Stratford Bed&Breakfast, A B&B on Bay, Acrylic Dreams

Finally!  Spring has Sprung at A B&B on Bay, Acrylic Dreams!!!  We are feeling so blessed that the garden brings us all blooms of light and colour and fragrance to share with all that come and stay with us to enjoy.  Winter was long this year and the gardens all over town are starting to put on their show.  Right in time for opening week which begins on Monday.  And yes, we have our tickets for the grand opening which is of The Tempest featuring our next door neighbour Martha Henry in the lead role.  So excited to see the production.

We have already seen and loved the joy filled The Music Man, the raunchy Rocky Horror Picture Show (Let's Do the Time Warp) and the sensitive and sad Long Day's Journey Into Night.  We recommend them all!  So far for next week we also have our tickets for the opeing of The Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde (we are such fans of his work) and the following week Robert Lepage's production of Corilanus which we have heard will be unlike  anything the Stratford Festival has done before.

If you have not already reserved your accomodations do so as soon as possible before everything gets filled up and tickets get sold out.

​Happy Spring!  Love is in the air.

Many of you who have stayed with us may have noticed Pierrot sur la Lune who hangs in our kitchen.  Do you  know the story of how he came to be?
When Karen was a student living in Paris back when she was all of 18 years old and studying at la Sorbonne and the Etienne Decroux school of mime she was going to have her first Christmas away from her home and family.  Her parents generously gave her some money to buy a Christmas gift that she would always remember.
She had French friends living in Montmartre who made marionettes for a living.  She chose Pierrot sur la lune as her Christmas gift who lived with her in Paris and then flew back on the flight to Toronto and sat next to her on the plane.  ( in those days it was possible...)  
Pierrot has lived with her all these years and since 1987 has been at A B&B on Bay, Acrylic Dreams silently sharing our dreams.
We wish everyone days and nights full of love and happiness.
Tonight oysters on the menu of course, and a lobster risotto paired with a bubby cremant.

 When it is cold and snowy outside Jack enjoys making comfort foods like his infamous Irish soda bread that he often serves at the B&B.  Wholesome ingredients and so yummy! This guy is always trying out new recipes to serve for breakfast at our B&B.

We remember the flowers blooming in our gardens not so long ago.  Hard to believe on a day like today!

We remember the blooms...

And the guests who touched our lives as the year draws to a close.

 So many who brought joy to this sanctuary in the heart of Stratford and enjoyed a good sleep and breakfasts surrounded by Jack's art including the author of The Handmaid's Tale and her husband and groups, couples and individuals from around the globe.

A photo of us above on January 1st, 2017.  The day after tomorrow it will be the first of 2018!  How the year has flown by!

A member of a group of regular guests snapped a shot of us in one of our front gardens as we were going out to dinner on our 36th wedding anniversary on August 1st, walking downtown to Pazzo's Taverna where we had reserved a romantic booth for the occasion.

And right after Jack's birthday last early January we returned to Puerto Morelos, Mexico with Puccini who is originally from there and who adopted us there and we rented a sweet little home for two months.  Puccini travels back and forth with us in his soft sided kitty carrier in the cabin of the plane with us.

While there we noticed two abandoned dogs nearby both female.  One, a pit bull left chained to a tree and the other one who was "free" and not chained we discovered was deaf. We ade sure that they had food and water and I began walking them and making every effort to find them good homes.  On the afternoon before our flight back to Canada finally the deaf one was adopted and after we had her to a vet and discovered that she had 2 treatable conditions that would have prevented her from travelling to Canada.

Saying good bye to Shena was difficult.
We thank Stratford based actress LInda Prystawska from the bottom of our hearts for organizing a fund for both dogs rescue and care and for actually flying down to help out!  Miriam for getting the pit bull rescued and Jorie and her organization for getting Sheena to the vet for blood work and medications and Alana from Seattle for adopting Sheena and giving her such a loving home.

​What a year it has been!

We look forward to welcoming you to Acrylic Dreams in the Spring, Summer, Autumn or perhaps even this Winter.  What a wonderland in any season!

Wishing everyone a new year full of joy and magic and happy times, good health and lots of love.  XO

Many years ago in Toronto we shared our first Christmas together in the litte flat at the top of a house that we rented.  We had a tiny Christmas tree in a pot that we put on our table and we decorated it and it looked quite festive.  Over the years we transplanted it to larger and larger pots and it grew and grew and eventually when we bought our current home Acrylic Dreams we planted it in our side garden.  Now our first Christmas tree towers over our house and it has become a home for many birds and squirrels and provides us with shade in the summer and lots of pine cones.

Jack, Puccini and I wish you a Happy Christmas full of love and joy. XO

Winter is upon us!

Warm and cozy inside Acrylic Dreams, Stratford on a cold and blustery day. What about a relaxing spa getaway in a winter wonderland?  Dreaming of a white Christmas?  As the snow flies all around us it seems like that is a given.

And speaking of giving do you have gifts for all those loved ones near and dear to your heart.  What about a gift certificate for an overnight stay or weekend at Acrylic Dreams?  Or what about a gift certificate for our popular spa pampering package?

Hands on healing to de-stress and revitalize.  And who doesn't have enough stress in their lives during these trying times?

Give the gift of health.  A half an hour deeply relaxing chair massage followed by an hour reflexology treatment of foot bliss.  Gift certificates entitle a very special person to a session of total relaxation. Only $95.00.  Appointments are available any time of the year.  More info and details on our website www.chairmassageandreflexology.com

Here we are almost at the end of 2017 and beginning our first blog by special request.  Over the years of running Acrylic Dreams so many of our guests have asked us to write a book about all of our stories at Acrylic Dreams and we have always been too busy to sit down and write.  This is the beginning...
What a year it has been!  Our 30th season of hosting guests from all over the globe. As far as we know we are the longest owner/operators of a B&B in Stratford.  Wow!
Our amazing guests keep returning year after year and we feel blessed and grateful.  They understand how we have tried to create a welcoming sanctuary for theatre, travel and spa afficionados.
Weren't the productions at the Stratford Festival outstanding in 2017? What were your favourites?  Ours were Timon of Athens, Tartuffe, The Madwoman of Chaillot and of course, Guys&Dolls.

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We made our pilgrimmage to France for a month right after the end of the season and ad to make a pit stop for a coffee at Chez Francis the cafe in The Madwoman of Chaillot shortly after arriving.

It was probably the most expensive coffee that we had out in France but well worth it and with a view of the Eiffel Tower we thought of Seana McKenna and Scott Wentworth and the rest of the brilliant cast of The Madwoman of Chaillot.  The third time we saw the production was the final performance which may well be the last performance in the Tom Patterson theatre before it is torn down and a new theatre erected.  We walked back from that matinee in the late afternoon fall sunshine with tears in our eyes unable to speak.
Fitting to begin our annual "pilgrimmage" to Paris with a coffee at Chez Francis.
Later that week we went out to lunch at one of our favourite little restaurants aaround the Luxembourg gardens, La Cuisine de Philippe where we had our grand marnier souffle fix for dessert.
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Ain't life grand..?  And as some of you regulars know sometimes Jack creates souffles for breakfast at Acrylic Dreams.
This year we were fortunate that friends let us use their house in Andernos-les-Bains on the coast in the Arcachon Bassin about an hour's drive from Bordeaux. We had a week there by the sea enjoying long daily bike rides through forests, by the sea and through small villages.

They harvest oysters in Andernos-les-Bains which are one of our favourite foods and we indulged our passion frecuently.

Returning to Paris for the final week in our month in France it was wonderful to re-visit le Fondation Louis Vuitton designed by Frank Gehry in le Bois du Boulogne where they had a MOMA exhibition from New York.

We like to use the washrooms at the Ritz hotel.  Always gathering decorating ideas.  Check out the taps in the washroom.

And no we can not afford to stay or dine at the Ritz but we do love going in and looking at their boutique shop windows and seeing how the other half lives.  Sigh.  We always rent an apartment when we stay in Paris and for the second year in a row we rented a marvelous little studio in the 9th and when we stepped out onto the street and looked to the right Sacre Coeur glowed above us.

The studio is on the courtyard level on the right. So close to the happening rue des Martyrs and to one of our favourite small museums, the Gustave Moreau and not far from the film Amelie's neighbouhood.  Such gracious owners who live behind the majestic doors.  
Tried to cram in as much as we could during our 4th and final week in Paris before returning back to Stratford and Acrylic Dreams.

Sadly it was time to leave.

Puccini was waiting and guarding Acrylic Dreams in our absence and he welcomed us with his dreamy eyes and lots of cuddles.

While in France we received a lot of room reservation requests from our regulars for the 2018 season which have continued steadily since returning.  There is so much excitement about the 2018 Stratford Festival season which begins on Tuesday April 17th.
There are Spring & Fall savings for advance ticket sales and we advise you to get yours early as the buzz is 2018 is going to be a hot very popular year in Stratford.  Many of our regular clients book their favourite rooms with us at Acrylic Dreams before purchasing their theatre tickets to avoid disappointment.  
We look forward to hearing from you soon and hope that there is room at the inn.  Book today.