Silverspringism

This one bedroom Maryland Farms condo has just had a Face-Lift.  New Berber Carpet and Fresh Decorator Paint Colors througout makes it shine.  Located in the Montgomery County side of Maryland Farms the condo has a Silver Spring, Maryland 20904 address.  Montgomery County Schools serve this condominium.  The setting for this building is beautiful.  It is adjacent to deep woods and is in a cul de sac off of Cherry Hill Road.  This condo is light, bright and airy because it is above ground with a patio walkout. The location is super, within minutes of 95 and 495 and walking distance to the Large New Orchard Shopping Center!

Attention Parents of University of Maryland Students.  Maryland Farms is very close to the University of Maryland Campus at College Park, Maryland.  If you have a son or daughter who will be or is attending UMD - Investing in this condo can save you big on Dorm Costs! 

More Details and Photos at www.CherryCondo.com     Priced at only $148,000 with Special Financing Available through Prosperity Mortgage!

Robin Siegel is resident of the Woodside Park Neighborhood of Silver Spring and a tireless lost and found volunteer for the Montgomery County Humane Society.  You may have seen her vehicle in and around Silver Spring. She has the vehicle "wrapped with what she does", so you can't miss it!

Robin is a Volunteer who has a mission, a passion for and a great deal of success finding owners of lost pets by using neighborhood Yahoo groups.  She has joined over 100 groups in the past two years so that she can monitor for lost pets, post information, and notify of animals picked up in the area. 
 
If you get a request from her to join your Yahoo group, please permit her to do so, so that she can add your Silver Spring neighborhood to the range that she is able to cover. I hope you have no objections to her posting
notices to groups when pets are found in your area.  She can also answer questions regarding the shelter, and
advise on lost and found pets in general.
 
If you find a any lost pet in your Silver Spring Neighborhood (including cats, dogs, birds, ferrets, hamsters, lizards, rabbits .  . . just about anything!) and you don't know who it belongs to feel free to contact her for suggestions on finding the owners.
 
Robin Siegel
Woodside Park resident
Volunteer, Montgomery County Humane Society
www.mchumane.org 

Best way to reach Robin is by email Robin.Siegel@yahoo.com

As a pet owner, animal lover and resident of Silver Spring I want to give a big, grateful THANK YOU to Robin!

 

Former Republican Lobbyist Jack Abramoff must have liked Silver Spring as a place to live.  Since moving to the area in the 1980's He has owned 4 houses in Silver Spring.  Two in the Woodside Park Neighborhood and 2 in the Burnt Mills Hills Neighborhood. 

During the mid 1980's the Abramoffs lived in a house on Woodside Parkway in Woodside Park.  In 1994 they sold the house on Woodside Parkway and moved into this brick and slate Colonial house on Alton Parkway, a larger house on a larger lot in the same neighborhood of Woodside Park.

In 1998 Jack and his wife sold the house on Alton Parkway and in 1999 they moved into this luxury contemporary style house, built in 1989.  They are still the owners of record of the Burnt Mills house today.

The house is is set back off the road in an awesome private wooded setting in Burnt Mills Hills on almost 3 Acres.  You can just make out the top of the house from this picture.  In the spring and summer you can't see the house at all from the road.

Jack Abramoff was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months after pleading guilty to fraud and other charges in March of 2006.

This post was inspired by a another local blogger www.ThayerAvenue.com  who posted about a ginormous McMansion going up in East Silver Spring on Thayer Avenue.                                              

Most of East Silver Spring still has "normal sized" older houses.  The few McMansions or new infill construction that we do have REALLY stand out. 

One example on Easley street is the "McMansion with no windows"  It started out as a small bungalow home built in 1928 between 2 other similar houses.  The home had a larger and deeper than average lot size of 12,180 sq ft. 

It was torn down sometime ago and remained a big watery mud hole with trash and debris in it for a few years.  I once walked by the lot and noticed they were still getting junk and other mail delivered to 701 Easley, it was strewn all over the front of the mud hole. While it was still just a hole, it caused a lot of concern and complaints from the adjoining neighbors and the neighborhood in general. 

I though they'd never build anything there.  Then all of a sudden a huge foundation went up this past year.  The picture does not do it justice - it is ENORMOUS.  Can't wait to see what it will look like when it's finished.  It will certainly stand out amongst the small old bungalows on that street. 

A tasteful newly constructed infill home was completed recently just down the way at 608 Deerfield in East Silver Spring - McNeills Subdivision. The lot was a little over 7,000 square feet and an old garage at the back of the vacant lot was the only thing torn down to build the house.



This house sold for $1,191,064.00 ( one million, one hundred ninety one thousand and sixty four dollars ) and settled less than 3 months ago.  I think this NEW house just "nails it" for a perfect fit with the neighborhood character of East Silver Spring.

Some Gigantic Monster Houses have gone up or are going up in some older Silver Spring neighborhoods, for instance this one on Randolph Road.  There is a Monster Palace on New Hamphire Avenue in Hillandale and a Giant House going up in Woodmoor just past the Woodmoor Shopping Center going North on Colesville that you just can't miss when driving out that way.  Sligo from Silver Spring Singular has posted a few blogs about McMansions in Silver Spring.  I liked this post about Mc Mansions by a local blogger.  Dan Reed (Our future architect/Urban Planner) from Just Up the Pike writes about them all the time and Silver Spring Daily Photo has a lot of photos of McMansions in and around Silver Spring.


So, How do you feel about McMansions in Silver Spring?  What's your opinion?  Want more? Want less? Want Larger? Smaller? or just don't care?

One of my favorite authors, Sarah Ban Breathnach lived in this colonial house in Takoma Park, Md.  She lived here from 1980 to 1998.  This is the house where she wrote my all time favorite book - Simple Abundance - a daybook of comfort and joy.  The book was published in 1995 and became a runaway bestseller after Sarah made an appearance on Oprah.

I got my, now dog eared, well worn copy of this book in 1998.  This book never ceases to amaze me.  The book is set up as daily meditations, there is a meditation for every day of the year.  If you know me, you know I'm not the "meditating" type, but I have always loved this book and use it like a daily bible of sorts.  The book is recommended reading by many real estate coaches and is written more for women than men.  Sarah Ban Breathnach did write a book for men called A Man's Journey to Simple Abundance.  I highly recommend her books to anyone!