These Times and Washington's Last (Pine) Stand

How's everyone doing?  Really doing?  Today marks the 14th day that Harris nor Grace have been off the farm (I've been grocery shopping) and while mostly things are okay, there are moments where I'm reminded that feelings and emotions are on edge and the uncertainty, and loss, is real.  Both of my children would rather be in school instead of doing distance learning.  Even Grace, my introvert, prefers class time over video time.

I've been keeping very busy with garden and farm chores, we keep joking that the farm will look better than it has ever looked before!  I'm so thankful for the farm; its beauty, chores and space!  We've made a list for the children of things that they must do each weekday while this lasts and one of them is to get daily exercise (Bryce has set up a gym in the barn) and another is to get outside to do something fun each day.  I've been going on daily wood walks with Rosie and I'm so enjoying watching the spring unfold in the woodland.  Grace regularly goes to the little section of our woods we've named Washington's Last (Pine) Stand and sets up her hammock, makes a fire and has some nature time.  You guys, if this horrible situation was going to happen, thank God it happened in the spring!  Silver linings...

Our Linen Closet

One of my very favorite things we added to the house during the first phase of renovations is one I've never posted about because it's actually rather difficult to get a good picture.  We added a built-in linen closet where a sort of closet was before.  I've always loved linen closets and their fresh, tidy appearance and I love that this one looks as if it would have been original to the house.

a giant tea strainer filled with lavender

Weeks and weeks ago, before the pandemic and the hoarding of toilet paper was a thing, I accidentally bought a second giant pack of toilet paper because I couldn't remember if we had enough.  When I got home, Bryce asked, "What are we going to do with all of this toilet paper?" Of course, now we are appreciative of my over buying!

Little brass labels tell us whose towels and sheets are where.

I've been getting a lot of things cleaned out the past 10 days and it feels good.  It helps me to feel like I have a little bit of control of the craziness that's going on in the world.  I hope you are well.

Maple Syrup Celebration

This is our 3rd year making maple syrup and every year we seem to get a little faster and a little better at making it.  Our trees continue to be incredibly generous with sap and we continue to try to keep up with them.  This year, we decided to celebrate the maple sugaring season with a special dinner set amongst the maples!  It was especially nice during this time of staying home to do something a bit special and celebratory!

I used the exact menu from the cookbook, A Simple Feast by Diana Yen.  It included Maple Braised Beef Stew (short ribs) with Celery Root, Potato and Pear Mash.  A salad of brussel sprouts and cranberries rounded things out.  

Bryce made a cocktail for us using maple syrup and bourbon.

For dessert we had Salted Maple ice cream!  Grace thought it was some of the best ice cream she's had.

Edinburgh

Our last stop in Scotland before heading home was Edinburgh.  Not only is this such a beautiful and historic city but it's also the epi center of all things... Harry Potter!  Edinburgh was where JK Rowling was living at the time she started the book series and you can hardly look one way without recognizing how much the city must have been an inspiration.  In fact, I find it hard to believe that the Edinburgh castle didn't serve as some sort of inspiration!  The castle takes such a dominant role in the landscape and it's huge!  We spent several hours touring around the castle and learning its history.

 this sweet dog cemetery at the castle highlights how important and beloved dogs are here

Victoria Street is said to have been an inspiration to JK Rowling for Diagon Alley.  Here, we ate a lovely lunch (and unexpectedly fancy!) at The Grain Store.

After lunch, we wandered around Grassmarket for awhile and it was here that I had the best ice cream of my life.  It was Rose flavored and it's now my mission to figure out how to make something similar.

I love to visit old cemeteries, I find them beautiful and peaceful though I will admit that Grayfriars Cemetery had more of a decidedly spooky feeling about it (perhaps because it was rainy and dark?).  We found the headstones for Thomas Riddel, William McGonnagal (known as the worst poet of Scotland) and The Potters!

 We had lots of coffee stops on our trip in Scotland (but I must say, none compared to Bryce's lattes!) and we just love how charming and beautiful most of the store fronts are.

Bryce is fully embracing the Scottish way with his Harris Tweed cap!

And that's a wrap of our trip to Scotland!

A Trip to the Highlands

While in Scotland we also made an overnight trip to The Highlands since it was a fairly short, and beautiful, drive north.  We drove straight to Braemar, which is where we stayed for the night.  Braemar is situated within the Cairngorms National Park.  We had lunch at the Fife Arms which is both beautifully traditional and strangely eclectic at the same time.

Grace finally tried the traditional Scottish meal of Haggis.   

After lunch, we went for a nice long walk.  The heather is so beautiful even this time of year when leaves are not yet out on the trees and everything isn't lush green.

After dinner that evening, Grace had her first Scotch with her Dad (drinking age there is 18).

The next morning, after a full Scottish breakfast, we headed back south to visit a few castles.  We visited both Huntington Tower Castle and Doune Castle (which is where Outlander was filmed in addition to The Monty Python).

 Doune Castle

I'm fascinated by castles and their histories.  It just blows my mind the work that had to go into building these massive structures.  In addition to the work, there's the intrigue, violence and murder that took place within and without the walls of the castle that sound more like a movie rather than real life.

 The kitchen fireplace!

 a window seat at Huntington

From here, we headed to Edinburgh for our last leg of the trip before heading home.

St. Andrews, Scotland

As you may know from this blog, Grace's number one school choice for college has been the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.  She learned back in November that she had been accepted but we would not allow her to commit without first visiting the campus.  That visit happened last week and she loved it even more than she anticipated.  The campus and town are beautiful, rich in history and offers a suburb education in Grace's field of study: English and Comparative Literature.

We took a tour of the school and Grace was fortunate enough to have tea with a current student (I had connected with her mother via Facebook).  The tour gave us the academic overview and the student gave Grace the "real" overview!  Both were invaluable.

St. Andrews is situated on the North Sea and we found that everything we've heard about the weather is true.  There wasn't a day in Scotland where it didn't rain and yet we also had beautiful sunshine.  We even had a downpour of sleet!

If it weren't for the cathedral in town, St. Andrews might have remained another small fishing village.  However, because of the cathedral which was built starting in 1163, the town became a place of pilgrimage for Catholics.

The castle (also in ruins) where the Archbishop lived was a place of power and several sieges.  We toured around both the cathedral ruins and the castle ruins.

The University of St. Andrews itself is very much a part of the town.  St. Andrews is the third oldest university in the U.K. and the English speaking world.  The educational system, while different than ours in the U.S., is still a four-year approach.

 the English buildings where Grace will study

The town is as charming as one might expect with quaint bookstores, cobblestone streets and plenty of pubs, coffee shops and restaurants!  And, of course, there is the world famous St. Andrews Old Course, the birthplace of the game of golf.

Grace is so excited and ready for this next chapter in her life and, while I'm not sure how my Mom heart is going to handle her being so far away, I'm incredibly proud of her choosing to do something so extraordinary with her this first part of her adult life.