Extended Family

Oh, where to start... The sheer volume of people that filter through our house on a daily basis is staggering. There is a constant flow of helpers... delivery guys, maintenance guys, a girl who just shows up to turn on our lawn sprinklers, the snake catcher (seriously!), the boy who paints the bottom 3 feet of all of our palm trees, a crew of 10 women crouched down on our front lawn pulling weeds out by hand, the internet "dude" with his long hair on his fancy red motorcycle... on and on and on...

Here's a look at some of our extended family:

This is Raju, our gardener. I just love this guy. Each villa here in Palm Meadows is maintained from the front edge of the house forward by the association staff. The villa owners/renters are responsible for maintaining the side and back lawns. We were fortunate that the previous renters here had found Raju, he is a gem. He rides up every day on his bicycle, with a smile on his face and his clippers in hand... He has planted us a great veggie garden and Lauren loves to pick the green beans every morning. He is just 21 years old and is already married (his wife is just 16!!!!)Raju's clippers...

Check out fancy twine used to secure the hose to the water spicket...

Here is Sanjeev. He owns the local florist and drives up twice a week on his motorcycle with a huge basket of fresh flowers to choose from. He cuts them fresh and arranges them right at the doorstep! I always let Lauren pick the flowers for one arrangement - she loves it.When mail arrives, the "professional courier" is at your service...The car washers... every morning at 7am sharp. They are actually a father and son team. The boy, Gungadan, is just 13 years old. Andrew is fascinated by him. He said to me, very matter of fact, "Mom, that is Gungadan, he washes cars for a living."


This is Challu, our nanny, playing Taylor's sitar. Our maid, Sheela, with Challu (her daughter) and her 2 sons, Avinash (8 yrs) and Avishiek (10 yrs) with Taylor, Lauren and Andrew. Is Andrew actually bigger than Sheela??????

Somehow I have no photo of Harish, with whom I spend the most time of all! I will take care of that tomorrow and post here as well. Harish pretty much manages all of the day to day activities of the house. He pays our bills, grocery shops, organizes house maintenance, translates for us, picks the kids up at the bus stop on rainy afternoons, brings in the bikes, scooters, toys and balls from the yard every night (Robin, we need to bring him home with us, I'll see if he has a brother for you!), oh yeah, and drives us absolutely everywhere we need to go (he is clearly underpaid!!!!).