After a wonderful Thanksgiving meal served to an Inn full of guests, we turn to preparing for the holiday season in earnest. Boxes of ribbons, holiday fabric, ornaments and lights have been unearthed, and piles of greenery bring the smell of the garden indoors. With all the work ahead of us, music is essential. I love the myriad sounds of traditional classical, secular, sacred, orchestral, choral, vocal, new age, country, and contemporary holiday music - but the sound of brass is the sound I most associate with the season.

How fortunate then, that the Inn had the pleasure of hosting The Virtuoso Horn Duo(Kerry Turner, Kristina Mascher) and Friends (Kyle Turner, tuba/ophicleide, Lauretta Bloomer - piano) this past October. Kalamazoo was the last stop on their two-week whirlwind US tour, courtesy of Western Michigan's Horn Studio and Professor Lin Foulk. After two weeks of traveling, working, and performing together, they took full advantage of our spacious rooms -Ruth's Room and the Morning Room, and parlors to unwind and get that necessary breathing room.

After purchasing the Stuart Avenue Inn, Chris and I began assessing the adjoining garden – known as The McDuffee Gardens (after Alice McDuffee who lived on the lot and tended a nationally recognized Shakespearean garden in the 20s); also known as The Casteel Gardens (after the man who demolished the house in the 80s and landscaped a formal garden with meandering footpaths, flower beds, gazebo, and pergola); and sometimes referred to as "The-then-so-grand-now-so-sad-gardens" (after twenty years of intervening neglect). Trees intended to be pruned and shaped grew gangly and misshapen as they competed for light. Overgrown hedges lost their trim and shapely silhouettes. We tripped over stone edgings to forgotten flower beds. What to dig out. What to transplant. What to compost. These topics dominated our conversations.