New kitchen, new art

This week, Br. Ephrem is on a family visit in Louisiana. Br. Robert James, our Superior is in South Africa, visiting our Hermanus brethren for another week.

Renovation work on the Guesthouse kitchen is coming to fruition. This past Friday, chef Melissa cooked the first meal in the new kitchen. Our chefs, Bob and Melissa will be happy to move out of the temporary kitchen parked in the Sacristy parking lot. It got painfully hot at times, this summer.

The Guesthouse kitchen renovation early on. Pictures of the space emptied and stripped down back in April.

It was a big project. Br. Aidan supervised the project diligently with the very effective help of a knowldgeable and responsive consultant/general contractor.

The Guesthouse renovation at different stages. Clockwise, from top left: breaking down the old floor and the underlying rocks to prepare for the new floor; contractor working al fresco with river view; architectural drawings being consulted on the counter; pouring in the concrete base of the new floor; the beautiful and convenient new floor while appliances and work stations are installed (two pictures).

There are still a few dozens things that need to be done for the project to be completely finished. But the new kitchen is now usable. During the week, the monks helped moving back the food supplies in the two storage spaces adjacent to the kitchen.

The Guesthouse kitchen renovation - nearly there. From top clockwise: a smiling chef Bob seeing the end of the tunnel: recycled barn wood shelves in the old fireplace; food supplies coming back to the new storage rooms; two of our contractors overseeing last touches to the project.

Early this week, the three postulants discovered the joys of the Eveready Diner in Hyde Park across the river. 

We had two first-class feasts this week. On Friday we celebrated St Michael and All Angels. This Sunday we celebrate the Dedication of our St Augustine church.

This weekend, we got to visit the art studio of one of our neighbors, Anne Gorick, experimental artist, who works mostly with encaustic. She was interested to know we had beehives at the monastery. Encaustic artists use beeswax as the medium carrying pigments into the paper they use. This was part of the Highland Open Studio Tour.

People and flowers. From top left, clockwise: our three postulants at the Hyde Park Eveready Diner on our sabbath day (Anthony Letchworth, Jeffrey Costello and Samuel Kennedy - two pictures); a floral composition from our garden by Br. Robert Leo (asters, goldenrods and anemones - two pictures); artist Anne Gorick demonstrating encaustic painting in her nearby studio).

This Sunday, frequent visitor Ellen Metzger-O'Shea and her son Gregory O'Shea hung a new exhibition of her paintings in our little art gallery with the help of Br. Robert Leo (who is our art gallery curator and expert pictures hanger).

Art, people and flowers. From top left, clockwise: Ellen Metzger-O'Shea, Gregory O'Shea and Br. Robert-Leo hanging Ellen's art exhibition in ouu little gallery (3 pictures with volunteer David Coppola passing through on two of them)

The exhibit will hang until Thanksgiving. Come and give it a look. Next week, we'll feature a few pictures of the works of art to further entice you.