"High Tea" at Luther Burbank's Farm

Well... The kitty and I have been "baching" it for the last couple of days... Hubby took off on his Harley with a couple of his friends to a big concert up north where there will be beer and loud rock ‘n roll. I don't really mind. I actually think it's kind of cute that "the fellas" go off together and play biker for a couple of days.

But, I've realized, when you're with someone every day -- no matter how cranky they get or how much they get on your nerves -- that, unless you have your own "big event" to see to, when they're gone, it gets kind of boring and there's a thousand little things that you don't realize how much you depend on the other person to do...

Take, for example, Saturday morning when I had to go to a "High Tea" fundraising event for the historical society I belong to at which I was to lead tours of the historical site Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Farm in costume... Now, I‘ve done this many times before but I never realized how impossible it was to zip the back of my "period style" blouse before... I mean, Hubby always helps me zip it, but I suppose that I actually felt like I could do it all by myself if I had to...

That is, until Saturday morning...

I had all of my costume on -- long skirt, pinafore, big hat, etc. -- but, when it came to zipping the blouse, I realized that I truly couldn't do it. I tried for a while but then gave up and wound my way down the driveway with the back of my blouse gaping...

I stopped at the landlord's house and called out but nobody came to the door and then I got the bright idea that I would go further down the driveway to the landlord's son's and daughter-in-law's house and ask her to do it...

They weren't home, either, and, beings as I needed to pick up a pack of cigarettes before I left, I couldn't very well walk into the liquor store with my back completely unzipped...

So, I started looking around as I drove down the road and I thought to myself: "The first woman I see, I'm going to pull over and ask if she would zip me up."

I saw lots of men going about their business but it took me a while to finally find a woman. She was getting out of her car with a small boy and looked like she was going to go into one of the houses on the street on the edge of town.

I gestured to her as I pulled over, unfastened my seat belt and got out of the car -- leaving it running.

As she walked up to me, I said, "Look, I know this is a really weird request but, there's nobody at my house and I have to go lead some tours at a historical site today and... well... I couldn't zip up the back of my blouse. Do you think you could? I'd appreciate it so much..."

She was nice about it and even asked me if I wanted her to hook the little hook-and-eye at the top. It was probably the strangest request she'd gotten from a stranger in a long time...

I arrived very early at "The Farm" as we call it to find the decorating committee had done a fantastic job of decorating the little "Caretaker's Cottage" on the property with flowers, statuettes, floral artwork hanging from long, white ribbons and ivy garlands wound around the mantle and hanging from light fixtures and the tops of pictures.

Most of the ladies who were doing the serving were already there -- hard at work -- seeing to all of the last-minute details before the first of two seatings arrived.

My work as a tour guide wasn't to begin until after the first seating had finished eating, drinking their tea and listening to the poetry readings that were scheduled on the program, so, I put myself to work cutting up lemons for the table settings.

A friend of mine made 75 petite fours in pastel colors, 75 real Scottish scones and 75 little, individual cheesecakes topped with cherries for the event which were arranged onto 3-tiered trays along with tiny cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, pointes of chicken curry sandwiches, chocolate truffles and heart-shaped mints. Fresh blueberries and strawberries strewn over and around the pastries with just the right amount of panache made the perfect impression.

As the ladies (and, believe it or not, at least two gentlemen) arrived, they were encouraged to pick out a hat to wear during the Tea from a huge boxful of all different styles.

Everyone seemed to be having a great time (workers and patrons alike) and the weather cooperated fully as the bright, sunny afternoon wound on. . .

Four readers dressed in their best, afternoon affair, summer finery read poems from a book written and published by some local women replete with artistic photos of their tea pots and tea cups in different settings.

As the ladies cleared the tables after the first group was finished with the program, I led about fifteen hardy souls on a brief tour of the Farm which they seemed to enjoy very much.

In-between, I snuck tastes of cucumber sandwiches and truffles and listened to some of the poetry from outside the front door... 

By the time the second group arrived for the sold-out event, my elaborate "period-style" costume was beginning to make me perspire under the long skirt, long-sleeved blouse and pinafore but, I steadfastly kept true-to-course until the last eager tour-seekers had been satisfied.

All in all, the "High Tea" (which, as I kept telling the ladies who organized it, meant a whole different thing in the 1960s when I grew up ;o) ) was a rousing success that brought some much-needed funds to the Western Sonoma County Historical Society's projects in light of the present state of the economy in which funding is extremely scarce...

And, I dare say, it illustrated that there is still interest today for genteel, formal, dress-up affairs where art, manners and polite conversation rule the day.