Our Members Speak Out

Question for our next issue:

An article on Travel Agent reports on a number of urban boutique B&Bs that cater to the younger generation by doing things like serving breakfast until lunchtime and offering virtual guidebooks that guests can download to their phones. Do you cater to the Gen X/Y/Milennial demographic? If so, how?

Email your responses to Sandy@BedandBreakfast.com. If we publish your comments, we'll thank you with a $25 credit in our Featured Properties Auction program!

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You were asked:

What are your best stories connected with April Fools' Day or Mothers Day? Make us laugh, cry or both!

"Some guests stand out in my memory over the 10 years that I've owned/operated a B&B. Your request for a Mother's Day story reminded me of the family who came to New England from their respective towns which were up to 3,000 miles apart. There were three daughters who stayed connected by emailing. One daughter emailed about a particular incident from their childhood, which started each daughter doing the same. They compiled these memories on cards and constructed their own family version of the game of ‘Life’. After breakfast, the family started this game that went on for over two hours. Their mom was amazed and thrilled at all the happy memories she had helped to foster in her offspring. At the conclusion she said she felt her life was of little consequence in the world at large but now realizes what an important role she played in the lives of her daughters. As a mother of two daughters myself this warmed the cockles of my heart. I'll never forget them and the impact they had on me regarding the importance of the role of mother. The hand that rocks the cradle can indeed rule the world. As mothers we oftentimes may not realize the long-reaching effects of our roles." — Dorothy Tameo, Nichols Guest Rooms, Seekonk, MA

"This isn't specifically about Mother's Day, but it is about being a mother. My teenage daughter and I were going through some rough times, and a first-time guest who had come to stay with us must have sensed it. She found out it was my birthday and offered to do a reading of her poems for us. It was an unforgettable treat, sitting together with my daughter on the couch in our living room, just the three of us, being read to by Ann Shalaski, an accomplished poet who has a rare gift of language and feeling. Ann and her husband Ron, an artist who later did a watercolor based on one of my photographs, have returned several times since. When Ann's book of poems, World Made of Glass was published, we organized a poetry reading and invited the public (the mayor came!). That brought the community in to see the house and enjoy Ann's work. But there never was a birthday (mother's day) quite like that first poetry reading, for my daughter and me."
— Diana Mara Henry, Lathrop House B&B, Springfield, MA

You Again
By Ann Shalaski, World Made of Glass

The problem is my mother doesn't know
who I am, what year it is.
She's forgotten that she loves rose
talcum and Tabu on her wrists, taught
me right from wrong, drilled weekly
spelling words into my head, nursed
me when I was sick.
It's as if she's never seen me before,
labors to say my name, tongue lost on
slick river of stones separating us.
I put soft felt slippers on her feet, tan
sweater over her shoulders and for a moment,
I think there's recognition in her eyes.
Or maybe it's the way light falls across
trees twisted and dying behind the house.

 

Blogs, revisited. Click here to read responses from our last issue.

 

"Although I have a blog and an account on MySpace, I don't think they help much. I jumped on the band wagon when all the experts said the future was ‘social networking’. I've tried writing interesting thoughts and ideas and sprinkling in a few links to our main website in order to help bring traffic, but haven't seen any fruit. It seems that for a blog to be popular and indexed by search engines, it must be updated almost constantly -- at least every other day. Blogs that are updated only once a month are buried under piles and piles of others and never see the light of day. I'll probably discontinue my blog in the next few months when things get busier. It's just one more thing that I don't really have time for."
— Clark Hinson, Evening Shade B&B, Eureka Springs, AR