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Tea with C. S. Lewis

I know, I know, I've been a bad blogger lately. Actually, I've been a non-existent blogger. One of the reasons is because I have been working on editing my new book. To read more about that click on the My Father Was a Gangster link to the right. So, I'm sorry for leaving all of you, my friends in blogland, high and dry. Forgive me. I will try to do better in the future.

Also, last Sunday I had tea with C. S. Lewis . . . sort of. Actually what my wife and I did was to invite the Harrisonburg C. S. Lewis Society over to our house for an English Tea and a viewing of the documentary--C. S. Lewis: Dreamer of Narnia. We feasted on scones, hot out of the oven, the only way to eat scones. We munched on cucumber sandwiches, of course; how can one have an English tea without cucumber sandwiches? We also delighted in delectable Eton Mess. What is Eton Mess you ask? It is the dessert traditionally served for Parent's Day at Eton College, every June 4, I believe. Eton Mess consists of whip cream, meringue and strawberries. Ummm, what lip-smacking goodness! We also crunched on Lady Trumpington's chocolate, crunchy biscuits (cookies--for those of you who prefer the American vernacular). And of course there was tea--Darjeeling--which is a quite appropriate afternoon tea--what else would one have at 4 o'clock?

After tea we watched the wonderful C. S. Lewis documentary which is one disc out of the 4-disc set of the Narnia (LWW) movie extended edition. The documentary's approach to the life of C. S. Lewis, looking at him through the lens of Narnia, each Narnia book corresponding to a different aspect or time period in Lewis's life was really quite interesting. Someone should write more about Lewis from this perspective, or perhaps someone already has. There is so much Lewis secondary work in the world I can hardly keep up with it all. Yes, yes, I know, I know, I too have added to the mounds of Lewis secondary literature. As it says somewhere in the Bible, of the making of books there is no end. But then Lewis said something like--there could never be a cup of tea too large for me, nor a book too long. I think he was reading War & Peace at the time he made that remark and photos seem to reveal that Lewis did drink from rather large tea cups.

So here's to Lewis, long books on Lewis and other matters, and large cups of tea--though I actually prefer Earl Grey to Darjeeling!
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Anonymous said…
Sounds like a wonderful time. Almost like a tea with Mr. Tumnus!
8:13 AM
Will Vaus said…
Now tea with Mr. Tumnus would be the ultimate experience.
8:33 AM
Arborfield said…
I'll have a cup of Earl Grey in your honour. Wish I could have been there...

RR in East Devon, England.
1:18 PM
Will Vaus said…
I wish you could have joined us too, Roger. Alternatively, I wish we could have joined you for tea in Devon.

And thanks for drinking a cup of Earl Grey in my honour. It is the Queen's favorite as I have been led to believe.

The reason we didn't have Earl Grey at our tea is because Twinings Earl Grey Loose Leaf (my favorite) is no longer sold in some of our major grocery stores here in the States. In fact, as I went around looking for it, a number of store-keepers looked at me with blank stares. That is because so many Americans are only familiar with tea served in tea bags--drat it! So I suppose from now on, in order to have my proper English tea, I shall have to order Twinings online. Thanks be to God for the Internet!
2:12 PM
Arborfield said…
Will, are you aware of the work of Michael Ward on the underlying logic of Narnia? If not, have a look at my Inklings blog for 28 July 2006 (and following).

Michael is publishing soon, working title "Planet Narnia".

Regards... Roger R.
12:29 AM
Will Vaus said…
Yes, I am aware of Michael and his book. I had the privilege of meeting him at The Kilns in 2000.

Thanks for the heads-up about this topic on your wonderful blog.
1:31 AM
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