Monday, September 13, 2010

A September Day in the Life

This morning I made two different types of breakfast. First I fed the guests who needed gluten-free pancakes. Then, for the second seating at the table in the garden, I made scrambled eggs and English muffins. It has gotten a lot colder, reminding me that the days of eating outside are numbered. Fall is here early this year. Our guests from Ireland brought to mind the saying, “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” which really applies sometimes when you are an innkeeper. (You say goodbye but don't want to. You know you may never see these people again and yet hope you will. Herma and Patrick are from Ireland. They plan to return to Cape Cod another year, but who knows what the future will bring?) Two sets of guests were leaving, which meant cleaning two rooms. Sven helped me, as he usually does. We have it down to a science by now. He does the bathrooms. I do everything else. Sheets, towels, soap, amenities, filtered water, glasses, fresh flowers from the garden. Vacuuming everything. Whew! By 2 pm, we were done but exhausted. Our new guests arrived at 3:30. They have been here before. We chatted a while and Mary Jo told me she had succeeded in reserving PB Boulangerie Bistro for dinner, a suggestion I made by email several weeks ago. I started some gluten-free bread, using a recipe from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day. Sven wanted to go to the beach, but I was too tired. For twenty minutes, I put my feet up and read the Style Section of the New York Times. Then I journeyed downtown to restock fruit for breakfast tomorrow. What I found is a good example of how serving organic is not always an option. I trust Hatch’s to have the best produce available, but the only organic fruit I could find there was a melon. Can you tell which one it is?