Progress Update: Tues Aug 20th, 2014

Work Bee Sunday Sept 8th, 2013

Please come join us in a day of community-building work.  Our main project is to develop kuti meditation walking paths.  The heavy lifting will be done by our tractor bucket, however help is needed to smooth out gravel and dirt, as well as line the paths with logs.  Lighter work is also needed, in the way of trimming branches with loppers.

The Work Bee starts at 8:30am.  A potluck lunch will be served at 11am.  Afternoon work resumes at 1pm, ending at 4pm.

The weather isn’t too hot, there have virtually no insects at this time, and it’s a great time for outdoor work!

Welcome Anagarika Shawn

We’d all like to welcome the newest member of our community, Anagarika Shawn.  After attending numerous Goenka meditation retreats, and serving Ajahn Punnadhammo at Arrow River Forest Hermitage as a steward, he’s now ordained as an Anagarika.

New Kuṭi donated: the “Kataññutā Kuṭi”

A portable kuṭi on wheels has been donated by friends of the monastery.  Some photos are available here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98228581@N08/sets/72157634687625819/

Garu-bhaṇḍa Equipment Repair

• Ion Colcher, Cornel Pop, and Peter Pauls have done major work to restore our vintage-era tractor (including its large lawnmover attachment) to a functional state where the lawn can be mowed.
• Our malfunctional heat pump (which heats and cools our vihara, as an eco-friendly alternative to our conventional furnace) is also slated to be replaced, under warranty.
• Also, three sluggishly-performing computers were re-installed, which now all work decently again.

Note: the term “Garu-bhaṇḍa” means “heavy/expensive property,” and our Code of Discipline exhorts us to take good care of it and get the most use from it which is practicly possible.

Website Changes

Nikita Pchelin has made several improvements to our website to ease its usage by our community, and make things more secure and reliable:

• Newsletters (including this one) and Podcasts are now handled by MailChimp.
• Contact Forms are handled by Google Forms.
• Website backups are now stored in Ubuntu One cloud storage.

New Photos

• Ajahn Viradhammo scattering ashes of his mother in the Baltic Sea:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98228581@N08/9552530227/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98228581@N08/9555320482/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98228581@N08/9552531205/

• Repairing the stone foundation of our barn:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98228581@N08/9555814256/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98228581@N08/9553013823/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98228581@N08/9556017470/

• Huge Wild Turtle:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98228581@N08/9552915451/