MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Bruce and I love this time of year. The Katy House is decorated for Christmas, the weather is cooler and downtown Smithville is decked out for the season with trees and four-foot Gingerbread Men up and down Main Street. As guests come and go this season, we are reminded that the very best thing about owning a Bed and Breakfast is the wonderful and interesting people we get to know.

This is a perfect time of the year to give a gift certificate to the Katy House. You know someone that would love to come and visit Smithville. One night is $160 for two, including breakfast, all the trimming and the taxes. We’ll mail the gift certificate to you, or send it to the recipient. It will be a gift that will be remembered for years. Maybe it’s time for you to return to Smithville, so buy one for yourself!

The Annual Festival of Lights, December 4th, was a fun-filled Saturday, with a lighted night-time parade then a free live theater production called “Frosty vs. the Abominable Snowman,” by Smithville Playhouse. The movie, “Beneath the Darkness,” filmed part of the parade. As the Smithville High School Band marched and played, a man ran through the band, with a policeman chasing him down.

Smithville continues to be a “film friendly” community. “Tree of Life,” starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn will be in theaters May 27.th In the last year there have been several films made here. We’ve had the pleasure of visiting with John Schneider, Jenn Gotzen, Ernie Hudson, Robert Davi, Will Wallace, Joe Estevez and Erin Way. They were here in the spring filming “Doonby.” Watch for these movies to open in 2011: “Tree of Life,” “Five Time Champion,” “Natural Selection,” “Doonby,” “Bernie” and “Beneath the Darkness” as all or part were filmed here. Dennis Quaid’s trailer is parked across the street right now.

We’ve had a fun and busy year at the Bed and Breakfast with lots of wonderful guests that are now friends. Bruce has now retired from the Union Pacific Railroad. He still runs trains as a volunteer engineer for the Austin Steam Train. He has also been restoring the caboose and it will eventually be a guest cottage.

The Katy House Baked Egg recipe is perfect for a special breakfast for visitors.
Just email us and we will send you the recipe.

We hope you have a blessed Christmas Season and hope to see you in Happy New 2011!

We are excited that Playhouse Smithville is having Saturday Morning Children’s Theatre. The Theatre is one block from our B and B, on our historic Main Street, here in Smithville, Texas.  See the announcement:

 Auditions for Young Actors: Cereal Thrillers, Playhouse Smithville, September 18     

Snap, Crackle and Pop (TM Kellogg’s Cereals)

 (www.playhousesmithville.com)

 PlayhouseSmithville.com announces auditions for

 Cereal Thrillers

 Saturday Morning Children’s Theatre

 Playhouse Smithville is putting out a call to young actors of any age over six.  Cereal Thrillers, written and directed by the Playhouse Artistic Director john daniels, jr. (sic), needs Snap, Crackle, Pop, Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Boo Berry, Sugar Bear, Trix and Silly Rabbit, L. C. Leprechaun, Crunch Berry Beast, SeaDog, Jean LaFoote and of course the Cap’n.

 Come be in a silly, serial-cereal play, a “who or what done it.”  Adults, children and families welcome to audition.  Cereal Thrillers begins Playhouse Smithville’s Saturday Morning Children’s Theatre.  The show will play Friday evenings October 15 and 22, Saturday mornings October 16, 23, and 30 and one special Sunday October 31 matinee which will include a costume contest before audience and cast members go out trick-or-treating.

 Cereal Thrillers auditions Saturday, September 18 at 2:00 PM.  Come dressed to play and have fun. Playhouse Smithville, 110 Main Street.   For more information or to purchase pre-sale tickets visit www.playhousesmithville.com or call 512 360-7397.

“Smitty’s Garden Tour”

Smithville Community Garden Fundraising Tour.
May 1, 2010
10AM to noon: Expert Talks at Selected Locations
Noon to 4PM: All Garden Locations Open
$10 for adults; children 12 and under FREE!

Most locations will feature experts in various fields such as bees, vermiculture (worms), landscaping, rainwater recapture, integrated pest management, and others. Some garden locations will include more formal discussions from 10AM to noon, and all locations will provide information and informal interaction with the experts.

Ticket sales will pay for plants and seeds for garden sites, educational programs, needed tools and equipment, and a building fund for the property at MLK and Hwy 95.

The Smithville Community Gardens turns vacant property into productive land with help from many volunteers.

We hope to see you there!
See http://www.ci.smithville.tx.us/ for more details.

Tickets can be bought at the Smithville Chamber or at the gardens on Saturday.

For additional information of what is available in Smithville, see: www.smithvilletx.org Also, if you plan on an extended stay, feel free to email me (pHantompHrog) for additional information.

We plan on this being a friendly event for all families and individuals who attend.

 ARTS COTTAGE PLAYS HOST TO BOB LIVINGSTON TRIO, AUSTIN’S INTERNATIONAL MUSIC AMBASSADORS

 The Arts Cottage – Rock-C Ranch – 1620 FM 535 – Smithville, TX 78957   Saturday   April 24th   7:00PM

  On Saturday, April 24th, the Arts Cottage at the Rock-C Ranch near Smithville will play host to the BOB LIVINGSTON TRIO for an evening of great music and storytelling.  Officially designated, ‘Austin’s International Music Ambassadors’, the Trio is made up of  frontman, former Lost Gonzo Band member, Bob Livingston, guitarist Bradley Kopp, and fiddle player, Richard Bowden.  They will come ready to play for the homefolks in Texas, the same great music that brought them standing ovations in Europe and across Africa last Fall.

 The travels in Africa were the latest leg on a worldwide tour that began for Livingston in 1986.  As a cultural ambassador for the US State Department, he has taken Texas music as far afield as India, Pakistan, Yemen, Thailand and Vietnam, and has demonstrated time and again the unique power that music has to build bridges between peoples of the world.  As Livingston says, “When all else fails, music prevails’.

 Best known for his membership in the legendary Lost Gonzo Band, and his association with some of the most colorful musicians in Texas including Michael Martin Murphey, Jerry Jeff Walker and Ray Wylie Hubbard, Livingston is making a mark these days in his own right as a singer-songwriter.  His 2004 album, ‘Mahatma Gandhi and Sitting Bull’, was named by the Austin American-Statesman as one of the Top 10 CDs the year it was released.  Livingston toured last year around a new compilation album entitled, ‘Original Spirit” and is now back in the studio working with Producer Lloyd Maines on a project that signals a return to his Texas roots: a little more ‘Cowboy’ than ‘Cosmic’ this time around.  This new album is due to be released in May or June.

 The recently opened Arts Cottage is the fruition of the hard work and vision of Pebbles Wadsworth, former director of the University of Texas Performing Arts Center.  The beautifully restored century old cottage was relocated to the Rock-C Ranch, less than an hour from Austin, and is now used as a community gathering place for culture, arts and education.  The acoustics are excellent and the venue is perfect for music.  Come out early, enjoy a glass of wine and watch the sunset, then settle in for a fine night with the Bob Livingston Trio.  Seating is limited to 50, so go to:  www.cottageofthearts.com , or call 512-633-6533 to reserve your place for this wonderful evening.

Contact:  Georgeanne Olive  Telephone:  Cell 404-403-8189

For more info on Smithville contact the Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce. For info on lodging contact the Katy House Bed and Breakfast.

While most of our Katy House guests this weekend were antique shopping at Warrenton and Round Top, we had a couple from Denmark visiting. They were here to run in the 50-mile Hell’s Hills race held at Rocky Hill Ranch on Saturday, April 3. This was a trail run consisting of a 50-mile, 50k, and 25k race and one of the Tejas Trails series. There will be three more events at Rocky Hill this year. Rasmus and Tracy Høeg, natives of Denmark and living temporarily in Wisconsin stayed three days at our bed and breakfast. They didn’t come to relax, they came to win. And win they did! Tracy was third in the 50-mile run women’s division, and Rasmus was first overall. Breakfast on Sunday was a celebration of treasures found at the antique shows, stories of a great family reunion nearby and certainly the victory at Rocky Hill Ranch. A great time was had by all.

“Go Wild in Smithville!”  The Smithville Business Association is sponsoring its Second Annual Wildflower Event.  The merchants in Historic Downtown Smithville will be giving away FREE packets of wildflower seeds (while supplies last). Each of the 18 locations will have a different variety. Start out on Main Street for your first free packet and a map of the participating locations.  The “GO Wild in Smithville” celebration is being held on Saturday, May 1st from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. The Katy House Bed and Breakfast is one of the participating merchants.  We are not on Smithville, Texas’  Historic Main Street,  where all the antique shops are located, but one block away on Ramona and Second Street.

Our 6th Annual  Fly-In & Pancake Breakfast is Saturday, May 8th, 2010.  The Fly-In is at Smithville Municipal Airport  84R . Located at Highway 71 and Hw 95,  it is Bastrop County’s only airport. Pancakes will be served from 9:00 AM to Noon.  For more information call the Smithville Chamber of Commerce at (512) 237-2313 or see the web site at www.smithvilletx.org .    Downtown Smithville is a treat, and there will be transportation available to go visit Main Street for a few hours. Plan to spend the night at the Katy House and we will pick you up at the Airport.  Katy House Bed and Breakfast phone is (512) 237-4262