A Mad Tea Party 2011

Greetings to you, My Dear Friends of The Tearoom,
Can you believe it has been a year since we met at the last Mad Tea Party? It is so wonderful to be here with you again, my dear friends (and ones I have not yet met).

Today's party is inspired in part by a tiny visitor we had a few nights ago. I walked past my studio late at night and there in the dark was a blinking chartreuse-colored light in the corner. I had to look at it for a minute to understand what it was and then I realized! A firefly had somehow come inside and was lighting up the room with his tiny light! It was very late and I was hoping he would find his way back out the way he came in (but didn't really expect he would). I looked for him the next day and didn't find him. But the next night, Dear Mr. V told me the little lightning bug was in the bathroom! I scurried upstairs, captured him and set him free outside (the insect, not Mr. V!!)! Whew! Luckily, the clever little thing had gotten into a house which is inhabited by card-carrying members of The Friends of Fireflies Foundation!!! (Is there really such an organization? I would join if there was, you know!)

So, with much twinkling and not much more ado, please join me on an adventure! And it will only cost you a nickel and a piece of lint from your pocket! Oh! And you did wear your gossamer wings, didn't you? You didn't? No worries! I keep extra sets in the closet just for such an occasion for folks who do not normally travel with an item such as this!

First, we must stop and get a drink. Here's where you must spend the nickel I gave you!

Now, quickly, please drink up! We must be very tiny to get where we are going!

Now, please look in your pocket! That wasn't a piece of lint after all, but a ticket for tonight's festivities!! Now that you are smaller, you can read it!


Right this way, please!


Have you ever been to one of the beautiful old classic movie theatres, the ones that seem to just have velvet everywhere? Tonight, we will be viewing a film, the first "Alice in Wonderland" movie, filmed in 1903!!! It is showing in a place with velvet everywhere too, the black velvet of night! It is a small bit of beauty and decadence, located in a remote corner of the garden and it even has a beautiful, glittering chandelier, suspended from the stars above by a spider web! While we are watching, we will be nesting inside the chandelier for the best, most twinkliest view and the most decadent place in which to have our tea-picnic! Isn't it just too exciting!!

Our dear friend Mademoiselle Violette Plantagenet is here to greet us! Now, spread your wings and up, up, up we go, into the chandelier!

Go ahead and make yourself comfy! Here is a nest I have made of old maps, a pretty cushion with a picture of Alice herself on it (Doesn't it smell so nice? I love lavender, don't you?). Now, please allow me to fill your thimble-cup with fairy-mint tea and please take a bottlecap-plate of treats for yourself. Mademoiselle Violette helped me to gather all that I needed today and she herself has picked the violet petals and wild strawberries, just for you! All comfy now?

Princess Sugar Verbena is welcoming us to the movie and tea party! Isn't she just the dearest thing? I do so admire the way she has her own practical style! Pink and frilly is just fine for some, but doesn't she look so smart in black? It's my favorite summer-time color, how about you? And really, her crown of cream is the envy of all here! Always an appropriate choice for tea! Royalty-watching is so much fun in this tiny world!

The movie is about to begin! I do think you will enjoy it!

Wasn't it just pure enchantment??

And now, for the surprise, if you will only just leave a comment, I will add your name to the giveaway! On July 1, I will draw a winner's name from the teapot. And what will you win? Why, the very pillow on which you reclined at tea and a matching gift tag! It is a pretty sachet, handmade by the dear ladies of The 5 Dollar French Market on Etsy! It has such a pretty picture of Our Dear Alice on it, with a bit of twinkly glitter in her hair! It is filled with beautiful lavender and it just smells so nice! The ladies who run this shop are so nice and make such nice things and they only cost $5 each!! I would like to thank them for the use of their photo!


Thanks also go to all the talented people who make the collage sheets that I have used in this post:
Hollie Haradon of Holliewood Studios@Deviant Scrap
Marsha of Tumblefish Studios@Deviant Scrap
Kirsi of Itkupilli
Karen of The Graphics Fairy
Kathy of KF Collection
Mark of Memories Emporium

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win the Alice lavender sachet and gift tag! And thank you so much for visiting my party today! Please take a minute to visit Vanessa, our hostess, at her party at A Fanciful Twist and the other participants as well!

An Evening at The Tearoom. . .

My Very Dear Friends,

Won't you please join me on this sultry summer evening
for a treat?

I have made a fruit salad from yellow nectarines, white nectarines, white peaches, black velvet apricots, saturn peaches and plums, just for us!!

And won't you please join me in a glass of iced tea? My favorite tonight is another from Tazo called Om. It is a mix of black and green teas, haunted by essences of peach and cucumber. It is the perfect match with our salad.

For a night when you can bear only the lightest of meals...

As the velvet of night grows deeper, the fireflies are gathering on the lawn behind The Tearoom for their evening dance. . .

If you walk through the French doors, you will find that I have spread blankets on which you may sit. . .

I will leave you with a poem that I wrote several years ago, which I believe is in keeping with the mood of the evening. . .

the nectarine

on this warm and cloudy night,
at 11:37,
i want to give thanks for nectarines.
i was feeling somewhat gloomy
until i remembered him, small, happy thing he was,
waiting for me in the chill of the fridge.
in the dark, i padded into the kitchen in my favorite pair of bare feet.
as i removed him from the white plastic sack, the kitchen was filled with cool, white refridgerator light.
i held him in my hand.
he was cold but his skin was smooth
and
he glowed burnished yellow and dark orange.
he even blushed dark red on one side where the sun had kissed him.
he submitted himself to my bite.
and his juice, like stored sunshine
dribbled itself down my chin and my throat before i could catch it,
trickling all his sticky coolness,
making me happier than i’d been all day.
what a miracle that such a small thing could make me so happy!
so,
on this warm and cloudy night,
at 11:37,
thank you, little nectarine!