Page 24 - Devon Road

TOP 10 THINGS WE'LL MISS ABOUT LIFE ON DEVON STREET CONTINUED...

6. Fires. As soon as it cools off in mid to late September we light a fire around 5 or 6 PM

every day. Occasionally, we’ll light one in each fireplace. Jen, who is home with the
kids during the day, lights the fire and Tod, if he’s not traveling, will cook. She’ll have a
glass of wine and, until the kids come and find her, will completely relax. The kids, who

are welcome to play in the basement by themselves will usually they come up and lay
with Jen on the long, low white couch we found just for the living room. They curl up
with books and (yes) screens and everyone just relaxes until dinner is ready and it’s time
for homework and then bed. This is Jen’s favorite time of the day.

7. House Guests. The six of us and Anii, the international student who helps with our
children, all live upstairs. The way the rooms are situated there is plenty of room, and
some to spare, on the 2 nd floor for 7 people. There is also a guest suite on the 1 st floor.

We love having close friends and family come out from the city or from out of town and
stay for the weekend or longer. Especially during the pandemic, this has kept us
connected to those we love the most and it has been a treasure and stroke of luck.

8. Staying home. Before living on Devon Road we lived in Manhattan, the Brooklyn, then

we lived by the beach in Westport. In all of these places, which were lovely, we were
always constantly on the move, always going out – to the park, to the beach, to the
museum, to our friend’s homes (who had more space) or to our country houses. We

still are very active but now it’s not out of necessity. We no longer get stir crazy, there is
plenty of room to roam and find space in the house, to stretch out and relax. We find it
a tremendous relief to able to comfortably stay put.

9. Dreaming about what we can do to Devon Road. Prior to living on Devon Road we had

planned a renovation, which seemed like fun but we discovered we needed a zillion
permits to do virtually anything to the lot or home. The house was already too big for
the lot and even thinking about what we could do was a huge headache. At 2 Devon

Road we confirmed with the town of Westport that we could roughly double the size of
the footprint. Just knowing this has allowed us as a couple to have fun, dream and plan
and talking about what could be.

10. Cooking and entertaining. Having 4 active children we have watched the number of

invitations to other people’s homes diminish in proportion to our family size. We’re
very social, and we (mostly Tod) love to cook and, when it’s safe, we love to be with
others. The open multilevel flow and design of indoor and outdoor space at Devon

Road makes for a great place to have people over. As we have shifted our interactions
outdoors, Tod’s smoker, the pool, the deck, the trampoline and multiple places for
outdoor distanced eating and socializing, Devon Road makes cooking and entertaining
possible, safe and elegant.