Tea Time!

In the past, our Tea with Bean (and Wylla) guests have traveled great distances to dine with us, but this year, both guests were Tacoma residents.   Rebecca was our auction winner and her guest was her friend, Traci.

Though we've never met in person before, we do know Rebecca because during a previous year's fundraiser. She was the winner of two of our naming rights auctions and gave the surname "Gibson" to this adorable set, and the first name "Pheona" to this lovely girl.

Our Tea was Friday, and our guests arrived promptly at noon.  Bean and Wylla were waiting for them in the window.







We said our hellos and chatted with Rebecca and Traci in the living room, then ventured into the guest room to introduce them to the Von Tussles.

The kittens were resting when we came in, but quickly awoke from their naps.



Rebecca and Traci were excited to meet all of the Von Tussles, but especially Malcolm, who had caught Rebecca's attention when he was first introduced on the blog.





He did not disappoint!   And he charmed Traci as well.





I think Cosette was the one that truly captured Traci's heart.  Traci is expecting a baby girl  in a few  weeks and "Cosette" now may be on the list of potential baby names.



After a nice visit with the Von Tussles, we sat down at the table for lunch.

The table was decorated with decor elements from our FUNdraiser.



Wylla staffed the phones in our centerpiece.



Each guest had a favor to take home: a set of IBKC magnets and a package of sparkle balls.






The place cards each had an IBKC kitten.









For lunch, we had a tomato and cucumber salad.  Farmer Craig grew those beautiful tomatoes.



We also had a fruit salad with pluots, plums, peaches, apricots, champagne grapes and blueberries.  Farmer Craig grew the blueberries.  The salad was dressed with a ginger, lime, and agave dressing.



We had a hearty spinach salad with roasted sweet potatoes and toasted chickpeas tossed in a tangy lemon and garlic dressing.



And grilled sandwiches, too.  One had roasted garden tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. The other had gruyere cheese, arugula, mustard with onion jam.



Of course we had tea, too.





Once lunch was finished, we headed over to the shelter for our tour.  Marguerite, director of development, was our guide.  We toured the lobby and met the adoptable cats, saw the strays waiting for their families to find them, and headed into vet treatment, too.  We toured Charlene Butterbean Quarantine, The Petunia Louise Community cat room, and the foster room.

We saw many lovely cats and kittens.  This cutie was in the foster room.



And so was this itty-bitty fellow.  He was just a couple of days old, and he had a very sweet mama and a set of identical siblings with him.



Look at those tiny monkey feet!



We did meet a few dogs on the tour too, including these two adorable pups.   I hate to say it in this crowd of cat lovers, but they kind of stole the show that day.







It's Wylla in puppy form!



We headed upstairs next and were happy to see this painting hanging. 



And even happier when we saw the cages being assembled for the new foster room / kitten head-start program!




We wrapped up the tour by taking photos of Rebecca (left) and Traci (right) in front of the HS van featuring the one and only Butterbean!

It was a great and very informative tour.  Though I've taken the tour many times before, I always learn something new from Marguerite.  Thank for taking time from your busy day to show us around, Marguerite!



Next, we headed back to house next for a little dessert.



I wish I could take credit for this beauty, but I'm REALLY lousy at making cakes.  This chocolate bavarian cake came from a local bakery.



Traci brought the cats and kittens a gift of kitty toys.  Wylla and Charlene opened up the package and had a great time rustling around in the tissue paper and playing with the ribbon.



It was filled with all sorts of goodies, but the favorite was the catnip banana.



Wylla rolled around with it for awhile, got a little loopy, and drooled all over it.



Of course Bean is much more composed than that,  and would never do such a thing in front of guests.




It was a really wonderful afternoon, and the humans and cats had great fun with our lovely guests.   I hope they enjoyed the experience as much as we enjoyed having them here!


Thank you so much for your very generous bid, Rebecca.  We appreciate your support of the IBKC and our Humane Society over the years SO much.