Anyone for Tea?

Before I share, as I recently said I would, more images and commentary from Saturday's inspiring Women's March in St. Paul, I take time this evening to highlight a very different event, one that I hosted in my home exactly one week before the historic gathering that drew an estimated 100,000 people to the Minnesota State Capitol.

Yes, it was my fourth annual tea party – to which I invited a number of my friends from different times and spheres of activity in my life (including CPCSM). Thus some folks knew each other while others met for the first time. Yet all comprised "good company" which, as Anne Elliot (Amanda Root) notes in the 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, is the "fellowship of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation and liberality of ideas."

Which reminds me: Did you know that I'd quite happily go through each and every day dressed in the attire of a nineteenth-century gentleman? Perhaps this explains, in part, my affinity for the old world charm of a tea party.

Regardless, I've long been drawn to the appearance and manners of such figures in various films and TV shows – Dick Dewy (James Murray) in Under the Greenwood Tree, Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) in The Time Machine, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) in Les Misérables, John Keats (Ben Whishaw) in Bright Star, Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) in The Woman in Black, John Mornay (Emun Elliott) in The Paradise, and, of course, Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) in Poldark. My latest such interest is Dr. Alexander Sweet (Christian Camargo, right) from Penny Dreadful – this despite the fact that he has quite the dark secret!

But I digress.

Following are some images from the morning tea I hosted on Sunday, January 15. Enjoy!

Above: Friends (from left) Mary Lynn, Omar, Rita, and Pete.




Right: With my friend Brigid. And, yes, mimosas were also served.

Above: Friends (from left) Raul, Mary Lynn, Kathleen, and Florence ( with friends John, Joe, and Omar standing behind them).


Left: Rita, Mary, and Sue Ann.

Above: Jim, Raul, and Joe.

Above: With my wise women friends (from left) Mary, Kathleen, Rita, Brigid, Kate, and Sue Ann.


Right: With Pete and Omar.

Above: Mary Lynn, Mary, and Jim.

Above: With John and Joe.

Above: Omar and Raul.

Above: Colleen, Pete, and John.

Above: Tim, Kate, Sue Ann, Rita, Colleen, Pete, and John.



Right: With Alfredo.

Above: Raul, Pete, and Jim.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In Wintry Minnesota, An Australian Afternoon Tea
• Out and About – Winter 2014-2015
• Out and About – Winter 2012
• Celebrating El día de Los Reyes
• Christmas 2016: Reflections and Celebrations

Opening image: Richard Armitage as John Thornton in the 2004 British mini-series, North & South.