I know it has been a long stretch between posts, but it was a very busy summer! Lots of wonderful guests giving Piper and myself lots of love, toys, and treats, not to mention the crumbs in the dining room.

This was the summer we put an end to Piper’s Lenox wanderings with an Invisible Fence. I really didn’t think it would work for my most stubborn canine friend, but it did and in record time! She only needed two or three “adjustments” (broke Ellen’s heart). For a week or so, Piper was neurotic, refusing to go outside! But nature eventually took its course, and she has become a homebody. I will really miss the lobster shells she used to find and bring home!

Just after Labor Day, Ellen and I drove to Philly to participate in a photo shoot. In the spring,  Ellen and seven other innkeepers (who share a passion for food) from across the US have created a blog, www.bedandbreakfastfoodie.com, with their best recipes. The “Eight Broads” descended on Philly friends for the event. Each of the innkeepers wore a T-shirt saying “Foodie” on the front and “Eight Broads in the Kitchen” on the back. What am I? Chopped liver? Not! I had my own T-shirt that said “Eight Broads and A Dog!” I’ll post photos shortly. We set up our shots and did lots of posing but most of all we had a lot of laughs.

Then Ellen and I set off for the Jersey Shore and some quality beach time. It was not to be. We had bad vacation karma, with the beginning, middle and end of a viscous nor’easter!Ellen read a great vacation novel, The Help, and highly recommends it. We did manage to get to two of Ellen’s favorite Shore restaurants, Red’s in Point Pleasant, and Klein’s in Belmar.

We’re back at the inn, and having an early but great fall. The leaves are changing, and the colors are brilliant. According to leaf-peeping experts, this is going to be one “wow” foliage due to the never-ending summer rains. Come and see for yourself!

It happens to be a wonderful coincidence that I read this book just before Passover. The famed Sarajevo Haggadah (a Haggadah is the book read during the Passover Seder) is most likely more than 500 years old, and amazingly it has survived the Inquisition, exiles and wars.

The Haggadah was most likely created in Spain, and its journey to Sarajevo is shrouded in mystery. Brooks takes you on that journey, the one she that she imagines based on known facts.

Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson. If Not Now, When?, Col. (Ret). Jack Jacobs (an old friend). A Mercy, Toni Morrison (actually anything by Toni Morrison). The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The Story of Edgar Sawtell, David Wroblewski – gripping! The Hour I First Believed, Wally Lamb, an incredible storyteller. [Gotta go. I smell popcorn!]