Miss Spenser's Blog

One of the first questions we posed to Alan and Ilse was, “What is Fall like in England?” Being the proper English gentleman that Alan is, he carefully informed us that the English refer to this season as “Autumn”, not “Fall”… which does have a lovely ring to it, don’t you think? It’s much more poetic and enticing than just plain “Fall” So…we are working on changing our vocabulary around here! (smiles) Much like the States, Autumn is a time when the land sheds it lush green shades and turns mosaic in nature. Although ‘Autumn’s colours’ in England may not be as dramatic as one would enjoy in “New England,” the striking shades of golds, yellows and reddy-browns provide a brilliant display to please the eye. How long it lasts is weather dependent and varies from year to year, but it’s usually best when they have had a dry summer. October is the month when weather patterns shift and they start to receive the tail end of the depressions that cause hurricanes on the East Coast. It isn’...

Dear Tea Friends, please meet Miss Spenser’s Friends Across the Pond, Alan and Ilse Ridgeway of Horsham, England. Last Fall, we received a note from Alan stating he’d like to visit our tearoom in 2011 while they were visiting family in the Des Moines area. He had filled out the contact form bearing an “English” address. Miss Spenser asked, “Is this guy for real?” (smiles) Well, we are happy to say, “Yes, these folks are for real!!” This past June, we had the privilege of meeting Alan, his wife, Ilse, her sister, Erika, and her husband, Paul. Now, you can only imagine our concern when we realized that we would be hosting tea to ‘real’ English people!! Of course, we had done our research on English tearooms, but as you know, we hadn’t formally been there yet. We felt much like Mrs. Cratchit when she had her doubts about the flour concerning the plum pudding!! However, as soon as they arrived, they quickly put us at ease and Alan reassured us that we had the scones, “just righ...