Fallen Cupcakes ~

The summer of ’77 was full of farm work and berry picking for me. I turned twelve that August and was so excited to finally be part of the church youth group activities.

I was assigned to bring two dozen cupcakes to the opening social picnic. I had yet to learn what a boxed cake mix was all about. All I had ever known was making food from scratch, adding eggs from the chickens, lard rendered from our pigs and milk from our Jersey cows. I still remember doing the math to double the chocolate cake recipe. I mixed the home-grown ingredients and poured the batter into paper cupcake liners.

The cupcakes rose fabulously as they baked. (My mind was particularly focused on the need to make a good impression.) But something happened when I pulled them out of the oven. It was like a balloon popped, and all 24 cupcake tops collapsed to the bottom of the pan. I didn’t have time to bake another batch and went to my mom in a panic. How could I show up at my first youth group activity as a failed baker?

Mom looked at my catastrophe and thought for a moment. Then she directed me to skim off the heavy cream from last night’s milking, whip it, add powdered sugar and vanilla then spoon large dollops of whipping cream into each cavernous cupcake. It was an amazing transformation, but I still felt like a failure.

Well, the improvised whipped-cream-cakes were the hit of the picnic, and everyone wanted the recipe. I confess that I said it was a family secret. I had no idea how to recreate it.

Mom saved the day. It is no secret that I have an amazing, creative, quick-thinking, problem solving, ‘how-can-we-make-the-best-of-this’ mom. She has taught me how to pivot when things don’t work out as planned. And that sometimes. . . amazing things can come out of disaster.

Mom and Me ~

I kind of got ahead of myself. For those of you who are new to The Willowbrook Word, I’m Terry, owner and caretaker of Willowbrook Manor English Teahouse and Farm Stay. My mother, author Liz Adair, lives here as well. (She doesn’t mind me including pictures of her in her PJ’s) Mom has her own corner of this newsletter. We always have a giveaway, so make sure to read to the end. (If any pictures are sideways, click on the link at the top to view in your browser.)

No-Town Girl Debut ~

This past Saturday we hosted the book launch party for my mom’s (Liz Adair’s) freshly published memoir No-Town Girl. Local author Terry Deighton also joined us with her recent cozy mystery Painted into a Coroner. Liz and Terry each shared readings, gave out door prizes and signed books. Then guests enjoyed tea and scones in the stately tea rooms of Willowbrook Manor. We had so much fun hosting this free event that Mom says we must do it again next year. That means she will have another book ready for it! You can order No-Town Girl and Painted into a Coroner on Amazon.

Click HERE to watch a short video celebrating our book launch party.

Winter Tea ~

Much like the whipping cream that saved my 12-year-old baking fiasco, our recent Winter Tea saved the day when one of our Holiday Tea events was canceled due to our 100-year flood. (Click HERE to watch a short video on flooding at Willowbrook Manor.)

We rescheduled Holiday Tea guests to the 17th of January, and I transformed the Christmas Tree into a Winter Tree for Winter Tea. This event was a lovely, cozy, day of sharing sweets, savories, scones, and lots and lots of comforting tea. AND…we discovered that Winter Tea is a wonderful addition to a chilly January. We hope to do it again next year! But without the flood.

Time to Give a Bit of Love ~

The Winter Tree is now morphing into a Valentine Tree for our second annual Hearts for Homeless Children fundraiser. Your donation will put a heart on the Valentine Tree complete with name of your loved one.

A pink heart is $5, a red heart is $25, and a gold heart is $50. I will send you a picture of your valentine heart on the tree for you to share with that special someone. It is a meaningful way to spread love this Valentine season.

100% of funds raised go to Family Promise, a local non-profit that serves families facing homelessness. Please be generous. The need is great. Donations are tax deductible. Click HERE to give a ❤️Valentine that supports homeless children.

Valentine Tea ~

This year’s Valentine Tea is actually on Valentines Day! We have a limited number of seats available and reservations are coming in quickly. So if you would like to make a sweet memory on February 14th, click HERE to book your table for Valentine Tea.

Tea and Tulips ~

April will be here before you know it, and the tulips are already emerging from their winter slumber. We host Tea and Tulips every Friday and Saturday in April. It is our busiest time of year, with almost every session selling out. Click HERE to book Tea and Tulips. If you are local I encourage coming on a Friday, when we typically have less people in the manor.

Wear (or bring) sturdy shoes and a warm coat to walk the gardens after tea. The rustic paths take you to beautiful views.

Time for Liz ~

This is where I turn the pen over to my mom, author Liz Adair. Here she is:

Liz Sez ~

Eight or ten years ago, I got the rights back for Cold River, something authors often can do when a book goes out of print. The publisher had not put it out as an E-book, so I did that as soon as I got the rights back. Because there were still paperbacks in the warehouse, I decided to wait to self-publish a softcover version. That’s a dangerous decision for a senior citizen to make.

My senior memory and frequent ill health conspired together, and before very many years had passed, I completely forgot about the Cold River softcover.

A couple of months ago, I decided I wanted a new cover for the book, and that’s when I finally remembered. I asked Jen Wolf, my new personal assistant (who knows how to do everything!), to not only design a new cover but to also design the softcover interior. She came through for me in fine style, even providing the picture for the cover from her husband’s portfolio. I took the opportunity to re-launch Cold River this last weekend alongside the launch of No-Town Girl.

Cold River is my Valentine to the small upriver town of Concrete, Washington. It embodies the spirit of an experience I had while teaching there fifty years ago.

I was teaching Title I Reading on a one-year contract, and I drove the twenty-two miles upriver from Sedro-Woolley each day to spend half the time in fifth through seventh grades and the other half at the high school.

This was before cable television reached everywhere, and since Concrete is in a narrow valley alongside the Skagit River, TV broadcast signals couldn’t penetrate the flanking Cascade Mountains. Because of this, the community was quite isolated, and many of the customs of early-twentieth-century transplants from North Carolina who had come west to work in the logging industry were still quite pronounced.

The kids were bright and diligent, but I had more students than I could accommodate because of the low test scores. I remember coming home and telling Derrill, “Those poor kids have never heard of Camelot.”

Then, one Monday in April, after I had spent the previous Saturday stumbling around in the woods, wet and cold, looking for morrell mushrooms and finding nothing, I asked my first class, “Who knows where to find morrell mushrooms.”

Every hand shot up. I questioned my second class. Same thing. Same for third class. Ditto at the high school.

On the drive home I finally put it together. I wondered if my students were sighing and telling their moms, “That poor Mrs. Adair. She doesn’t know how to find morrells.”

The reason the test scores were so low was because they were being tested on the wrong vocabulary set and on different cultural expectations.

Years later, I used that experience to jump-start a story about a whiz kid of a young woman with a Ph.D. who takes a mid-year job in a small, isolated Pacific Northwest school district. She comes in thinking she has all the answers without realizing they’re answers to the wrong questions. I named the town Limestone, chuckling to myself. I don’t know if anyone else thought it was clever.

The book is totally fiction. There’s nothing autobiographical about it except two of the characters are based on a couple of my granddaughters.

The valentine is because Concrete is unique. It’s charming and full of great people, and I learned a great lesson there a half century ago.

-Liz

Now back to Terry…

This Month’s Giveaway Winners ~

The five winners of Oley, a children’s book I wrote, are:

• Sue H from Bellingham, WA
• Jackie K from Crofton MD
• Joan K from Anacortes, WA
• DeniseMarie S from Colorado Springs, CO
• Ilene A from Hampton, IA

Congratulations!

This Month’s Giveaway ~

No-Town Girl is this month’s giveaway (of course). We will give away five copies. Click HERE to enter to win, and make sure to write a little note to let us know how you are doing. Mom and I love hearing from you.

Mothers Tea ~

I am still waiting to see if the county will allow me to continue to host tea events after April. At present, everything is up in the air. Click HERE if you would like to attend Mothers Tea. I will let you know when/if I can take reservations.

That is it for this issue ~

Thanks for reading to the end. Since this is my slow season, I ran off to visit my dear friend Cynthia in Santa Barbara for a few days. Was nice to get some sunshine and girl-time. Of course we did a lot of visiting over tea.

Hoping this newsletter finds you well.
-t