Saturday, September 8, 2012

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.

1 comment:

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