Miss Spenser's Blog

Bonjour Tea Friends! I arrived in Paris yesterday and wanted to share some photos with you of my first day!  On our way! Left Dortmund around 6 am in the morning. Going to travel by bus! The ride was comfy and I slept almost the whole way! *smiles* First sign for Paris! Oh La La!  Paris welcomes you!  Paris! The Seine!  Streets of Paris! I love the trees that are planted along the road!  Galeries Lafayette ~ Famous shopping mall! Very expensive but fun to look inside.  Lines and lines of people waiting to be let inside expensive stores like Prada. If you don't look wealthy, they won't let you in! The center of Galeries Layette!  Isn't that gorgeous!  Real French Macaroons! So yummy!! I've had them before in the states, but these were unbelievable!  La Louvre!  Crossing the Seine... to you see something tall on the skyline? Hint it s...

True friendship never fades, but shines in life’s different seasons. Neighbors come into our lives, some move away, some stay, some wave, and then there are a few who become true friends… When you develop such a strong friendships that last 25 years, it is amazing. ~ Cynde Vits 7/21/14 We had the privilege of having old friends over for dinner this past weekend…I was going to blog on this, but Cynde beat me to it and penned these eloquent words above on her Facebook page; I couldn’t have said it any better. We became friends in our Iowa City days…Cynde and Charlie shared in the joys when Don and I brought Miss Spenser into the world. We both moved on with jobs in the 1990’s – us to California and then back to Iowa 6 years later and the Vits to Michigan and then on to Indiana. Over the years, we have stayed in touch, Cynde and Charlie visiting us twice while in California and then we visited their lovely home in Indiana when Grayson was a few months old. Charlie and ...

In May, a couple of our regular tea friends traveled with Iowa Public Television to England…one of their stops was Highclere Castle, the home of Downton Abbey.  Here is Shirley, on the left, and Judy on the right.  Can you find them in this picture?  At last month’s tea event, you can imagine our excitement and JOY when the two of them told us that our teas are better than “Downton” teas!! They told us they love our variety and offerings…naturally, we were very happy and asked if we could broadcast this great news…and they graciously agreed!!  If you feel this way too…why not leave us a review on Teamap.com …this is a very helpful way to let others know who we are and what we do. Thank you in advance!!

This past month, we had the privilege of hosting a 90th Birthday Celebration for a very special lady – Mildred Thomas – better known as Trinky. When asking her how she got the nickname Trinky, she said she wasn’t sure, her grandfather gave it to her, and it has stuck now, some 90 years later!! A little funny trivia about Trinky and her birthday: Growing up, her family celebrated her birthday on June 16. It wasn’t until she was filing for her passport, that she discovered her “real” birthday is June 17. How funny is that?! We met Trinky at the very FIRST tea party we ever hosted as Miss Spenser’s Special-Teas. They had hired us for their Tea Guild get together and it was to be hosted in Trinky’s home. She greeted us at the door with that ever-present smile and twinkly eye…unbeknownst to her, she was our first customer; naturally, we were a bit nervous, but her graciousness and gentle spirit calmed us immediately!! We are posting several pictures from the day, some...

“No hour is lost that is spent in the saddle.”  – Winston Churchill This past weekend we hosted our Literary Tea Party – Black Beauty. What a wonderful turn out we had on both days, thank you to all for coming out! We were grateful that the weather cooperated so all of our guests were able to meet, greet and get their picture taken with our “Beauty,” a/k/a Mr. Darcy. (smiles) Our Black Beauty and Joe (Photo Credit: Wendi Taylor)  Black Beauty is a timeless classic, that has nuzzled its way into the hearts of our childhood memories and its lessons of compassion and kindness are something we carry with us like sugar cubes in our pockets throughout our adult years. Just like people, horses respond best to kindness. Horses, even though they are such big animals, are quite sensitive. They usually respond well to whispers and gentle touches. When properly trained, horses will do many different tasks at the slightest touch.  "The horse has so doci...

Excuse our silence!! So much has happened since our wonderful Mom/Daughter/Sisters/Aunt/Nieces outing in Ohio!! We returned to several full bus visits, two large Downton Abbey Teas and other tea events sprinkled through out the month of May. Whew…on top of all this, we were thrilled to have The Des Moines Register come and do a feature on the tearoom, that was fun! However, we never anticipated the influx of phone calls and reservations from the article!! I told Miss Spenser when I (Donna) was cleaning the other day that I felt like the little old woman in the shoe…she had so many children, she didn’t know what to do?! That’s how it’s been with all the phone calls…we are grateful though…but please be patient with us as we “recalculate” and try our best to accommodate each of you!! We've had several sweet tea days of late... we've had mom's celebrating end of school, an Ames book club, mother/daughter birthday celebrating their birthday - ...

During our time in Cincinnati, we took tea at the Netherlands Hotel! It is an old hotel from the 1930's ~ It was very pretty inside. Decorated in original art deco.  All ready for tea!  Our very sweet server, Natasha!  The Sandwiches and Savories  Sweet Breads Some of the Desserts  Natasha, made special take-home treats in honor of Grandma's End of Chemo-Treatment!  It was a fun day! I hope to take tea there again!