Corgi Cute

Because we travel all the time as Interim Innkeepers, we do not get to have any pets at our "home". However we do get to have pets all over the country that are happy to see us. As part of our job we get to take care of dogs, cats, chickens and even goats!  Here at A View To Remember we have these three Cute Corgis - they are some of our favorites. See how they help Kirk cook breakfast?   AWWWW what would we do without them?

So let me introduce you to our three furry buddies: they are really Corgi Cute!

   This is "Toby"..... she is the Grand Dame of the group, a real lady, just sweet, quiet, and always well behaved. She is related to the Queen of England's corgis and she knows it!











This is "Ellie".... she's the Princess of the group, using this soulful look to get what ever she wants which is usually a pet on the head or a scratch on the tummy. She has the habit of sleeping right on top of the air conditioner vents!

This is "Skye".... he's the Bad Boy of the group, he's feisty, loves to get into mischief and play ball  with Kirk.  He's Kirk's favorite - they have such fun togeather. When they are not playing ball they are often cuddled up on the couch watching a ball game - too cute!

                             

  

Who's your favorite?? They are all Corgi Cute, right?

The Little Things

Meet Angelika and Wolfgang from Germany...recent guests at the Dove Inn in Golden Colorado. Angelika was celebrating a special birthday so Wolfgang asked us to go out and buy her some flowers. Then at breakfast we put a candle in her pastry and sang Happy Birthday [too bad we did not know it in German].

It's these little things that make a B&B so much better than a hotel and that make our job as Innsitters so much fun.

                                                                 
At the Dove Inn we offer lots of little things to make the guests feel special and pampered. Here is a scrabble game that I set up on the porch for two of our guests. And below you can see Kirk filling a Dove Inn water bottle for guests to take with them while hiking.

As Interim Innkeepers we get pride ourselves on giving each guest something a little special whether it is help with their luggage or a baggie of muffins to take on a hike.




  Or just putting out seasonal napkins with freshly baked cookies. ---
       It's the Little Things!

Tools of our Trade

As Professional Innsitters we travel all over and work in many beautiful, well stocked kitchens. However, each of us has a few tools of our own that we can just not do without and so we bring them from job to job, kitchen to kitchen all over the west.

This is Kirk's favorite knife. He keeps it especially sharp and it goes everywhere he does!!


My favorite tool is this Black and Decker hand mixer. I much prefer it to a big fancy Cuisinart. And as you can see this is a very special mixer - my daughter hand painted it for me for Mother's Day. Actually, this is my second hand painted mixer. The first she made for me on Mother's Day when she was 12!!! It lasted all these years - she's 32 now and just had to make me another.
So Black and Decker - a great tool for my trade.
I'm always so happy when I'm mixing with my special mixer!!  AWWWWW...

But where would a cook be without a recipe book?? I mean all the knifes and mixers in the world won't help if you don't know what you are cooking, right? This little book is my bible - all the recipes that I rely on are written in it in my horrible hand writing. So when I have decided on my morning menus, I head to this little guy for guidance. Although many of these recipes I know by heart which is a good thing as the book is getting pretty beat up by now. Maybe I need a new one??

  Check it out - if you can decode this you can have my secret sour cream streusel cake recipe.
Good Luck!




So those are some of the "tools of our trade".
What are some of yours??

B&B Birthday

                       Happy Birthday Kirk!!!


This year he got to spend his birthday at a lovely B&B. However, that's not as great as it sounds because of course he was working at that B&B. As Professional Innsitters we often spend our special occasions working in beautiful inns.
But this year after we were all done with breakfast and guest check-out I gave him a real treat:

 

A birthday trip on the Leadville Colorado Railroad. He loved it!  Just like a very big little boy - he loves trains. This train ride is especially beautiful because it goes way up in the mountains overlooking the continental divide and some of the highest mountain peaks in Colorado.

 As you can see, there was lots of snow and the views were STUNNING! Even though I am not crazy about trains.... I really enjoyed this ride. We had a pic-nic on the train and took lots of photos.

This railroad was originally built in the 1800's but the train itself is from the 1950's so it is quite comfortable with nice seats indoors or out. I loved just sitting and watching the scenery go by.

Good thing because on the way back Kirk rode with this guy....I got him a ticket in the engine with the engineer as a special birthday treat! He got to watch and help as the train chugged back to Leadville. He even got to stand on the very front of the engine as it came into town. Every little boys birthday dream - a TRAIN RIDE!

Las Flores

 As an Interim Innkeeper I get to spend time arranging flowers for many of the inns I take care of. Often we have flowers in the great room or on the breakfast tables. Right now we are working in Colorado and the only flowers available are these uninspiring ones from the grocery store.




I so wish I was back in the Caribbean and could make a display like this  - - -

WOW, right? That one was in the dining room and here's another from the hotel lobby-  Don't you love it??


One of my favorite things on our last vacation was enjoying all "las flores"... I took so many pictures that Kirk was deleting them behind my back. So now I can share the ones that are left with you!



 This is a botanical garden that we visited on Mt Isabel de Torres in Puerto Plata. I had to take this photo because Kirk matches these flores so well! To get to this botanical garden we took a scary aerial tramride up to the top of the mountain but once there it was magic. We wandered around for hours and marveled at all the tropical plants and flowers. Just amazing. Then we had a pic-nic lunch overlooking the whole city and the ocean beyond. If you are ever in the DR, it's a great place.

We also spent some time in Santo Domingo and this is a typical street there. You wouldn't even need to bring "las flores" into your home.... they just grow there. 

So anyhow, I miss "las flores" and now I'll go back to making my uninspired floral arrangements. SIGH!

We're Bums!

We love to travel! We love to travel as Professional Innsitters and we love to travel as Beach Bums. We try to take a little time off from our profession each year to go someplace warm with lovely sunsets, turquoise water, white sand beaches, palm trees,rum drinks etc.etc....

                                                   

This year we went to the Dominican Republic and really enjoyed it.  The beach on the left is Cayo Arena where we went for a great snorkel trip. There were lots of colorful fish and coral and I even got the fish to come to my hand. The boat ride to this deserted island with our guide was a bit of an adventure and on the way home he took us through an incredible mangrove swamp!

Punta Cana beach is the most popular beach in the Dominican Republic.  It was a little too crowded for us but we did enjoy hanging out there for a day or two. You can see I love to walk on the beach but this time I got caught - and soaked!

This tiki god guarded our favorite palapa - great spot for reading and lounging!

                                          So CHEERS to Beach Bums everywhere!

                                               Where is your favorite beach?

                                                                      

Just Ducky

I have two great jobs; 1] I am a Professional Interim Innkeeper , 2] I am a Grandma . Both are fun and satisfying jobs but I have to admit that one of them is more fun and satisfying than the other - can you guess?? 

                                                                                                     

 This little bathing beauty is my granddaughter Eleanor. Her first word was "DUCK" so of course I had to run out and buy her her first duck. She loves playing with it and I love playing with her. These photos were taken between innsitting jobs on a family ski trip to Park City Utah . While Kirk and Mama skied, Grandma got to play with the baby - tough job!

Of course ducks are most fun in the water so we spent a lot of time in the hotel pool - look how her swimming lessons paid off. She's a real water baby!

Apres ski,  grandma gets to swim with a duck - what a great job!