Stéphane Dreyfus and Jessica Kung's blog

Last entry for me. Snow all around. House warm and safe. Think well of us as we grow love and wisdom in our hearts.

These past two weeks have seen a lot of activity at our site. Insulation of a cottony nature went in, and was quickly followed by sheetrock. This is not to imply that things don't move at a quick pace when we aren't around to feed tasty snacks to our contractor and his workers, rather that, when we are going to the site ourselves every day, the progress is visually striking with each new day.

Jessica and I have been putting together the rock retaining wall needed to keep our delicious dirt from sloughing into our gompa, and are almost done.

We had a lot of help from Jessica's father, who was visiting to make sure he was being a responsible parent: he wanted to make sure we weren't going to live in poor conditions for the next three years!

We also recently celebrated our birthdays! Stéphane's birthday was on November first, and it was celebrated deliciously in Tucson, as well as with some fun dancing at Diamond Mountain later that night. Jessica's birthday was Novemebr 3rd and was celebrated with some work at our site (ok so that's not a celebration), and with a wonderful night out in Safford with fellow retreatants James and Lisette (who recently got married!).

Anyone who wants to contribute to the celebration of our birthdays should check out our birthday retreat wish-list here: http://amzn.com/w/1PCKR3KICJD0J

All of these items are going to be of great use to us in our coming retreat.

Have a wonderful week!

Back in Safford and working on the land. Had a wonderful meeting with Rob Long again, where it is always comforting to discuss the future of the cabin. He is so earnest, hardworking, and efficacious that it is basically impossible to come away from a meeting with him having any doubts that the cabin is going to be done on time and awesome. Now if only we could make out decisions about interior decor as quickly as he pours concrete...

Did some burying of the water line to the Lama Dome with Cody and Ricky. Difficult terrain and no dirt. But a fun time was had once a good pace was set. Guys pick up rocks or buckets full or rocks, one  lady fills said buckets, one lady stacks rock on water line. Awesome! Great company too.

Did a little bit of work at our site, burying an electrical line that master electrician Jarret has recently put into place. This is the line that will eventually connect our solar power to the cabin.

In the near future we will (hopefully) learn how to drive the RTV Kubota so that we can drive it around the retreat valley to collect rocks that will become part of the retaining wall behind our cabin.

See you in the valley!

In between the end of the bonus nine days of teachings at Diamond Mountain, and the craziness of running around teaching and studying in New York (with the added pleasure of Lama Christie's wedding), Jessica and I found the time to bury the water line to the site of cabin #49. While it wasn't easy work (I got three nasty blisters) it was on the fun side and, once done, it felt extremely rewarding. Why so? Because  it felt nice to be able to do something for David Stumpf, even though it may have been a relatively small act of burying. Through the grace and (ongoing) gargantuan efforts of David Stumpf, all cabins have water pipes running to their sites. This is an extraoardinary luxury compared to the last retreat carried out by our Lamas, and probably compared to any of the retreats done by our fore-bearers in Asia. I'm very thankful to David for what he's done and what he is still doing.

After many travel adventures, ranging from China to Idaho, Jessica and Stéphane are finally back at Diamond Mountain, attending teachings and checking in on the cabin.

While we were traveling, teaching, and raising funds for the retreat, Jarret Levine - under the umbrella of Marmot Brothers construction - has single-handedly made incredible progress on our electrical systems.

Rob Long, the contractor who has done most of the work on our site thus far, has been working on Venerable Chunzom's site for most of the summer. On September 21st we had a very nice chat with him about the future construction schedule of the cabin, and as a result, all three of us (Rob, Jessica, Stéphane) are feeling quite positive and energized about the future of the cabin.

By the end of October the plumbing and electrical will be done and Rob Long will have painted the trim, fascia and other smaller outer bits of the cabin. The interior of the cabin will also have been primed for more detailed painting. Jessica and I will be there building a rock retaining wall, and Matt Stevens will be there adding his painting skills to the interior and exterior of the cabin.

November will be a crunch time of sorts, where the interior of the cabin gets completed. After that, minor additions to the surroundings, such as gravel around the cabin to protect us from mega-mud, will be put into place.

If we can keep to this schedule we should be able to start moving in by late November!

Jessica and I just completed a wonderful 8 day retreat at Diamond Mountain, during which we were camped at our retreat site (in a beautiful spot amazingly prepared by Grant Burns in the shade of a Juniper tree). Though the retreat itself was arduous, being out in the dusty, hot, cold..., it was a wonderful experience to be able to spend each night at the site where we will do a three year retreat. While the days were silent and filled with hiking up and down the main road at Diamond Mountain, the nights were always very comfy and nest like at our site. Jessica and I got a wonderful sense of how this place could easily be our home for three years, and then perhaps for other, shorter, retreats in the future.