musings on a summer day

the family at the marriage of Mark and Sara

Last March saw us celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary and as a "gift" Bob lost his job with a company he had been with for over 9 years. (As that company is now having stability issues it seems to be a fortuitous.) Pursuing a thought that had been in the back of our minds for a few years, we decided it was time to relocate closer to our children and grandchildren and put the bed and breakfast on the market. We then went off to #3 son's wedding in Texas.  The  event was wonderful and stressed the fact that it was the first time in 17 years the family was almost all together (one grandson was in basic training and unable to attend). While we were gone several potential B&B owners went through and expressed interest, however most have dropped out of the picture at this time.

these sisters were among my first guests and
 one of them just returned with her husband

We have been of two minds about the sale since Bob found new employment at the beginning of April as he is still working in the Buffalo area.  The nearest son and family live in Missouri.  We love Lewiston and the guests who come visit us here.  So many of our guests are return visitors and love the fact that we offer a returning guest discount.  This weekend was the Art Festival and met some new artists.   We were lucky enough to be able to offer to hold their rooms past check out (noon) so they could come back after the show to freshen up prior to their long drive home.  Being able to "make someone's day" is a big part of why I chose this profession.  I know I have succeeded when I see departing smiles and read in the guest book of plans to return and sometimes I'll find a personal gift on the bed when I go in to clean the room, be the gift a rooster, art, a hand made item or the product they are associated with (hand made goat soap, Badger Balm, homemade jam).

quilted aprons and pot holders made by a guest

Now I want to be here for these guests next year.  I am excited about our shared memories and don't want to disappoint then by not being here.  My contract with the Realtor is up at the end of September......

And then there was Spook

we are waiting for you

We are a pet friendly B&B and people who choose to stay here come as much for the “official greeters” as for my scones. They merit mention in the guest reviews as often as we do. One of the most asked for stories during breakfast is how we acquired Spook. Both of our dogs were rescues and knowing how it feels to be dropped into a new situation, both go out of their way to make our guests feel welcome. 

Maddy and JazzPurr sharing some sun

Spook came to us a year ago May. Madison had been a family member since November 2011 and came to us from a foster family with three other dogs and a cat. When Madison arrived we had Jazzpurr the cat, who passed the following October at the age of 17. Madison seemed lost without anyone to lie in the sun with. 

Spook napping in the flowers

Bob had been looking to adopt a Shepard husky mix for some time and finally decided waiting for her to come through a husky rescue group we would check at the local SPCA. The day we went down and filled out the paperwork we checked the current surrendered dogs up for adoption and didn't see any that seemed interested in us. Before we left the staff insisted on showing us a few dogs that they thought fit our profile. Despite specifying a Shepard husky mix we were shown a doberman, a pit-bull, a great dane and a beagle. Madison was with us and none of the dogs appeared to like her and she spent her time under my chair. As we were getting ready to leave someone mentioned that a Shepard had come in less than a week earlier and was still in quarantine in the back. We asked to see her. She was very quiet and hesitant around all the people but sniffed everyone, walked up to Madison and “made nice” then walked over to Bob, put her head in his lap, looked up at him and sighed. She came home with us a week later.

welcome

She was a sick girl with assorted parasites and kennel cough and made nary a sound. Her recorded history was short – found locked in an abandoned home, weight 50lbs and maybe 18 months old. She had had a litter but there was no sign of the pups, she was not lactating. Given her quiet nature, Bob named her Spook. Madison has since taught her to bark (a bit overmuch when she gets really excited about what is going on in the world around her) and I am now in the process of teaching her to stop barking on command...it is slow going since I can't get Madison to stop at the same time – they tag team the barking. She is a very loving dog who enjoys the attention of our guests. She is deferential to other dogs who come to visit Sunny's Roost. 

Why we have a little dachshund as one of our official greeters

keeping her warm

I've been telling this story to every guest who stays with us so thought I'd tell it with pictures for you today.

Madison joined our family in November of 2011. She was rescued in August from a puppy mill by our son Phillip and his then girlfriend now wife Christina. Christina was active in Tennessee's small animal rescue program and was called when fosters were going to be needed as a puppy mill was raided. Phillip convinced her that we was taking the small three week old dachshund that was there – as a gift for his mother. 

she was so tiny

It is my understanding that, to help this little critter who had already been separated from her mother, Phillip wore her inside his shirt until she could maintain her own body heat and was socialized. (I can believe that because all that first winter, every time I sat down, she climbed into my lap and under my sweatshirt, curled up and went to sleep.) When he first told me he had a puppy for me I told him I didn't want a small dog and his father wanted a husky Shepard mix. I didn't want a puppy because I didn't want to house break a puppy while running a bed and breakfast and I didn't want the dog to be teething on guest items. I didn't want a dog that would blend in with the wood floor in the entry because she would get squashed under someone's bag or foot. A N D if we got a dog it had to be a female and already spayed . ….. Well, she was female and already spayed, but that is the only part of the criteria he met. 

see how big she is getting?

He kept telling me how big she was getting, how some of her litter mates were growing too large to be show dogs even tho they were AKC mini dachshunds. Madison also is too tall to be a show dog, but at 3 years weighs in at 13 pounds, blends in with the wood flooring in the entry and I had to housebreak her. At least she didn't teethe on anything belonging to a guest. She has grown on us and the guests all threaten to take her home so I guess she is a good fit after all. 

I had been asked what I wanted to name her. I came up with Ginger or Nutmeg since we were a bed and BREAKFAST and a spice name would be appropriate (and previous dog was named Cinnamon.) He named her Madison. When I asked Christina how she came to be called Madison she told me that he was going to name the dog Madison or his first child Madison and she decided it was a GREAT name for the dog and I could always call her Maddy …...

Those crazy dogs

I've heard other people talk about how smart their dogs are and always took it as pride in ones own.  Sort of like how each child you have is so much smarter than the text books say they will be at each milestone. I always wonder how much is just what these people want to see.  But now that I don't have any of the boys (or any grandchildren) here to brag about, I have to tell you how very clever Madison is.  She really is!

Here I am ironing and watching TV in the bedroom, right next to Spooks crate.  Madison is behind me in the hall and Spook is dozing in her crate, door partially open.  Madison is doing that little grown that she uses to get my attention.  No, she doesn't want to go out, how dare I suggest it, back to ironing.  Another attention getting noise, I ask what she wants and she just looks at me, back to ironing.  She is getting frustrated with this lack of understanding on my part, she goes over to the edge of the crate against the book case and stares at the corner.  OK, I get down on my knees and sure enough, there is an antler (a prized possession)   stuck between the crate and the bookcase.  I pull it out, Madison grabs it and jumps up on the bed.  Back to ironing.

Madison gnaws on the antler a while, making enough noise to interest Spook, who know I will not let her take it away from Madison.  Within about 3 minutes Madison gets down and strolls past the crate door - without the antler.  Spook is out like a shot and up on the bed to get the antler.  Quick as a flash, Madison darts into the crate and under the blanket, effectively evicting Spook, who has lost interest in the antler as well.  That was what Madison wanted all along.  Spook had the last laugh though.  She went back into the crate and curled up on top of Madison!

Happy Father's Day

Dad in 1940

I was sitting here looking at the calendar and realizing June 15 is Father's Day.  That got me looking at pictures of my father. Dad held a pretty special place in my life.  This was back when most father's worked and most mother's raised the kids.  I remember Dad coming home and doing home work - his own as he went to night school.  We would compare report cards.  I remember the swimming pool he erected each summer and replaced with a skating rink each winter.  I remember trips to Echo Lake on weekends, we would go to feed the ducks and play on the playground.  I remember trips to a lake where we would go swimming.  I remember summer camping trips with the 5 of us in a little rented trailer. Dad was there when I graduated high school, and later college and he gave me away at my wedding.  I wore my mother's wedding dress.
 Dad got to meet all of his grandsons as well as his first great grandson.

Dad putting a penny in my shoe for luck

The one thing that really disappointed me was that he was never able to come to New York and see my bed and breakfast.  He had planned his visit for that first November and in October he fell off a curb while walking past a new construction site there in Arizona the fall broke his jaw and the trip had to be postponed.  In the hospital they wired his jaw shut and medications he had been on were not administered. This caused his Alzheimer's symptoms to accelerate and afterward he was never able to fly out here.  I like to think he would have been proud of my accomplishment. Despite opening a new business I managed to visit him a few times in January (for his birthday). I was lucky in that he remembered me on those visits.

Most people think of bed and breakfast getaways for Mother's Day, but maybe Dad would appreciate the chance to get away for a night or two and be treated to a special breakfast and a chance to go fishing, just hike along the gorge or wander through Old Fort Niagara.  Give it some thought.  Whatever you decide to do, let him know how much you appreciate him while he is still with you, it will mean the world to him.

Mom and Dad on their 25th wedding anniversary

Lewiston Garden Walk

It's time to start thinking about the gardens and how they will look this year.  The Lewiston Garden Fest held this year June 22-23 is just the ticket for new and helpful ideas.  These roses seem to have come with the house and I've no idea how to train them to stay out of the driveway. Used a trellis two years ago to try to hold them upright.  Then learned last year that I need to trim them back!  I hate removing perfectly good branches but now I have more flowers and they do not attach the car when I pull into my parking space.

Wandering through the temporary demonstration gardens various landscapers set up along Center Street I got the ides to set my decrepit birdhouse with no "clean-out" bottom IN the garden to create an inviting scene.  (I have plenty of creativity in the house, but apparently little or no garden sense!)

Bought a large leaf bird bath last year and set it right on the ground, this year I am going to look for a better way to display it so people see it and birds use it.

It's been pleasantly busy around here.

bright yellow iris catch the eye

Spring finally arrived and gardens needed tending.  We are quite happy with our gardens this year, they are filling in nicely. Have had some unexpected and unwanted assistance from the canine contingent, but I think we have recovered.  Planted herbs and peppers on the side of the house.  Love cooking eggs with fresh herbs and produce.

a cheerful path to the front door

Tomatoes are started but not outside in the ground yet. May just put them into containers on the back deck.  The rain has made everything green but we can't keep the grass mowed!  It is always too wet when Bob is available to mow (I think he has that all planned out).

back deck with new door and tomato plants

Replaced the screen doors that blew off during one of the windier storms while we were out of town.  Just in time to let the cool spring breezes air out the house.  Custom Covers came and put up the back deck awning this week, Bob has been taking his breakfast on the deck and we are looking forward to having dinner out there as well.

Friends of our sold their Lewiston house so this week when not busy with guests or B&B business I have been helping them pack up and move items not wanted by the buyers nor themselves.  We have a new rocker recliner in the living room and a new trundle bed in the Bantam Room plus lots of little things (like old candle holders and have crochet afghans for the foot of the beds upstairs.  Spook has been so busy helping with the yard work and supervising all the new items coming into the house that she wore herself out and needed the comfort of my kitty neck pillow.

rest well Spook

It's a Small World After All

Time and again, running a bed and breakfast shows you just how small the world is and how interconnected we all are. Our weekend guests from Bel Air Maryland have just left for home.  We enjoyed their visit and look forward to their return visits with local family.    

Their first morning at breakfast conversation rolled around to mentioning Orange Cat, DiCamello's Bakery and one of her friends from church who also visited family in Lewiston nearly every summer, camped out by the lake and always brought home items from these two shops. This brought to my mind one member of a group of sisters who had enjoyed a Sister's Weekend with us at Sunny's Roost during our first year in business.  I asked my guest if the friend was one of six sisters, she said yes and I then asked her if the friends name was Cathy So-N-So (I'll not use the last name here as I do not have her permission to do so) and with a smile and a look of surprise, my guest said yes.  I  explained that my very first guest was this woman's father.  He stayed with us before we had our health permit so I could not charge him but I just couldn't turn this guest down.  You see, he had raised his family in Lewiston New York and now lived in Littleton Colorado.  Littleton Colorado was my home for 13 years and I was now living in Lewiston New York.  Not only that, but Russ was living less than two miles from my home in Colorado and I was opening a bed and breakfast in what had been the rectory and later the convent of the church he attended here in New York.  To finish out the circle of 6 degrees of separation, our youngest son, the one they met while staying with us, is now married and lives in Virginia not 30 miles from Cathy, and my guests.

Jazzpurr

Cinnamon

I want to introduce you to Sunny's Roost's official greeters.   Previous greeters some of you may remember were Cinnamon and Jazzpurr, both of whom passed on. Currently we are training Madison and Spook for the position.  Both are two years old and both came from sketchy beginnings.

Madison

Madison is a rescue from a puppy mill in Tennessee.  When she was rescued she was about 3 weeks old and had already been separated from her mother so mother could  breed again.  My now daughter-in-law was a foster mother for small dogs and was called when the invasion of the puppy mill was planned.  She brought my son along and he told her she had to foster the small dachshund for his mother.  He then spent two months convincing me that even though I did NOT want a little dog who would blend in with the flooring in the entry and especially one not housebroken and still teething.  She was rescued in August and we collected her from Tennessee in November.  She was not at all sure about being housebroken in snow that reached her belly  so we would shovel off the grass for her.  

Spook

Spook came to us from the local SPCA.  See before Madison joined the family Bob began looking for a Shepard Husky mix, a breed we had had in Texas and he wanted to have again.  Having had no luck finding one we registered with the SPCA in case they "found" one in need of a good home.  The SPCA, in an attempt to find a good home for dogs who had been there a while tried to interest us in a rottweiler, a doberman and a lab mix.  We stood firm on the dog we wanted so they pulled a poor Shepard out of the back who hadn't been there long enough to be adopted yet.  She came out and after making the rounds of the people and greeting Madison (who came along to test suitability of her adopted sister) she walked up to Bob who was sitting on the sidelines as instructed) put her head in his lap, looked up at him and sighed. Guess who we signed papers for?  Spook had to stay an extra week just in case someone claimed her but considering she had been found locked in an abandoned home and was down to 55 pounds, we didn't think we would lose her.

Both our greeters are taking well to their new role in the Bed and Breakfast and look forward to greeting all our guests, human canine and feline (though, at this time, we only have one guest who travels with her cats)

Recipe sharing

plain cinnamon rolls

Sunny's Roost Breakfast Rolls

Using a bread machine; for 1 ½ pound loaf

3/8 C milk 

1 egg 

3 C all purpose GF flour (or regular all purpose flour if you are not gluten free)

½ t xanth gum (If needed ONLY for gluten free baking)  (one brand GF flour I buy has it the other does not)

1 t salt 

4 T butter or marg 

1/3 C sugar

1 ½ t bread machine yeast 

Add all ingredients to machine in order indicated by brand machine. Process on dough cycle.

Meanwhile, place a 9x13 inch pan in oven with 3 T butter into oven and preheat to 200 degrees. Turn off oven and, when butter melts, sprinkle with some brown sugar (a couple of Tablespoons will do it unless you like a crunchy top.

gluten free apple pecan rolls

When dough had risen long enough turn onto GF floured board (I used tapioca flour on board). Roll dough to form a rectangle of aprox ½ inch thickness. Spread filling over dough and roll from longest edge. Cut into 12 or 16 even pieces. Place pieces in prepared dish and cover with towel, place in warm oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and heat oven to 350F. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until dough is nicely browned but not dark! Remove from oven and immediately turn pan upside down over platter or cookie sheet. Leave to cool for 15 minutes. Drizzle icing over rolls while still warm (if desired).

raspberry rolls

I have used frozen raspberries, cinnamon and brown sugar mixed with soft butter and sprinkled with raisins or nuts, and now chopped apples with cinnamon, brown sugar and chopped pecans as filling. I have flavored the icing to go with whatever I put in as filling.   

Oh Baby, it's beautiful out there!

I understand how appealing the ads for warm sunny, sandy beaches can be this time of year. But don't shut yourself inside because it's cold. Go out and embrace it!

Ice encased tree branches

The Niagara Falls in winter is still a wonder to behold. Even this year with the polar vortex passing through,are frozen sections of the Falls and the mist frozen in the trees makes for a crystalline wonderland all around the water. Because of the icy mist coming off the falls Teripin Point is not open for walking, but the best view this time of year is from the main viewing area and the over look from which you can see the ice castles at the bottom and the ice bridge in the river below. It really is something to see. Just dress for the cold.

not all of the falling water has frozen solid, however there

Another “you have to see it” is Old Fort Niagara in the winter. Along with the winter encampment that happens in January and the snowshoe building class, you get a real feel for what our brave soldiers endured when they defended our fledgling country.

Looking towards the fort from Youngstown

The view of the ice drifts on Lake Ontario is amazing. You will be surprised at the birds that you see, they have flown south to this area for the winter. Sunsets here are spectacular, many a “red sky at night” beautiful sunsets.

Get warm at one of the very many coffee shops, restaurants, and pubs located in our corner of Western New York. From Bandana's just outside of Youngstown proper through Lewiston Village Pub and Restaurant on Center Street in Lewiston and on into Nellie's Cafe on Pine Avenue in the city of Niagara Falls there are any number of local places to stop in a get a bite to eat or a cup of something and reconnoiter plans for the next stop. Those local owned businesses will go out of their way to make you welcome and give you the inside scoop on what to do and where to go.