Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The (Not Very) Off-Season

Wow.  So that's what its like to run a bed and breakfast!  Its been exactly 9 months since Brad and I moved into the Inn, and I wrote the last post.  Time flies when you're washing, cooking, cleaning, shopping, dusting, weeding, raking, pruning, planting, and painting.  And then there's the emails, the phone calls, the booking, and all manner of marketing:  Facebook, Twitter, various B&B listing sights; all while rebranding a business formerly known as O'Flaherty's Dingeldein House for the last 25 years.

We never doubted that "The Lancaster" as a new name for the inn would serve us well, but we were not aware of the due diligence it would require.  Changing over utilities - including Wi-Fi providers (such another story!), leaving cable behind and installing whole-house satellite TV, updating old internet listings and creating new ones.

Then there's the little dance we do with a 100 year-old house.  "Hey, did you turn down the thermostat?"  "Not me.  Hey, the water won't get warm!"  And down to the basement we go to look at the furnace so it can tell us to call the heating and plumbing man.  Or maybe during breakfast, the first floor lights go out.  Come to find out, a certain plug in a certain room can't handle the power of a certain hairdryer.  Down to the basement.  Which box?  That one way back there under the kitchen?  There it is!  And lights are back on at breakfast.

But none of this is to say we are bothered or exasperated.  We love doing this so much and are surprised we hadn't made the leap long before.  Innkeeping is simply an all-encompassing profession.  And it is a profession.  There are standards we gratefully adhere to.  And there are nuances necessary that make this profession an art.  And blogging became abstract!  But really, what a great way to let our raison d'etre (reason for being, for those who took Spanish instead) our once and future guests, whom we cherish, know what and why we do what we do.

And so now, since I've checked in with the backstory, its time to keep you all up to date with the amazing goings-on in our adopted new city, Lancaster, PA.  There's so much to see and do and learn and taste and feel here.  Lancaster is such a funny little microcosm, with fine art, theatre, dining, music, ideas, venues, and all walks of life.  Farmers, artists, preps and punks.  Oenophiles, and Locavores.  Spritualists and Politicos.  Oh, and this town really likes beer!  So, check in with us to see what's happening in Lancaster and the county, and you'll see what we've all been up to and what's coming up so you can join in too!

And now for a little Then and Now:







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