Today I am struggling with activity suggestions for guests this weekend. Admittedly, Shoreham is not generally a hotbed of guests in the winter months. We’re too far from the skiing to get big ski business. But, this winter being what it is, the whole state of Vermont is too far from skiing to get big ski business. These innkeepers went up to Smugglers’ Notch this week to find the  snow, and had one gorgeous day of beautiful snow, and one day of complete and total rain. Steady, dreary, all-day rain. I was sad for us and our ski day, but more than that, I am sad for the tourism this state needs.

Back to my guests – they’ve asked for hiking trails. In February. In Vermont. Hiking. Not a bad idea and I admire their resilience, since they made reservations expecting to snowshoe and cross-country ski. I do appreciate people who can roll with the punches, especially when you plan a trip based on your hopes for Mother Nature. I figure you just have to know that flexibility might be called upon. Suggesting they go cycling might be taking it too far. But what else to point them towards? We’ve discussed alcohol-related activities: touring local options, Otter Creek Brewery and Lincoln Peak Vineyard. There’s good old-fashioned reading, snoozing and game-playing. The Middlebury Farmer’s Market has winter hours. Eating. (News flash: We have a new Thai restaurant in Middlebury called Sabai Sabai. Word is that it’s really good. So exciting!)

If anyone out there has some other suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

In the meantime, I’ll be baking bread. And blogging. And doing some other things that have fallen by the wayside in the past number of months. Six Grain Wheat Bread coming up. (Well, as long as my yeast hasn’t died since last time I baked with it….) And this post. Sometimes a kick in the rear comes from a surprising source. But sometimes it’s also just what you need. Thanks Larry.

So, in case you end up on this page, looking in vain for our online menu….(if you see it, let me know!) – we are currently having technical issues, which I won’t explain, because I can’t. Anyway, you might be able to imagine how much time I have for looking into this, since it’s fall foliage time in Vermont (come visit, it’s gorgeous!) – but, at least the phone is working again, which it wasn’t last week. Maybe it’s just some oogie juju, but we’ve had several incidents of technical mishaps in the past week or two, and we are trying to get them sorted out. For now, the online menu is the one that is not solved, but know we are here, there will be food, and we’d love to see you!

P.S. Does this count as a post? I know it’s been 4 (!!!) months – where has the time gone?! I will be better, I promise. Just not this week. And probably not next week either.

Happy Memorial Day weekend, happy beginning of the summer, happy day with no rain….though it’s much too early in the day for me to be saying something like that! My wish for you is just the right amount of moisture in your life. I know there are places that are in drought, which is very hard to imagine here in the water-soaked Northeast, and other places having a lot more devastation from rain than we are here. Balance. Balance would be nice. It would also be nice to have the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry open – it really is the missing element in my salutation to summer – but, minor in comparison to other’s lives. Still, fingers crossed for a drop in the water level of Lake Champlain someday soon.

Now, back to my topic. Vermont’s Best Foodie Tour! There is a group of 12 inns here in the Champlain Valley working hard to put together a kind of food tour of the fertile outpourings of this little corner of Vermont. The details are still being finalized, but the idea is that you can book a room at any of the participating inns and for a small additional fee you will get a gorgeous goodie basket of local products, a map with directions to all sorts of food and drink related sites throughout the region and a coupon book for discounts and freebies from restaurants, markets, wineries and more. Pretty cool, huh? There’s even a logo and everything. The Shoreham Inn is a participating inn (though I really have to give all of the organizational credit to the other inns involved. I’m more of a cheerleader on this one. Someone’s broken ankle and the ensuing chaos made my spring a little more hectic than usual…..)

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this offer? I will FINALLY have a special to place on my specials page on this here website. Oh, I don’t know, TWO YEARS after I had my web designer put the page there so I could put all kinds of specials and discounts on it. Shocking. Really, I’m completely embarrassed. But, small victory for me and my website coming soon. As for you, I hope you are more excited about the potential deals and way to experience the Champlain Valley. We all feel there is such a wonderful abundance of produce, cheese, wine and more being produced here in the Heart of Vermont. Come visit soon.

Up here in Vermont, we’re finding it hard to believe spring will actually arrive, and stick, this year. We’ve had some gorgeous little teasers, and even a couple of days that felt more like summer than spring. But we’ve also had an awful lot of spring showers – we would just call them April showers, but they continued right into May without a pause. Today, though…..a little chilly this morning, but stunning. And, even though we love to complain about spring not arriving, it obviously has. Grass is green, trees are showing their tiny bright green leaves and our neighbor has taken down his light up Santa.

Our first cycling guests show up in a week or two and then summer will be upon us! In these last few weeks of what will hopefully be spring, while Vermont is waking up and stretching toward summer, there are some great activities and things to do. Not least of which is to just get outside. Whether you are a runner, a walker, a hiker, a biker or  a sit-in-an-adirondack-chair-with-a-glass-of-wine-and-a-booker, these first few days of really good weather always feel so good. Almost like every year we can hardly believe it will happen. And every year we forget that always will.

Unfortunately for me, this is the time of year that I can start to list all kinds of great events and activities happening locally that we just can’t find the time for. The most recent one that has caught my eye is the Vermont Open Studio Weekend. It’s May 28 & 29 and artists studios around the state are open to the public. I just think that sounds like  great way to spend a day or two – peeking into an artist’s workspace, seeing their creations and touring as far and wide around Vermont as you’d like. So, if a few of you would go do that for me, I’d greatly appreciate it. Stop by for dinner if you’d like, heck, come spend the night, we’ll be here.

Well howdy! It certainly seems ironic that the last time I was here I was complaining about cross country skiing vs. our prowess at downhill skiing….we may have converted the hubby to cross country skiing in the worst possible way….he broke his ankle downhill skiing this week. Yup. You know how you get your life organized in certain ways? You run your own business, perhaps with a partner and all the chores are divvied up in a way that works well for everyone? You don’t have to run a business to understand this – you run a family, or just a plain old life this way? Boy oh boy, when 50% of the team goes down for the count it’s a shock to the system. Add to that, the 50% is already stir-crazy 4 days into his 6-8 week recovery.

So, I haven’t got much time for blogging today but I wanted to say hello and, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, thank the wonderful, wonderful present and former staff of The Shoreham Inn for pitching in in extraordinary ways to get us through not only our busiest night of the year (St. Patrick’s Day – 48 hours after the accident) but the next 6 weeks as well. The ship may run a little slower than usual, and may be creaky at times, but we promise to do our absolute best to stay on course – and if last night is any indication at all, we’re going to be just fine. Best compliment of the night – ‘no disrespect to Dominic, but you can’t even tell he’s not in the kitchen’. If there were ever words to warm the heart at a time like this, those were the ones. The plan we have in place now will run much more smoothly than one of the plans that involved getting the Peter Pan flying apparatus moved over here to the Inn so that Steve Small could hoist and fly Dominic around the kitchen for a month. Or, in some of the kindest outpourings of offers of help, a kitchen manned by an eclectic crew of regular customers, though I would really love to have a photo of that assortment all in aprons and wielding kitchen implements!

I’ll close on a practical note: in order to coordinate this intensely organized schedule for April, we have made the decision to close the pub on Monday nights for the month. We will be open Thursday – Sunday evenings as usual, and plan on being back to full tilt come May. Wish us all luck!

Well, these innkeepers went cross country skiing this week. It’s one of those activities we haven’t done much at all, but keep wanting to learn. Seems like a great way to be outside in the winter, a great workout, pretty simple equipment. If we owned our own skis and boots we could just go out behind the inn whenever we wanted, and isn’t that a wonderful winter activity? So, we finally got out with a friend who took us up to the Rikert Ski Touring Center at Breadloaf. It was a beautiful day. We’ve had a fantastic winter for cross country skiing because there is such a good, deep base of snow covering all the trails. I had high, high hopes for this activity.

Now, firstly, it’s hard to have high hopes for something when you also need to learn how to do it. Everyone else looks so relaxed and easy, and they are plainly having a better time that you are. Their limbs seem to work in conjunction with one another. They don’t have to follow the advice of the 10 year old boy swooshing past them who shouts over his shoulder ‘make a pizza wedge to slow down! Pretend it’s like you have to go to the bathroom really, really badly!’ as he disappears down the gorgeous avenue of trees.

This is really the best part, is getting all that good exercise and being able to be out in the woods where it’s quiet and still. Meandering down various paths for as short or as long a time as you’d like. The folks at Rikert are friendly and very laid back. The ski shop is a tiny room with a roaring fire, mismatched comfy chairs and sofas and a big pot of soup on the boil. We have discount certificates available for guests staying at The Shoreham Inn.

You may not, however, encounter us on the trails. The hubby says that quote about golf ruining a good walk is all wrong, it’s cross country skiing that ruins a decent walk in the woods. I don’t agree, and I had hope of this being our new ‘thing’ we did together. I’ve been told ‘no, it will not be our new thing’. I’m not giving up on cross country skiing, or on him joining me quite yet, and maybe if you came and stayed with us, used a gift certificate, and came back and told him how much fun it was, you could help my cause. Maybe.

I can’t stay long, I have seven pigs to paint the most unbelievably great ‘Gypsy Rose’ color (which looks a lot like pepto bismol, in the best possible way). Dominic and I are contestants in the Platt Memorial Library‘s Kiss the Pig competition (and since I’m also on the Board of Trustees for the library, I am the pig-painter and facebook-page-maker)

Kiss the Pig you ask? Only in a rural town does this come up as a fundraising idea, but here is the basic premise. There are seven contestants and the one whose ballot box has the most money in it at noon on February 19 (the end of unofficial ‘love your library’ week here in Shoreham) will kiss the pig at the ceremony at the gazebo. The Hescock’s have promised to have Runty the pig scrubbed up nicely for the event.

Ballot boxes will be located around town: here at the Inn, at the library, the school, the Halfway House and the National Bank of Orwell.

Vote Early and Vote Often! This election can be bought!

All proceeds will go to support the Platt Memorial Library.

Gotta run, pigs are about to be delivered – look for a bright pink pig somewhere near you!

I have been remiss is introducing you all to the newest Shoreham Inn family member (though if you ‘like’ us on Facebook, you will have met her) -

Meet Ermintrude!

She’s one of the Cows Come Home cows that were in and around Burlington last year and Dominic and I became enchanted with the idea of a cow in the back garden. And so we set our sights on a few we liked, Ermintrude always being our favorite, and then waited for auction time. The auction proceeds went to benefit The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, so even better as far as we were concerned. A few we liked started to get too expensive for our blood, but Ermintrude steadfastly remained within our budget. The final day of the auction coincided with us being in Mexico with friends, so we had a very funny evening in the lobby of our resort (the only place there was a wireless internet signal) huddled around Dominic’s netbook, realizing that we needed to explain to Bruce that we were not buying a real cow (after he asked one too many questions about whether we had space for a cow, what do cows usually cost, and how do you care for cows – we thought he was being funny the whole time, he is a stand up comedian after all, but in fact he had somehow missed the fact that this was an art cow) and counting down to end of auction time in Burlington. You never saw a bunch of people from LA so excited about a cow. We toasted her with crazy tropical cocktails afterwards.

The next best bit, which I missed, was Dominic picking up the cow from a warehouse in Burlington and having to figure out how best to position her in the bed of our 1985 Chevy truck (with plow already attached) for the ride home to Shoreham. He finally decided on lying down, with her head peaking out of the bed. Wow, I wish I had a photo of that. He said the looks he got at traffic lights were pretty priceless.

And home she came. We had a brief flurry of names until Ermintrude really became the only contender. She’s named after a cow called Ermintrude from a TV program Dominic grew up with called The Magic Roundabout – one of those TV shows that only could have been made in the UK in the 60′s and 70′s. And we love her. We were exactly right, she looks great in the garden, particularly striking in the snow, though she will also look lovely surrounded by green grass. Welcome Ermintrude.

I know, I know, I shouldn’t even type it. I’m picturing the spam activity already, but it’s just too good not to use. We’ve got hookers in our parlour once a month here at The Shoreham Inn. (And by the way, I know I’m spelling ‘parlour’ the British way, but it really, really does not look right to me spelled ‘parlor’. So, apparently our hookers are anglophiles)

Alright, Rug Hookers. There, I’ve burst the bubble. There is small group of local women who have begun gathering here once a month, on a  Monday night to have a glass of wine and hook rugs together. There is one woman who has been hooking for 30+ years and others who have only just begun. (including this bartender, who just learned to hook this week. Hooker behind the bar! OK, I’ll stop) One who has a project she’s been ‘working’ on for 10 or so years. Another woman who I think brought embroidery last time but the camaraderie is too good to pass up, and I don’t think there is a ‘hookers only’ requirement.

I don’t know if you have seen many hand-hooked rugs (and by the way, these aren’t the same as the yarn latch-hook rugs that we did of Tweety Bird when we were 10) but they are gorgeous. They look like touchable paintings, so full of color and variations. Patterns and subject matter vary widely as well as size of finished object. Just like knitting, when you can just make a scarf or a hat before graduating to a sweater, with rug hooking you can make a small pillow or decoration before embarking on a actual rug. I’m completely fascinated myself, and winter is just the perfect time for a cozy craft project. Hooking can keep you warm……(OK, NOW I’m done with the hooking jokes)

Hi there, been a while, hasn’t it? Well, here we are again, home from a great vacation and, as every year, scrambling to catch up with the holidays. Hannukah has thrown me for a loop this year, being so early, but luckily my Jewish friends like to embrace the idea of a month of gifts. Mine will be the later ones.

I’m heading out tomorrow to The Vermont Book Shop to get books for my niece (she’s two, so I can write that here without spoiling anything) and I got to thinking about how much shopping I could do locally. I mean REALLY locally, as in Shoreham. So I thought I’d make a list:

Red Sled Farm: Christmas tree

Vermont Trade Winds: Wreaths, maple candies, syrups and pies

Phenomenal Fudge: Fudge, obviously

Whistlepig Whiskey: Straight Rye Whiskey

Toot Sweet Bakery: Cookies, scones and cakes

Shoreham Upholstery: Have something upholstered – maybe an unusual gift, but I don’t know who you shop for, do I?

Platt Memorial Library: Donate to the Friends of the Platt in honor of someone and help a good cause

Joe Bolger: Paintings

Carillon Cruises: Gift certificate for a summer cruise on Lake Champlain

If I wanted to be really late with gifts, rumor has it we’ll have local wine soon (I know, WINE, in SHOREHAM! How lucky are we?!!?)

I think I could even go on from here…certainly if it were summer or fall I could add in the orchards and farms that produce locally. So, lesson to myself, stop, think and plan a little, and I could be done by tomorrow night! Off to the Shoreham Post Office on Wednesday, job done!