Blue Boar Inn & Restaurant

I love weekend getaways!  There's nothing like a little time away to escape the humdrums and help you rejuvenate. Sometimes you just need to slow down and enjoy life.  Last week my husband and I discovered a fabulous place for a European adventure at the beautiful Blue Boar Inn & Restaurant in the heart of Midway, Utah.  

The Blue Boar Inn is an old-world European, chateau-style bed and breakfast with 12 elegant rooms that are named for famous literary figures.  Each marvelous room contains a fireplace, jetted tub, flowers, a fruit and cheese plate, and a huge comfy European style pillow top bed.  The inn itself is a masterpiece of turrets, wrought iron balconies, and hand-carved wood elegance.  As you come into the lobby you glimpse the warm, candlelit tables of the elegant Four Diamond restaurant which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  The absolute delight of this romantic inn and restaurant are in the details.  They offer a turn down service complete with a single red rose, poetry, and chocolates on your pillows, fluffy white bathrobes, and extra delicacies at dinner, compliments of the chef. 

We stayed in the Elizabeth Barret/Robert Browning Suite complete with hand woven English floral rugs and a private balcony facing the Wasatch Mountains.  Usually the room runs for $295 a night, but because of a special Facebook deal that the inn and restaurant are running right now, we were able to stay in the room for $237.  This room rate included a fabulous 3 course dinner in the acclaimed restaurant, as well as a yummy complimentary breakfast. The room/dinner special goes from now until November 22nd and so if you can take advantage of this special, it's well worth it!

The Blue Boar Inn has an amazing restaurant with an equally amazing chef.  The food is scrumptious!  The restaurant has a very diverse menu with everything from fondue, to duck, to handmade schnitzel, and wild boar.  I ordered the fillet mignon with crab cake and tarragon hollandaise which was fabulous, along with a blue boar salad.  My husband was a little more adventurous and ordered the wild boar tenderloin with goat cheese and roasted beet puree along with a smoked salmon salad that was absolutely divine.  For desert we shared crème brulee and some amazingly rich, double-chocolate cake.  The service was exceptional.  Everything adorning the walls of the restaurant had a story, and our server, Kathy, was wonderful at relating many interesting tidbits.  Boar-shaped chocolates at the end of our awesome dining experience completed the perfect meal.  

Breakfast in the dining room was just as fantastic with choices like: made to order, Mediterranean omelets, smoked salmon Benedict, steak and eggs, and cinnamon swirl brioche French toast, among others.  The fresh squeezed orange juice was almost as luscious as the hot chocolate with whipped cream.  You definitely can't leave without having some!   Check-out isn't until noon and so there is even time for a nap after breakfast.

I have a lot of high praise for this amazing, colorful, storied, European-like chateau and so if you can get away for a romantic night, this is definitely a bed and breakfast worth repeating time and time again.  If you can't make a reservation before November 22, the Blue Boar Inn & Restaurant runs their marvelous special sometime again in March and April.  So keep checking their Facebook page.  We all need an adventure like this at least a couple times a year, don't we?  I know I can't wait to go back again!

Thoughts on Adversity

I love this time of year when the air becomes crisp, pumpkins plump, and nature's cornucopia reveals her amazing colors.  I am fascinated to watch the season's change, especially the change from autumn to winter as the plants and trees prepare for the oncoming months of adversity.  It is the crisp nights of autumn and the shortening days that signal the trees to shut down their food production.  As photosynthesis ceases and the trees rest, the true colors of the leaves are revealed in all their glory.

It is in adversity that our true colors are also revealed as we find out what we are truly made of and whether we have enough stores from the previous summer to weather the winter storms ahead.

Four years ago today, on October 23rd, the storms came crashing in on our family.  We'd just returned from the happiest place on earth the day before.  It seemed like any other normal day after a family vacation.  My husband had gone back to work, the kids had returned to school, and I had spent the day unpacking, sorting, and washing from our Disneyland vacation.  My husband called me just before leaving to come home for the day and mentioned he was feeling a little weird, but by the time he arrived home he was pale faced, sweating, and felt like the weight of the whole world rested on his chest.  After rushing to the emergency room, we learned the astonishing truth, at the age of 39, my husband was suffering a major heart attack.  He had a 100% blockage in his LAD, the artery affectionately known as the widow maker.  Two stents later and with a heart ejection fraction of 20 to 25%, his life hung precariously in the balance, and I was faced with possibility that I might be left alone with five children.

It is when storms like these come that you learn you are stronger than you think you are, and you also gain a deep sense of gratitude for the things that you previously took for granted.  As I watched my husband struggle between life and death for several days in the hospital, knowing that even if he recovered our lives would be forever changed, I had to reach deep down and find strength that I didn't know I had.  There is something about learning that you can weather the storms of life with your hand in God's that gives you the courage to keep moving, to ultimately have the faith that everything is going to turn out alright.  Through adversity you learn that you are made of stronger stuff and you also learn to appreciate every moment of every day because you don't know how many more moments there will be.

Ultimately through faith and prayers, and several miracles my husband regained full heart function.  I've been blessed with four more years with him to watch the seasons come and go. There have been many strong storms to weather, but as I watch the trees burst into color once more as they prepare for the coming winter, I am grateful for the experience of life with all its challenges and opportunities.  With adversity comes growth and strengthened faith and gratitude for spring's blossoms which always come again in due time.

"Flying Rats"

Five years ago while taking in the splendor of St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, I noticed a gentleman selling food to feed the pigeons in the square.  As a silly tourist, in Venice for the first time, I thought that of course it would be a great idea to feed the prevalent pigeons.  My husband, however, who referred to the creatures as "flying rats" wasn't so keen on the idea.  But eventually my appeal won out and after purchasing the little bag of pigeon food for a few Euros, I decided it would be a wonderful plan to stand in the middle off the grand square and let the pigeons come and eat out of my hands.  For about 15 seconds my plan worked splendidly, with the eager creatures landing on my arms and pecking at the food cupped in my outstretched hands.  But there are thousands of pigeons in St. Mark's Square and with only one bag of food I was soon completely overwhelmed  by dozens of pecking, clawing, flapping "flying rats."  

They were landing all over me, scratching at my arms, pecking at my hair, and one even took up residence on my head.  Like something out of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, I was completely drowned in pigeons and was in danger of being pecked to death.  My fabulous idea had turned instead to one of dread and anxiety.  My husband, realizing my danger, had to come and rescue me. But even he could not chase the "flying rats" away.  It was only after casting the pigeon food to the ground and running for my life that I was able to escape, scratched and bruised.

How often do we make decisions that seem great at the time, only to discover through trial and error that we have unwittingly overburdened ourselves with something that is too big to handle?  Thankfully for us, whether we are burdened with debt, an over-scheduled life, or a world of care, there is a way to find relief, although we may not escape unscathed.  It might even be necessary to drop a few things and run from the "flying rats" in our lives.

But we don't have to conquer our burdens alone.  The Lord tells us:  "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  

He is inviting us to be yoked with him.  We are invited to have Him right beside us, close and personal, to carry the weight of our burdens.  He invites us to obtain rest simply by receiving Him. When we receive Him we are able to find the peace that we need by knowing that we are doing His will.  Being yoked with him, we learn God's purpose for us.  If we are feeling empty, discouraged, or burdened, perhaps it is time to accept His invitation and fall at His feet, crying: "Lord, I can't carry this burden, anymore.  Please help me!"  And when we do, the Lord will be able to do remarkable things through us, and we will find peace, joy, and love in our lives once more after being freed from those pesky "flying rats".

Wings of Hope

For the fourth year in a row we grew excited as a pair a birds returned to their nest at the top of the brick column that frames our front porch.  My family and I have watched these lovely birds with their distinctive song raise three or four fluffy gray and yellow hatchlings every year.  This year was no exception and as three hatchlings grew into fluffy balls, we watched the busy parents feed their always hungry family until the fuzzy youngsters began to sport real feathers and prepare for flight. 

After they were practically bursting the nest, the day finally came for the young birds to fly.  Two of the sweet birds followed their encouraging parents onto the rooftop and then took flight.  It was beautiful to watch, as always, but my focus turned back to the one remaining bird in the nest.  Even when the parents encouraged this young bird to join with them, it wouldn't budge. I watched this little bird for the next several days, but still it wouldn't leave the nest.  I wondered what could be wrong with the poor bird?  Was it too afraid to fly?  Did it have a defective wing?  At times the remaining bird would spread its wings as if to begin flight, but would never seem to clear the nest.

One day I came home to find the bird flopped sideways on the ledge outside the nest.  It looked not only exhausted, but completely dejected and hopeless, and I knew in my heart that something was not right.  I tried to get closer to the bird, but that only made the little bird frantic and made the parents swoop in on me, as well.  But I knew that something was definitely wrong and unless I intervened, I was going to watch this little creature die.

When my eighteen year-old son came home he pulled out a ladder and climbed up to the nest, while I stayed below armed with a garden hose to protect my child and myself from the frenzied, diving parents.  After climbing up, my son discovered that the bird was literally bound by its leg to the nest.  Somehow the fibers and string and hair that were contained in the nest had wrapped themselves around and around this poor little birds leg until it was trapped.  After struggling against its bonds for days, it was trembling and exhausted.  This bird had no hope.  It knew it would never achieve flight like it's siblings.  It was just waiting to die.  

My son couldn't free the bird.  He had to pull down the entire nest, along with the bird to help it.  With his sisters now gathered round and my oldest daughter holding the terrified bird, we worked to extricate the bird from its bonds.  The leg was bound tightly and one of its feet looked as if it might be broken.  With tweezers and tiny finger scissors we performed the delicate operation, finally freeing the bird, but destroying the nest in the process.   We had nowhere to return the bird to when we had finished, and so we carefully placed it in one of our hanging planters near the front door hoping the parents would return and rescue it.

We watched the little bird through the front window. The poor bird sat in the planter hardly moving for at least fifteen minutes and still the parents didn't come for it.  Our anxiety for the bird grew exponentially.   Finally we could take it no longer, and we went to move the petrified bird to a different location that was more easily accessible.  But just as we reached for it, the bird spread its wings and took flight and flew beautifully around the side of the house.   My heart soared with it!  The little bird that had almost died without ever really living was free and flying!  

"Of all the forces that make for a better world, none is so powerful as hope.  With hope, one can think, one can work, one can dream.  If you have hope you have everything."  Author unknown

My little bird now had every opportunity!  I watched it fly around the yard for the next several days, learning what it needed to learn to succeed at being a bird.  And although it had a little injured foot, it seemed to get along just fine.

 

I've thought about that little bird on my despairing days when I have felt hopeless, and I've asked myself, "What am I feeling bound down by today?  What is it in my life that is keeping me from hoping and dreaming?"  And I've prayed in my heart to the Author of Hope to come and free me, so I can once again think, work, and dream.  

Hasn't He said not to fear for, "ye are of more value than many sparrows" and "not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father" knowing. The Author of Hope is mindful of each of us and our troubles.  He is ever waiting for our plea for help, and He can truly free us from our despairing no matter how tightly we are bound.  Talk to Him.  Lay your burdens at his feet.  Plead for His Grace and Mercy.  He is there to release those bonds so that you can fly!