Happy, Hope-filled Holidays!
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As
we slide into another year’s end, we are thankful for each and every
amazing guest who entered St Francis Cottage this past year. Our main
reason for exploring innkeeping was to meet interesting people and learn
about their journeys, and we could not be more fulfilled and satisfied
with our new venture these past two years.
Many thanks to everyone for
taking time to share with us and broaden our world beyond the borders of
the Chattanooga area. We wish all of you an enriched Holiday Season,
filled with peace, joy and hope for the future!
October With The Grands
Wallace
and I spent nine glorious days in Winnipeg, Manitoba with our four
grandchildren while Phil and Hannah escaped to Europe for a
company-sponsored trip with Phil’s accounting firm.
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| Phil and Hannah boarding a train to explore western Europe during a break in a business trip to Vienna. |
With ages ranging
from one to nine, we were busy, busy as we quickly re-learned ALL that
parents do day-in and day-out: from food prep, diapers, and bottles to
driving to school, ballet, and piano lessons. We both commented,
“Running a bed-and-breakfast isn’t so hard after all!” Just being with
Grace, Amelia, Big Guy and E-man was the ultimate gift, and we
thoroughly enjoyed their wonderful, creative, intelligent and humorous
personalities. We cannot wait until we see them again in Florida and
relish more Beeps and Grammy time at the beach. Our son Michael will
join us from Palo Alto, so there will be lots of laughs and lively discussion as we all gather
together.
Local Eats and Events
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Chattanooga
has literally transformed into a new community since we moved here in
1987, and particularly within the past ten years. In 1969, Walter
Cronkite declared that Chattanooga was the “dirtiest city in America,”
however, nothing could be further from the truth in 2018. After intense
environmental remediation over the years, Chattanooga is now one of the
best Outdoor Cities in the U.S. and made The New York Times
“The 45 Places to Go 2012,” competing with top-rated getaway locations
throughout the world. With these accolades has come great places to
eat, so we recently tried out a couple of new restaurants that we can
recommend to our guests.
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| Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q new at Hamilton Place Mall, near SFC. Yummy, multi-faceted menu!!! |
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| Parkway Pourhouse, new near the River, Downtown Chattanooga. We will be back for this Cajun inspired menu. |
Since there are over 100 restaurants within a
three-mile radius of St Francis Cottage, along with a host of more great
eateries in the downtown area 12 miles West, you will have many dining
choices when you visit the Scenic City. One of our best meals was a
community Thanksgiving dinner (pictured above) sponsored by Causeway, where Wallace and I
attended with some of my co-workers from Hutton, on a gorgeous fall day
in early November.
Nite-Nite Gardens
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A
hard freeze hit our area in mid-November, calling it quits for yet
another growing season. Before the freeze, we were able to collect our
final pepper harvest and add to our backyard “pharmacy” by planting
mulberry bushes, three Sunbelt grapevines and several black raspberry
plants, all high in antioxidants. As long as the Cottage squirrels stay
away from the bulbs, we hope to see additional springtime blooms of
crocus, anemone, lavender lilies, hyacinth, tulips, allium and iris,
added to over a thousand bulbs that we previously planted. Simply put
by Shunrayu Suzuki, “A garden is never finished.”
SFC Tweaks
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We
are always looking for ways to make SFC better, so we decided to
upgrade the second-floor Hummingbird Room from a queen to a king-size
bed. After finding the perfect metal sleigh bed to fit the space and
décor along with a new comfortable pillow-top mattress, we quickly made
the switch just before a weekend that was sold out. (I should say that
Wallace made the switch as he did all the assembling and hard work!) We
now offer five kings and three queen beds at the Cottage, so we look
forward to your visit in 2019!
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Another small change was adding another
dining table in the Great Room, so we can now serve breakfast to 14
people at once. One of our recent (fun!) guests, Kyndal, suggested a
hot tub, so we are exploring options now.
SEND US YOUR FAVORITE ST FRANCIS PHOTO!
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Good
friend Beth Barghini from Texas sent me this photo while she and
husband Mark were vacationing in the SanFran Bay area. So the race is
ON! Email us a photo with you and your favorite Saint Francis statue, painting, or location (the Cottage here doesn't count) and receive a 5% discount on your next stay. We will also have a
random drawing from all entrants on our 2nd Anniversary, April 14, 2019 from all who have responded up to that point, giving away a gift certificate for
one-night’s stay at SFC, subject to availability. Gift certificate will expire April 13, 2020 and will not be valid on national holidays or Valentine's week, February 7 - 16, 2020. One entry per household. The gift certificate will have no cash value. May not be combined with any other discount.
SEND IN THOSE PHOTOS!!
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