Happy Easter to all!

Was there ever a more glorious Easter Day? It’s just been beautiful in Hays. Everybody got a chocolate bunny on their pillow today! My guests have fragrant lilacs in their rooms, plucked from the back garden. Fresh mint and chives for breakfast tomorrow.

I brought home two boxes of plants today, so tomorrow I can plant flowers in all the porch planters. As the flower beds’ lilacs and tulips begin to fade in a couple of weeks, the irises, peonies and spirea will take their place…just in time (I hope) for Fort Hays State University’s commencement weekend.

A few days ago the petals from the white crab apple blossoms started to fall. They were so thick this year, when the breeze blew they drifted like snow against steps and rocks. Those flowers have scented the air for nearly two weeks now. Heavenly. Join us while it’s still springtime!

Springtime Bustle

Spring is here, no matter what the calendar says! I have just gotten started cleaning out the flower beds in preparation for spring growth. I haven’t seen any buds yet, but the tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths are all well above ground now, so it won’t be long. Sap is flowing in the fruit trees. I’m hoping for a peach crop like the one I got last year—almost more fruit than I could handle or give away, and as juicy and delicious as any peaches I’ve ever eaten. Next week it will be time to prune roses. It’s a rather tedious job, but the rewards are well worth it.

Of course, it’s also good weather for cleaning windows and painting and such. Not my favorite chores (I’d rather be gardening), but having spring in the air makes them easier.
Springtime also means high school graduations, FHSU commencement, and Mother’s Day. May is a very busy month in Hays, so if you’re planning a trip here, I recommend making reservations as soon as possible. We’d love to have you!

Continuing Education and...

...a break from the routine. It's the time of year for...innkeepers conferences! I'm at the fabulous Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas with innkeepers from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and of course AR. (Don't worry, I left the inn in Carol's capable hands for the three days I'll be gone.) What a gorgeous drive we had this morning through the Ozarks; I have to come back here in the autumn. Crescent Hotel

This afternoon I learned lots of stuff about better ways to communicate with you, my dear guests. Tomorrow and Wednesday I'll be learning some new ways to make the Tea Rose Inn a more comfortable place with more of the little amenities b&bers love. My goal, always, is for my guests to want to return again and again. I've made some wonderful friends that way.

And some of the changes I've implemented over the years have come from guests' suggestions. Even after 12 years of innkeeping, I'm always open to new ideas or better ways of doing things.

But back to today's seminar. I'm trying to absorb all the changes with Facebook, Twitter, and Google tools. It can be a bit overwhelming. Innkeepers are jacks-of-all-trades, but I think changing communication technology challenges more of us than anything else.

It's not all work, of course. I had a wonderful dinner tonight in a restaurant loaded with local charm. Here, the hyacinths and daffodils have already pushed their leaves up three inches. As soon as I get home I want to clear away the winter muck and see if my spring bulbs have begun to show themselves yet. I'm so ready for color!

Toto, we're in Kansas...

That's why two days ago the cloudy, rainy weather made it necessary to have the furnace on during the day, and today I had to switch on the air conditioner at 10 a.m.! That's Kansas in springtime.

Plant Exchange party

Every year in early May my friend Mary hosts a plant exchange party in her back garden. We have brunch on the lawn, walk about Mary's lovely gardens, catch up with fellow gardeners we haven't seen in awhile (in some cases not since last year's exchange), and then the swapping begins.

Weather is unpredictable at this time of year; in past years we've gathered in drizzle, cloudy skies and cold temperatures, and in one memorable year gale force wind. But today was perfect. Sunny, cool, and not windy (that last one is notable on the high plains in springtime, especially).

Mary put out a lovely spread of goodies, and I got permission to bring my own contribution. This year it was a thermos of vanilla tea and a plate of cherry-chocolate cream scones, still warm from the oven. Those got snatched up in a hurry.

When it was time to divide the loot I, as usual, made out like a bandit. I had taken a bagful of applemint and another of Greek oregano, both of which I have in great abundance. What did I come home with? Lemon balm, which I've done without for far too many years. Lilies of the valley, which I have long wanted to have in my garden. Ten years or more after planting crabapple and peach trees I finally have enough shade to grow the dainty little lilies. Someone contributed tomato plants they grew from seed; I brought home a Roma in a peat pot. (I'm mainly going to stick with heirloom varieties, like I did last year.) I also chose several bulbs of a pink allium that should nicely complement the maroon variety in my front bed.

A very satisfying morning. Now to get out there and get it planted!

Tea, hope and renewal

This Easter weekend is a typical one at the Tea Rose Inn in that I don't have many guests here. I guess it's a stay-at-home or stay-with-family kind of holiday. In any case, I can't remember an Easter holiday when the inn was really busy. That leaves me a little spare time to do some outdoor chores on this windy, windy spring weekend.

This evening I will have dinner at someone else's house--a rare opportunity for me on a weekend night! Sunday I will have more leisure time than usual, which is great because I like to spend Easter with family and friends. So tomorrow I am hosting an afternoon tea party.

We'll have darjeeling tea, hot and iced, plus fruit punch. For nibblies I'm making miniature strawberry tarts with fresh organically grown strawberries, poppyseed cupcakes decorated for spring, and some whole strawberries for those who want to keep it healthier. On the savory side there will be asparagus tips rolled up in prosciutto spread with a little herbed goat cheese, cucumber sandwiches (of course!), and egg salad on multi-grain crackers.

Tonight I get to blow out about 18 eggs for our tea party activity. I'll set up a decorating table on the front porch with paints, pens, stickers, etc. Everybody gets to take home an egg they've decorated.

If Easter is a holiday that is important for you to celebrate, I hope yours is everything you want it to be. But even beyond the religious holiday, I love that we all celebrate the arrival of spring together with age-old symbols and activities. I love the community of Easter. The springtime theme of renewal, both symbolic and actual, makes it such a hopeful time.

So here's wishing you hope and happiness this Easter!

Transition

The Kansas Bed & Breakfast Association held its annual meeting and conference in Abilene on March 15. As the KBBA's vice president, I was in charge of planning the conference. Weeks of intensive planning, getting every detail into place, and then...it's all over in a day. (Kind of like Thanksgiving dinner!) Abilene's convention center is in an old train depot with lots of character. It was perfect for our gathering.

We elected new officers, so now I have the pleasure of serving as president of the KBBA, which is sure to keep me busier than ever. For me, the conference marks the end of the winter season.

In this busiest of seasons--early spring--familiar faces and new ones are coming and going at the TRI at a pretty brisk pace. But the garden is beckoning! Where to find the time? Last weekend we had slow, soaking rains, and now it's warm and sunny. Perfect. I've got to get out in the dirt for at least part of the day today.

This morning I snipped the first bunch of tender chives from the garden and folded them into the slow-scrambled eggs. The mint is just beginning to show the first tiny green leaves. By next week I should be able to harvest a little.

Today I will clean the porch furniture and install my new planter boxes on the front porch rail. Yesterday the winter door wreath was exchanged for one with an Easter theme. I'm declaring it springtime in Hays. No more snow allowed!

First harbingers of spring

I'm inserting a little note here in the middle of my travel log to let you know that winter really is almost over in Hays. I know this because yesterday--a perfectly spring-like day--I saw the first Siberian irises in the flower beds. Their electric blue flowers make me smile every time I see them. They're only about four inches tall, but they stand bravely through the last wintery blasts (blowing in even as I write this).

Winter blues and spring anticipation

After clearing snow and ice over the weekend, this sunshiny day is welcome, though it's still cold. Early Sunday morning one of my guests asked if he could shovel off the sidewalks for me. Permission was granted! He lives in a sunbelt state, but grew up in Boston, so he knows how to wield a snow shovel. I think he got downright nostalgic about it. And what a treat for me to have the entry and sidewalks cleared by the time my other guests were ready to leave. Small kindnesses like that are what's best about life.

So how did I prepare my guests before sending them back out into winter? With premium, piping hot coffee, of course (no tea drinkers that day). They had juice and some fresh winter fruit--citrus and stuff--to wake up their taste buds and give them a shot of vitamins. Then came the comfort part: my own special gingerbread pancakes with real maple syrup. Always a winter favorite. And the perfect accompaniment, local bratwurst, nicely browned.

I keep thinking that we will soon have a day here and there warm enough to work on cleaning up the flower beds for spring. But I haven't seen any bulbs up yet, and I'm sure they know what they're doing. This morning I did hear birds singing in the arborvitae; that was a welcome sound. Maybe when I return from Texas next month, and after the Kansas Bed & Breakfast Association's annual meeting (more about those later), I can put on the garden gloves and get down in the dirt.

Hope winter has not got you down too much. It's been a long one in most places. It IS still February, though, which means....

Valentine's Day specials are still available through next weekend! (See January 14 post.) I'd love to see you here.