the top of the tower, bounced on the roof and hit the ground.  It has been there ever since.  So part of our brief was to get a new tower.  The Council would not allow a big tower so this is more of a stump than a tower.  The old tower is white while the new is galvanised steel and at present looks glitteringly silver.  It will mellow, no doubt.  We are interested to hear how the old bell sounds in his new location.

Asphelt Laying Machine

Recently we have had gales which have blow dust, leaves and branches all over the place.  On Friday we had this machine laying asphelt on the road around the back of the retreat centre up to the priory garage.  It was impressive to see the big trucks come up and slowly ease the asphelt into the machine while the road rollers whizzed back and forth compacting the asphelt into a hard and durable surface.  Next week the front drive will be repaired and resurfaced. 

The Road behind the Retreat Centre

The new road takes a much wider alignment away from the retreat centre to improve visibility and safety for vehicles coming both ways.  Another great leap forward has been that we are connected to the sewerage.  This means that our old septic system has now been decommissioned.  I have not taken any photos of this epoch making event as it was a bit messy and we had been told to vacate the premises. This was to let the plumbers do what they had to do.  Three of us, Paul, Darren and I, went for a walk to the Woolwash at the back of Campbelltown where the Georges River meets O'Hares Creek.  After this five of us had a pleasant buffet lunch at the Campbelltown RSL.

The road leading to the priory

The road leads to the retreat centre car park which is on the left.  The priory is straight ahead and the chapel is to the right.

Seating in front of the priory

One day I was surprised when a man arrived with the benches for the front of the priory.  In fact they are not quiet what we ordered.  But we have put them out front temporarily.  The outlook over the fountain and the dams is delightful.  I like sitting here. 

Looking towards the garage

The above photo shows the new road as it goes past the Fig tree.  To the left of the fig tree you can see the rooms in the last section of the new building.  These are offices, formation rooms, a store room, laundry, music room and bathroom.  After these is our garage.

The garage is for four cars



Steps leading to mezzanine storage in the garage

The garage has a high roofline within which is a large mezzanine storage space.  One thing a monastery always needs is storage space.

Corridor of the last section

The last section of the building contains four bedrooms on the left and various offices on the right.  There is presently a temporary division in the corridor which separates us from the new work.  When this is taken down we will be able to walk the length of the building.  It is 110 metre from the back door to the front door.  As there are no steps in the entire building many have noted it would be excellent for skate boarding or even geriatric wheel chair races.  Do images of the chariot race in 'Ben Hur' come to mind?

North side of the garage

The north side of the garage is covered and will be adjacent to our laundry.  It will be a clothes drying area.  Presently it is the temporary lunch room for the workers.

Final four bedrooms

The last four bedrooms have now taken shape.  When they are complete we will have twelve bedrooms in the completed priory.  The projected completion date is now only a fortnight away.  It has been quite a journey.  It will be wonderful to have the building as our own and to enjoy the peace and silence which is so necessary for our Carmelite life. 

School holidays are almost upon us.  This will be a great opportunity with the help of volunteers to unbox our library.  This has been possible because of the generous and skillful work of Gerry Antilla who has patiently assembled the books shelves.  Personally I wonder if all the books will fit but have been assured they will.  The library seemed so huge without the shelving but now it is almost cosy.  It will be a calm place to sit in a comfortable chair reading or just looking the cemetery and reflecting on the eternal verities.

So bit by bit the priory is coming together.  It is already a blessing.