Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Oh Henry.

There's a certain amount of trepidation and excitement felt when moving and beginning a new job.  For me, High Meadows was an instant hit, but still, you know some things will be different.  High Meadows itself is truly different; what do you expect from two houses built within 40 years of each other during plantation days, and then joined at the hip? I expected to work hard, meet new people, and enjoy the beautiful Virginia countryside.  I did not expect Henry.

If you've stayed with us before, then you've probably met or heard of the late, great Mr. Henry, our resident peacock.  Henry was stately and handsome, and boy did he know it.  His favorite past time was strutting along the stone path towards the gazebo, fanning out his brilliant plume, and slowly rotating like a model on a runway for the inevitable visitor standing 10 feet away with a camera.  Of course, being from Missouri originally, I didn't know people sometimes owned what I thought of as exotic, zoo-only birds.  I felt that, over time, Henry and I developed a sort of professional-ish bond; he watched me as I worked, and I took pictures of him on my phone and echoed his calls with an admiring whistle when I thought he looked lonely.

However, Henry was unfortunately lost to us this summer.  A few theories float around to try and make sense of his disappearance, but no none can explain for sure what happened to poor, lovely Henry.  It has been far too quiet this fall and winter without him.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic when Cynthia announced we'd recently accepted a new member into the High Meadows family--a young peacock! It's too early in the year for his beautiful tail feathers to be shown off, but his neck is a lovely, iridescent green.  He's a wee teenager compared to Henry, but he is sure to enjoy the grounds and visitors to the inn just as much as his predecessor.

We haven't yet named the new peacock, but I'll follow up with it as soon as a decision is made.  In the mean time, leave your suggestions in the comments and come see our new peacock!

--Written by Dannah

1 comment:

Hana said...

Looking forward to visiting the High Meadows in May for our anniversary!!! Sorry about losing Henry. How sad! How about Prince for the name of the new little guy? Sounds regal and I'm sure he will grow to have a beautiful plume :)