Robert has become enthralled with cheese and cheesemaking! Last week we took a day off to go to Carr Valley (recommended in a cheesemaking book we borrowed from the library). We got some soft goat and sheep cheese that was fantastic with grapes and crackers. We shared some with our guests last night – yum! Here you see Robert making some cottage cheese. He’s

using fresh milk from the Riley Crest Farm where we get our eggs and maple syrup.

We just saw our first wood ducks! What colors on the male! The pair were floating and foraging in the Crystal River just upstream from the Inn in easy view from our front porch. The are not rare here but it’s our first sighting thanks to neighbor Hugh. The photo was taken from the excellent Cornell U site http://www.allaboutbirds.org.

H earing
A ll around
M usic
M elodies
O rchestral
C ottage Chorus
K ** and J****

Thanks to our guests who stayed in the French Country Cottage last weekend for this acrostic they said they wrote as lounging in the hammock behind their cottage. The weather was fabulous and the sounds were of the artesian well, spring peepers and all sorts of bird song.

This weekend we’re offering a “stay one night and get the second for half price” just because we want to entice you to get away to this lovely place and enjoy this unusually beautiful spring weather! Our daffodils are dazzling yellow and the crocus are deep purple and bright orange. The spring peepers are peeping and birds singing. This place is a treat to the senses with all the sights, sounds, smells and with our great breakfasts, taste too! Reserve on line or give us a call!

Our guests in the French Country Cottage last weekend were greeted by our resident woodchuck as they relaxed in the hammock behind the cottage. At breakfast they laughed as they told us that he seems to be pretty well fed! He’s got a burrow at the base of some trees behind the barn and near our garden. This year we’ll be more diligent about finding how he’s getting in to eat our veggies!

Daffodils and crocus are blooming! Bright colors enlighten our village as so many of these beauties spring up in our yards and even down by the Crystal River. We’re grateful for these signs of a new season.

Salma Hayek said, “People often say that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves.”

We’ve had unusually warm and beautiful weather here for the last several weeks. Today there are a few sprinkles but since the temperature is still nearly 70, it’s a great time for hiking and bicycling. We’ve had the front door open to feel and smell the great outdoors. What a delight! We’ve got room for you this weekend – just the place for a quiet, countryside day away.

One of our guests said they found us because we’re featured in a new book, “Green Travel Guide to Northern Wisconsin: Environmentally and Socially Responsible Travel” by Pat Dillon and Lynne Diebel, published in 2011 by The University of Wisconsin Press. We’re thrilled to be included in this wonderful resource under the heading “Quiet Waters.” Along with some of the local attractions such as Hartman Creek State Park, Ice Age Trail, Emmons Creek State Natural Area, Freckled Frogg and Chez Marche restaurants, the Bookseller, King Berry farm, the Red Mill… our area has much to offer. Come and see for yourself!

We saw a gorgeous male bluebird on the top of the sugar maple in front of the inn. He was singing to announce “his territory!” What a delight to see and hear. His color is magnificent. A little chickadee flew right up to him to give him a “Welcome Back!” That was fun to see, too.

Yesterday I was showing the Granary to a guest as a possible site for her wedding reception we heard a Sandhill Crane calling in the short grass prairie. This morning I saw it as I was sitting overlooking the Crystal River. What an amazing sight and sound! It’s so familiar and yet I haven’t seen them since last fall. “Welcome Home!”