Swelter, Shiver, Smile

Do you remember awhile back when I wrote a post about the snow in my hometown? Well, I was browsing Flickr today, looking at pictures of said hometown, when I stumbled on this:


And this:
And this:

(just for clarity's sake: that's a Jeep under there...)

You might ask me why am I showing you a picture of snow today? Why am I showing you a picture of snow on on this lovely day in May? Why would I bring up cold, wet, windy, yucky winter on such a beautiful spring day?

The answer is because it's hot out, and looking at snow makes me shiver. It's like mental air conditioning.

Really, give it a try! Take a look at one of the pictures, close your eyes, and picture standing where the photographer is.

...Brrrrrrr!


There, don't you feel better?

With Love,
~Brande N.

PS: My apologies to any readers who may be visiting from Siberia, Alaska, Iceland, or anywhere that is currently experiencing a cold front. Look away, look away!

Spring in the Berkshires

I know I've been gabbing a lot about summer coming up, but truthfully I'm getting way ahead of myself. It's still spring! Why jump ahead when there are all kinds of lovely springy things around me to enjoy?

While pondering on this fact, I was browsing the Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary website and I noticed that they're hosting the sanctuary's 80th Anniversary celebration on June 6th. My first thought was, "Holy Tulips! That sanctuary has been around for 80 years!?" Then I continued reading and realized what a great event it is.

The celebration (which is FREE!) will feature musicians, food, native plants for sale (Scarlet Bee Balm, anyone?), live birds of prey, and guided walks. The 1,314 acre sanctuary also offers picnicing, which makes me start dreaming of fancy cheeses, fresh baked breads, wine, and picnic blankets. Mmmm!

That same weekend Hilltop Orchards is hosting their 7th Annual Apple Blossom Bash. There will be hors d'oeuvres, live music, hiking, wine tastings, and as the name implies, the apple trees will be in full bloom.

Very much like this.

Forgive me for being a silly romantic, but how sweet would it be to have a wedding proposal on a sunny spring day in the middle of an apple orchard in full bloom? It's no wonder so many people get married in June, Mother Nature sets the romance up for them!

If you'd like more information on Pleasant Valley's 80th Anniversary bash, give them a call at (413) 637-0320. And for more information on the Apple Blossom Bash, feel free to call us at the Inn [(413)637-0193] or at Hilltop Orchards at (800)833-6274.

Hope to see you this spring!

With Love,
~Brande N.

No Pain, No Cane

Dan and I were recently given the assignment to recane a few of our chairs. You have no idea what I'm talking about, huh? That's ok, when we were given the assignment we didn't know what it meant either.

In short, that lattice-like wooden screen that you often see on chairs is called "cane" or "caning". It's actually not wood at all, but the skin of the nonporous rattan vine. Its impermeability makes it ideal for furniture because it won't stain or react to humidity.

Behold the odd and strangely useful things you learn as an innkeeper...

We have a few chairs that feature a lovely woven cane backing. They had unfortunately taken a bit of a beating over the years though, and two out of three chairs had holes ripped through the cane. Rather than replace the whole chair, John opted for Dan and I to re-cane it ourselves. One benefit being that it's significantly less expensive, but another being that it's the greener decision because fixing an old chair instead of buying a brand new one means less resources are used. It's a win-win!

Anyway, this is how the process looks currently:
Kind of a mess. You'd think that throwing a screen into a panel would be easy, right? Not so much... First off, the directions are really vague and don't have any pictures.

Through process of elimination [and some pieces being kind of obvious] we determined that these two pieces are the spline and the cane.


See how they fit into the finished product? (By the way, that's an old, unbroken chair, not one that we've finished.)

Aside from the spline and cane, the wedge, chisel, and hammer were pretty easy to identify...

One line in the directions mentions using "4 wedges to hold the spline in place, and the fifth to pound it into the groove". How do I hold 4 wedges in one place, a fifth in another, AND somehow manage to hammer at the same time? And why in the world do I need 4 wedges to do what two of my fingers are doing in the photo above?? What kind of crazy person invented this process???

As much of a pain as this is, it's going to be neat to be able to proudly say when it's done, "Hey Bob. I caned a chair once. Did you know that?" And he'll be confused and have no idea what I'm talking about. Then I'll be able to rant on about rattan vines and permeability and spline chisels and prewoven cane and...

...I'm doing that right now, aren't I?


With Love,
~Brande N.

Regarding my love for Technology

Please, dear readers, forgive me for my unexcused absence. It's been a whirlwind of craziness here at the Inn. Summer preparation is in full swing and BOY is there a lot to do! In addition to all the usual summer prep, miscellaneous this-and-thats [broken lamps, clogged showerheads, order placements and pick-ups, new bed deliveries and set-ups, power outages, and the pool situation, just to name a few] keep coming up here and there that need to be attended to. So unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of time for blogging in between all the chaos!

But I haven't forgot about you, I promise. In fact, for the last week or so, I've been working on a neat little slideshow about the aforementioned pool. As we've been repairing and painting it, we've also been setting out the pool furniture and putting in an entirely brand new fence. In short, we're getting it prepped for the big opening this weekend. Each day there's a bit more paint, a few more chairs, and a couple feet more fence. It's fun to watch the transformation. The pool is still on schedule to open this weekend (knock on wood!), so as of this morning I was almost done with my photo set and it was going to be a great post.

Also on the camera with the pool pictures were photos of the aforementioned dining guide, and photos of my birthday and the day that Dan and I spent with friends and family who visited us from NY. I wanted to upload the pictures of the dining guide so that I could [finally] blog about it, so I put the memory card in my computer and get ready to start the post. Then I realized that I had only taken pictures of the construction of the book and not the final product. So I took the memory card out of my computer (being very certain to use the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature), and put it back in my camera. I went out to the Guest Pantry, took a few pictures of the Dining Guide and a few more of the pool, and went back to my computer.

When I put the memory card in, however, all of the photos had somehow been corrupted. Everything was lost. The pool photos, the making-of-the-dining-guide photos, all of the pictures from my birthday, everything. It was all gone. Ugh.

I'll still do a post about both the pool and the dining guide, but unfortunately they won't be as complete.

Isn't Technology just grand?

With Love,
~Brande N.

Local Intelligence

I'm a chronic Google-er. I'll admit it.


"I can't get this jar open!"...Google it!

"I need new shoes." ...Google it!

"What does 'eidetic' mean?" ...Google it!*


From my habit of over-Googling I've found that the answers I'm looking for often come from the same source again and again and again.

Example?

Rural Intelligence.

Time and again as I'm researching events and attractions in the Berkshires, Rural Intelligence ends up on my Google Radar, providing me with the answers I need. For example, when I was looking up photos and additional info on Rubiner's Cheesemongers in Great Barrington, I found this article, which talks about Rubiner's "Oysters and Champagne Fridays". Another time I was doing a bit of research on The Mount, and found this article which, in addition to offering a spectacularly beautiful photo of the estate in winter, highlights an interesting event happening on-location. Oh, and this article too, which speculates on The Mount's reputation for being haunted, and mentions its recent filming for the Sci-Fi Channel's show Ghost Hunters. Spooky!

Why exactly does Rural Intelligence keep coming up on my radar? The answer is simple: it's a website focused on only 4 counties in the New England area, one of which is Berkshire county. That means that of all the articles on the website, there is a 1 in 4 chance of an attraction relevent to me being featured.

Needless to say, I've become more and more convinced that this is an excellent local resource. I've even bookmarked it, and now browse it periodically looking for updates and insights. (I won't lie, it helps that Rural Intelligence hosts 3 different blogs, too. We all remember my blog addiction, right?)

Anyway, I think that you [as a reader of my blog and apparent lover of the Berkshires] should head over to Rural Intelligence and do some poking around. Whether your coming to the Berkshires for a special event, food, nature, culture, or even just to visit family, I'm sure you'll find something helpful. Have fun!

With Love,
~Brande N.

*Ok, so "Let Me Google That For You" might be a little harsh, but I can't help but find it hilarious that someone actually created that website. An odd and cranky form of genius, I think.

Prepping for Summer

The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the grass is green and lush, and the air is warm. What does that all mean? It means summer is coming up on our heels and we're working on a million little projects to get ready for it.

The biggest project right now is our pool. It didn't start out as a big project, though. It needed to be repainted and have a bit of masonry work done, but nothing too major.

Wrong! It turns out that the three layers of paint on it right now are all different varieties; two layers are epoxy, one layer is water-based, and the paint we bought is low VOC rubber-based! In an effort to prevent the paint from chipping (which would mean draining, repainting, refilling, and retreating all the water), we're in the process of sandblasting off all of the paint so we can start with a blank slate.

Therefore, our pool, which looked like this last summer:

Currently looks like this:


"AHHHH!!!"

That's what you were thinking, right? Have no fear, however, because regardless of how scary the pool looks now, we're still on schedule to be up and running by Memorial Weekend.

Whew!

With Love,
~Brande N.


PS: Since I'm a history nerd and I like sharing these things, I think you should check out our History page if you're curious to know more about our pool. For example, did you know that it's almost 100 years old?

Robin's and Rubiner's

[Technically, this post was intended to go up yesterday. But somewhere between the power being turned off for half the day to replace a transformer and Blogger refusing to download these pictures for who-knows-what-reason while the power was on, I had some trouble making that happen. Better late than never, right?]

Last week, while Dan's mom was visiting for Mother's Day (Hi, Mom!) we took a little trek to Great Barrington, about 15 minutes away. Even though we had heard a lot baout it, Dan and I had yet to really explore that nook of the Berkshires. We figured the warm spring day, heavy with the scent of blossoming fruit trees, was perfect for taking a walk through town.

We discovered quickly that Main Street is, in fact, the main street. It's lined with unique shops, ranging from artsy clothing stores to trendy cafes to a handmade furniture store to a natural foods co-op and more. We'll definitely be back to do a bit more intensive exploring, but for now I'd like to tell you about two of the most memorable places we went.

First is Rubiner's Cheesemongers, located in the old bank building on Main Street.

This gourmet foods store is just plain brimming with imported candies, artisanal cured meats. fancy mustards and chutneys...


and as the name implies--cheese. Oodles and oodles of beautiful, wonderful, heavenly cheese...




Not only do they have an incredible selection of cheeses (runny and hard and stinky and blue and aged and fresh and sheep and goat and cow, oh my!) but the staff is knowledgeable and helpful. Not that you'd really need a helpful staff member when you can help yourelf to one of the seven or eight varieties of cheese set out to sample each day. That's right seven or eight different cheese samples. While there I tried a young asiago, an aged piave, a waxy jack, parmigiano reggiano, and....

...this odd and intriguing cheese whose name I didn't catch. It was something like an aged cheddar, to say the least. Its scent was of a robust beer, which turned into a sweet, caramelly, cheddar-like taste when it hit the tongue. As the sweetness faded, the saltiness came, followed by a bit of tart sharpness reminiscent of a swiss. Complex doesn't even begin to cover it.

If I were going to Tanglewood and needed a some fancy cheeses, fresh breads, and high quality meats for my picnic on the lawn, I'd go to Rubiner's.

And walk out with 17 kinds of cheese and an empty wallet.

Is that such a bad thing?



After going to Rubiner's we took a few steps down the street and stumbled on this:

Robin's Candy Shop has struck the perfect balance between nostalgia, whimsy, and fun. How can you not love a store with a warning sign that says, "unattended children will be given espresso and a free kitten"? How could you not love a store that sells imported licorice, cotton candy scented perfume, Zagnut bars, and lolipops with real crickets inside?

There's something magical about walking into this place. You can't help but feel a little bit like Charlie walking into the Chocolate Factory. Or maybe it's more like Augustus Gloop when he first sees the chocolate river. I fear that I might be more Augustus than Charlie.

No matter how you feel (awed, nostalgic, gluttonous) there's bound to be something here for you. A box of cupcake shaped bandaids? A pair of cartoonishly large cat-eye glasses? Maybe a gumball shaped like Frankenstein?


At the very least, you're sure to find dessert for your Tanglewood picnic. Let's just hope your empty wallet from Rubiner's has a credit card in it on which you can charge all this candy.

Also, You might want to pack some insulin too. Just to cover the sugar rush.


With Love,
~Brande N.