It’s been SO beautiful here with the trees in full autumn color – lots of gold and brilliant yellow, burnt orange and rust – dazzling!

What a wonderful afternoon of music and fun here at the inn. “Can’t Lie Low” is a local multi-talented musical group of four women who’ve been singing and playing together for over 30 years and they’re great! I had more “goose-bumps” than I’ve had in a long time as their music touched my soul. They sang ballads, old folk songs and some new ones from all over the world. Their music has blessed our house and the joy we experienced will linger here.

Our dear friend, Katie Hipschman and her friend, Sylvia, graduated from Waupaca High this year and had their graduation party here at the Inn. They decorated outside behind the barn with the twinkie lights and outdoor furniture. Under the cabana they put their scrapbooks and music- it was such fun!

Today is Lois Sorenson’s birthday and to honor her memory we’ve renamed the Attic Room, “Lois’ Attic Room.” She designed and decorated it. Of course Butch and his helpers built it but since her passing over a year ago we’ve been thinking of how natural it would be to have this room dedicated to her. We invited Butch, Charlie & Karen and Hugh & Karen, our neighbors directly across the road to dinner and a blessing ritual for the room.  Fletchers Jewelers in Waupaca made a new nameplate and keyring. Karen had called Sorenson’s daughter Sonja to ask Lois’ favorite flower and so she brought a bouquet of daffodils from her garden to grace the room. Phil Cianciola had done a 51 mile bike ride here last year and donated his LiveStrong bracelet in honor of Lois since they were such good friends. He and his wife always stay in that room. It feels good and right. We are grateful to Lois and her many contributions to this B&B and the community.

We were thrilled to see a Red-Headed Woodpecker at the bird feeder outside our kitchen window yesterday and an Indigo Bunting today! Such colors! Such a delight! The Baltimore Orioles have been chowing down on the grape jelly and oranges we’ve been putting out each day so it’s been a daily treat to the eyes and ears.

Our Rhubarb is growing fast while Robert cleans the asparagus patch

We put some compost on the rapidly growing rhubarb even with the weather chilly and windy.  Our rhubarb is incredibly vigorous and gives far more than we can use.  Can’t wait to make rhubarb bread, it is the best!

I started to clean up the asparagus patch which got quite weedy last season after producing its first pickable crop.  It will give more this year and will grace our guests plates soon.

Oh we are just delighted with the Wood Room since we redecorated! Painting this room with a cathedral ceiling was a challenge but well worth it. Now the walls are “butter cream” with some new sconces, headboard and metal wall art of a flowering bush. New “wine” color carpeting finishes off the fresh new feel. With spring coming I look forward to having the windows open to the delicious breezes coming in from the woods. We’re anxious for you to come and experience our new room!

A few brave crocus are opening, showing Spring is arriving even when snow is still around.  This picture was taken today, looking down  from a couple of feet.  Some buds are coming up through a couple of inches of crusty snow.

Other signs of Spring are the arrival of eastern phoebes, bluebirds, song sparrows and sandhill cranes.  They join the year-round residents like cedar waxwings, cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches and others.  The new arrivals are welcome and renew our spirits even though the ground is not thawed and we can’t get out and garden.

Can’t wait to see the first sprouts from our two prairies even though we’ve been warned that they won’t look like much the first year as prairie plants develop slowly from seed.  Got to believe the promise!

Happy Spring!

We are just delighted with Helen’s Summer Room since we redecorated! It’s such a popular room with some great features but since the roof leaked and there was some water da

With a fresh coat of paint and plush new carpeting this rooms exudes peace and comfort.

mage we were anxious to give it a “facelift!”

To decide what to do we focused on key features: windows overlooking the river and fireplace.  We removed wallpaper and painted to compliment the bricks in the fireplace. We rearranged furniture to maximize the view from the room by moving the bed and bringing up the antique rocking chair from the Parlor so you can look at the fire or river while cozy in the rocker. We got new, soft carpeting (color is “River Rock”) and it feels so nice to walk upon – to top it off  it’s made of recycled materials! We hung two amazing pictures taken by our friend, Tau, who loves to take photos of unique scenes in nature.  We’re also adding Norwegian touches since both Deb and Helen (the last Potts to be born in this house) are half Norwegian. We look forward to many guests enjoying Helen’s Summer Room.

Robert gave a slide show and spoke about taking a trip to Mars at the Winchester Academy in Waupaca.  The theme was “what to pack for the journey?”  For example, do you need a compass?  No, Mars has basically no magnetic field so a compass would be useless (the lack of a magnetic field is also the main reason it has such a thin atmosphere).  Robert worked on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, (  http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/ ) his last year at JPL playing a small but enjoyable part in the project.  His lifelong love and learning of science continue to be  an additional source of joy and inspiration while running the Inn.

P.S. Go see the Imax movie “Hubble 3D”! Besides the spectacular images and knowledge, you will get a new appreciation of the work done by  the Shuttles Astronauts.

P.P.S. Image is MRO’s picture of  Mars’ Victoria Crater.