tea party

This party was my friend Jody's idea, inspired by the hats.

We made sandwiches, little fancy ones cut out with cooky cutters, no crusts. There were cucumber sandwiches, and egg salad, and we had a lot of fun doing it at Lorene's the night before.

She brought all her dozens of fancy antique tea cups.  I wish I'd have taken a picture of the tables.

This is a choir who sang a few songs for us.

We wondered how the director manages a group of boys like this.  The energy!  The squirrels!  They sang beautifully.     Kirsten and Heidi noticed one kid with a tiny accordion slipping around in his socks on the wood floor.  The director's back was to them, but she must have given him The Look because he stopped it and said, "It's slippery up here."

Yah.

Kirsten and Heidi thought that was pretty great.

Okay, these are some of the hats.  Elsa, a member of the church, was a milliner.  She died a few years ago at 99 years old and these hats were donated to the church garage sale.   Jody rescued them, and so we had this party on Saturday, to celebrate Elsa, her creations, girls, spring, and everything wonderful about vintage hats.

A member who knew her well talked about her hat shop, and about the HATS women used to wear to church every Sunday.

Here are all my daughters modeling hats.   Yes, Kari has crossed her eyes.

Why?

We do not know.  She's a kid, and kids are known to be crazy.

All right, shaping up now.  Maria can't quit laughing.

Isn't that a fancy one?!

And at the end of the afternoon, as the rain poured, the girls washed and dried all these cups one by one, and Jody packed them carefully back in the packages.   This seems a little miraculous to me, but not a single dish was broken.   Many of these were her mother in law's and they're special.

Anyway, a picture of us for fun.  Lorene's in the red shirt, Jody's in the middle.

Thank you both for friendship and fun.

Thanks you to my own girls for being there.

And thanks Elsa for the inspiration you still are.

love, Val