2011 In Review - A Holiday Letter (Late again) from the Lerner's

Hello to everyone.

We hope that you had a wonderful year in 2011. We're not sure where the time has flown to, but we know that we were busy with this and that and time seems to just march on to it's own drummer.

Our Inn Caring Interim Innkeeping assignments only took us to two places in 2011. We worked for two months at the Patriot House B&B in Annville, PA. This is just a few miles away from Hershey, PA. The inn was only 4 rooms, but needed our help in re-organization and running the inn until we helped them find a new innkeeper to take over. We were fortunate that one of our former interim innkeeping students was ready for a long term move and is happy as their new innkeeper.

From June - Oct, we had a job share assignment at the Carr Manor Bed and Breakfast in Cripple Creek, CO. It worked out well for us as we were on from 11 - 14 days per month and then had the rest of the time off. We were able to enjoy the donkeys roaming through town (they really own the town) and the beautiful fall colors. We were hit with a huge Oct. snow storm that almost buried us.



We are ended up the year back at the B&B for a two week holiday assignment. It was cold and we have had snow. However, we love coming to this B&B as it is like returning home. We have been working on and off for Gary & Wini since they opened the doors in 2004.


As for the rest of the year, we seem to have kept busy. While we were in PA, we went to the Hershey Chocolate World when our niece and her family (Jill, Steve, Alex & Emily) came for a visit during the kids Spring Break. We had a lot of fun and bought lots of chocolate!



The kids even helped Howard in the kitchen.

This past summer Lynda turned the big "65". Now most of you have known that she has spelled her name as Lynda for over 30 years (even her driver's license and passport). However, on her social security and hence on her medicare it would have been spelled Linda. Knowing that this was going to cause major confusion, it took her 6 months and $200 and lots of paperwork going back and forth to finally get the name legally changed. So, she will now and forever more be known as Lynda in all official records. Yeah!!!!

To celebrate this big year for Lynda, we had a "Staycation" here in the Colorado Springs area. We did all sorts of things that we normally encourage guests to do in the area. We went to the Denver Natural History Museum for the Pirate Exhibition. We visited the Wolf Sanctuary in Divide and went horse back riding in Victor.

This was not your typical horseback ride. These were highly trained horses and we rode side by side with our guide over pastures and meadows, saw old abandon shacks and horses grazing.

We went to High Tea at the Glen Eyrie Castle with our friends Rebecca & Roland. We also hiked in the Garden of the Gods,and saw a herd of sheep at Glen Eyrie Castle.



We stood on the sidelines for the entire day at the Pro Cycling Challenge Time Trial here in Colorado Springs. We had a great vantage point at the bottom of the hill when the riders came out of the Garden of the Gods.



And went to an antique car show in Old Colorado Springs. Howard showed off his understanding of the various old models. Lynda had no idea he was such a car buff.


But the most fun we had was when we went Zip Lining out of the Canon City area. Talk about a rush.


Over the year, we taught eight classes for either interim innkeepers or those who want to own their own B&B. The classes were taught at the Patriot House, Eastholme in the Rockies, and Carr Manor. I think that this is the most classes which we have taught in one years time.

Health wise, we have both been fine. Howard did have some minor knee surgery in Feb with a meniscus tear and some arthritis in the knee cap. He is just getting old.

Townhouse wise, we finally got all of the walls and carpet in from last years mold problem in our basement. We got the house totally put back together (except for the basement wall unit) and then we were informed that the HOA was going to be roofing, residing, putting in new garage doors and putting in all new windows. Of course, all of this was going to be done during the time we were back East. We had to take off all window treatments, and move all furniture away from any windows before we left. We ending up putting up sheets to cover the windows while we were gone. Thank heavens for our friends Karla and Rex who came to our rescue and stayed at our place when the workmen were around to do the windows and garage door removing the sheets and putting them back up afterwards. When we returned, we had to put everything back in place including getting the wall unit back up in the basement. That is always an interesting proposition. The long and the short is that we have a great looking townhouse that I don't want to do anything to in the near future!

Our big news of the year is that we have a new baby granddaughter - Hannah was born in early June just a little bit early. We didn't make it out there for the birth, but were there soon afterwards. have enjoyed buying clothes for a little girl. We loving spoiling (as much as Laurie and Nic will allow) all three of the grandchildren.



We We made it back out to San Jose in October for our annual Halloween visit. Howard carved pumpkins with the boys (they wanted a shark pumpkin) and we had fun going Trick or Treating with them.




Josiah is now 7 and in the 2nd grade in school. Elijah is now 5 and is in Kindergarten. Both boys love their little sister who is now 7 months and sitting up all by herself. She will be crawling soon and we will see if the boys are still as happy with her when she gets into their things.




We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our adventures this past year. In 2012 we have plans to take on an assignment in Cape Cod for 5 1/2 months from mid May through the end of October. That should keep us busy.

We wish you all a happy new year. May your life be filled with health, wealth, happiness and wisdom.

All our love,

Lynda & Howard

2009 in Review since this is too late for a Holiday Letter

Just a tab bit late for a holiday letter. I have no clue why I just couldn't seem to get it done. Hope you enjoy our adventures.

We have had another banner year of travel in 2009. We tried to slow down some, but still managed to spend 192 days sleeping in beds other than our own. Not too much different than the 201 days we were gone in 2008. We have had some fun adventures, lots of teaching, time to visit with family, and of course working at some super bed and breakfasts. This year we have had some long stretches of being away. So please bear with me as you go through the year. You might want to grab that cup of coffee or soda and settle in for a bit of reading.

We started the year off with an interesting 18 day assignment during February in San Francisco at the Edward II Inn. This was down near the wharf area off Scott and Lombard. The shops around it were fun to wander through when we had some quiet down time. It was the largest inn we have taken care of 28 rooms – we helped reorganize their systems and dealt with a number of challenging issues. It was almost more of a consulting assignment than a straight Interim Innkeeping assignment. This is where I was introduced to the new craze of gourmet cupcakes at Kara’s Cupcakes. Yummy for my tummy.

We were barely home a week when it was time to fly to New Orleans for a March/April 28 day assignment at the Banana Courtyard. This was Lynda’s first time in New Orleans. Fortunately, we were able to fit in a bit of sight seeing when the inn wasn’t busy. We spent a couple of hours at the World War II Museum. Both of us wished we could have taken more time to really go through the history. It is a spot not to miss if you do get to this area. Of course their were walks down to Café Du Monde for Beignets. You definitely have to be careful how you eat these least you get powdered sugar everywhere.

We were there over Saint Patrick’s Day. To fit in with the local crowd you had to carry your alcoholic libations with you. We walked a lot, but Howard got so frustrated driving in the city that he finally broke down and bought a GPS. However we didn’t need any help finding good food to eat. The restaurants in New Orleans are wonderful. Since he is the more adventurous food consumer, he had bar-b-qued oysters, fried alligator, and alligator etoufe. Howard even spent one day at the New Orleans School of Cooking to celebrate his birthday. He learned how to make red beans and rice, corn bread, and pecan tarts – all New Orleans style. Then of course there was Angelo Brocato’s, a 100 plus year old Italian ice cream parlor where we enjoyed some unusual flavors of gelato.

You can’t think about New Orleans without thinking about Jazz. One night we went to a little place called Snug Harbor and saw Charmaine Neville. It was quite a show. We encouraged all of our guests to visit and hear some great jazz. Of course, Lynda had fun taking pictures of the houses, gardens, and whatever else caught her fancy. You can check out all of our New Orleans pictures at http://tinyurl.com/yjpb2ea and http://tinyurl.com/ykjh9wg

No sooner had we gotten home from New Orleans than we were off to teach a five day consulting/class at Casa del Gavilan in Cimarron, New Mexico. This wonderful old hacienda B&B dates from the early 1900’s. It is really in the middle of no where. No cell phone reception, no internet reception, and no TV’s. Talk about unplugging. Fortunately, there was some time to wander the 200 acre property. On one of our walks, we were very fortunate to find a 5 point Elk shed. What made it even more special was that one of the volunteers there found the Elk shed mate and gave it to us. Now all we need to do is get them mounted – next years project. We actually have a blank wall in our living room where it will look perfect.

The land surrounding the bed and breakfast is all owned by the Boy Scouts. The Philmont Scout Ranch is located just down the road a piece. We were able to tour the facility. This was extra special because Howard is an Eagle Scout. However, he had never gotten a chance to go there and experience the facilities as a Scout.

In May, we actually had a family trip back to the Washington DC area (Vienna, VA to be presice) to celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of our great nephew Alex Schawb. This was a whole family event as it truly was a celebration of life. Alex is a leukemia survivor. We had a wonderful time, and enjoyed catching up with other family members

Lynda even gathered some more information for her geneology listings on Howard’s family. Howard was the eldest male member of our family present and carried the Torah around the congregation before Alex was passed the Torah by his father, Steve. It was a very emotional moment for both Howard and I.

Our next assignment took us back to Asheville and the Oakland Cottage. This was like going home as this was our third summer at this property. During the 6 weeks we managed the B&B we also taught four different innkeeper classes. Once the assignment ended we both decided that we had bitten off more than we should have. We were exhausted by the time we finally made it home. Speaking of classes, during the year we also taught four more classes at Eastholme in the Rockies in Cascade, CO (two in Jan. and one each in Aug. & Oct.) and one additional class at the Carr Manor in Cripple Creek, CO (May). At this class, we even did bed-side service. One of our students hurt his back the very first day. So, we all sat in his room while he relaxed on the bed and we went over some materials.

Our last assignment was at the Artists’ Inn in South Pasadena, CA. We did a two week session in October and finished up the year with a one month period through Jan. 6. While we grew up in the LA area, have didn’t get to spend much time in the Pasadena area. We are just two miles from the Rose Parade route and three miles from the Rose Bowl where Oregon met Ohio State on Jan 1. We watched the Rose Parade in between serving guests. Caught the repeat for what we have missed the first time. All of our guests who went had a great time. However, the Oregon fans were not as happy as the Ohio fans the next morning.

We did get to spend some time visiting with family and friends amidst working. We saw Laurie and her family in February while we were in San Francisco. We went with them to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park . We had a great time with Josiah & Elijah seeing all of the animals. We drove to San Jose in June for Josiah’s 5^th birthday, and flew in to San Jose in October for Halloween. Howard again had fun carving the pumpkin with the boys.

Nic manned the house while Laurie, Howard & Lynda took the boys trick or treating. We finally have gotten SKYPE hooked up and now see the boys (plus Laurie & Nic) every week live if not in person. Isn’t technology wonderful.

Also visited our friends Sharon & Al Glickman in Henderson three times and had them visit us once while we were in Asheville, NC. We also spent some time with Howard’s sister Marsha, plus Steven & Janet over Thanksgiving in LA. While we were there, we had a chance to see our first Air Force Sponsor Grandbaby – Natalie - daughter of Matt & Rebecca Tompkins. She is a cutie. So, what about the rest of you Air Force and Colorado College kids that are married – we want more grandbabies. We know, we know, it’s not the right time yet.

Health wise, we have both recovered from the car accident of last year. We also managed to settle with the insurance company without having to go through an attorney. It would have been real silly to have to sue your own insurance company on a hit and run claim. Fortunately, we finally got the adjuster to see things our way.

We did take some vacation time just for ourselves. We did a timeshare exchange in Palm Dessert, CA at the Westin. Both of us experienced going down a water slide into the pool at the timeshare.

We also visited the Living Desert Zoo and Biological Gardens – a neat animal and garden park nearby. We finished up the week at a seminar called Never Work Again. It was on Passive Income. It seems there is a lot of work to do before you can get the Passive Income to work for you. Needless to say, we are working on it.

Some first for us this year:

1. Organizing our townhouse community garage sale (we made $172)

2. Selling theatre tickets on Craig’s List (sold them at face value).

3. Having a vase of roses and camellias on Lynda’s desk every day. There are no deer in So. Pasadena to eat the buds before they even bloom. There are plenty of bushes to choose from as there are 100 of them on the property.

4. Getting into the swing of things with the social media craze – Facebook, Twitter, and a new Blog for Inn Caring. The blog has helpful hints, recipes, and ramblings for those in the B&B industry as well as just plain ordinary folk. Become a follower on any or all of the social media pages.

Thanks for reading to the very end. I keep saying things will get shorter next year, but it never seems to happen.

Hugs and Such for a Happy and Healthy New Year for Everyone.

Toot and Teaser (aka Lynda & Howard)

So Where Are They Now?

More than one person has had to stop and ask themselves where we are before trying to contact us. For most of this year, we have been gone more than we have been home in Colorado. We spent a total of 201 days sleeping in beds other than our own. Some of our trips were for business, some for pleasure, and some to see family. Please enjoy our travels below.

We worked at various B&B assignments – two in Cripple Creek, CO at the Carr Manor for two days each, two in Pioneertown, CA at the Pioneertown Motel Lodge & Stables for a week each (yes, we took care of one horse), one long assignment in Asheville, NC at Oakland Cottage for two months during the summer, and two in Santa Barbara, CA at the Secret Garden Inn one for 15 days and the one we will finish this year with for 17 days.

Some of the longer assignment provided us the opportunity to see a bit more of each area. This year in and around Asheville, we explored Grandfather Mountain - which has the highest swinging bridge in the United States. That's Lynda standing out on the point - no guard rails.

Lake Lure - where along the shore, in a quiet inlet, the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed. They also had some really expensive homes along the lake.

The Asheville Botanical Gardens - where they had a floral quilt and a wonderful Bonsai Garden Exhibit.

We even made the short drive to Waynesville, NC and met a former B&B owner Terry Thompson who now owns Vin a wine and tapas bar in this quaint little town. Way to go Terry.

In Santa Barbara, we went into the hills and visited wineries (of course), Global Gardens - an olive tasting bar (great olive oil) and a lavender farm.

During one of our visits to Pioneertown, we took some time to visit Joshua Tree National Monument. In all of the time we lived in CA we had never gotten to this park. We really enjoyed looking at the trees and unusual rock formations.


Before our stay in Asheville, we visited our niece Jill and her family – Steve, Alex & Emily in Vienna, VA over Father’s Day weekend. It was fun spending time with them. Howard played card games and the Wii with Alex. Lynda helping Emily with stitchery, and shortening new pants (just like my mother used to do for Laurie). We investigated a place to stay next year for Alex’s Bar Mitzvah. Finally, we took the Light Rail Metro to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum with Emily and walked our feet off.

Towards the end of August, we traveled to Portland, OR for the Glickman Celebration Weekend. It was a gathering of family and friends to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Michael & Stephanie and birthdays for Al, Sharon, and Papa Chuck. We had a great time and even went on a group outing to the Portland International Rose Test Gardens and the Japanese Gardens.

We will have made five trips to San Jose to see Laurie & her family. We celebrated Laurie’s birthday in February and Elijah’s birthday in April.

Two trips (May & October) were to be of assistance after Laurie had some surgical procedures. The trip in May ended up being longer than we had planned as we ended up in a hit and run car accident on our way up to see her. We were fine (sort of), but our car wasn’t. Car repairs delayed our trip back home by at least 10 days. Thank goodness for auto insurance and Chiropractors.

Our trip in October ended up bringing back memories of times past. We were able to be with the kids over Halloween. We really enjoyed seeing them dressed up and going trick or treating. Howard also enjoyed carving the pumpkin with them.

Howard even introduced Nic to the proper way to Trick or Treat – they had their wine glasses and a bottle of wine in a back pack as they took the kids around the neighborhood. They enjoyed the wine as the kids knocked on doors for their candy. Our last trip will be this month to celebrate an early Chanukkah.

We visited with friends Sharon & Al Glickman in Henderson, NV three times. Two were nice long visits, one was a “quickie” overnight as we passed through on our way to an assignment. It was nice to be able to enjoy sitting on the porch in the early mornings reading a book, having a cup of Coffee (tea for Lynda) and basking in the gentle dessert sun. At least it was gentle each of the times we visited.

Los Angeles, CA area visits to Marsha occurred four times. Once for Marsha’s Milestone Birthday celebration in February. Then we visited her in April, October, and upcoming in December. Seems there are always projects there to keep both Lynda & Howard busy. Howard usually has some honey do jobs lined up and Lynda has computer stuff to help out with. We also took some time to visit the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.

Finally, in April & October, we visited Novato, CA where cousins Rusty and Kathie live. In April we drove to Freestone, CA with Russ, Kathie, Allison & Jordon and went to this wonderful bread shop - Wild Flour Bread. We also drove down to the Jelly Belly factory with Russ, Kathie, Jason, May, Elizabeth & Becca. Yummy on both accounts!

During our October visit, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco to see the renovated CA Academy of Sciences – the only place on the planet with an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum, and a four story rainforest all under one roof. The city has done a wonderful job and should be proud.

We also visited with our nephew Steven and his wife Janet. Steven had celebrated a milestone birthday himself and Janet had created a special video/audio project that she wanted to show us.

As to other things we have done this year: We taught 6 classes to Aspiring Innkeepers and Aspiring Interim Innkeepers – three in Colorado and two while we were in Asheville. We love to

teach others about our profession.

Speaking of our profession, we attended the PAII conference at the Disneyland Hotel this year. We were vendors with the Interim Innkeepers Network. Had a great time and met some wonderful people. Maybe even some future clients.

We also attended a Wealth Seminar in Las Vegas (no, we weren’t there for the gambling). Lynda did some pet sitting and mystery shopping while we were home in Colorado. We also drove to Denver to see the Titanic Exhibition at the Denver Museum of History.

On our trip out to CA in October, we stopped off at a B&B in Marysville, Utah. Do you remember the Burl Ives song about the Big Rock Candy Mountain. Well here is a picture that inspired that song.

We still sponsor three students – Ben our Air Force Cadet who is now a Sophomore, Liz a Colorado College student who is a Junior, and Lynsey a Fountain Valley High School student who is a sophomore. We see Ben & Liz, however, Lynsey is missing in action. We know she is here, just never hear from her. I guess it is a good thing that she doesn’t need us and has much to keep herself busy and out of trouble.

Lynda has still been doing work for the State B&B organization which keeps her busy whether we are at home or on the road. Thank heavens for computers and the Internet. However, after four years, she has given her notice. Hopefully, they will in the next month find her replacement. We finished up the BBIC year with the Conference held in Estes Park. The moose were grazing right outside our hotel.

Since we have been on the road so much of the time, Howard turned in his resignation as a Manitou Springs Planning Commissioner. He didn’t feel it was fair to the city to miss as many meetings as he has. He loved his 13 years of service, but felt it was time for someone else to step into that role.

We haven’t been home often enough for friends and family to visit us. Yulan (one of our former CC students) stayed with us for a few days and Lee Rosen (AF Col.) came for a “B&B” breakfast feast.

Health wise, we have been recovering from our hit and run accident. We have Chiropractors and massage therapists in all of the cities we regularly visit – San Jose, San Fernando Valley area, Santa Barbara, and Asheville as well as here in Colorado Springs. Howard is doing better than Lynda. She was driving when the "blankity blankity" person made an illegal left hand turn right in front of her and kept on trucking. Howard had been sleeping. Things are getting better, it just takes time.

This has been the year of the eyes: Howard had cataract surgery on both eyes and now sees 20/20 for distance. Of course, he still needs reading glasses for up close work (like reading or seeing the food he eats) plus computer glasses. Then there was the case of Pink Eye which Elijah joyfully shared with him. He loved having it so much he got it three times – twice on the left and once on the right (Lynda thinks it never went away). As for Lynda’s eyes – her’s are fine. It was getting her new glasses that caused problems. Her sun glasses followed her around the country as they tried to get it correct.

Each year we seen to find a couple of pictures that tickle our funny bones. Here are this years. A commentary on our current gas situation (Arm Leg Eye) and special kid tables at Mc Donalds in Wyoming.

And so the year ends. Our wish for you is a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year. May all your dreams and wishes come true. You can always reach us by cell phone or e-mail. So don't let us not being home stop you from getting hold of us.

By the way, thanks for taking the time to get to the very end of this long blog. I promise that next year I will do shorter segments - at least I'll try.

Love, Toot & Teaser (aka Lynda & Howard)