WOODSTOCK - Merida Johns had never spoken to a rabbi in her entire life, but she listened - and believed - what he told her.

Johns was hospitalized at the time, facing the unknown, but the visiting rabbi told her:

"You are going to be OK. You don't have ovarian cancer."

While they talked, she shared with him a dream she'd had of opening a bed and breakfast facility.

"You need to do the bed and breakfast when you get out of here," the rabbi encouraged.

The rabbi, it turned out, was correct about her illness. After determining she'd been walking around for seven weeks with an undetected ruptured appendix, she was finally undergoing the correct treatment.

And, when she was released, the Loyola University School of Business professor remembered the rabbi's admonition. She resigned and followed her dream.

As her husband Russell told her, "I can't argue with a rabbi."

That dream, it turns out, began in the early 1980s when, then a professor at Ohio State University, she began booking students into bed and breakfast facilities for their extended stays during their summer studies.

"The students (mostly professional women working on advanced degrees) absolutely loved them," said Johns. "It was like it was big pajama party for them.

"From that point on, I said, 'I'm going to have a bed and breakfast.' "

In 2003, she and her husband purchased a site in Woodstock where they'd once stayed, the Bundling Board Inn.

"I'm living my dream. I have absolutely no regrets."

Though the Bundling Board is open year around, Johns is expanding her horizons again. Today, the Decatur Herald & Review begins running her column, featuring original recipes she has developed. It will appear monthly.

"I like to do the breakfasts. I like to write," said Johns, who has two textbooks and numerous articles published.

And, yes, she said, the recipes have been tried on all of her guests.

In fact, most of the recipes she uses in the inn are hers, though she's willing to try ones which guests suggest as well. One of those shared ones, for example, is Bob's Granola.

"We use Bob's Granola in our granola pancakes that we make," she said.

Johns plans to occasionally include recipes from others in the column as well.

"The other thing that I do want to include in this is to every now and again include another recipe from (another) bed and breakfast in the Midwest. It's an opportunity for my colleagues to get some recognition."

Breakfast, whether the kind served in her facility or not, said Johns, can make a great start to the day, a positive start. What she serves, she said, are the kinds of breakfasts she remembers from her childhood.

"The purpose of (the column), too, and the idea of breakfast, is that these recipes are simple.

"There are no fancy gadgets, no obscure ingredients or anything hard to get.

"They are really geared to the family being able to use these."

Arlene Mannlein can be reached at amannlein@herald-review.com or 421-6976.