T.........ea Party

Tea parties are for big girls, too! Yesterday, one of the members of our Red Hat/ Mah Jongg group hosted a spectacular tea party for us at her home.
Everything was perfect, from the decorations, to the food and its presentation, to the tea cups themselves! Each table had its own flower arrangement in a creamer or a sugar bowl with flowers from her fabulous garden. At each place setting was a menu, a place card, and a card with "tea trivia" for us to share. Each cup was one she had bought as a special item, many from her travels as is the lovely cup featured here that came from Norway.
The tea table featured five different sandwiches such as the cucumber hearts, smoked salmon pinwheels, and chutney chicken salad pictured here...all with edible herbs and flowers as garnish. It also included raspberry mini muffins, and walnut, golden raisin, with fennel seed scones. These were accompanied by Lady Grey Tea. The desserts followed: Mini Angle Food Cakes topped with jasmine Cream, Lemon Tea Cookies, Key Lime Snaps, Walkers shortbread and Carlsbad Oblaten with lemon, all accompanied by Pineapple Mango Tea.

Wasn't this a party fit for a queen??

"E.........arth Laughs in Flowers"...

...at least according to Ralph Waldo Emerson! With the delightful bouquet to the right it's easy to see that joy. This arrangement is especially precious because it was the gift of a dear friend. For more than six years, she and I and eight other incredible women have been enjoying laughter, tears, good times and sad times as we join together twice a month for lively games of mah jongg. When the Red Hat Society appeared in our area, we enthusiastically participated in "Red Hat Fun" as well. We always remember each other's birthdays, and this year, the flowers were one of my gifts. Isn't the red and purple appropriate? Flower arranging is just one of many talents that flourish in this group of ladies that I number among my dearest friends. So I would like to add to Emerson's quote, "and blesses us with their glory".