Mother Nature is welcoming in spring with warmer weather and longer days. We’ve seen wild turkeys strutting through the back woods, along with the return of the robins. It’s beautiful to witness, and it’s a great time of year to stretch your legs, either at the beach or the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. So we hope you can plan a visit soon, and we’ll help you shake off those winter blues.

Sherwood Forest Cottage
Our Cottage is getting booked up for the summer, here’s what we have left: May 31-June 6, June 7-13, July 19-25, July 26-August 1, August 16-22, and August 23-29. It goes for $1200 for the week and sleeps up to 5 people, has a full kitchen, washer/dryer, pool privileges, and is only 1/2 block from Lake Michigan and the public beach. And of course, there is still nightly availability for the spring and fall. For more information, you can visit the cottage website at http://www.sherwoodforestbandb.com/COTTAGE.HTML

April Massage Special
Enjoy a soothing massage in the comfort of your own room in a style suited just for you (cost of 1 night stay and 2 massages ranges from $235-$300). We also offer romantic wine and cheese baskets and delicious chocolate lovers packages. Offer good Sunday-Thursday, April 2008.

Private Golf Lessons
Now that spring is here it’s time to dust off those golf clubs and hit the links. We’ve teamed up with the Ravines Golf Club, an Arnold Palmer Signature Championship Golf Course with some awesome PGA professionals, to offer golf lessons for one or two persons. You’ll get a 1-night stay at Sherwood Forest and a 30- to 45-minute golf lesson with a guaranteed lesson time at the Ravines Golf Club. We have lots of different packages, so for more info and prices, check out http://www.sherwoodforestbandb.com/GOLF.html

Gift Certificates
Give the most amazing gift on the planet. Imagine receiving a gift certificate from Sherwood Forest B&B! After the recipient jumps up and down and hugs that special someone, he or she will rush to the phone to book a room at Sherwood Forest (just gotta have that fireplace/Jacuzzi suite). Call 800-838-1246, or visit our gift certificate page at http://www.sherwoodforestbandb.com/giftcert.htm

Here’s what’s happening in and around the area:

WINE DINNERS

Join the folks at Everyday People Café for their wine dinner on April 15 at 6:30 p.m. It’s across the Atlantic with rebel Tour de France dinner: 6 courses will be paired up with some wines from the land that paired wine with love and attitude. Culinary and vine elucidations guaranteed to please your senses. For more info, visit http://everydaypeoplecafe.com or call 269-857-4240.

On April 26, The Fenn Valley Winery, a local vineyard, will host a culinary excursion to a foreign land. This year Christine Ferris will help them explore the mysterious Southeast Asian country of Thailand that will be paired up with some awesome wines from Fenn Valley. Reservations are required. For more info, call 269-561-2396 or visit http://www.fennvalley.com

MUSIC

Visit Journeyman Café/Rye in Fennville for music. April 4: Bill & Jessie Freshwater, Celtic; April 11: Luke Winslow-King, delta blues; April 18: Jocelyn Scofield, jazz/folk; April 25: Who Hit John, bluegrass. All shows begin at 8 p.m. For more info visit http://journeymancafe.com/events.htm or call 269-561-2269.

Folk/Blues
On April 12 at 8 p.m. at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts don’t miss folk/rock/blues singer-songwriter Venitia Sekema accompanied by Mark Albers on stand up bass and Danny Dine on guitar. Sekema has been winning over audiences around the Midwest with her straightforward, sometimes funny, always emotionally moving lyrics. For more info, call 269-857-2399 or visit www.sc4a.org

Sirens
The Chenille Sisters will be performing on April 19 at 8 p.m. at the SCA. What these three women have in common are heavenly voices, a lot of witty wisdom, and a passion for connecting with their audiences. For more info, call 269-857-2399 or visit www.sc4a.org

Jazz/Blues
There is some awesome music being played at the What Not Inn (a neat little restaurant) every Saturday, Sunday, and Mondays (with Wally Michaels on piano, Jeff Beavan on bass, and Jack Wilkin on the drums). Enjoy the heartfelt show tunes sung by one of Saugatuck’s favorites, Michael Holmes, and there’s some cool jazz by vocalist Mary Rademacher and Edye Evans Hyde. Show times are 7-11 p.m. For more info, call 269-543-3341 or visit http://www.whatnotinn.com

Blues/Jazz
Join the hip and groovy folks at Everyday People Café every Friday and Saturday in April from 6:30-10 p.m. to hear some really cool jazz. You’ll see the likes of the Eddy Curtis Jazz Duo and Rick Hicks Blues Guitar. For more info visit http://everydaypeoplecafe.com or call 269-857-4240.

ART

The Water Street Gallery and Amazwi Contemporary Art invite you to come and play Art Dart. When: April 19, 6-8 pm; How: Purchase a dart ($250) then throw your dart to receive a number and at 7 p.m., the fun begins. When you hear your number called, grab your favorite piece of art from the gallery wall. Water Street Gallery is on Center St., downtown Douglas. For more info, call 269-857-8485 or visit http://www.waterstreetgallery.com

Good Goods in downtown Saugatuck has just taken a new shipment of Stick Plaques for their Sticks Object Art and Furniture collection, which is handcrafted in the U.S. Sticks has received national acclaim for their distinctive line of furniture, accessories, and sculptural art. For more info, visit http://www.goodgoods.com or call 888-857-6501.

Constance Petter Gallery will exhibit Michael Maitner's newest additions of whimsical and surreal oil landscapes influenced by Benton, Wood, and Hopper. Located on 161 Blue Star Highway in Douglas. Call 269.857.7861 or visit http://www.constancepettergallery.com

ThirdStone Gallery's April feature is Equinoxica-Non-Toxica, a group show to greet the spring season. Featuring new works from Tom DePree, Susan Mulder, Kathy Arredondo, and several other ThirdStone regulars. The show will also welcome painter Sarah Hurley and new digital works by Mary Hatch. ThirdStone is at 120 E. Main St., downtown Fennville. For more info, visit http://www.thirdstoneartgallery.com or call 269-561-8149.

Film Studies
On the first and third Tuesdays in April at The Red Barn Playhouse, Bill Henderson will host a film series: the first is The Loved One a comedy by Tony Richardson on April 15; then Fantasia by Walt Disney on April 29. There will be brief comments before each film and audience discussion afterward. For more info, call 269-857-5300.

A Passion for Furniture Design
On April 17 at 7 p.m. at the SCA, Joseph Jeup, a Kendall College Art and Design graduate and one of the nation’s hottest designers shares his passion for designing and manufacturing and talks about how Michigan’s historic furniture design industry stacks up against its global competitors. For more info, visit http://www.sc4a.org or call 269-857-2399.

EXHIBITIONS

Polyester: American Fashion of the 1960s & 1970s will be at the Holland Museum through May. This exhibition of festive-occasion to everyday clothing from the museum's collection spans several decades of American fashion with particular attention paid to the rise in use of synthetic textiles and psychedelic design of the 1960s and ‘70s. The Herman Miller Foundation sponsors the exhibit. For more info, visit http://www.hollandmuseum.org/ or call 888-200-9123.

An exhibition partnership with the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society and Museum features a collection of historic signage from the Saugatuck-Douglas area, including the Saugatuck Chain Ferry, Mt. Baldhead Hotel, architect Carl Hoerman, and more. This exhibition reveals both the changing nature of sign design through the decades and the evolution of the Saugatuck-Douglas community. The exhibit is up at the SCA now through April 28. For more info, call 269-857-2399 or visit www.sc4a.org


Visiting Writers
Next in the line-up for the Hope College Visiting Writers Series on April 16 at 7 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theater in downtown Holland is fiction writer Karen Joy Fowler, who is the author of several novels and short-story collections, including The Jane Austen Book Club, a novel widely popular with readers and critics alike. Fowler's earlier work is well known to fans of literary science fiction and fantasy, and she has won many awards, including a Nebula Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The author will read from selected works. For more info, call 616-395-7403 or visit http://www.hope.edu/vws/

Antiques
The Allegan County Antique Market will start up the last Sunday in April from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Allegan County Fairgrounds. The 400 exhibitors will be there rain or shine--200 indoor and 200 under canopies (the market is always the last Sunday of the month, April through September). For more info, call 269-735-3333. And don't forget about the antique hot spot in the area, the Blue Star Antique Pavilion at 2948 Blue Star Highway in Douglas.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

April 12, Saugatuck, Town Crier 5K and 10K
April 13, Herrick Library Concert Series, Hammers & Horns, Horn/Fortepiano 3:00p.m.
April 10-12, 17-20, 24-26 You Can’t Get There from Here, Holland Civic Theater
May 2-4, Blue Coast Artist opening Weekend
May 3, Downtown Douglas Spring Preview
May 3, Rusty Evens, A Tribute to Johnny Cash, SCA-Saugatuck
May 3-10, Tulip Time Festival, Holland
May 15, Lecture Series, Artistic Traditions of Great Lakes Native People, SCA-Saugatuck
May 17, Colin Hay (80’s band-Men at Work), SCA-Saugatuck
May 23, Shemekia Copeland, Blues, SCA-Saugatuck
May 24, Dave Mason, (Traffic-Rock n Roll Hall of Famer), SCA-Saugatuck
May 25, Dee Alexander, Jazz, SCA-Saugatuck
May 25, Allegan Antique Market, Allegan
May 26, Memorial Day Parade, Saugatuck & Douglas
June 3, 11, 18,& 25 Music in the Park, Saugatuck
June 7, Marcia Ball, Boogie-Blues, SCA-Saugatuck
June 11, Lecture Series, The Genius of Burr
Tillstrom, SCA-Saugatuck
June 12-15, Waterfront Film Festival
June 13, 20 & 27, Saugatuck Green Market
June 14, Saugatuck Arts and Crafts Show
June 27, Fenn Valley Winery open house
July 4, Independence Day
July 5, The Capitol Steps, Comedy, SCA-Saugatuck

Books
Sue’s book of the month is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby. It’s 1995, Bauby was the editor-in-chief of the French magazine Elle, the father of two young children, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, style, and impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem. After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating a word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again. By turns wistful, mischievous, angry, and witty, Bauby bears witness to his determination to live as fully in his mind as he had been able to do in his body. Again and again he returns to an inexhaustible reservoir of sensations, keeping in touch with himself and the life around him. You can purchase or order this book at the Singapore Bank Bookstore in Saugatuck (269-857-3785) or at Treehouse Books in Holland (616-494-5085) or visit http://www.treehousebooks.net

Sherwood Forest Staples
We will pamper you to your heart's content with one of our Sweetheart Specials (we now can include Godiva Chocolates), or you can try one of our in-house massages--doesn't get much better than that. And of course, there's our ever-popular Famous Chefs of Saugatuck Gourmet Dinners November through April. You can link to our Sweetheart Specials at http://www.sherwoodforestbandb.com/SWEETHEART.HTML

Here's the link for gourmet dinner details and a sample menu:
http://www.sherwoodforestbandb.com/DINNERS.HTML.

From the Sherwood Forest Files:
Another amazing recipe from Tranquility Carol, the wispy siren who sings the songs of the deep woods. She liberates the soul with subtle touches and tastes and brings us this springtime recipe just as the days are warming up. This soup has a wonderful, jovial flavor, and when you add the cilantro, you’re in heaven.

Tranquility Carol’s Southwestern Soup

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1-cup onion, diced
Two-thirds cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1 pound pork tenderloin or chicken, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups less-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
One-half teaspoon salt
One-quarter teaspoon black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup diced avocado
Sour cream and tortilla chips

Preparation:
Heat a small nonstick Dutch oven over medium-heat. Coat pan with olive oil. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeño to pan; sauté for 2 minutes. Add pork; cook 3 minutes. Add broth and next 6 ingredients (through tomatoes); bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes or until pork is done, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and stir in cilantro. Serve with avocado and sour cream. Yield: 4 servings.

For more hip and groovy recipes, you can visit our recipes page on our website at http://www.sherwoodforestbandb.com/RECIPE.HTML

Hope to see you soon!

Keith & Sue
Sherwood Forest Bed & Breakfast
938 Center St.
Douglas, Michigan
http://www.sherwoodforestbandb.com
800-838-1246

P.S. Peace on Earth