What Do You Do in the Winter?
Posted on January 16, 2025 by
It seems that January can be the longest month of the year. Yes, there are 31 days but there are also 31 days in 7 other months! Why does it seem so long? Maybe it is the let down coming out of the Christmas holidays, or maybe it is the winter doldrums. Maybe it is because we have to stay inside because of the cold.
Years ago, as a mom, I looked forward to snow days with the kids up to a certain point. And the same is true today. Snow is fun for about a day for me, then it is just inconvenient; lots of rescheduling and the house becomes a mess. When I worked an 8-5 job, it was difficult to find childcare when schools were closed and working from home was not an option then, so I sympathize with working parents. Even working from home, work is interrupted! With kids, there is always outdoor snow play which leads to a dryer running non-stop to dry all the wet play clothes. With retired adults, there is always a good book, a jigsaw puzzle, enjoying the birds at the feeder, or baking in the kitchen. What do you do?
Soon, it will be February, the shortest month! Bedford Landings B & B is running a Valentine’s special. Stay a minimum of two days and we will gift you a single red rose, chocolate covered strawberries, and either wine or champagne. It is your choice! We still have two rooms available for the romantic get away!
February leads to March which makes it feel as if it is nearly Spring! So never fear! Winter won’t be here forever! Here’s a easy soup recipe I have made many times that never fails to please!
Easy Jambalaya
Sauté these ingredients in 2 Tablespoons of butter
3/4 c. chopped onion
½ c. celery
¼ c. chopped green pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
Stir in:
1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 10 oz can beef broth
1 ¼ c. water
1 t. sugar
½ t. dried thyme
½ T. chili powder
1/3 t. black pepper
Add 1 c. uncooled long grain rice
Add one or all of the following – 2 cups cubed cooked ham or chicken, pound of sausage, or 1 ½ lb medium fresh shrimp. Let simmer so flavors blend. Enjoy! Get those crock pots cookin’!
Today is Christmas Eve. The anticipation of Advent is coming to a close. Soon we will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Some are believers of this long told story. Some still wonder! For me, I am not sure how I would have put one foot in front of the other during times of my life without the knowledge that God is in control. I am not.
We have had many joyful encounters this year as guests walk thought the door of Bedford Landings! Some have come with unbelievable stories. Blessed Paula who had lived in a coma for many years, but now smiles amongst us. Loving Peggy who was unsure why she had been guided to travel our way. She had many emotions, many stories, and influenced many lives on a brief weekend encounter. Families with sweet children, careful pilots who traveled from afar and guests who surprised one another with the visit to our Inn.
Jack and I have had a music-centered year from singing with the Lakeside Singers, working to order and install a new church organ (Jack), singing with the SML Boomer Band (for Karen-See SML Boomer Band on Facebook) to singing in Carnegie Hall. That’s right! We were so privileged to sing with 225 voices on December 3. See if you can identify us!
As we enter a new year with excitement and expectations, just remember who is the composer and who is the director of your orchestra, your life and your next steps! I wrote a little poem just for this day. Merry Christmas to all!
Oh my goodness, the Fall weather has been faaabuuulousss! This has been one of the busiest Octobers for us. We feel the weather, the colors and the fact that they cannot go to western North Carolina (for obvious flooding reasons) that we are getting quite a flurry of guests! Enjoying the porch with the lake views and warm sunny days with crisp (but not cold) nights is perfect!
The airport had a cool Spook-tac-u-lar that brought out plenty of families with their children. The Smith Mountain Lake Airport is a fun place to be! There was chili in a cauldron, decorations and plenty of food and treats for the little ones!
A couple of weeks ago, I took some updated pictures or our guests rooms and put them on our Facebook page. One of them inspired me to give the Fishing Room a little facelift. In the past, the colors have primarily been salmon and green. I took this first photo the looked at it. Pretty basic. But, what did this room need?
I happened to be in the Moneta Farm Store and decided to look at color swatches for paint. I don’t know why, but I spontaneously purchased a quart of paint and then proceeded to paint an accent wall. This photo was the motivation to change, but then one thing led to another. The wall be came so blue, that I had to re-do the accents in the room and the artwork too! I rearranged some of the artwork in that room and added the pelican by Sheridan Brown to pull from the blue.
This shows the other part of the room BEFORE. Cozy! And there is a little blue in the bedspread. But I decided to go further. Good ole AMAZON! I ordered two new fish prints and rearranged a bit.
I maybe went overboard on segmented fish! But look what happened when I moved the mirror over the bed! A cool reflection!
This is not all we have been doing! Haha! We are very buy with the church and in the community.
Our choir from church has been invited to sing with composer, Joel Raney at Carnegie Hall on December 2. It had not been on our bucket list, but singing with 250 voices on stage in NYC will be way cool! It is a dress black affair. We are taking the train out of Lynchburg to NYC and have 2 days of rehearsals with the composer before we sing the concert!
We will also be closed for a professional development meeting in November. The Mid-Atlantic Innkeepers will be meeting, sharing ideas, recipes and networking! We are hoping to come back renewed!
Jack is co-chair on a committee to purchase a new church organ. Installing the organ has led to some sanctuary remodeling of Bethlehem United Methodist Church. But the congregation has been very flexible, even with the pastor preaching in a hart hat!
Fall greetings to all readers! It has been wet weather with remnants of Hurricane Helene blowing through, but it is starting to dry and it is time to plan an autumn outing to Smith Mountain Lake. Upcoming events include the Charity Home Tour October 11-13 and the Chilifest on November 2.
It’s ok to walk on them
Just a quick recap, Jack and Karen recently returned from an annual vacation, this time returning with two Turkish carpets. Mind you, that the 9×12 full size costs about $30,000. Instead, we purchased a lovely, colorful runner that will adorn the welcome hallway (for far less) and a small area run that will most likely go in the corner where the rocking chair sits. One of them has already arrived.
We never cared one way or another about Turkish rugs, but the onsite presentation was so cool, it was a great sales pitch! They rolled out rug after rug, then flipped them to show how the colors change when laying in the opposite direction, like the nap in velveteen! All hand woven, it takes years to make these! I hated to walk on them, but the carpet makers encourage you to do so. Yikes!
To the left is the runner in place. The silk area run has no arrived. This vacation, rugs served as the art that we purchased on our travels this year. So there is nothing new on the walls!
Update on Miss Pine
With reference to “killing Miss Pine,” I didn’t kill her! She is flourishing. I just had given her the pruning she needed.
Karen continues to sing with the SML Boomer Band. There is a Facebook page for this band. Only playing for charity, this week, the band is plating at the Waterfront Country Club to benefit the Franklin County Humane Society. Next week, they will play for the Smith Mountain Lake Arts Council and November 15, for the SML Lions Club Scholarship Fund. Known for playing great oldies dance music, the band has a good following at the lake. (Photo was when the Boomers (roasted) played outside on the hottest day of the summer to benefit the Moneta Library).
Flooding and power outages
Last week we were without power for 6 hours. But it is nothing compared to one week or more without power in many parts of Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee. Today Jack used his airplane to fly flood relief supplies. It is the least we could do. There is an airport in Concord, NC where pilots landed, gathered supplies, then flew to another site to deliver what they had picked up. The organization Operation Airdrop is the organizer.
Operation Airdrop
Of course everyone wants to do something to help with a disaster. Jack’s plane was among 100’s of airplanes flying into Concord, NC to pick up supplies. There was a team that met him, refueled him, asked how much load (in pounds) he could carry. He told them about 440 lbs. He accepted 446 pounds in the plane and headed to Ashe, NC. In comparison to the need, this was literally a drop in the bucket!
The most impressive part was the degree of organization that this operation carried out. He was on the ground a minimal amount of time. Many thanks to our airport owner at W91 (Moe) for providing fuel and accompanying Jack. The ride was stressful with so many pilots in the air. It helped to have another set of skilled eyes (and hands!) Some have asked how to help. If you are a pilot, check the link. We hear, however, that tomorrow may be the last day to donate to those particular locations. But we don’t know how long they will need pilots to fly supplies.
If you want to help after Red Cross and FEMA do their initial search and supply, then check with UMCOR in Western NC. There is an UMCOR in every area. They are a reliable organization skilled in rebuilding. It is far better to work through an organization than just loading up your car and showing up.
Even at Smith Mountain Lake, we are sending Flood Buckets. Bethlehem United Methodist collected for these in June to prepare, and now it is time to send them! Our church also sent prayer crosses. A group of crocheters at our church made them and prayed over them. Hoping they will bring some solace.
Life sure gives up things to deal with – and it is up to us to use our abilities, skills, and kindness to respond. Thank-you to all.
Generally, in the summer, Miss Pine (see last blog) has lived and thrived on the screen porch. After sawing her in half, after being chastised by others, after mourning the dedicated old tree, I left her alone. I kept watering her and by August 4, I noticed some green growth. It’s not much but I feel that indeed, she will blossom again!
And the part that I sawed off of the top, I have wrapped in a fertilized moist towelette nested in soil. Hopefully new roots will grow. We all wait!
On to other items
The summer has been medium busy. It is ok. After being in business 11 years, we are ok with whatever business walks through our door. We welcome visitors and hopefully give them a high quality, personally-attended stay! We try to schedule our time around breakfast and check-ins because on the community front, we are as busy as ever. Karen just finished a week as camp director for the Smith Mountain Arts Council youth Arts Camp. She is also still rehearsing and playing with the SML Boomer Band. The band plays for charities and doesn’t take any money for themselves.
Jack is chair of the church (new) organ committee and chair of the church trustees. Both come with an array of duties and visits multiple times a week to the church.
Doolittle turned three years old and we had several grand children visit in and out this summer! Of course we had to join the fun of Pirate’s weekend at Smith Mountain Lake!
Those seeking to stay with us in September may see on the calendar, that we will be taking our annual vacation in September. Off to Greece and Turkey on a Celebrity Cruise! Cheers!
Secondly, In November, we have marked our calendar CLOSED as we will attend a professional Innkeepers conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Those are always fun and we get new ideas, although the sorbet maker I ordered on impulse during the last conference has only been used once. Any interested buyers?
And lastly, Our church choir has been invited to sing at CARNEGIE Hall! That’s right! That’s the same stage that Def Leppard, Jelly Roll, Billie Ellish, and Pink will be performing on this year!
We will be singing with a 250-voice choir performing a Joey Raney cantata entitled Have you Heard. Joel Raney is a prolific composer who works for Hope Publishing Co. in Chicago. Our choir often selects his cantatas for Easter and Christmas. So with a new black dress in hand, a tuxedo, music folders and train tickets, we will leave the day after Thanksgiving for this adventure!
I will be keeping an eye on Miss Pine and continue to report about her growth!! Send me any nurturing tips! Happy (upcoming) Fall!
