More Guests

I was telling Jesse about my last blog entry - I do not think he reads them, I mentioned to him that I wrote about some of the great guests we have had from all around the world. He reminded me that I did not brag about the English Mayor we hosted last month. This picture is of the Mayor of Doncaster, England. The Mayor and his wife are very nice people. Since then we ask any English person if they know were Doncaster is and if they know the mayor.

DONCASTER has a new non-Labour civic mayor for only the second time in 34 years.
Liberal Democrat Paul Coddington, who represents Bessacarr and Cantley, takes over as chair of Doncaster Council after being elected to the position at Friday's annual general meeting at the Mansion House.He was first elected to the local authority in 1999 and replaces Labour's Tony Sockett at the helm.After being sworn in last week, a slightly shocked Mr Coddington thanked his colleagues, family and local electorate for handing him the prestigious opportunity."I want to play my part in bringing people together and working for the common good," he said."One of the tasks of chair of council is to encourage fair debate. "I also want to do what I can to encourage people in the voluntary sector and continue working with the young people in the borough."I want to create better relationships and build bridges between communities."

So far this year, knock on wood, we have had some wonderful guests. One day we had a couple from Israel, a couple from Madrid, a couple from Spain, and a couple from Germany all at one time in the dining room. No one could talk to each other. I told Jesse it was like being at the Tower of Babel. It was funny they all ordered the pancakes. Must be an international like of pancakes (Jesse makes exceptional pancakes, blueberry and orange yogurt). In addition to all the international guests, one day we had the Mayor of a town in England. It was a pleasure to speak to him. Today at the Inn we have our first guest from Singapore.

We do get guests from the US and some even from right here in Maine. The state of Maine is launching an ad campaign for Mainers to vacation in Maine (stay cations they call it). One interesting thing I learned from one of our guests last week, they were from New Jersey not Maine, I learned what the brass knob in the middle of the dining room floor was. Let me give you a little background information on the brass knob first. When Jes and I bought the house 3 years ago, there was lots of furniture and rugs that I just did not like. We did not have enough money to refurnish the house, and as Jes says "if its not broke - don't fix it". Well I have lived with alot of stuff, slowly changing things, making the Inn more the way we like it, more our style and reflecting us. There was an old rug in the dining room, covering a beautiful maple strip hardwood floor. I couldn't understand why anyone would cover up a beautiful wood floor. I finally took up the rug and reveled the floor. The floor is in good shape and there is a brass knob in the middle of the room. I could not for the life of me figure out what that knob was for, until the man from NJ, leaned over and said, hey I have one of those in my summer cottage out on LBI. I said, "well, what is it?" I was expecting him to say it was a historic reminant of a slave door that the nice family in the house hid the slaves from the slave hunters and saved them and helped them to freedom. But his story was not as fantastic as the one I conceived in my head. He said there is a key to it and it is where you can turn on and off a gas valve that is under the floor. SO I said to him , so this is not a 1854 historic find, but probably a 1960 thinga ma gig. He said yes, it is not a historic feature. Oh well, I was hoping to have some interesting thing to talk about in the dining room during breakfast. I guess I could still fabricate some little story about my little brass knob, most of guests don't speak English and its all babel anyway.

Flowers Flowers and More Flowers

My husband decided one day to give the children cameras and walk around town with the mission of photographing the flowers of Camden. I recently looked at the pictures and they are beautiful. Finally it is spring in Maine. The winter was very harsh and I can't tell you how much I appreciate seeing flowers. There is this nice picture of a bumble bee and a flower that my daughter took. She is 7 years old.

The gardens at Windward House are starting to fill in. My husband is responsible for the gardens. He loves to garden and learned everything from his father. My father in -law, Jesse's dad, grew up on a farm in Staten Island. My father In law tells stories of how his father preferred him to work on the farm instead of going to school. Jesse learned how to grow all kinds of flowers and vegetables. In addition to our flowers we have a small vegetable garden in the yard. Last year we grew corn, that was pretty neat. This year we have string beans, heirloom tomatoes, banana peppers, eggplants, lettuce, basil, parsley.

The flowers that we have seen so far at Windward House are : early May: Forsythia, late May: Lilacs, Early June: Peonies.

Teaching an old dog new tricks?

When odd things happen in your life, you may need a little time to digest it before you truly understand what happened. Then like a light bulb, you get it and it all makes sense.
I recently joined a women's networking group here in Camden. We meet once a month at a bakery for coffee and discuss women related business topics. The group is fun and a great networking opportunity. Towards the end of the meeting, each member gets about 2 minutes to promote themselves and tell about their services. There was this one lady that was very familiar to me and I could not remember how, until one day I was able to put it all together.
My dad is your traditional jolly, fun going, beer drinking, football watching type of guy. He enjoys going out, being with friends and celebrating life. When out or celebrating my dad's choice beverage is always a beer. In my 34 years, I have never seen my dad drink wine. This is an important part of my story so bare with me.
My parents came up from New Jersey in 2007 and as a fun day trip I invited them to go to the local winery with me. My mom, unlike my dad, loves to drink wine. The winery had just been renovated and under new management. We drove up to the winery and when we got their we enjoyed the atmosphere, my kids loved running around the place, my mom and I were enjoyed the wine tastings and my dad just seemed out of place. He did not want to taste the wine nor was he comfortable with my kids running a muck. The women behind the bar noticed my dad was a little obtuse and invited him to join in the tasting. My father was reluctant but he was flattered that the pretty, well built women had asked him to join us. I say well built in the kindest sense, she was very shapely and womanly if you get what I mean. This part is also important because this is the magic power that I thought was at play. The women asked my father again to taste and he declined, she somehow, without him tasting, got him to actually purchase a bottle of wine. She convinced him that it tasted like beer and he fell for it. My mother and I did not understand his impulse to buy, but were convinced that the women's fine looks were the reason for the purchase. We teased him in the car all the way home.
Back to the networking group. One of the members of the group called out to my familiar women, "hey didn't you used to work at the winery?" She said yes, "yes I created the wine speel and was their best selling agent." I was shocked and remembered her to be the women that sold my father the wine. I asked her what her profession was and - you are not going to believe this - but, she is a clinical hypnotist. She hypnotises people before surgery, if they are fighting with an addiction, or need a new direction in their life. I couldn't stop laughing when I realized that all this time - perhaps my father was hypnotized into buying that bottle of wine. Case solved. Now whether or not the wine tasted like beer, I will never know. But the fact that he broke out of his comfort zone and tried something new was impressive to me. The shapely women no longer works at the winery but I highly encourage all to go and see the winery and experience the wines. Cellardoor winery. A Great Camden Maine Lodging : Camden Windward House is 5 miles from the vineyard and is offering a lodging discount when you sign up for the cooking classes.

Winery Cooking Classes

The local winery has these great cooking classes. The winery itself has been remodeled and the new owners are just fantastic. The new owners put in a test kitchen where local chefs can come in and teach their craft to those of us that like cooking and wine. Bettina is always looking for food to pair with the wines and with the price of the class you are offered several different wines to try with all the foods. The class started at 11:00am and went to 2:00pm. I was not quite ready to start drinking wine at 11:00am, but by the end of the class, I had tried all the samples that were there.The class was full of interesting people and the discussions were fun. My Inn, Camden Windward House would really like to support this winter time activity. We offer our guests, when coming to town for this class, a 5% discount on room rate along with a complimentary bottle of the Local wine upon arrival. The class ticket is $50.o0 and is an additional fee. The next class is at the end of March - check our site for details and reserve a room. It is a nice weekend getaway.

Spring Is Coming

The snow is starting to melt here in Camden Maine. The birds are starting to come out and the sun is rising a lot earlier. Camden Maine is almost the eastern most point of the US and the sun comes up very early. Here at the Inn, we are preparing for another busy summer. We purchased new washers and dryers (LG), put new floors into some of the bathrooms and painted some walls. But much more is needed before you can host over 1,900 people for the summer. Basically a strategic plan is needed to make all go well. Jesse and I have owned the Inn now for 3 years and just starting to understand how this place works. We are evaluating our vendors, considering going "green" for the summer and updating our website so that our guests can use it as a useful tool in planning their trip to Camden.
One of the things that I very excited about to be able to offer our guests this season is an upgrade on our sheets. We have always had nice sheets on beds but now we have upgraded some of our sheets to 500 thread count. I was reading a trip advisor posting about our Inn and they labeled it "I think they iron their sheets". She is right we do iron the sheets. Does anyone do that at home? In fact I complain to the other Innkeepers about how much time we spend ironing sheets - and most just laugh at me and say "you do what? I just hand iron them when they come out of the dryer". Which might be ok for some, but to have a nice ironed sheet is luxury. I can't really complain about the ironing because my husband actually does the ironing. He plugs in his computer, puts a movie in - in front of him, and watches while he irons. He also sometimes puts in a book on CD to help get him through this tedious task. He never complains, I think he finds it meditative. Hope all of you are starting to enjoy the thaw. Get those chores done!

Skowhegan: Maine's maple syrup season begins

One of the things we anxiously wait for here in Camden is the Maple Syrup to start flowing and this morning - we got the news. Stay posted for local events that celebrate March Maple Sunday!

Windward House Bed and Breakfast uses only Maine Maple syrup for breakfast. We also have a great package March in the Mud

The best way to deal with the Mud is to get out and enjoy it. Better yet, hiking in the mud provides that little extra exercise one might need to get that winter weight off. Package includes:

2 night stay in a warm and dry fireplace suite, Mid Coast Maine Hiking book, local hiking trail maps and bubble bath for that bath you will need when you come in from your muddy adventure.

-prices start at 325.00 Package is available the months of March, April and May.

Quoted from http://bangornews.com:

Skowhegan: Maine's maple syrup season begins

SKOWHEGAN, Maine— When conditions are just right — mild days, cool nights — the sap flows and Maine’s maple syrup season begins.

The season can start anytime between mid-February and late March, but whenever the sap is ready this year, producers are hoping for one thing: a season that will break the three-year trend of a downturn in production.

The USDA reported that New England temperatures last year were 60 percent too cool, 21 percent too warm and 19 percent favorable during the season.

Bob Moore of Bob’s Sugar House in Dover-Foxcroft is looking forward to a more productive season this year.

"Last year was bad," he said. "But there is no way to know what will happen this spring. It all depends on Mother Nature."

Moore said many producers, including himself, have already started tapping their trees even though the flow has not started yet.

The good thing about the marketplace is that supply and demand balance each other. Because syrup supplies were down last season, producers got a higher price for their product.

To herald the syrup season and celebrate the millions of dollars it brings to the state’s economy, Maine Maple Sunday is celebrated this year on March 23, with many sugarhouses opening for business and providing entertainment and samples for visitors.

In central Maine, the town of Skowhegan has adopted the maple syrup season as cause for a week full of fun.