Don’t you love Fall?  The air is crisp and clear, the colors are popping, and we can wear sweaters! We have been so busy this fall, that our blogging has lacked. But we are back home at Bedford Landings now!  After a lovely vacation to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park, then attending (one of our) daughter’s wedding in Blowing Rock, NC; followed by a visit to an old home place (Emory, VA), then a family reunion in Nashville, TN, we are happy to be back home at Bedford Landings! We even took a few aerial shots of the colors but they are even more colorful now. You should really take it all in by air!

 

Back Home
Because the B & B is more of a seasonal business, we generally do home repairs and projects in the fall and winter. One of the first tasks we wanted to tackle (after 3 years of living in our house), was to finish the ceiling on the screened porch. There are probably lots of photos of the unfinished ceiling but I didn’t have one. Basically, it was the back of the floor to the star gazing deck above it. So I snapped a photo once we put on the waterproofing plastic before the final finish work. Jack did a wonderful job fitting and trimming to complete this and now I don’t have to remind him so much! That job is done. The list is getting shorter!

 

Barn Square

Last week, Jack and I had the pleasure of flying into the Virginia Highlands airport in Abingdon, VA to attend a Cooperative Extension retirement luncheon hosted at the Southwest Virginia 4-H Center. Some of my old (well not that old) co-workers were there and it was great fun getting reacquainted and remembering our years together when I was an Extension Agent in Wytheville, VA. While there, the Director of the center described a fund raising effort selling painted barn quilt squares. I was totally considering purchasing one but in the fun of chatting and finding a ride back to the airport, I forgot to inquire. However, I was inspired. I thought I would try my hand at painting one. It was harder than I thought in that the geometric patterns must be rather exact and not free handed! I may do more, but I did complete one and hung it on the hangar shed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home is where the Dog is!

Ever since our sweet Kramer died (this past February), coming home has been pretty quite. No friendly dog was there to greet us! We had been thinking about a dog and negotiating about what type of dog we would get.

Our B & B is not pet friendly. Why? We figure if people must travel with their pets, they want to sleep with their pets; and who wants to sleep in that bed next (even with clean bedding) after a dog has been in the bed? When we were researching starting a bed & breakfast, we located pet-friendly places and took Kramer with us to a few. There was generally one room designated as the room where pets were allowed. And why? Because, that’s where the other dogs had soiled the rug, and that’s where any subsequent dogs would sniff out the best place to go. Kramer was totally house broken but went straight to the scent and added his to it!

Our home is still relatively new and so we just made the decision- no pets with guests. But this is also our home and it was missing the patter of little feet! Petfinder.com is a great site to search out rescue pups by zip code. And look what I found! Yes, I know she is very similar looking to Kramer. She is smaller than Kramer and is a shih tzu- pug mix. She is perhaps 2-4 years old (according to one veterinarian). She was in foster care, having given birth to 6 puppies that all died. She has now been spayed and we are enjoying making her comfy with us! So welcome Bella, new princess of Bedford Landings!

 

Halloween Soup Recipe

Fall always makes me think of comfort foods-and soup is one of those. Yesterday, I made a crock-pot soup that was warm and yummy:

• Just pile this stuff in a crock pot for 4 hours—2 chicken breasts, a cup of wild rice, a cup of chopped celery, ½ cup of chopped carrot, half chopped onion, 4 cups chicken stock, rosemary, 2 garlic, sage, salt, pepper. Break apart the chicken once cooked, stir and enjoy.

I found another good recipe I plan to share on All Hallows Eve with friends. Here it is for your to enjoy!

Cheese Tortellini Soup

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 (10¾ ounce) cans of tomato soup

¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped or 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato paste

2 cups half-and-half

2 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoons Italian seasoning

½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoons pepper

1 (9 ounce package) of cheese-filled tortellini

½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Sauté garlic with the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat until golden brown. Be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get too brown or burnt. When the garlic is done, add tomato soup, tomatoes, half and half, chicken stock and spices, and bring to a simmer. Add tortellini and top with cheese.

Enjoy your Fall!

Coming soon…hunting season, Thanksgiving with the family, and Christmas with Mama.

September was a great month for Bedford Landings. The guests were great, the weather was good, we started preparing for the fall with yard work and trimming.  We aerated the lawn, planted grass seed and fertilized.  We even did a couple of projects before we took off on a 10-day vacation to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Photos below.

One reminder, if you can take time, please vote for Best of at Smith Mountain Lake before November 6^th. Bedford Landings B & B for Best Place to Stay Overnight; and Bedford Landings Air Tours (write it in) for with Best New Business (first category) or Hidden Jewel (Last category). Thank-you!

The rest of today’s blog features a few of the September occurrences at Bedford Landings through photos.

Baking

I have only ever made four of these peppermint red velvet cakes but this is one great three-layer cake.  Gotta be pretty special to get one of these!

 

 

 

Do-it-Yourself (DIY)

I decided to unpack many of my academic books that had been packed away for several years.  I needed a bookcase.

So I kept my eye open for an inexpensive one that would suffice.  This little jewel from Goodwill would suffice just fine.

 

First it needed kilz to be sure there was no mold/mildew. I sprayed and painted on the kilz that I had left from another project.

Then as I am often guilty of, I added paint that I had on hand.  It would be full of books.  I really didn’t care about the color.

And Voila…a few hours later.  loaded up with books!

Sadly, I didn’t take any photos of Jack working hard to aerate the lawn and plant grass seed.  In the meantime, I trimmed the ornamental grasses.  It’s that time of year and in the winter, nothing looks worse than scraggly untrimmed tall grasses gone to seed.  This was their first year of growth and my first year figuring out how to trim them.

First I got a bungee cord, then loppers and gloves.

We rewarded ourselves for the great year of inn-keeping with a little trip out west late in the month.  Enjoying as much as we could see of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, we hiked, rode horses, ate, fished, saw wild animals, ate, met people, watched geysers, smelled sulphur in hot springs and mud holes, walked, ate, shopped, took pictures, learned about the volcanos, and more…then finally we flew back home (commercially).  A great time, just the two of us!

We are home for the winter and expecting guests who want to experience the fireplace or the fire pit, watching the snow fall outside, eating some comfort food, walking in the leaves, and coming for the chili fest and the other fall activities at Smith Mountain Lake!

 

 

Artist in the House
We are more than just a pretty breakfast at Bedford Landings! We serve as wall space for artists to display their works of art and are delighted to share our space with local talent! We are most pleased that for September and October, we are featuring the work of Shelley Koopmann. You can also find her on Facebook. 

I just love her whimsical style in some paintings.  But others are simply a beautiful mix of colors. Here are a few shots of what is on our walls and a link (above) to her website and facebook page. Please drop in to view her art or better yet book a room and look at it while you are waiting to be served breakfast at Bedford Landings!

 

From Bees to Chickens
We have kept honeybees for nearly 10 years. And we have enjoyed serving and selling their honey.  But this summer, while harvesting honey, Karen was stung a few times and had a pretty bad reaction (swelling, heat at the site). Later in the summer, she was stung again and experienced a similar reaction. The doctor prescribed an epi-pen, which we are keeping just in case the reactions elevate to that necessity but we decided to give the bees to Matt the Beekeeper and no longer keep them. Sadly we said goodbye to our little girls.

BUT- breakfast at Bedford Landings isn’t just about the honey! It’s about the use of eggs too! In the spring, we are going to get chickens!

We use at least 3-dozen eggs per week in cooking breakfasts for guests so hopefully this will be beneficial. We understand that they also can eat breakfast scraps so we are doing away with the compost pile in favor of chickens devouring leftovers! Besides a little squirrel has been enjoying breakfast at Bedford Landings too and has been snatching from the compost pile and making a mess with it!

Stay tuned for more on the chickens! And if any readers have advice or laying hens for sale, contact us!

Massage Therapy
Sometimes guests inquire about getting a massage while staying at Bedford Landings. We have several therapists that we refer people to so be sure to ask. They will bring their table and we have a nice quiet (dimmed lights) theatre room where we can set up a therapy session. We will put guests right in touch with the therapist as opposed to putting ourselves in the middle. That way times can be worked out between the guest and the therapist. Just schedule it around breakfast at Bedford Landings!

Fall at Smith Mountain Lake (SML)
It has been a busy summer with many new events added to the local social calendar but the 50^th Anniversary celebration for SML continues into the fall with still more activities. We look forward to the Charity Home Tour (October 7-8) and the Chili Fest. (November 5), a new event called a Brew Fest (November 12).   The fall should be very colorful with the wonderful rains we had in July this year. Don’t forget that Jack does sightseeing rides and this would be a cool way to view the foliage!

The Skelton 4-H Educational Center was the host to the first annual (we hope not the only) cardboard boat regatta. After a month of Jack’s sweltering work days in the hangar designing, crafting, cutting, taping, gluing,  varnishing, and painting the boat, we added a name (“Miss Hap”), a marketing logo (www.bedfordlandings.com), and a flag (Thank-you Chris Baker at Business Design Solutions).

 

 

There were 18 boats built for the regatta and all were on display Friday night.  We had to strap the boat to the truck and drive it to the other side of the lake.

 

Loading the boat to transport (45 minutes away) to the 4-H Center.

Displayed with a picnic basket and wine glasses, we were awarded “Best Presentation!”

Since Bedford Landings submitted the entry, we proudly displayed brochures and business cards along with the boat.Below is a series of photos with captions about the end results.

 

 

 

Taking awards for “Best Presentation” and Third place in class was a great start for the first regatta! Plus it was WAY FUN!

Bedford Landings is a getaway for all walks of people including parents getting away from their young children, family members attending reunions, young lovers and old lovers, families traveling with children to the lake, wedding guests, and others.

Pilots Love This Getaway
Bedford Landings B & B is a also pilot’s getaway. Pilots are starting to hear about us and the fact we are located right along an airstrip (W91) where you can fly in, tie down, and spend the night at a beautiful lake location with your airplane with eyesight! We have had a few “cool” planes fly in to be guests of Bedford Landings. One was just last week when this Super Decathlon was here. Jack always loves photos of the planes sitting in front of our hangar, so here it is. This small tandem seating plane fit in the hangar, so we pulled the Cessna out just for over night to hanger this little beauty.

 

Family Stuff
Our whole fam damily will make Bedford Landings their getaway the end of July.   We have to spread it over two weekends since we are at capacity when they come! All our children and grand children live in the Raleigh area. Karen’s sister has a home here and brother Michael is not far away in Floyd. Michael and his wife visited recently for his birthday and we made a German chocolate cake from scratch. Scrumptious!

We love family to visit, especially grand children! Earlier this summer, Grandson Jamison (4 years old) visited and spent three nights for the first time. Gramma got in trouble having had his long hair cut but he was happy with the result and now nobody thinks he is a girl! He also got to taxi up the runway (not fly) for his first time.

Super Grand Daughter, Destiny is here for the month of July and has been active with taking swimming lessons and volunteering at Skyway Animal Farms.

Skyway is a non-profit working farm that is a great place to take kids and grand kids. Bea and Debbie explain what they are doing to visitors, name all of the animals, and keep a really tidy farm! Destiny has learned a lot, walked and fed the baby goats, fed the Alpacas and Llamas, learned the names of all of the Anatolian Shepherds, and helped put up an obstacle course for the “fainting” goats. We haven’t tried to scare them yet but will report when we see them faint!

 

Destiny is also helping with Vacation Bible School at Bethlehem United Methodist and fulfilling her lifelong (at the ripe age of 11 years) role play/dream of being in a “teacher” role.

 

Sister Artist
I was honored that my sister invested her tender loving care into a recent piece of art she completed for us! Sheridan Brown and husband, John, are our substitute innkeepers when we are away. She has been taking art lessons and completed a very cool piece for us that I proudly have hung in the upstairs foyer. It depicts the front AND back of our house and even places the Cessna in the sky!

Artist in the House
Speaking of artists, Mary Lou Koons is our in-house artist this month. Mary has been a full time Smith Mountain Lake resident since 1992. She has a great deal of experience with the art community, particularly in the Smith Mountain Lake area. She is a member of the Smith Mountain Arts Council (SMAC) and has been the organizer of the SMAC Art Show for the past 6 years. She is also in the Roanoke League of Artists and really enjoys entering art shows. Her work entitled “Speaker of the House” has been a favorite and an award winner in several art shows (pictured below). The work that Bedford Landings is displaying features water color and acrylic. It is priced right and we are willing to open our doors for you to see. Just email us to schedule a time to stop by.

Honeybees
Bedford Landings is a getaway for the bees but also their home. Our darling honeybees have produced 3.5 more gallons of honey. We have a little for sale and are saving some back for cooking. We enjoy the harvesting process and enjoy having bees, but this MAY be our last year.

Sadly, Karen is starting to get allergic reactions to bee stings including swelling, redness and a temperature at the site of the sting. Twice this summer, ice, Benadryl and itchy nights have been experienced. We have not made a decision yet but are considering replacing the bee yard with a chicken yard. Anyone want to trade hobbies?

Cardboard Boat
Jack has been consumed with constructing a cardboard boat. That’s right–a cardboard boat. At least we have a hangar where he can work on it! The boat must float and be rowed 200 yards in one of the SML 50^th Anniversary events to be held at the Skelton 4-H Center the July 30^th.   Come to the Cardboard Boat Regatta and cheer for Bedford Landings and Bedford Landings Air Tours boat at 11:00 that day!

Largest Human Float!
If you haven’t signed up for the Guinness Book of Records Human Float, then please do so. Sign-up, then bring an inflatable on August 6^th. SML has been challenged by Lake Winnipesaukee saying they can get more people floating on inflatables than we can. Some of you may recall that Bill Murray movie What About Bob was filmed at Smith Mountain Lake but they said it was Lake Winnipesaukee. Rumor has it that the leaves were already changing at Winnipesaukee so they changed the filming location. We can’t let them win the Guinness Book record! Sign up by July 15^th!

We have not yet signed up and hope to take aerial photos of this event! Can’t wait!

Staycations
Ever heard of a Staycation?
stay·ca·tion  ˌstāˈkāSHn/  nouninformal
a vacation spent in one’s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.

Neesy Payne, a Morning reporter for WDBJ7 wanted to find out if Bedford Landings was truly a getaway. Working on a story about locations that could be stacations, we were honored that she “discovered” Bedford Landings B & B and Bedford Landings Air Tours. Jack flew her over the lake for some footage and she interviewed us about the business. Click this link to the Staycation Story.

Until next time, have a great summer! Storms and all!