May 15th...Juggling!

It's a busy time...His Holiness Penor Rinpoche will be arriving in mid-June and we're struggling with awkward working conditions (our backyard when weather permits---our dining room when it's raining!). Not to mention our lack of experience! We are movnig forward however, and wanted to share a few snapshots so you could see the progress...



As you an see it's starting to look like a throne! We're going to be chipping away at it this week and hope to complete the main seat this weekend. Then we'll be carting it over to another sangha member's home so it can be painted! Thus, despite a lack of proper workspace, we're managing to carry on!

You don't have to be a handy type to help, nor do you have to help with these projects in order to enjoy the amazing blessings of the Stupas and temple here in Maryland. All of this is maintained and accessible 24 hours a day for anyone wishing for some peace!

May 5th...Perseverance...

You may be wondering where we've been! Well, it's been a tough job getting started on the throne. First, we had no place to work...but we do have a small townhouse, so we decided to work in our backyard. Then, we needed tools, again, none to be had, so we consulted with our sangha carpenter types (cabinet makers too) and determined we needed a table saw. Which, mind you, we have no experience with! Assembling such a thing is a challenge all by itself! The directions were truly of minimal benefit, even misleading in places. All we did know is that getting the blade installed correctly not only impacted the quality of our result (we're still worried about that) but our safety...so we struggled through the directions which seemed to have little relationship to the unit we were assembling...but eventually we got it together...


After two full days (we're talking about our precious weekend days!) assembling the tools to even get started, we finally began cutting some wood last weekend. We're still working on cutting, but at least we're actually working on the throne now!


The table saw was truly essential, but it couldn't do it all. So we needed something to do interior cuts, and had to purchase that too. Here we are drilling a hole through which we can thread the blade of the jigsaw to finish cutting out the slot...


This part was easier than we thought it might be. Just a long way coming!



We're still working on the throne base...we've had to re-measure, buy more wood (inaccurate calculations in how it fits together) and then re-cut some pieces, but we're hoping the next chance we get we'll be able to start fitting the base together! Keep us in your prayers, this has been one of our biggest challenges yet!