Tea On My Mind

I know I've blogged about "Tea" before and hopefully I will be forgiven - I am British, after all. It's part of our culture. So you can imagine my excitement when I  was invited to an "Afternoon Tea with the Ladies of Mystery" hosted by the Friends of the Lomita Library in Lomita, California.

Co-ordinated by the effervescent Evelyn Moore from Sisters in the Crime Los Angeles, I joined fellow panelists, authors Kate Carlise, Dorothy Howell and Laura Levine for a fabulous afternoon of delicious food and fun.

Ruth Herbert, President of Friends of the Lomita Library, confessed she spent most of her summer devouring mystery books, selecting various dishes from favorite authors for the tea. Ruth also created beautiful name cards by hand to accompany each one. The icing on the cake (no pun intended) was a fabulous glass cabinet displaying all the books she used along with bone china tea cups and teapots.

As Kate Carlisle's character Brooklyn remarked bravely in The Lies That Bind, "I straightened by shoulders and gritted by teeth.  I could do this.  I approached the buffet table..."

Here was the menu:

Scones from the Vicky Hill Mysteries by yours truly. (And very very yummy they were too!) 

Chocolate from Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert.

Lemon tea bread from The Silver Needle Murder by Laura Childs. (My favorite).

Cecile's brownies from The Cat Who Blew The Whistle by Lillian Jackson Braun. (I ate 3).

Chocolate chip cookies from The Cat Who Dropped The Bombshell. (I ate 3 of these as well).

Sugar cookies from The Sugar Cookies Murder by Joanne Fluke.

Chicken salad from Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson

Edible fruit arrangement from Purses and Poison by Dorothy Howell.

Molasses cookies from The Darling Dahlias And The Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert.
Cucumber sandwiches from The Darling Dahlias And The Cucumber Tree.

Gingerbread cookies from The Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Laura Levine.

Lavender flowers were on the table, taken from Susan Wittig Albert's book Lavender Lies and

Constant commit tea and lemonade from Jamie Ford's book The Hotel on The Corner of Bitter And Sweet.

And the English tea was excellent!

Although I am now on a serious diet, this fabulous event is a reminder of how wonderful our libraries are and how much they need our support. Just donating a few books or becoming a "friend" really helps to keep our libraries going.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Okay. You'd probably think I was lying but I have not been in the outdoors since August - and that was in England. Up until this morning, the only time I breathe in the fresh air and feel the Californian sun on my face ... is walking to my car. The weather has been so glorious that I was determined to go for a hike in Franklin Canyon TODAY!

Franklin Canyon is my favorite local trail. It's only a ten minute drive from our apartment which is right in the middle of Los Angeles. Not many people realize that there are pockets of mountain trails dotted throughout the City.

I took this photo from my BlackBerry. The weird thing in the middle is a reservoir but I've never seen so much as a puddle in it.

Sometimes it's so easy to get insular and not make time for Nature. Sometimes I forget I grew up in the English countryside but today, just for an hour, I remembered how important it is to have those moments away from weekend household errands, my computer and endless deadlines.

What about you? How do you recharge your batteries?