Blogs from Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, North America

The sat nav had directed us to Mount Vernon, the housing estate, which worried us because we could have been anywhere in VA at this point. Luckily, when we reprogrammed the sat nav to take us to "Mount Vernon- George Washington's House" we realised it was just around the corner. We parked the car and headed into the visitor centre for some food. After tucking into a pizza, we made our way into the gardens of Mount Vernon. The estate is huge, with gardens either side of the mansion, as well as a big bowling green out front. George Washington's tomb is also on the estate. We made our way up to the mansion, passed one of the gardens and also a privy. We arrived at the mansion grounds where a staff member offered us a ... read more

Today I had a massive lie in and didnt really do too much all morning! I caught up with my blog entries in the afternoon for a bit and then helped Matt load Lora's car with some rubble from some yard work they had done recently. Matt and I then took Wesley to the park around the corner. He loved being pushed on the swing and Matt had a very childish chat with him, lots of baby talk! Matt absolutely adores Wesley which is very cute to watch! He wanted to have a go on the slide as well but as it was quite large Matt sat at the top and lowered him down whilst I caught him at the bottom! His elated expressions were adorable! Matt cooked dinner on the grill and we sat and ... read more

Left at 8:45 and went to Chinmaya Mission. After prayer and meditation there was Gita Chapter 11 lecture for one hour for the adults from 10:30 to 11:30 by swami dherendra. Left from there at 12 and went for lunch to Indique Heights. When we were about to finish our lunch started a discussion on KSM family lineage which we continued in the car. Dropped off Rasshmi at her college. Then we went to a Siva Vishnu temple. After that dropped off Kisshan at the academy. Before dropping him off went to a Bed and Bath store. Shanthi bought me an onion chopper and then picked up dinner for Kisshan at drive-in Burger King, coffee for GS and S and milk shake for us. When we reached Jayanthi's house it was past 6pm. Shanthi and GS ... read more

NOTE: this part of the blog is about our ongoing kitchen renovation... if you want to know, start reading on July 18th.... 4 pm I haven't written anything today because nothing too interesting has happened -- we're just plugging along, trying to finish up with the belt sander before 7. Rhea's room got done around 2, and now we're finishing most of the kitchen and breezeway. We'll have the edger for 1 more day, time to do the rest of the breezeway and some smaller halls and maybe even the steps. 11:30pm blech, I'm all sawdusty !! ... read more

11:15 am Today we're starting on the linoleum under the plywood. Sort of forgot about that. 11:45 am Wow, its really stuck, coming off in chunks the size of my hand. Arrrgh. 3:15 am Erin and I spent the morning on linoleum, now its finally up. Suspense... should we rent the equipment?? Erin is making long lists of sanding belts and disks. She is disgusted that the people at Home Depot have never heard of the red pad that goes under the sanding disks. 6:30 Broke a blade on my little saw while cutting out a bad board. 8:15 pm The belt sander and edger are here... 9 pm We tried sanding with 16-grit -- a sandpaper covered with stones larger than your average wedding ring -- but it clogged up within about 6 feet. If ... read more