Bunny dishes.

Owning a bed and breakfast gives me a good excuse to indulge my passion for dishware. I have different table settings for almost every month. I am always stopping at garage sales or estate sales and love to poke around in thrift shops on the hunt for more. This is my March and April theme. Green and white plates with bunnies on them and green bowls that look like cabbages are pictured here. Note the little bunny place card holders. Those I gave as gifts to the guests last Easter morning. I have plates with snowmen on them. I have heart shaped plates. I have plates with pumpkins. I have red, white and blue plates with stars. I have several different flower patterns. My favorite ones have bees and ladybugs on them. Of course, then I have to have serving pieces, fruit dishes, bread plates, etc. to mix and match with everything. I do own plain white dishes, too. They are great to layer different patterns on. I enjoy making breakfast time for my guests an experience. I use local, organic, in season produce as much as possible. The eggs and breakfast meat are from local farmers. I play soft jazz music in the background, although I like it better when guest laughter drowns it out. I want breakfast to excite all 5 of your senses and start your day off right. My wish is for my guests to leave the table full of good food and good memories.

Spring gardening

Pictured is the golden currant bush, also known as spicebush or clove currant. I have two in full bloom right now and they do smell like cloves. One is planted by the kitchen door and one is by the front door. That way everyone gets a big whiff of them as they come and go. I purchased them as little bitty bushes from a wildflower nursery in Missouri about 4 years ago and they are doing great here in Oklahoma. They have grown to about 4 1/2 feet tall and about that wide.
My gardening style is very casual. The "Let's plant this here and see how it does" style. Which means, I lose some things and move things around some. When we bought the property that would become our Tulsa bed and breakfast, there was no landscaping. There was a big holly bush that hid the house from the street and blocked the view to beautiful Woodward Park. That had to go even though I hated to cut it down. The backyard was a jungle of vines that tooks weeks to remove.
My husband prefers structured formal gardens. We compromised by hiring a landscape company to do the front and along the drive four years ago. I get to do whatever I want with the side and backyard. A few things have shown up in the front that weren't part of the landscaper's plan. I don't know how that happened. A squirrel must have put that there. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I hope you can take some time to visit the Inn at Woodward Park this spring or summer. You can see my gardens, then walk across the street to see the spectacular gardens of Woodward Park and the Philbrook Museum.

March Madness

Mardi gras, St. Patrick's Day, NCAA basketball, Fiddler Hall of Fame Concert and the Tulsa Ballet performing Exceptional Synergy are just a few of the events going on in the mad month of March.

Mardi Gras just passed with a great parade downtown in the Blue Dome District. Tulsa is not New Orleans but we still did it up good with cajun food specialities at several restaurants.

Pictured is the Jazz Room in our Tulsa bed and breakfast. I thought that fit in with Mardi Gras. The Jazz Room is a cozy room with a queen size bed, desk area, flat screen TV with DVD player. The private bathroom was put in under the eaves with a shower. There is a tuba in one corner that several guests have tried to play.

St. Patrick's Day is always a fun time in Tulsa. Kilkenny's Irish Pub & Restaurant, located within walking distance of the Inn, will set up a tent and have live music. The food is very good there. My favorite is an appetizer, the rueben rolls. Mc Nellie's and Arnie's downtown will also have live music, tents and drink specials like Gusinness. Green beer for everyone! Aren't we all Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

The NCAA basketball tournament will bring lots of folks to Tulsa. The Inn is sold out for that and for the last weekend in March when the Tulsa Ballet is performing.

With the price of gas rising, I predict we will be filling up fast for most weekends. Weekdays are also popular with our business travelers. A couple of summers back, when the gas prices were high, we had many visitors that took short getaways a few hours travel from their homes. We love to show Tulsa off to folks from Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Kansas and the rest of the state of Oklahoma too. Plan your next getaway soon and give us a call.