Catching Up

I know, I know -- it's been 3 months since I posted anything on this blog. In my defense, not much has been going on house-wise. I've also been pretty busy with work, including writing my other blog. But since we have just broken ground on our new garage -- just after the 1-year anniversary of moving back into our house -- I will have some new information to add.

But first, here's a quick rundown of the past 3 months...

In mid-May, we had two solid weeks of houseguests. No, not the same houseguests for 2 weeks, but 12 different people who stayed with us over the course of 2 weeks -- some overlapping. That included my cousin Nirmita, her sister Purvi and her 2 children, and her parents who were all in town for Nirmita's graduation from The George Washington University. We attended the ceremony, where Michelle Obama was the commencement speaker.

Then our old buddy John Pali came back to repair our balcony. The tile we had used on it turned out to be unsuitable for outdoor use, and with all the snow and ice we had over the winter, it cracked in several places. We also had some sort of fungus growing on the face of the balcony -- perhaps as a result of water infiltration from the cracked tile. John took off the railing, which he had to store in the bedroom as it was too heavy to lift down to the ground, cleaned off the fungus, and retiled the surface with an outdoor-rated tile.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went down to Richmond, VA to see the Tiffany exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I couldn't take any photos in the exhibit, but the historic Jefferson Hotel, where we stayed, has several windows that are believed to have been made by Tiffany Studios, including the ceiling in the lobby.

On June 6, we participated in the Arlington Green Home & Garden Tour. There was a luncheon and awards ceremony at one of the homes beforehand, where we were presented with our Arlington County Green Home Choice certificate by County Board member Barbara Favola.Then our house was open to the public for 4 hours. We had the house professionally cleaned and the yard tidied up beforehand, and managed to enlist several people to help us give tours and answer questions: our builders Rob and Steve B, our architect Marta, her husband Amalio, and her assistant Pedro, who was in charge of greeting people at the door, signing them in, and collecting donations for Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (one of the tour's co-sponsors. We probably had over 100 people come through our house that afternoon, and collected more donations than any other house on the tour -- probably because Pedro was shaking people down at the door.
On June 12, Josh and Rob participated in a charity bike ride in Middleburg, VA. The ride was 60 miles, and since Rob is 10 years younger and 6 inches taller than Josh, he pushed himself pretty hard training for it so he could keep up. A couple weeks before the event, I suggested he go on a training ride with Rob so he'd have a better sense of what to expect. Turns out Rob -- who only rides a few times a year -- had a tough time keeping up with Josh, who bikes to work every day. After that, Josh relaxed and just had fun with it. Although now he's got the bug for long-distance bike rides. Let's hope he wears a little more sunscreen next time...
At the end of June, we spent a long weekend in the Bay Area, turning a business trip (for Josh) into a mini-vacation. We visited several friends and family members, and had a nice birthday dinner for Josh at the Slanted Door, a nouveau Vietnamese restaurant in the Ferry Building with a spectacular view of the Bay Bridge.

When we got home -- on Josh's actual birthday -- the house was thoroughly covered with birthday decorations. That's what happens when you leave a key with my friend Ann...
In July, we celebrated the Fourth with our neighborhood parade and picnic, which is very cute. All the kids dress in red, white, and blue and decorate their bikes, scooters, and wagons.
In the afternoon, we went to a BBQ at a neighbor's house, and then took the Metro to Rosslyn to watch the fireworks from the hill by the Iwo Jima Memorial -- our old front yard. The Metro was so crowded afterwards that we ended up walking all the way home, which is only about 2 miles, but it did make me nostalgic for the days when we lived right across the street.

Most recently, we spent a week at Josh's family's house in Chatham, MA -- right on the elbow of Cape Cod. This is our last summer there, as the house has been sold to the neighbor directly behind it -- he rented it back to us for the summer as he has to wait 18 months before he can tear it down, which he is planning to do. So that's our little house, Starboard Light, in the front, and the neighbor's house looming above it. As you can see, it's right on the water. (I took this photo from a boat.)Despite the bittersweet undertone, we had a lovely time. We were joined at the beginning of the week by our friend Patrick, and during the latter half by Josh's friend John and his family as well as Josh's brother Ben and his younger daughter, Larissa. A good time was had by all, and we were especially glad to have missed one of the hottest weeks of the year in DC. It never got above 85 degrees in Chatham, which is good because the house has no A/C. We're looking forward to going back up over Labor Day weekend for one last hurrah with some of Josh's cousins.

OK, now we're caught up on the past 3 months. Let's hope I can find some time to post some updates on the garage...