{"id":110511,"date":"2026-07-14T11:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=110511"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:07:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:07:06","slug":"small-steps-in-the-oratory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/small-steps-in-the-oratory\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Steps in the Oratory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span>he chapel at Pistachio House is the oldest building on the property. It began its life in about 1904 as the shack in which the folks who built Pistachio House lived during construction. Over the decades and century since then, it has served at various times as a coal bin, a workshop, and storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Francine and I bought Pistachio House, the finances were a bit doubtful. As we prayed to own our own home, we vowed to make that little building into a chapel<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we bought pistachio House, our future chapel was almost falling down, and there was a lot of hard work by the two of us and a cadre of friends to get it into shape for use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Francine and I prayed Vespers here, and it was our hope that at some point we could celebrate its completion with a Mass<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s still a lot to do \u2013 the interior walls are wanting trim and paint, and at some point an actual floor will need to be laid over the subfloor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have not prayed here since Francine went into hospital. Following her death and the sudden need for urgent work on the garage, the chapel basically became a storage unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my long Camino, one of the (many) things the Lord brought to my attention was the passage from chapter 52 of the Holy Rule<\/em> of Saint Benedict which reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Let the oratory be what the name implies, and let nothing else be done or kept there.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Hoo boy. Our little chapel was stacked high with bicycles and boxes and backpacks. Hardly conducive to prayer. It was also covered in cobwebs and thick with dust and dirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there was the roof. Several shingles had been torn off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my absence, it appears that somebody with a tall vehicle scraped the roof in the alley, probably while trying to turn around.\u00a0I thought initially the damage to the roof was caused by a storm, but once I got up there on the ladder today I realized that the source of the damage was a single point on the edge of the roof from which shingles had been torn off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So today, cleanup work in the chapel began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fixed the roof and reattached one of the interior wall panels near it that had come off and was hanging over the altar. I started in on the cobwebs and the dust, though this will take a lot more time. The battery on the vacuum ran down to zero, though I had completed perhaps 15% of what needed to be done. The bicycles and the more obvious boxes were removed, and I swept the place. I recharged the battery-powered lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s still a lot to be done, but I think I can return to praying Vespers here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small steps. And now, lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The chapel at Pistachio House is the oldest building on the property. It began its life in about 1904 as the shack in which the folks who built Pistachio House lived during construction. Over the decades and century since then, it has served at various times as a coal bin, a workshop, and storage. When Francine and I bought Pistachio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moments-in-time","category-pistachio-house"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-sKr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109109,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saturday-gardening-at-pistachio-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":110511,"position":0},"title":"Saturday Gardening at Pistachio House","author":"Thom","date":"09 November 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Francine and I spent two or three hours this morning working on the garden. Honestly, we've been neglecting it this year, so there's still a lot to do. The plan was to get as much done as we could before the rain came today. I focused my energies on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2857,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/pistachio-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":110511,"position":1},"title":"A Sunday at Pistachio House","author":"Thom","date":"22 April 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So. My wife and I live in an urban neighbourhood known as Hilltop, or \"The Hill\" as I prefer to call it. The Hill is one of the oldest and grittiest neighbourhoods in the city of Tacoma Washington, a place that sometimes calls itself \"Grit City\". So that's a whole\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/thom-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86127,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-feast-on-the-feast\/","url_meta":{"origin":110511,"position":2},"title":"A Feast on the Feast","author":"Thom","date":"23 November 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, on the great feast of Christ the King, we held our annual feast of thanksgiving at Pistachio House. We had a houseful of guests for dinner, including family and friends. We ate good food, drank good vino tinto (or beer, tonic, cider, water, coffee, or tea as the occasion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "community"","block_context":{"text":"community","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christ the King","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110292,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/fridays-the-thirteenth\/","url_meta":{"origin":110511,"position":3},"title":"Fridays the Thirteenth","author":"Thom","date":"13 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"before we bought Pistachio House, Francine and I shared an apartment with the various children and cats. The address was 13o2 Division Avenue, and we were in apartment 13. Francine was convinced that 13 was a lucky number (\"it's lucky in Italy!\"), so on most Fridays the 13th we would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110272,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/sophia-de-pistachio-2006-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":110511,"position":4},"title":"Sophia de Pistachio (2006\u20132026)","author":"Thom","date":"08 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I bought Pistachio House in the Autumn of 2006. We moved in with a tribe of kids and cats. Sometime before that first Christmas, we rescued two kittens who had been born under the porch next door in the Autumn and abandoned by their mother. These were Sophie and Linus,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86321,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/class-of-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":110511,"position":5},"title":"Class of 2015","author":"Thom","date":"21 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, my son Tristan graduated from the Art Institute of Portland with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Game Art and Design. He's a 3-D modeler, and a good one. For my long-time readers, you know that Tristan's life has not been without it's troubles. That sentence there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by Victoria Ryng","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Tristan-graduation-03-e1450721421534-240x377.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110511"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110519,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110511\/revisions\/110519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}