Maria as she exited from Susanville's own tea house Coventry Gardens. Meagan will be happy to hear that even Susanville has High Tea now. We had lunch in celebration of Maria's birthday and the Spinach Quiche was wonderful as were the Pumpkin Mousse and Pumpkin Crisp. The interior has been restored beautifully and the tables are set with lovely cloths and napkins in keeping with the fall season.
As I was waiting for Maria to arrive a couple of ladies drove up by me for tea and one of them I see in the Gym all the time. She is the wife of the realtor who handled my house purchase. She introduced me to her sister and then informed me it was her brother who owned the tea house. What a small world.
In talking to the owner's wife we found that they had run the Little Norway in Lake Almanor for 30 years with the wife's mother. Since her husband came from England they had always had tea. Anyway they had sold and retired and then wanted to go back into business. The idea for the business had arisen when the wife cleared out the furniture in her home one day and had a tea party for 40 women. It is a charming place and I am anxious to go there again when it is all decorated for Christmas. The house is only one block from where Maria and her family lived for a dozen years or so.
One of the magazines inside had some interesting facts about Victorian Days. For instance did you know there was a whole "language" in using the fan. There were 32 listed such as : The fan placed near the heart means "You have won my love". The half-opened fan pressed to the lips means "You may kiss me". Drawing the fan across the cheek means "I love you" while fanning slowly means "I am married" and fanning quickly means "I am engaged". And twirling the fan in the left hand means "We are being watched". I just wonder if the men really understood the language and how did they learn it? No wonder they didn't have to do a lot of talking. Fascinating to say the least.
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