Just another spring day at the Walnut Street Inn

This past few spring days at the Inn have been fun and rewarding. We had a group of 8 couples who get together once a year and stay two nights at a B and B within Missouri. They are wonderful guests, and very appreciative of the house, staff and property. They were here before, and if I am lucky, will be here again.

I love to see guests using the parlors, porches and decks of this old house. I love hearing snippets of conversation between old friends. Their banter is casual but kind, direct but not rude. They know the accomplishments and failures of each other, and the discussions build on years of insight and empathy. The gatherings go well into the night, on the back porch with cigars, and in the parlors with music.

My sense of déjà vu is that this type of sharing has gone on at this exact spot, very similar to what I’m witnessing now, again and again for the 117 years the house has existed; laughter and tears, cigars and scotch, friendship, support, and love. What more could we want in life.



I’m thankful they found the Walnut Street Inn, and it reinforces why I have been an Innkeeper for the past 17 years.


Gary at Walnut Street Inn
 900 E Walnut Street Springfield, MO 65806
 Info: 417-864-6346
 Reservations: 800-593-6346
www.walnutstreetinn.com

Winter petunias and being thankful

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and my niece Lauren, Paula and I drove to Thayer, my hometown, to spend the holiday with my sister's family, my father, and all the gang from Oregon County. It was very pleasant. The food was as great as was the conversation. Only the bitter loss of the Dallas Cowboys marred my Thanksgiving mood. As an avid, lifelong fan of the Cowboys, my attitude toward life often ebbs and flows with the success of the team. It's been more ebbing than flowing lately. But enough about that.

When I walked outside the inn this morning the sun was shining brightly but the wind was whipping 20 to 30 miles an hour all around the property. I did my usual morning inspection, walking around the three buildings, checking out all the changes since I left yesterday morning. The sun was glorious but the wind chill was bitter. I was not dressed for it. Rather than seek shelter indoors, I found the warm, protected spot on the southeast side of the inn where the sun has been shining through the leafless trees all morning. There in this warm, toasty corner was a summer flower pot that I had discarded from the back porch, against the foundation of the house and it was blooming as if it was spring. These "winter petunias" didn't know or care that it was late November and the wind was howling out of the north. Their will to live, grow, bloom, and attract the long gone butterflies was an encouraging message that life goes on no matter what happens. I know that these tough little flowers won't be there much longer. They were living in the moment, and with their example and guidance, so will I.


I hope you find that warm, sunny, protected spot in your world today.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. We are so very thankful for your support and friendship here at the Walnut Street Inn.

Gary at Walnut Street Inn 900 E Walnut Street Springfield, MO 65806 Info: 417-864-6346 Reservations: 800-593-6346

Independance Day - 2012!

Springfield Nature Center












This past week was Independence Day, or 4th of July. You expect hot weather by the 4th, but the last two years has been brutal. Walking into the Inn after watering the flowers always feels so good. We have a fan right by the kitchen door, so I stop there and revel in the breeze for a few minutes.

Guests come prepared for the heat and still get out in Springfield for many adventures. Shopping is always a good way to beat the heat (the Battlefield Mall or Bass Pro), as well as touring Fantastic Caverns (always 65 degrees), taking the kids to the Discovery Center, going to Watercolor USA at the Springfield Art Museum, or walking over to Jordan Valley Park for ice skating and playing in the interactive fountain.

For the second year, Fireworks on the Field, coordinated by UDA, put on a wonderful festival. You had the option of ice skating, indoor inflatable fun, crafts at the Creamery Arts Center and Discovery Center, all in air conditioned buildings; then in the evening, a Springfield Cardinals AA baseball game, concert by Members Only, then the traditional fireworks above the field. All for $8 a ticket! Thanks Jordan Valley Park, the Creamery Arts Center, Discovery Center, Springfield Cardinals, and UDA for putting on such a good show! We had a blast and so did our guests.

Speaking of our guests, for the second year in a row, we had three generations gather at the Inn for the 4th of July. They were so sweet and fun. When they left, they booked for next year, so we look forward to serving them again. One of their activities here at the inn was to color, and we are the recipient of one of the art works. Here it is:

Thanks folks, for finding us and making us part of your family celebration. Family gatherings bring out the best in the old house. It seems to appreciate the camaraderie of the family around the parlors, at the breakfast table, and in the porch swings and gliders. I can’t help but think of all the family gatherings that have happened here in the past 116 years, and feel their spirits joining in the conversation and laughter (our ghosts are friendly!) We have board games, card games, etc. from the 1890’s that don’t take batteries and can’t be plugged in or connected to the internet. Kids seem to appreciate being on the “other side of the digital divide” for a few days and parents and grandparents enjoy teaching their kids to play games from their childhood.

This week we had another family with two beautiful little girls. The parents said this was their first B&B because others they called did not accept children under 12 years of age. We have always accepted and promoted families at the Inn. I won’t say the kids are always the perfect guests, but almost all of the time they are welcomed by the other guests, and their presence is so natural to the old house.

Nothing is more exciting to young children than exploring around the house's four staircases, porches and parlors like I did in Grandma’s old house in Thayer, MO. Every corner is an adventure. Every found object that they don’t understand is the opening chapter in a new story. I love eavesdropping on a conversation when a 6 year old explains something to her 4 year old cousin. The explanation may be totally wrong, but it is always well thought out and practical. We have an apple press on the back porch, and I recently heard it explained as a “brick maker.” “See, you pour the mud in here, turn this, and out comes the bricks!” Our future is secure with wisdom like that!


Gary at Walnut Street Inn
900 E Walnut Street Springfield, MO 65806
Info: 417-864-6346
Reservations: 800-593-6346

The Middle Day

The Middle Day

When you operate a Bed and Breakfast, your time is not your own. Weekends are busy, and if you are going to get any time off, it falls during the week. That is not all bad. Weekdays everywhere are often slower, quieter, and more relaxing than a weekend.

Being a social animal, I love the business of the Inn. Guests are coming and going, employees are zipping through the kitchen (right beside my office), passing on a bit of gossip, and sharing the leftovers from breakfast. There are days when I have very little time to myself, and normally, that is the way I like it, but I do need to get away occasionally. With this in mind, I have developed a theory of “the middle day.” I’m sure it is not original to me (very few of my thoughts are), but it has proven true for me over and over concerning my own needs and in observing the experiences of my guests staying at the inn. Let’s see if I can put it into words…

To truly be “here” you need a middle day. If you don’t stay somewhere at least 2 nights, you are never fully “there” mentally. You are either coming (the first day) or going (the last day), and it is very hard to fully embrace where you are, and separate from where you came or to where you are going.

Now that I have put it into words, I am reminded where the thought originated. One day, 12-14 years or more ago, I was having a stressful season as a new Innkeeper (hard to believe, but it does happen!). I needed to get away. My friend Kim helps me escape. He is a musician and can easily get off in the middle of the week like me. We arranged to meet at one of our favorite outdoor escapes, a small fishing and hunting resort on Truman Lake called Reel and Trigger (see the link below). It is a simple, clean and neat, quiet, and inexpensive group of cabins in the woods, and only takes an hour and half to drive there. It is on a bluff overlooking the main body of the lake, and is a great place to just sit and wait (for whatever you are looking for).

We got there mid-day, found our favorite place to set up our day camp (comfortable chairs, food, drink, cell phones on vibrate, and time for quietness) on the bluff. After about two hours of just sitting and staring, saying very little, Kim turns to me and says, “Are you here yet?” Well, that caught me off guard, as conversations with Kim often do. “Of course I’m here!" I replied. "I’m sitting right beside you!” But I immediately knew what he meant. I was not “here” yet. I was sitting on a bluff, 80 feet above the water, watching the gulls make their way across the lake to that island over there, but I was still in Springfield -- still fighting the good fight, still mentally immersed in my problems, even though I had changed my environment completely.

From that time forward, I have tried to see how long it takes to really “be” somewhere, to truly be in the moment; to be “here.” For me, when I leave my business, that is not an easy thing. Most of the time it takes “the middle day” before I’m actually “here.”

I see this playing out with my guests. Those who come for only one night do relax; but in general, they don’t get nearly as much release from their world and their problems as those who stay two nights. “One nighters” sitting at the breakfast table the next day, deep in conversation with each other or other guests, will pass over the “tipping point” somewhere between the second and third cup of coffee (sometimes you can even see this happening!), and “head home” mentally. My theory -- they are no longer “here” at that point; they’re gone.

The “two nighters” often don’t get “here” until the next morning, especially if they are leaving the kids at home with sitters, or arriving late. For many, it takes waking up in a different environment, and knowing they are spending the entire day and coming back to the same bed that night, to allow themselves to release from the responsibilities and reasons they wanted to get away in the first place. “Two nighters” linger longer at the communal breakfast table, have more meaningful conversations on the back porch, smile and laugh more, and are just what we hoped and worked for; guests who are now a little more contented with life than when they came.

I don’t think we (the communal us) spend time thinking about this, and planning it out. But I do think, unconsciously, we are always looking ahead, for our own safety and security. The middle day makes it easier to release from this thinking, and really be “here,” really be in the moment.

If my theory is correct, then I would be doing my guests a favor to institute a two night minimum stay! But I won’t. One night is better than none.

What do you think? Does it work that way for you, or are you quicker to “arrive” than me? Do you have little mental exercises that help you live in the moment? If so, share them with us. We could all use a break!

Back in September, 2005, while sitting on that bluff, waiting, I wrote this little poem to myself.

Today, right now, I will inhabit the moment
I will be present when I'm present
I remember no past
I foresee no future
I feel the heat, suffer the cold,
Sense the cleansing power of the wind
Today, I am here for all eternity,
and it is good


Visit my friends at Reel and Trigger Resort at: http://www.reelandtrigger.com/ They are open March through November.


Gary at Walnut Street Inn
900 E Walnut Street Springfield, MO 65806
Info: 417-864-6346
 Reservations: 800-593-6346
Visit our website at: www.walnutstreetinn.com
Visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/comestaywithus

March’s “Calendar Girls"

This Past March we had the honor to have a group of friends choose the Walnut Street Inn for a Ladies Weekend Retreat. For 16 years they have been getting together once a year to share, cry, commiserate on the things in their lives. They allowed me to film a little bit of their conversations around the breakfast table. If you are like me, you will learn to love these ladies very quickly. If we all had support groups like this we could make it through anything. Thank you “Calendar Girls.” It was a privilege to serve you.

Gary at Walnut Street Inn
900 E Walnut Street Springfield, MO 65806
Info: 417-864-6346
Reservations: 800-593-6346

Ahhh, the busy season!

Wow! We are in the middle of the busiest 3 weeks of the year and I love it! Guests are coming and going, employees are always busy getting ready for the next check-in time, and lots of things are going on downtown. The phone is ringing like it did prior to the recession. I hope this continues. There are a plethera  of anniversary celebrations, birthdays, ladies weekends away, and conventions (at the Springfield Convention Expo just 3 blocks away.) First the GOP convention, then the Lutheran convention, and coming in Thursday, the Methodists! I won’t tell you which were the harder to serve, but I can tell you the GOP’s like to talk politics, the Lutherans always make their beds, and, from past conferences, the Methodists would rather stay at the Inn and talk instead of go to the morning functions. All good with us!


Just to spice up things, on Friday night we had a major plumbing problem. Luckily, we have a great plumbing company (Thanks Delong!) that when called at 8 PM on a Friday night, were here within 30 minutes. We had the problem temporarily fixed by 11:15 PM and they are coming back tomorrow to tackle the more permanent repairs in the basement. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “What a strange way to plumb this bath,” “I can’t believe this has lasted this long,” or “They should have put a clean-out valve right here.” Oh well, as I tell guest all the time, when you own three houses over 100 years old, it is a river, not a mountain.

We continue to be busy until the end of the month, then it slows down for the 4th of July. I’ve got to figure out how to market that week. Springfield is a wonderful place to be on the 4th of July. Things are happening every night downtown, Springfield Cardinals are playing 2 blocks north of the Inn (a 5 PM game on the 4th), and on the evening of the 4th, Springfield’s official Independence Day Celebration takes place several places downtown from 3-8pm with music, ice skating, inflatables, and entertainment right up until 9:45 when the fireworks start.

You can read about the event at: http://www.itsalldowntown.com/event/fireworks-at-the-field/

The cost of all events is only $7 in advance and $8 at the events. Come on down!


Gary at Walnut Street Inn
900 E Walnut Street Springfield, MO 65806
Info: 417-864-6346 Reservations: 800-593-6346

Recycling an old idea

This summer on July 26 we will celebrate our 16th year as Innkeepers. Many things have changed through the years, but we have worked hard to see that many things haven’t changed as well. When your business is in a 116-year-old Victorian home, maintaining the atmosphere is something we have to think about every time we make even the simplest change. For example, how do you add TVs, telephones, or even electric lights without taking away from what life must have been like in our old homes in the 1890’s? We obviously have those “modern amenities”, but as a compromise to the authenticity of the atmosphere. Thank goodness wifi is not something you can see!

Even Charles McCann, the owner and builder of the home that encompasses the Walnut Street Inn, struggled to decide what was appropriate. In his unpublished biography (we have a copy here at the Inn if you want to read it) he said while building the home he chose not to add electricity because he thought it was a fad and was not going to become widespread. Within two years he realized he had made a serious error and had to wire the house well after construction.

And the dilemma continues. 

Recycling and energy conservation are some of our issues today. When I think about it, my Ozark family, and I would imagine many of your families as well, were recyclers from an early age. 



Shortly after I was born my father starting building our family home himself. That home is still in construction today, some 57 years later. One of my jobs as a pre-teen and early teen was to be the official family “nail puller.” Dad would recover old wood from houses being torn down around the town to be repurposed into wood for the continuing construction of our house. All winter (it seemed to me) he would pile up the old boards on the north side of our house, awaiting the appointed hour of my summer vacation. I would be “hired” to remove said nails from each board creating a functional “new” piece of lumber. My memory tends to be embellished with time, but one summer I distinctly remember dad salvaging a bunch of oak tongue and groove flooring, where the nails were put in at a right angle above the “tongue.” Not only did it seem impossible for me to get out the nail without totally destroying the “tongue,” this extremely hard, antique wood gave up nails like a snake leaves footprints. Each nail-less board came at great cost to my young psyche. Every day after listening to my whines about my meager output, my dad would demonstrate how to easily remove the nails from the boards. I was sure each of his boards must have been rigged to give up their nails so easily. I imagined him sneaking in at night, drilling holes in his example board, then slipping old nails into the drilled holes. Molehills became mountains, and it wasn’t long until I had weaseled my way out of this horrible task and found my way to the Tally Ho Motel swimming pool. Thanks Dad.

But I digress... One of the ongoing conversations among the Walnut Street Inn staff is how to be good stewards to our environment while running our small business in the most efficient and appealing way. In your home you can choose to sacrifice ascetics for stewardship. If you wish to add recycle bins for paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, tin, compost, etc. in your living room, you may do it. You can put them wherever you want. If you choose to efficiently hold laundry until all loads are full and energy and water usage is at a minimum you can do that as well. 

We, on the other hand, have a dilemma; how do we maintain the atmosphere that attracts guests to the inn while doing the right thing for the environment? We are also under the gun of a 2:00pm check-in time. Everything has to be ready at that all important “witching” hour.

We have compromised by adding small, labeled, recycle trash cans to every room. We also put a card in every room that says “We can all do our part..” that goes on to describe our recycling efforts and offers guests staying more than one night the opportunity to request we don’t change their sheets and towels every day (to cut down on detergent, water and energy usage.) 

Guest response has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, it is not unusual for a guest to be seen wandering around our parlors or gardens with an empty plastic water bottle in search of our recycle containers. 

So for these little changes we breathe a collective sigh of relief and move on. We have not destroyed the ambiance of the Walnut Street Inn. 

What’s next? Hmmmm...well, if I could get each guest to pull 20 weeds out of my yard before leaving...

Gary at Walnut Street Inn
900 E Walnut Street Springfield, MO 65806
Info: 417-864-6346
Reservations: 800-593-6346