Heading to the endless ocean at Nauset Beach

Just a few weeks ago we headed off to Cape Cod to attend the PAII Northeastern Regional Conference. As our program did not start until late afternoon we decided to drive up the Cape and explore along the way.

We started our exploration in the town of Hyannis and by making a welcome stop for homemade ice creams at Katie’s, so many imaginative flavors it was hard to choose.

Peter loves the ocean so of course beaches and lighthouses were on the agenda. We stopped at the Veterans Beach in Hyannis and saw the Kennedy Memorial and the Cape and Islands Korean War Memorial, we walked the grounds at the Higgins Farm Windmill, stopped at The Cook Shop (yes, Susan bought a few items and could have stayed there for ages), enjoyed the view from the Highland lighthouse and read of the beach erosion which precipitated the moving of the lighthouse back several hundred feet from its original 1797 location. The view of the ocean from Nauset Beach near Orleans took our breath away and Peter could have sat there for ages. No land as far as the eye could see, no wonder early sailors were worried they would fall off the end of the earth.

So back to Hyannis for our PAII conference.

PAII? It stands for the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, which is a great organization which speaks on behalf of its member innkeepers on issues that affect this sector of the hospitality industry. Annual and regional conferences offer innkeepers and aspiring innkeepers a chance to meet others in the industry as well as meet with businesses which provide services and products to the industry. The focus of the conferences is offering workshops covering many topics from decorating (with or without doilies), to bread making, to website design to social media. Innkeeers also get a chance to be updated on the Better Way To Stay  program which promotes B&Bs as a great alternative to the traditional hotel/motel accommodations. Theme speakers, whose messages touch each innkeeper in some way, set the tone at both the opening and closing sessions and get us charged up for the coming year.

Departing Hyannis for West Hill House B&B. The QR code in our window received numerous comments.

We’re home now recharged after a few days of relaxation and an action packed conference.

Thanks for a great conference, PAII!

We were serenaded to sleep (not) with the sound of roaring traffic along with police and firetruck sirens oh and a couple of ‘rice racers’ trying out downtown streets. Boston night traffic seems to calm down about 3AM and start up again around 5AM so not much sleep to be had – and we were more than 12 floors above street level.

I know life in the big city is expensive – if we weren’t blown away by the $12.50 per device charge to connect with the internet, and the $25 per person buffet breakfast (which we opted not to indulge in) we just about had to pick our jaws up off the floor and mortgage the farm to pay the $46 per night valet parking, which we were informed about only at check out! (Valet parking was the only option if you had a car.) Do we not get out enough or does something not seem quite right?

A Better Way to Stay? You bet…We encourage anyone from Boston, New York, Hartford, Toronto or any other big city to come enjoy the peace and serenity of West Hill House. Quiet nights (unless you count the peepers down by the pond), free phone calls and internet, free parking even if you are here for an event and we have valet parking, and our hallways don’t disappear into a vanishing point. Oh and of course, breakfast is included!

Need a break from the hectic life of the city? The Rx is a trip to Vermont.

Total relaxation at West Hill House

• Does adventure mean exploring quiet back roads, hiking beautiful forested trails, jumping into cool river swimming holes, kayaking down splashing rivers or  sailing on pristine lakes?
• Would you get a thrill out of soaring over the hilltops in a glider? Does the thrill of the hunt mean looking for treasures at antique shops and purchasing produce at  farmers’ markets?
• Do you enjoy the excitement of country fairs? Are you fascinated watching artisans at work?
• Do you search for enticing shops in quaint villages?
• Does relaxation at the end of the day mean enjoying the hospitality of a bed and breakfast?
• Are you a fan of opera, art exhibits, five-star dining or quick lunches in little cafés?
• Want to add to your birding list?
• Does relaxation mean contemplating life while sitting in a beautiful garden or gently swaying in a hammock?

Answer “Yes” to any of these questions and you may not know it, but you’ve already fallen in love with Vermont. All this and more is part of our way if life in the magnificent state of Vermont.

Whether your summer takes you to Bennington in the south, Warren and Sugarbush in the Mad River Valley in the center of the state or to the spectacular scenery of the Northeast Kingdom, we invite you to come to Vermont for romance, relaxation and recreation. Vermont has it all – see you soon.

Summer fun on the Winooski River

Call us at 802-496-7162 to purchase this gift for your Mom.

The all inclusive package will pamper your Mom and her significant other.  Details are:

• Mom and her guest will be treated to a comfortable and inviting guest room at West Hill House B&B for two nights
• 6 Long stemmed roses will be in her room
• A half -bottle of sparkling wine on ice (375ml) will be standing by
• 2 Champagne flutes will be hers to take home
• Champlain Chocolates of course
• Breakfast served in-room
• Dinner for two at the Common Man Restaurant on one evening (Tuesday to Saturday)
• 2 fifteen minute chair massages at Mad River Massage

The gift packages include all of the above and are priced (including all applicable taxes) at:

• Queen Room Package – $599
• King Room Package – $649
• Suite Package – $699

Your Mom can book her stay when she wishes, based on availability. Black-out dates September 14 – October 13, 2012, December 21 – 31 2012, February 15 – 23, 2013. Package expires on April 30, 2013.

Grace & Charlie enjoy a picnic.

A basket filled with Vermont cider, cheeses, crackers, home made cookies and other goodies brings smiles to Grace and Charlie who welcomed the warm spring weather with a picnic by our pond. Spring has indeed sprung in the Mad River Valley. Signs of the season are all around us; chipmunks are sunning themselves on the rocks, peepers are singing our guests to sleep each evening and our beautiful gardens are coming back to life with brilliant daffodils now in bloom. We won’t even mind a few April showers. Sugarbush has opened the golf course, folks are out walking and cycling as well as hiking on the many local Green Mountain trails.

Though we can’t guarantee that there will be warm picnic weather when you come, we can guarantee that a warm welcome awaits you.

See you soon!

John Muir, a Scottish born American naturalist was an early advocate of the preservation of the American wilderness. His many writings tell of his adventures in nature and especially his love of the Sierra Nevada. An outspoken supporter and active defender of  nature preservation,  his enthusiasm for nature was boundless.

An early advocate of the idea of national parks, Muir petitioned the US Congress to pass the Nation Park bill which, when passed in 1890, brought about the creation of both Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Today the name John Muir graces numerous trails, glaciers, camp-grounds and monuments in national park lands. Founded by Muir, The Sierra Club continues to be one of the most active and important conservation groups today.

If you watched the Ken Burns documentary on the National Parks you will remember the first part focuses on the life of John Muir.

Today in the United States, this Scottish born naturalist is referred to as the “Father of the National Parks”. Thank a Scot and go out and enjoy a national park this week.  April 21-29 is National Parks Week .

"Father of the National Parks"

John Muir

April 21, 1838- December 24, 1914

“Mac Malware” is almost an oxymoron as the virus related issues that have plagued Windows users for years have been almost unknown on the Mac.

Given the minimal problems to date, many Mac users will have been concerned about the recent news of an estimated half million or so Macs possibly infected by “Flashback”, a drive-by-download attack that requires absolutely no input by users in order to install itself–apparently all you have to do is accidentally visit a malicious website. The code exploits a vulnerability in your Java runtime, an optional part of the OS that most people will have on their Macs.

However there is no need to panic: it’s easy to check if you have the problem, it’s easy to resolve if you have, and if you install the latest software updates from Apple (as you always should) the vulnerability is eliminated.

An excellent article on PCMag.com provides details.  The first step is is to download an app to check if you are infected. If not, as will be the case for almost everyone, make sure you run ‘Software Update” from your Apple menu and you are all set.

If you do find you have a problem, the article recommends the free  Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition app to eliminate it.  A prudent tip is then to immediately change your Mac password in System Preferences/User & Groups.

Bottom line – this current problem is not a cause for panic and to run out to buy and install anti-virus software. However it is prudent to check your Mac as noted above and keep your Mac software up to date.

Another relevant tip is to ensure your Mac is password protected.  Do not leave your password blank or configure your Mac for auto-login – both of these approaches are just asking for trouble.  And don’t forget to back-up – with TimeMachine built in there is no excuse not to!

If you have questions or concerns about your Mac, feel free to discuss them with Peter on your next visit to West Hill House.

A kitchen with space to work.

Today Peter and I (Susan) had a marvelous lunch at MINT, a local vegetarian restaurant in Waitsfield.

In the wake of  tropical storm Irene, which flooded the restaurant with 5 feet of muddy water, MINT has been reborn through the hard work of  it’s owners Savitri and Iliyan. The restaurant now boasts a new layout, including an open kitchen, comfortably cushioned chairs and a colorful, relaxing and inviting ethnic decor with much of the decoration having been done by the owners themselves.

Thinking we would just stop for a pot of one of their many tea varieties, we were enticed by the menu and chose lunch instead; mushroom and flava bean soup, a tomato-mozzarella sandwich, and yes, a pot of tea, White Darjeeling. The soup was as tasty as it was aromatic (I should have ordered a large bowl!) and was accompanied by a lightly grilled slice of hearty artisan bread.

A tempting tart.

A small salad of mixed greens was served with our toasty warm sandwich making it hard to decide which to start on first. Tea of any kind hits the spot with me so enjoying a pot of perfectly steeped tea at the end of our meal was delightful. Unfortunately time was ticking away and we had to forego dessert but the Pumpkin and Chocolate tart with Belgian chocolate and crunchy crust sounded awfully good!

The lunch and dinner menus are inventive and delectable so don’t expect a vegetarian menu of plain-old pasta with tomato sauce. Using an abundance of local produce allows the creativity of both Iliyan and Savitri to shine through in both menu and presentation.

Whether an omnivore or vegetarian your appetite is surely to be tempted and satisfied at MINT,  it is a gem of a restaurant in the heart of the Green Mountains.

Tell them Susan and Peter sent you!

Photos taken from the MINT website.

As followers of this blog and guests at West Hill House know, Peter is a.k.a. Mr Mac, a member of the Apple Consultants Network and certified Apple Desktop Specialist. This role is very much a sideline but I do help a number of nearby customers from time to to time.

A recent service call has led to this blog. A customer with a failing hard drive and NO back-up.  I was called in “just-to-late” as it happened and as I was attempting to pull critical data from the drive it died. A data recovery specialist firm was able to find a way to recover the data in this case, but the operation was too expensive for my customer to take advantage of this remedy. So the fallback, after I replaced the drive, is for the customer to manually reinstall apps, buy replacements for ones where the source files have been lost, recreate the files that can be recreated, and live without those that can’t be.  And overall a very time consuming process.

All of this could have been avoided by using a feature built into every recent version of the Mac OS – Time Machine. Time Machine automatically does a continuous back-up of your Mac to an external hard drive.  It allows you to recover just one file that you have accidentally deleted or overwritten, or recover your entire Mac after an internal hard drive failure.  Given the incredibly low price these days of external hard drives, a Time Machine back-up is something EVERY Mac user should have.

An associated great product sold by Apple is the Time Capsule, an external hard drive that is also a WiFi hub, and it combines to allow a wireless Time Machine back-up – sounds like something out of H.G. Wells! With this arrangement, which is extremely easy to set up, your MacBooks will be seamlessly backed up whenever you are in range of your network.

There are two important axioms to remember in this age when all the data in your life depends on the health of your hard drive:

• Your hard drive WILL fail – it is just a matter of when, not if. Back it up!
• To paraphrase Forrest Gump “power surges happen”, and they can often be fatal.  Your computer should be protected by a good surge protector, or even better a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply – not the courier!)

So follow these simple rules to help your data live long and help you prosper!  If you want more insights like this, chat to me on your next visit to West Hill House.

This is only the 3rd time we have seen moose on the property since we arrived 6 years ago, though we know from tracks that they are quite frequent visitors.