Summer Scenes

Beautiful weather....gorgeous lake....clean air!  We love it here (can you tell?) We have put the tipi up for the summer for massages, meditation, yoga, stretching, reading, whatever you like!

Bill has just finished a fabulous "Sheepherder's Wagon" to store our tables and chairs for the weddings we have here at the Inn.  A guest just named him "The Most Interesting Man in Fawnskin, No, The World".  He's loving that!

Fall News

Dear Friends,

Fall is definitely here in the Big Bear Valley. We had a beautiful wedding here over this past weekend, and we were blessed with perfect weather until everyone left, and it started pouring rain! It was exciting with thunder, lightening, and the awesome smell of fresh rain on the pines-and we were so grateful that the rain waited until after the wedding and reception.  Congratulations to Katrina and Mark Houston-we wish them all the happiness in the world.

I love these mild days in the 70's and cool nights...I can smell the smoke from my neighbors fireplaces when I take Heidi out for a walk.  Bill and I haven't made our first fire of the season. And it's not for lack of firewood! We have enough for several seasons...perhaps it's a reluctance to welcome in the winter season.

The new road across the dam is progressing nicely. If you've come up to Big Bear in the last year or two, you most likely have seen the huge construction project when you reached the dam. The old road was never meant to handle the amount of traffic it gets, so they are building a multi-million dollar new road across the steep gorge to the west of the dam. I'm sure it will be fabulous when it's completed, but it's sort of sad to see all the blasting of the natural rock landscape they are having to do to complete this project.

Many of you know about my new cookbook, "Favorite Recipes of the Bed and Breakfast Diva", but many may not know how the name came about.  A few years ago, I wrote a show called "The Divas" which my friends, Elena Peavy, Kim Boda, and I performed at the Big Bear Lake Performing Arts Center.  My darling husband, Bill, gave me a personalized license plate for my birthday, "BB DIVA", which stood for Big Bear Diva, but our Inn guests thought it meant Bed and Breakfast Diva!  So, with the double entendre, I decided to use it for my cookbook!  It's been really fun trying out new recipes every month for my Foodie Club.  Those who decide to join, for $15 per year, you have a new, tested, recipe emailed to you.  You print it, and put it in your 3 ring binder cookbook!  The latest recipe for October is a Stir Fried Beef and Broccoli.  It's so yummy and pretty easy to do, once you get all the ingredients together.  The cookbook came about because our Inn guests were always requesting recipes for our yummy breakfast items.  After ten years, it's finally finished!  Whew what a project!  A big thanks to all of my assistants over the years, who helped me type up all those recipes!

Only a couple of weeks left before my next performance.  The Divas are putting on their fabulous show (!) at the Northwoods Resort on Saturday, October 16th for D.OV.E.S., the domestic violence abuse prevention and education organization in Big Bear.  A worthly cause for this fun fundraiser-dinner, auction, entertainment and dancing!  For tickets and more information call the D.O.V.E.S. office: (909) 866-1546.

Hope to see you all soon-and thanks for reading my blog!
Love,
Nancy

http://www.fawnskininn.com/

Tipi raising

Hi Everyone!

Bill and his helper, Marty, raised the tipi yesterday! Here are some photos of this beautiful structure. It's lovely inside as well, with a massage table, plenty of room for yoga, stretching, meditation, or reading.

Ron & Cheryl Downing stayed with us during the Amgen Tour of California for Stage Six, "The Big Bear Climb" and took this great photo of the riders racing by the Inn. It was very exciting for all of us in Big Bear to witness this event. The racers bicycled 135 miles that day....from Palmdale to Big Bear. We were all outside cheering them on with our cow bells-great fun!

Amber & Shane Gunsalus also stayed with us that weekend, and Amber took the beautiful photos of the plum blossoms, and of the SNOW! We woke up Sunday to a snowstorm-what a surprise. Before the day was over, we had five inches of snow. It was all melted the next day, so I guess it really is Spring!

Sentimental Journey Concert a Success!

A rather large winter storm threatened to put a damper on our Sentimental Journey concert on February 27th, but the die-hard Big Bear fans showed up in good numbers! Of course the parking lot at the Performing Arts Center was an ice rink after the show! We all had a good time, and hopefully, raised funds for Friends of Fawnskin!

The weather today is gorgeous! Sunny skies, no wind, perfect skiing. The slopes have so much snow! Come join Bill for some mid-week ski and boarding fun!

Don't forget our fabulous concert coming up Saturday, February 27th, at 7:30 pm at the Big Bear Lake Performing Arts Center! The concert benefits Friends of Fawnskin (http://www.friendsoffawnskin.org/) to protect the pristine areas of the valley we all love! The concert is "Sentimental Journey; The Songs of World War II; A Tribute to America's Troops" performed by Nancy Celeste Walker, with guest "divas" Kim Boda and Elena Peavy. Tickets are $20 for reserved seating, and $50 for preferred seating and VIP pre-party champagne reception.

Tickets may be purchased at : http://www.citybigbearlake.com/ .

Recent Huge Storm

Here's Heidi sitting in the newly fallen snow in our back yard-we got a lot more snow than we expected! With the rain the preceded it, then the sleet, then the snow, some trees just couldn't handle the weight. One large tree came crashing down in the back yard, but didn't damage the Inn, thank goodness! You can see that it broke in two, and the top third is on the roof.

The snow plows are doing their best. We lost power for two days, no phone, no internet, no STOVE! Yikes! These photos are pretty amazing...enjoy

Got Snow?

If you like snow, we have it! It's been snowing for days and will continue through this Saturday, Jan. 23rd! Come ski, board, or just play in the snow! It's gorgeous!

Winter is here! The snow is beautiful!

Fall is Here!

I don't remember such beautiful fall color in all the years we've lived here. When you drive around the lake, it is so amazing! Here are some photos I took this afternoon, right here in Fawnskin!

There is even beautiful color on the ski slopes...

Oktoberfest

We had a great time at our Oktoberfest Party! Here are some photos...check out the great costumes!

"Isn't It Funny?" an evening of Cabaret....Sunday October 25th 7:30 pm

I've been wanting to perform a show of humorous songs for a long time. Our beautiful new church, the Bear Valley Center for Spiritual Enrichment, has the perfect intimate setting for this show! We just had a great jazz night at the Center September 20th, and everyone had the best time. The Center seats only 50 people, making this a great venue for Cabaret. I will be accompanied on piano by my dear friend, Glenn Wonacott. He's a great songwriter too....we will be doing music from the hilarious Dave Frishberg ("My Attorney Bernie", "Peel Me a Grape" and more), George Gershwin (yes, he wrote a few funny songs), Rodgers and Hart, the incredible Noel Coward and many others. The tickets are $20.00 and you may reserve your place by calling the Center at (909) 866-7100 or you may call me here at the Inn (888) 329-6754. We look forward to seeing you all soon!

September 2009

Check out our new Giant Chair Bill just finished building! Come have your photo taken to send your friends and family, or for your next Christmas card!

Starry Starry Night

August 29th is the annual "Starry, Starry Night" fundraiser for our local D.O.V.E.S. domestic violence abuse prevention organization. Back by popular demand, the Divas will be performing with Mike Cross on piano, Terry Copley on bass, Steve Boggio on drums, and John Bolivar on saxophone. This is always a fun event-this year it will be held at Northwoods Resort, and be a great evening of dining and dancing, live and silent auctions. To reserve tickets, call D.O.V.E.S. at (909) 866-1546.

Kim Boda ~ Nancy Walker ~ Elena Peavy

July 11th concert

Mark your calendars for Nancy's next show, "A Tribute to the Grand Ole Opry", July 11th, 7:00 pm at the Discovery Center Amphitheatre. The show is part of their Music in the Mountains Concert Series. Beth Gardner will be joining Nancy, and the band will include locals Mike Cross on piano, Terry Copley on bass, and Steve Boggio on drums. Special guests include Rick Schmidt on pedal steel guitar, and Chris Woods on fiddle! A show not to be missed!

SPRING IS HERE! With warm days and cool nights, Spring is the ideal time to visit us. It is the least crowded time to visit Big Bear so come on up! Remember, it is always sunny up here! We are offering our Spring Special, with 2nd night 1/2 price or 3rd night free. The tulips and daffodils are blooming all over town, as well as the flowering plums. Our tipi is up, so you can have a quiet place to meditate, do yoga, or have a relaxing massage.

Valentine's Day is fast approaching! Treat your Sweetheart to a romantic weekend with us. Including in our special package are 1 dozen roses in your room, a cozy Ty teddy bear, and a gourment, 5 course candlelight dinner on Saturday night! Call for pricing!

Cinderella Nov. 14-30th

Be sure to come up to see your host, Nancy Walker, as the Fairy Godmother in "Cinderella" at the Big Bear Lake Performing Arts Center-Nov. 14-30th!

Oktoberfest

The "Hat Game"

Oktoberfest has come and gone-we had our own celebration here at the Inn!

Fall is here

Fall has come to Big Bear! It is so glorious to drive around the lake and see the beautiful fall colors. Be sure to come up before they are gone!