I'm baaaaaaack!!!

It has been a while since I published any news here. Sorry if you have been waiting! We recently added our 2008 White Oak Inn schedule to the web site…can’t wait to get back up there and enjoy the wonderful guests and Yvonne’s pumpkin soup! We have also added new dates with Colonel Taylor Bed and Breakfast as well as the Red Maple Inn! It looks as though we will be all over the state again this year.

Last night Geri, Jeff and I, along with a friend Jackie, had dinner at the Tarra Cotta Vineyards near New Concord Ohio. It was cook your own steak night and man was the food great! They started us with a dinner salad with a homemade (and secret) dressing that was incredible. The rest of the dinner was wonderful and included a baked potato, green beans and dinner rolls. Then came the killer peanut butter pie for desert. So much for watching carbs that night! Still, my compliments to the chef...wait a minute, that was me!

The wine selection was modest but priced right and we enjoyed an award winning Chambourcin reserve with our meal but we started with their dry white Seyval...good choice. Check them out on the web... http://www.terracottavineyards.com/page/page/1772085.htm

The coolest part of the evening was we ran into some folks that we had met last year at a murder mystery event we did in Coshocton County. How cool was that? We get to make friends all over the state (and beyond) with our mystery gigs...I love this job!

Way too much fun!

What a great weekend we had at the White Oak Inn! Friday night was fun because we had the pleasure of entertaining some mystery frequent fliers! We had three couples return to the Inn for their third mystery with us. We do enjoy repeat offenders! Our circle of mystery friends keeps growing and growing. Someone once asked me what my favorite thing was about presenting mystery events and without hesitation I answered that the best thing was meeting new friends. It may sound like a line but it is certainly not! We meet some of the wildest and nicest people at our events. I love this job!

Saturday night was a trip because among the guests at the Inn was a group of 10 friends who were ready to have a great night...and that's just what happened. We even stayed over a little extra time singing Jimmy Buffett songs and having a great time. We even discovered that we know all the words to Delta Dawn!

Check out our website soon for all the pictures from this past weekend.

http://www.sleuthmystery.com/

We're making a killing...

Hey everyone! What a few weeks we've had. Last weekend we had two great nights at the White Oak Inn and we even snuck in a private party on Saturday afternoon! Then we headed back to Coshocton County to put on a mystery for about 60 folks at Raven's Glenn Winery and Italian Restaurant...this was the first time that we played this venue. The crowd at Raven's Glenn was up for a good time and they certainly had one! We even had a few of our local friends attending which makes for a fun evening too!

Tonight (Friday January 26) we are heading back to our "home away from home"...The White Oak Inn for some fun with an Appalachian Family Reunion! And tomorrow night at The White Oak Inn we will be rocking the house with the Annual Hiney Award Presentation party!

Look to our website for pictures of all these events and more... http://www.sleuthmystery.com/

Check back on Sunday or Monday for an update of the weekend.

Wow! We certainly have a busy week coming up. This weekend (January 19 and 20) we will be back in action at The White Oak Inn both Friday and Saturday nights. During the day on Saturday (January 20) we will be performing at a private party in northern Ohio and then on Tuesday January 23, we will be at Raven's Glenn Winery for an evening performance. All of these events (with the exception of the private party) are open to the public and more information can be found at our schedule page on our website.

http://www.sleuthmystery.com/schedule.htm

Farewell old friend...

Our wonderful "White Oak Inn" family lost a great friend (family member) this past week. Rocky the Labrador will be profoundly missed as a fixture of the Inn for so many years. Rocky's presents brought a certain charm and warmth to the White Oak Inn that will not soon be forgotten.

We first met Rocky when we began presenting mysteries at the Inn nearly 7 years ago. He was a mature dog back then but was always ready for a visit from Inn guests. We will always remember Rocky for his participation in our mysteries! That's right! Rocky had a recurring role in all of our events. You see, when a mystery participant would try to guess "who done it" at the end of the night...and their answers were REALLY bad...Yvonne would give them the booby prize which consisted of doggie treats wrapped in a nice bow. This was Rocky's signal to show up and help the guest eat their prize! He never missed a cue. We'll all miss you buddy. You were special.

Merry Christmas!

Not much new to report today. Because of the Christmas holiday, we don't have a mystery scheduled for the rest of the year! (Which is actually just 14 days) However, in January we start again with 4 shows at the White Oak Inn and one at a new venue...Raven's Glenn Winery. Both are very beautiful settings and the food at each location is outstanding!

If you come to the White Oak Inn, you will certainly enjoy the rural setting with all its natural beauty. There is also an opportunity to feed the resident sheep (they don't live inside the Inn) and visit with our old buddy Rocky the lab. Innkeepers Ian and Yvonne unquestionably serve some of the best food I have had the pleasure of eating...and I've eaten my share! The pumpkin soup alone is worth the trip. It's my all-time favorite.

Raven's Glenn Winery is a new venue for our mysteries, but certainly not new to us as a destination for dinner, great music and some wonderful wines. The menu is mostly Italian and they do it well! Just imagine a great pastas dish with your favorite wine and your favorite someone while listening to the soothing piano music of our friend Dan Barnes.
I'm partial to their dry red wine, Syrah. But with nearly 20 choices from their list of wines made on-site, you'll find the perfect grape for you!

Visit http://www.sleuthmystery.com/ for more information. Also visit the White Oak Inn and Raven’s Glenn online...

http://www.whiteoakinn.com/

http://www.ravensglenn.com/

Art imitates life...

Today I spent the morning with the 2006-2007 Leadership Coshocton County Class and the Coshocton County Youth Leadership class. My role was to be a facilitator in helping educate both groups about the arts in our county. The rich and abundant population of art and artists in Coshocton continues to amaze me. We met at the Triple Locks Theatre near Roscoe and spent the morning discussing theatre, music, poetry and a host of other art related topics. The highlight of the day was the Improv session in which everyone took part. Some of our group were naturals! And some, well...may be better suited for a job backstage! We had great fun and learned a lot about our community and its art.

For me, the best part of the day was to see the youth group again. I had the pleasure to be one of their facilitators for the classes' kick-off event earlier in the year. They are a great group of young people with passion, loads of energy and a desire to serve their community.

There are still seats available for the Footlight Players production of "The Twentieth Century" which will run this weekend and next. Call 740-622-2959 for reservations.

The Big Shoe...

Well! We certainly had a great time Saturday night in McConnelsville. The crowd was not huge but they really enjoyed themselves. There were many children in attendance which makes magic and music that much more enjoyable to perform. The kids all participated in the show one way or another and that was worth the price of admission.

Jeff did his customary great job as an entertainer even though there were a few pre-production glitches before the show. (That's redundant redundancy isn't it?) Of course a pre-production glitch would happen before the show! No matter...because as they say in McConnelsville Ohio...the show must go on! And it did. Thanks to the Coshocton Contingency who made the trek south! Todd and Sara, Randy and son Matt, Tony, Beth, AJ and friend, Glenn, Geri (Jeff's betrothed) From Columbus we had Jeff's family along with Sparky and her boyfriend...whose name is escaping me at this writing. I hope I did not forget any friends who attended.

On the way home we stopped at Applebee's in Zanesville Ohio for a late dinner. Just for the record, we had exceptional service there and great food! Our server Heidi was on the ball. She was exceptionally engaging and not only gave us great service, she made the visit special. Smart, funny, cute and charming...that was Heidi. If you go there, ask for her section.

Check out our web site for pictures of Jeff's show... http://www.sleuthmystery.com/mcconnesville.htm

Overture, curtain, lights!

Tonight is Jeff's big magic show! Glenn, Jeff and I traveled to McConnelsville on Friday to get a few things in place for tonight. The theatre is beautiful and has a great history. It will be a great time tonight...come down if you can. The show begins at 7:00 tonight and the theatre is located right downtown in McConnelsville...right behind the statue in the middle of the road!

While we were in McConnelsville, we grabbed some lunch at the Blue Belle Diner across the street from the theatre. It is a 50s type diner that serves home-style food at very reasonable prices. Jeff would probably recommend the meatloaf sandwich and Glenn would suggest the bean soup. Good stuff.

I'll have a full report of the show sometime this weekend...hopefully with pictures too!

Fun with Coshocton Rotary

Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of entertaining the Coshocton Rotary club during their annual Christmas party. We all had a great time...mainly due to the club members participating in a few songs as buck-up singers! First the men came forward and hammed it up singing their part of "Proud Mary." Even though they only had one actual word to sing (rollin') in the entire song, they got their money's worth! They were great.

Next the women came up and did a rousing rendition of "California Dreaming." Although the ladies had to perform choreography along with their song, they didn't miss a beat! (They never really followed one either!) It was a very nice evening with a great group of people.

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.