“Your Ghost Sucks” & Other Scary Things

01/25/2022 14 Comments

So – what do you do when you find out that not only do you have a haunting, but the haunter is a perverted, homophobic, jerk? In other words, what do you do when your ghost sucks? That is the question we are asking ourselves after the culmination of the investigation by and airing of “Carriage House Creeper” on the Travel Channel show Kindred Spirits.

The first thing I must say is that Amy (Bruni) and Adam (Berry) – the chief investigators – along with the entire crew, are the kindest and most competent team we could have asked for. The investigation and research was incredibly thorough, and the filming (four whole nights and a half-day) was efficient and …

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Well, It’s been a Minute

06/08/2021 8 Comments

Well, hello. How are you? Things here – well, let’s just say that time flies even when you aren’t having fun.

I’m going to get this out of the way: 2020 just sucked. For almost all of us. I hope that you and yours have had a better beginning to 2021, and are looking forward to brighter days. We are for sure.

We finally reopened fully on Memorial Day weekend, after being almost completely closed from March 15, 2020. We took the time to make some needed repairs and upgrades (yay new stove!), and to binge watch 1990’s era SciFi series. (Seaquest DSV and Stargate, if you must know).

We also took the time to grieve. Even though being closed …

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A Haunted House

12/10/2019 4 Comments

The most frequently asked question we hear at the Colonel Williams is “what is the wifi password?” But running a close second is the inevitable: “is the house haunted?” Short answer – yes. We actually live in a 250-year-old haunted house. I wasn’t really a believer in such things, but over the past few years there have been several weird – and frankly unexplainable – goings-on here. Guests tell us stories: some with vivid, terrifying detail and others that are, well, not loquacious and told on their way out the door. In the much-missed (at least in our house) Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmastime, I’d like to tell you about our latest incident. (If you are interested

…

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Breakfast Casserole for Breakfast Casserole Haters

11/23/2019 5 Comments

Confession: I hate breakfast casseroles. The ones made with frozen hash browns are just a big no, and using bread with eggs – no matter how strong that bread is – generally makes my tongue retract back to my tonsils. However. There are weeks where I prepare more than 100 individual breakfasts. When facing my 100th breakfast, the siren song of a breakfast casserole is almost too much to resist. Mix up a bunch of ingredients, stick it in the fridge overnight – then have a semi-relaxing morning? Yes, please. Many thanks to all of our guests who have joined me as I serve experimental breakfast casseroles to you. Like Arthur in pursuit of the Holy Grail, I thought …

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Winter, Witches, and Blueberry Pancakes

11/14/2019 1 Comment

“How in the world did you decide to move to Vermont and run a B&B? From Austin?!?!?!”

Welcome to the #1 question asked of us. The basic answer is pretty simple: we needed a change, Vermont offered a big one, and here we are. The truth – the whole truth – is a little more complicated.

Enter: Hermione Gingold, British actress extraordinaire, who has had a far greater effect on my life than even I realized. You probably know her as the indomitable Madame Alvarez from the classic musical “Gigi,” or as Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn in “The Music Man.” Star of stage and screen, her career spanned almost 80 years. But I digress. (You should definitely read more about her …

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How to Have a Really Terrible Wedding – Part 2

03/04/2019 Leave a comment

Still with us? If you are deep in the planning phase – or just starting to dream – trust us: there are definitely things that will ensure your big day is a disaster. How to Have a Really Terrible Wedding – Part 2.

4. Allow other people to ruin your day

tl;dr – Everyone has an opinion, but you and your fiancé have the final say. We all know that “too many cooks spoil the soup:” everybody has an opinion – and especially regarding a wedding – they want it to be heard. Your cousin skipped the bouquet toss, and never forgave herself – you just HAVE to do that! Your BFF has 124 yards of left-over taffeta that you …

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How to Have a Really Terrible Wedding – Part 1

02/28/2019 Leave a comment

If you are knee- (or even ankle) deep in wedding planning, you’ve read plenty of articles about how to have the “best” or “most beautiful” wedding. This is not one of those articles. Today I am going to share with you how to have a really terrible wedding. One that your guests will talk about for years – for all the wrong reasons. One that will end up in a Buzz Feed article about disastrous nuptials. Oh yes – we do specialize in creating and hosting dreamy Vermont barn weddings. But through our many years of wedding and event planning experiences, we have seen some real disasters – most of which are (sorry to say) self-inflicted. Here is our advice …

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French Toast

02/24/2019 2 Comments

I know that I promised Caroline that the Croissant Breakfast casserole would be the next recipe … but I realized that I don’t have a picture of it yet because it is eaten so quickly.
So – today is our semi-famous French Toast:

This is less of a recipe, and more of a technique – you’ll get a feel for the right custard consistency with practice. And no – it isn’t too much cinnamon 🙂

French Toast – 8 pieces

Ingredients:

1 loaf challah bread
6 eggs – break them into a liquid measuring cup first, because you’ll need:
Equal volume of heavy cream
Equal volume of whole milk
1+ tablespoons cinnamon
1-ish tablespoon allspice
Dash of salt
Ground nutmeg …

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250 Years Strong

02/19/2019 Leave a comment

250 years ago, Colonel William Williams moved his family from Massachusetts to the still-new town of Marlboro Vermont and to the land that houses the Colonel Williams Inn today. The house and barn were constructed from trees felled on the property – which is kind of cool to think about. We have some trees that escaped and are now more than 300 years old. History vibrates through each foundation stone.

So – it’s pretty cool living in such an old structure. I thought that I’d give y’all a peek at (what some people think) is the creepiest part of the house: the basement. In the original section, the field stones – also probably from the property – were simply stacked …

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We Love the Snow! No – Really – We Love It

02/12/2019 4 Comments

“So how do you like the snow?” is usually the first question our hardy New England neighbors ask when they find out we’re from Texas and inexperienced in the art of winter survival.

“We love it!” is the stock reply. “Texas is just so hot, that the cold and snow are a great change.”

When they express skepticism, we follow up with “Well, we don’t have to commute, so that probably makes a difference,” or some other apologetic phrase. “If we had to drive in it all the time, we’d probably have a different opinion.”

Which is utter BS. I DO love the snow (well, OK, I don’t love driving in it). I love the endless variation of blues when …

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