Carols at Christmas

        I love Christmas Carols, don't you?

 Every December, if I am not working as an Innsitter, we go to Seattle to visit friends and family. One of the wonderful holiday traditions we enjoy there is the Christmas Caroling Party at the Stillman home.

Charlie and Susie Stillman are the hosts of this annual party as well as the parents of our son-in-law and also good friends of ours. We always look forward to their
Christmas Caroling Party.

There are lots of good voices [I am NOT one of those but I do love to sing carols!]. There is also usually  an accompanist and this year we had a very exuberant rhythm section. Aren't they sweet little angels?

                                                                                  Of course all that singing can make you work up and appetite. Susie and Charlie put out a great spread of party treats to be enjoyed by all.


Including a very elaborate cheese board with labels to help identify cheeses from all over the world. Yum!

Below is my wonderful son-in-law, Fred, carving turkey for all of us.

Such a great Christmas Caroling Party! Such a great way to enjoy family and friends at the holidays.

I hope you all are enjoying wonderful holiday traditions of your own.

                                                                         Happy Holidays!

                                                  
                                                         

It's a Wonderful Life!

   It really is a Wonderful Life! One of the wonderful things in my life is that the last few holidays I have gotten to be an Interim Innkeeper in Cannon Beach Oregon. Kirk and I have a tradition of attending the holiday show at the Coaster Theater. This year we really enjoyed their performance of "It's a Wonderful Life".
                                

One of our other holiday traditions is to have our daughter and our little granddaughter come to visit us to celebrate the Haystack Holidays. in Cannon Beach.


We usually start our weekend with a visit to Santa in Seaside at the Providence Festival of the Trees. This year they had story telling, cookie decorating, ornament making and all kinds of things for little ones [and not so little ones] to do.

   

 

             

                                                                                     
    

            Then we try to fit in time to feed the seals at the Seaside Aquarium  and ride the beautiful carousel at  Carousel Mall - this year we rode it FOUR times.... they actually have two reindeer as carousel animals!    After all of this we end up with the Lamp Lighting at Sandpiper Square in Cannon Beach.  Then we go back to our room happy but TayCee is exhausted!!




 What a wonderful weekend!
                                   It's a Wonderful Life!                                                                    
    

Grateful for Great Grandparents

  This is the time of year when we all take a moment to feel grateful for the wonderful things in our lives. I am grateful for my work as an innsitter which I love. I am also grateful that my parents, who still live in Grinnell Iowa where I grew up, are healthy enough in their early 90's to enjoy some time being really GREAT great grandparents.











   These two were wonderful grandparents to my daughter Martine and now she makes sure they get to spend some quality time with my granddaughter Eleanor. Check out the dance party above!

I know we all have much to be grateful for.

This photo is one of the things I am most grateful for!


Happy Thanksgiving
Everyone!

WOW

 

WOW !!  It's Women Only Weekend in Cannon Beach. The Cannon Beach Hotel was one of the sponsors of this fabulous weekend and as Interim Innkeeper for the hotel, I got to attend some of the events at the Women Only Weekend. What FUN!

The first event was the "Launch Party" where I won a free facial from Sandviks Oils. Don't I look wonderful? This party also had live music, great food, wine, vendors and prizes. What it did not have was MEN. I mean it's
Women Only Weekend

 








  The second night  of Women Only Weekend the "Wine Down" party was held at the Cannon Beach Hotel. Guess who got to hostess that? Yup, yours truly [have I mentioned how much I LOVE my job?]. I mean I have lots of experience so might as well put it to good use!









The featured vendor at our event was Marcia Miller author of "You Go Girls!" travel book. She is also a travel consultant and guide. You know no one travels more than I do so it was very interesting for me to hear some of her tips for the perfect trip.

We had quite a fun crowd of women at the hotel to drink wine, eat delicious treats from the Cannon Beach Cafe and talk to Marcia about women on the go.

WOW!! I hope they have Women Only Weekend in Cannon Beach again and I hope I am here to work or just with some of my women friends.                               You should come too!

BOOOOtiful!

 It's a spooky time of year at the Cannon Beach Hotel . I am currently the Relief Manager here but look at my assistant Boris...... isn't he boootiful!!  He even has his own name tag. Boris helps greet our guests during the Halloween Season and on Halloween Eve we encourage all the little trick or treaters to have their picture taken with Boris. He's very popular!







       




    Boris and I both love all the spooky little touches around the Cannon Beach Hotel. Notice the crow on the front desk and the cat on the mantel. On Halloween all of the staff gets to dress in costume if they like. I guess I'll go as a manager. What do you think?                                                                  

                           

















  


  This is my favorite spooky little touch - a friend of mine sent it to me. Is't it perfect??


 Of course it's not all about the decor at my Dead and Breakfasts - I get to arrange flowers and pumpkins, I get to oversee Halloween parties and trick or treaters. I also get to bake......

                                              


   These are my delicious pumpkin muffins. Make some for yourself this Halloween and see how good they are.




 K.C.'s Pumpkin Muffin Recipe - 

 Blend 1/2 C oil, 2 eggs, 1/3 C water, and 1 C pumpkin
 Add 1 + 3/4 C  flour, 1 + 1/2 C sugar, 1 t soda
Stir in a pinch of salt and lots of spices [I use cinnamon, ginger, and apple pie spice]
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes

If you like you may top with apricot glaze:
Mix 1/4 C melted butter, 1/4 C powdered sugar, and 2T of apricot jam

                                          Happy Halloween to all of you- it's  Boootiful!



                         

Wild West

 Between innsitting assignments this year we got to spend some time in the Wild West . It is such a beautiful area and has so much to offer. First we stopped in Cody Wyoming where Kirk and his friend Glenn spent ALL DAY at the Buffalo Bill Museum. Of course while they were doing this, I was shopping with my friend Ruthie. That night we all went to a wonderful wild west show at the center. Here we are all dressed up in our western best.












  Kirk and I also stopped in for a drink at Buffalo Bill's hotel in Cody Wyoming - the Irma. Such a great bar and so much Wild West history there!

After Cody, we drove to Yellowstone Park. It's always stunning in the fall and this year was no exception. There was lots of wildlife including this big elk and many buffalo. We also saw a Canadian wolf which I had never seen before - he was awe inspiring! But I was not quick enough to get a photo.

 We ended our Wild West tour with drinks at the Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone Park and sat on the deck to watch old faithful erupt right on time! We just love this part of the world and it was a great little vacation but, now it's on to our next job and back to work!



What is your favorite vacation spot in the west?

"Let 'er Buck"

"Let 'er Buck" is the official motto of the Pendleton Round-up held in Pendleton Oregon the second week of September. We always try to take a break from innsitting so that we can attend and it is always fun! There is so much to see and do and usually our family and friends join us.







 Look who joined us this year - the Littlest Cowgirl. This is actually her second Pendleton Round-Up. She loves rodeo, go figure!

In these photos she is watching the Team Roping while holding her new horsey named "Coco Puff" [it has black spots]. Grandad knows a lot about rodeo and is giving her all sorts of information.

She even knows how to say "Let 'er buck" !

 Besides the rodeo each day the Pendleton Round-Up hosts the worlds largest non-motorized parade on Friday morning. This is an amazing show with lots of horses, rodeo queens, cowboys and all things western.

My favorite part of the parade is the mounted band - you try beating a drum on the back of your horse and see what happens! They play in the parade but also at the Cowboy Breakfast and all over town for the week of round-up.

Eleanor's favorite part is all the queens who ride with crowns on their cowboy hats and flowers behind their saddles.

There is a lot to do at the Pendleton Round-Up. Besides the rodeo, parade and cowboy breakfast there is also music, dancing and lots of SHOPPING! Here we are at Hamley's historic saddle shop. The littlest cowgirl is trying out a new saddle but you can also buy boots, hats, ropes, and even clothing - anything western. This year we got her a tiny little cowgirl hat, "Let'er Buck".









 So if you are ever in Oregon the second week in September, come to the Pendleton Round-Up and say -

"Let 'er Buck"

Island Inns

                                             Our commute to work - not bad, huh??

We are lucky enough to be Interim Innkeepers for several inns located in the islands of the Northwest. We call these our
"Island Inns" and we love them. Life seems to be just a bit slower here on the islands and all of our guests are very laid back.

Lopez Island [or Slowpez Island] is called the "friendly island". One of the things you learn quickly on Lopez is that everyone waves at everyone else while driving - so if you get here, don't forget to wave!

 

 Here's a regular breakfast guest at one of our Island Inns. She often brings her whole family to entertain our other guests. Just one of the many reasons we love working on the islands.

Of course this is another reason to love working on the islands.We can always suggest great beaches, and beach bars to our guests such as this one. And when we get a little time "off" we can enjoy them ourselves.

 

So, come and see us sometime at one of our Island Inns. We'll show you life in the slow lane!

 

The Great Outdoors

Kirk and I both love any chance to play in the Great Outdoors. This year between innkeeping jobs we stopped  in Seattle and he got to play outdoors with our daughter. I got to play in the city  with our granddaughter. We both had such fun!

Kirk and Martine and several of her friends climbed Mt Daniel part of Alpine Lakes wilderness in northern Washington. A bunch of fit young ladies and one old mountain man - however, Mt Daniel has some real mountain climbing and Kirk was able to give the group a brief lesson on equipment use and snow safety, something he has had years of experience with. I think they were all happy to have him along in the Great Outdoors.



Finally - the summit of Mt Daniel!  WOW!

 And then the long walk home - It sounds like they had a fun time playing in the great outdoors but I think I had more fun at the zoo!

What do you think?

We Love the Dove

As Professional Innsitters we often get asked what is our favorite B&B. That's a hard question because we like all "our" properties and as Kirk often says, "the don't put B&B's in places you wouldn't want to visit".
But we really do love the Dove Inn in Golden Colorado. We have been taking care of the "Dove" for almost 10 years and it is like a second home to us.













 It also happens to be for sale!  Do any of you want to buy a lovely B&B in Colorado? We have worked for two owners here and would be happy to work for the next owner.








The Dove Inn was built sometime in the 1880's and has many
charming features from that time such as the old fireplace, lovely wood floors, narrow steep staircase and in the kitchen the old well is still hidden under the floor!
The photo below was taken sometime in the late 1800's and the building with the white porch pillars  is the Dove Inn with it's barn to the right.

Look how the front yard has changed in 150 years! It's much greener now and Kirk helps keep it that way.


So, if you're considering buying a B&B, consider the Dove Inn!