I stumble out of bed and read emails, bleary-eyed, no coffee yet because of a fasting lab appointment at Outer Cape Health. Oh, horrors! Our weekend guests in Liberty Coin Suite have canceled. I post last-minute availability on several bed & breakfast directories and contact the three couples I turned away yesterday, then hurry off to have blood drawn. I return with band-aids on both arms, since Angelo was off and his replacement could not find my veins. After breakfast, it’s back to the computer. One couple wants Saturday and Sunday.
They need a lactose-free breakfast. Phew! Glad that’s taken care of. What a relief! Time for a quick walk around the garden to size up which plants seem thirsty. This week we live in Lilac Land, so I cut branches for all our flower vases. Sven joins me to say goodbye to the folks in Seagull Cottage. They both write blogs and had moved me with words, a surefire way to earn brownie points with this innkeeper/writer: “We love an innkeeper with a blog! Wondering if you might have availability in the Seagull Cottage tomorrow night and the next?” We did, they came, they stayed, and we even added a free night. I like guests with blogs, too! (Jenn writes Breed ‘Em and Weep.) Off they go at ten, relaxed and content, and into the washing machine I stuff four organic cotton sheets. Then it’s time to clean Liberty Coin Suite for my young friend Filippo, from Venice, coming with his wife and baby for one night. 
I hightail it downtown to fetch some lactose-free products for the lactose-free couple, stopping in to say welcome back to Lauren at Hatch’s veggie stand, one of my summer haunts. Over lunch in the garden, I observe a mother cardinal as she marshals one of her babies out of the nest for its first flight. It crash-lands in the lilac bush. After lunch, I hang the sheets up to dry. The phone rings. It’s the guests who booked Seagull Cottage for the three-night holiday. Their daughter has swine flu. Ek! Another cancellation. This is my third for the weekend, since an original booking was cancelled due to a change from full to part time work. I email the couples from yesterday again. One couple says yes to Seagull Cottage. I look up the dates they had requested and discover they need May 24 & 25. That’s Sunday and Monday! The cottage is already booked May 25th! Gritting my teeth, I contact the Liberty Coin Suite couple again to see if they do not mind switching. Then I make a list of local weekend events to post on the blog:• Castle Hill Raku Extravaganza and pottery show and sale. Raku firing Saturday from 12 – 8, and Sunday from 12 – 3. Sale of pottery and ceramic sculpture by members of the Cape Cod Potters and Castle Hill faculty. Refreshments on Saturday from 5 – 8.
• Cape Cool Yard Sale at the dump 8-3.
• Birdhouse Auction to benefit Preservation Hall.
All these fun activities are interspersed with gardening, watering, cleaning, vacuuming, etc. etc. After dinner, I have confirmation that the couples will switch. Hooray! A particularly challenging day in the life of one innkeeper ….
