Thanksgiving Week

We've had a lovely week, made particularly so due to Harris having the entire week off from school and Grace not having a full week of work, so we have a full house, which I love.  It's been pleasantly full but also filled with downtime in the form of  coffee in the mornings, Stranger Things viewing at night and football thrown in for good measure.  Here's a quick rundown leading up to Thanksgiving...

Saturday evening we had dear friends over for Friendsgiving in the barn.  It's always a special and favorite evening.  Harris and Grace went out to dinner to a restaurant that Grace had been wanting to try so they also had some quality time together. 

The next morning, H & G headed out to get doughnuts from a hole in the wall Grace had heard about.  They were soooo good.

We also took Rosie on a family walk (she's so happy when we all go!).

My goal is always to finish up putting the farm to bed by the last week before Thanksgiving.  However, we didn't quite get it done this year (the more flowers we have, the longer it takes!) so we finished up this week.  Five more rows of peonies added, totaling 150 new peonies!

Family friends came and spent the night, Harris met with friends to hang out, Grace went to brunch with her girls and we also went to another Thanksgiving gathering the evening before turkey day... none of which I got a picture of but suffice it to say, it's been a good week.  

Favorite Things #64

As we enter into cozy season, our blankets are once again getting used with frequency!  For as long as I can remember, I've been committed to using all natural materials in our home where possible. Whereas I know that microplastics are inevitable all around us, I don't want to contribute to it in our home when I have a choice.  This includes our blankets and they are my absolute favorites as they are warm, cozy and not itchy at all!

My blankets are all wool (a few are cashmere but my favs are the wool ones) that are made in Ireland, Scotland and England.  The first one was a gift from my Mom and it definitely began my obsession/collection.  They are sprinkled throughout the house and bring much comfort and joy!

Tennis

Years and years ago, before children and before an out of state move, my friend Cindy convinced me to join her tennis team in Atlanta.  To say that I had no idea what I was doing is a complete understatement.  I will never forget the horror of my first match, I'm not even sure I won a point, but it caught on with me and I've continued to play (with breaks when the children were very little).  

Something I love about tennis is that you can play for your entire life, young, old and in between!  I played singles when I first started playing on a USTA team when we moved here, but quickly tired of that as the team was too competitive for me!  I found my groove in a winter league, played indoors and timed.  It's perfect for me as it lines up with our less busy season on the farm (it only runs through beginning of April!).  My doubles partner, Mollie, and I have been playing together for 10 years!  We win some and we lose some but we almost always have fun.  

I'm not great at putting away the ball or hitting winners but I am fairly consistent and can get to most balls.  That determination cost me a pretty nasty fall recently.  While sprinting toward a ball, I tripped, swung my racket and managed to hit myself squarely on the chin.  The bruise was not pretty.

Bryce also loves tennis, he played in high school, but doesn't play with regularity like I do.  But, much like his Mom did, he does enjoy watching it.  So we were thrilled to go with friends to the US Open this year!  I even wore an on theme skirt!

Harris is 21

Harris is *21!  Bryce and I have been reflecting on how much he has grown and changed in the past two years and both agree it's been significant.  While Harris has always been fairly attached to family, there was a year or so in high school where he was pushing hard against any parental input/control!  We definitely weren't his favorite people as boundaries were given and enforced.  He chose to be intensely private and it sometimes felt like pulling teeth to get any information.  This has slowly changed over the past few years spent at college, he calls and chats now unprompted, asks for opinions and help and is generally engaged in the family dynamics.  I'm so thankful for this as I genuinely enjoy being around him and hearing his thoughts and views on things.  Fact is, I love him fiercely but I also like him.  

I always say that Grace went from a bubble where we live to an even smaller bubble at St Andrews, but Harris went from a bubble to a burst bubble and it's been really good for him.  His perspective on things have shifted and I think he recognizes and appreciates what he's been given in a new way.  As always here's our annual top 10 lists of favorite things, quirks and interesting bits about Harris.

1.  When I asked Bryce what he would like to contribute he said, "I'm really proud of the man he is maturing into.  He's a man of character."  I couldn't have said it better.

2.  He took up tennis with a vengeance this summer and then went on to join a tennis club at school.  I hope this hobby sticks as I think it's such a good life long sport.  

3.  He seems to be self reflective.  In the past year or so he has made changes to his routines in order to better himself.  This includes changing how he studies, weaning himself off of Tik Tok reels, and even reading my Dad's ancient copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People". 

4.  He's really fairly silly, always has been, and I appreciate it so much.  I've always said that he helps us keep it not so serious in this house and it's remained true.  

5.  One of his love languages has to be touch.  This has always been the source of some tension between him and Grace, whose love language is definitely not touch!

6.  He getting a little more stylish in his day to day wear.  He purchased a pair of jeans this year and actually wore them once or twice (I'm not sure I've ever seen him wear them).  He's a slacks kind of guy (he would never wear sweatpants to class though, he's very opinionated on that!).  Plus, he really likes his sweaters and likes to have Grace help him shop and tell him what to buy.  

7.  He joined the public library in Pittsburgh this year.  Harris was a reader for many, many years and then he got to high school, got a phone, and pretty much stopped reading, so I'm thrilled he is hopefully getting back into it.  (He prefers great series so I'm always on the lookout for recommendations!).  

8.  He's super thrifty.  He likes to hold on to his money and also isn't quick to spend ours.  He's a saver not a spender and almost never asks us for money.  

9.  We are still working on him embracing and loving his hair.  He seems to be getting closer to finding a way he likes it but he still wears a lot of baseball caps.  

10.  I'm proud of Harris for many reasons but the thing that makes me the proudest is that I think he is a good person.  He knows right from wrong, is respectful of others, cares about other people and is kind.  That doesn't seem to be a given anymore and I pray he can carry that forward into adulthood! 

In Norway this summer

*I would like to say that I find it a relief that Harris is 21- from a perspective of now being legal to drink.  I think we are in the minority (this is an intensely personal parenting decision so this is not a judgement for those who chose another way) in that we weren't ok with either child drinking when it was illegal to do so.  We never served, or supplied, Harris and his friends alcohol (Bryce is a lawyer after all and is all too aware of what can happen!), it is not of interest to us to party with our children, and it just doesn't feel right to us to say that "this law doesn't make sense to me so we don't have to follow it."  I have never labored under the delusion that that meant our children did not have alcohol, it simply meant we didn't make it easy or acceptable on our end.  

Halloween

Since the children are older (fully adult actually) Halloween doesn’t feel like a big holiday.  It’s not helped that since we moved to the farm we get exactly 0 trick or treaters!  We almost always put the eyeballs in the hedges, the Harry Potter candles up and put out the Halloween tree but this year Grace suggested we pull out the bins and so we did!  Out came a few themed pillows, some mice for the stairs, some clingy bats and the various and a-sundry pumpkins we have.

Honestly, this season I felt very nostalgic for those fun times of parades, dressing up, Halloween parties and the general excitement of a holiday that felt so super fun for the children!  Not all was lost however, as one evening we had a few people over to watch Hocus Pocus on the outdoor movie screen!  Astonishingly, only Grace had seen it before.   We had a Halloweenish charcuterie board,  a fire, chili and Grace's favorite riff on worms and dirt- her most delicious chocolate ice cream, gummy worms and crushed cookie crumbs.  So good!

Finally, while Halloween evening was low key, Grace doesn't get home until late due to her commute, I did manage to serve some eyeballs in our soup :).