With the start of the first clue hunt of the season bearing down on me, I think everything is ready to go....I hope. I hope that I have not forgotten to do something important like set the clues! Today, the main focus was on the tea party for the guests. I baked lots of pretty party foods that would be suitable for the theme and had fun setting the table with dishes that I do not normally use. Since I am a bit more "country clunky" (to use one of Mom's terms), fine china and crystal rarely (if ever) get used here in the Little Bayou House. BUT! This is a tea party! So everything has to be fit for the Queen, even if that queen reigns only over the Bayou.
Speaking of tables, there are two other tabletops filled with the most odd assortment of trinkets. These tablescapes are to be examined by the team members. Perhaps, hidden amongst the oddities, there are a few clues that will lead them to other places. Can you spot the clues? Nope, there are no written clues in my hunts. The players have to be astute and find clues where none seem to be hidden. An item simply "out of place" could be the answer to finding the next clue. A series of locked boxes, mind puzzles and tools will come into play during their search for answers. In previous hunts, the teams have done well and solved the mysteries that abound on the Bayou. They have solved murders, escaped locked rooms and debunked legends. This year, things are a bit different. This is the first time that they will actually be hunting a treasure!
So, the table is set, the food is prepared and the clues are all in place. The stage is set and I am just waiting for the role-players to arrive. This should be fun for all...me, especially!
" Have a tea party! I'll help! It will be fun!" Darling Daughter made this enthusiastic announcement way back in January when we were discussing this year's clue hunt. Each year, I serve some sort of meal to each team to be eaten while I discuss rules and regulations, give a few hints on how to solve the mystery and generally welcome my guests. Since this year's hunt revolves around an eccentric old lady (me!), Elizabeth burst forth with her idea of the tea party. I reiterate here..."I'll help!" Hmmm. Now that it is time for the first team to come to the Little Bayou House, Darling Daughter is half way around the world on a vacation. Was that perfect timing or what? "It'll be fun!" Hmm....yeah. It might be fun if I knew what I was doing throwing a tea party! Let me make a pot of red beans and rice, let me stir up a vat of gumbo, let me fry a few fish and make hushpuppies...don't ask me to host a tea party!
Seriously, though, I do not mind. It will be fun...I hope. And...with any tea party, you have to have teacups and teapots. This was the easy part. I have a lot of odd teacups and saucers so setting the table was fine. Those teapots, though, just about overwhelmed me. I did not realize that I owned so many of those things. I literally have a collection of teapots! Why do I have this fine collection? I have no clue. I think perhaps I do not own the collection. More like, it owns me. It seems that teapots, like a lot of other items in the house, come to visit and forget to leave. Their visits linger on and on until they become permanent fixtures. I have more teapots than Carter has liver pills. There are teapots from neighbors, teapots from mom, teapots from grandmother, teapots from great-grandmother and even one from a great-aunt's sister. (I never met her but I have her teapot!) So, what better time to use these odd teapots than tomorrow evening at the first run of the clue hunt! The tea party is on and a bunch of little old ladies of the past are going to be present....at least their teapots will be!......."It will be fun!", she said.
