College Update

Thought it would be fun to do a little update on Grace and college (with her full permission).  You guys, going off to college is hard, during a pandemic is crazy hard and we are so proud of how Grace has handled herself thus far.  Scotland is much stricter on covid rules and it's made it incredibly difficult to meet people and has made these first few months anything but the typical freshman experience.  It's been a roller coaster of ups and downs, but for the most part Grace seems to have made the best of it.  

Her experience started with quarantine for two weeks and it was no joke.  She literally could not leave her room for 14 days except to go to the bathroom!  Her (poor) food was dropped off at her door each day. 

Her roommate, who had to quarantine separately, joined her after the 3rd week and fortunately, she and Tess have gotten along well.  They've done a lot together since they really can't mix "households."

They've taken a dip in the North Sea which is not for the faint of heart I guess!

She's taken lots and lots of walks... along the beach, through town, and on trails.

She's had several picnics.  Remember the legal drinking age in Scotland is 18!

Grace is type A and she takes her studies very seriously so the Scottish system of education is stressing her out a bit as she feels unsure of where she stands (she's gotten no grades yet and has just turned in her first essay which counts for 25% of her grade).   Currently, she only has one in person class which is a bummer.  At least she has a nice view while being online!

While I so wish that she was having a typical freshman year, I think that she's still happy to be there.  However, I miss her so much and can't wait to have her home for Christmas.

Candle Stand

I recently purchased a vintage plant/candle stand for our patio and I just love it!  Since we put in the patio, we've struggled a bit with what to do about lighting.  I adore string lights but we have them down by the barn, and there's not an obvious place on the patio to string them without installing poles.  We think we've come up with a solution using down and up lights in the trees but the candle stand adds some light, romance and height to the patio.

The stand is fairly rusty, which I like the color of because it sort of fits in well with the brown stone on the patio.  I don't necessarily want to paint it so we brushed the entire thing with a metal brush and sprayed it with rust inhibitor.  I'm hoping that works to keep the rust at bay!  The cups are zinc so they should fair well.