Drink Tea and Talk Nice

My friend, Evelyn, and I had a "tea for two" party at her house. I wore my new straw hat with the high crown, 4" sloping brim, and wide black ribbon with a flat bow, a long blue flax skirt and blue linen blouse. I felt "Southern". I don't remember what she wore. It's her complexion that catches my attention. It's to die for: peachy and without a single line.

Welcoming Petunias spilled out of front porch containers sharing their sweet summer fragrance on a hot spring afternoon.

Her cottage is decorated in white, crisp and subtle blues. I could live on her large screened-in porch with its swing and ceiling fan.

We "took" tea in her dining room. She served icy cold lemon and black tea. Refreshing! We shared cucumber sandwiches on savory sesame crackers with a smidge of sour cream and dill weed, and nibbled cold oven almond pound cake. We talked recipes, family and friendship. She brought out her latest commissioned needlepoint project. Over the years several churches have commissioned her to needlepoint kneeling bench pads and other projects. She paints free-hand on wooden eggs for any occasion, too. I celebrate her creativity!

Rose-like double impatience grace her shaded and fenced-in back yard of little paths between the monkey grass. There was "something" growing at every turn. Her green thumb is evident inside and out.

Lace-cap hydrangea centers remind me of elderberries that grew wild in
Nebraska. Grandma and I used to ride through the country side searching the ditches. It was a dusty job collecting them. All our efforts netted a few half-pints of jelly, but our time together was priceless.

Hydrangeas peeked around the corner of her house. So brilliantly colored, who could ignore them? I grew them in NE and saw houses surrounded with hydrangeas on Nantucket. They are voluptuous fresh and dry well.

We had a pleasant afternoon. A tea party represents a slower, kinder time. I'd like to have a cottage by the sea like Evelyn's, where I could drink tea with friends, retreat, read, write and rewrite to my heart's content and take walks on the beach. I'm putting it on my bucket list.

2013 Red Convertible Travel Series