Teacups & Saucers & Teacups

I'm joining in at Vanessa Valencia's 7th annual Mad Tea Party...

Mad Tea Party Link (Click it!)

Alice in Wonderland

(abridged and revised)

with apologies to Mr. Lewis Carroll

An Additional Chapter

          Alice was a very conscientious character.  She followed her plot as it had been written and she had been doing so for decades.  She never, ever strayed from the storyline because to do so would cause havoc to her readers.  Suppose she didn't follow the white rabbit down into the rabbit hole?  Or what if she didn't drink "Drink Me" potions or eat "Eat Me" cakes?  Readers would be stunned and maybe even outraged...for they loved the story as it was originally written and books are one of the few things in the world that remain faithfully constant.  

     99.999% of the time a book is published and stays just that way.

     But every once in a while, without warning, a change creeps in.  Alice had heard of these changes, but had never experienced one.  Now she was about to find  out...

     She was getting toward the part of the story where she's looking for the Mad Hatter and his Tea Party, and she was beginning to get thirsty after dealing with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, and the Walrus and all that SEA water.

     She was walking down a hallway and spied an envelope on the floor.

     "That shouldn't be there", she muttered.

      Read Me was written on the envelope.

     Alice was thrown into a tizzy....she suddenly knew she was caught in a Plot Change!!

     Perhaps the author had rewritten a tiny new bit and forgotten to tell her.

     So she gently picked up the envelope, took out the paper inside and read:

Dear Alice,

The Mad Hatter has lost all of his Teacups and Saucers and needs some immediately.

Go into the storeroom behind the green door and get some.  Please.  The Tea Party

is about to begin.

Yours truly,

Doormouse

     Alice looked down the hall, saw the green door and opened it slowly.  Her plot line always had strange twists and unusual other characters (She expected the Chesshire Cat might be part of this), so she was careful.

     This room was definately a storeroom, with boxes and furniture piled everywhere.  And in the center of the room sat a girl and around her were a lot of very old crumpled newspapers and packing paper and boxes.

     Alice said, "Hello.  Who are you?"

     The girl paused and looked up with a cup in her hand.  She smiled and then continued to take pieces of paper off of the things in the box.

      "I'm Alice."

     "No you're not.  I'M Alice!"

     "Alright then.  I'll be Amanda."

     "Are you a new part of the story?  You should be wearing a dress, I can see your knees."

     "Didn't you get the note?" asked Amanda, picking up the Doormouse letter.

     "Yes, of course."

     "Then you know the problem.  The Mad Hatter needs teacups and saucers and I've managed to find them here, all wrapped and boxed up as if someone was moving them."

     Alice, always willing to follow a plot line asked, "What can I do?"

      Amanda picked up a shoebox and put it upside down on her lap.  She balanced a teacup and saucer on it and brought out a camera and took a picture.

      Alice asked, "What did just do with that little black box that went click?"

      "Took a picture.  A digital picture....oh dear, I've NO time to explain the modern world to you.   I'm taking an Inventory," she explained.  "So the Hatter knows what's here.  We need to wrap these all back up and get them over to the tea party."

      Amanda handed Alice a teacup and saucer and a piece of newspaper.

      "Be careful", she cautioned.  "These are very old and delicate and from all over the world."

      "May I look at the Picture Book?" asked Alice, thinking that a picture book would be a very nice change from all the conversations in the story.

       "Alright, it's going to be seen by a lot of people and you can be the first.  But they're not in a picture book, they're in my camera."

       Alice didn't hear this last strange sentence because her pride took over.  " Well I SHOULD be the first to see them because this story is about MY adventures."

       Amanda sighed.

       "THIS  chapter is about teacups."  She handed the camera to Alice, showed her how to view the photos and then continued to wrap up the Inventory.

     Alice sat down on the floor and arranged her skirt.

     "I wish this was a book already," muttered Alice, but she grew much more interested when she saw what the 'digital inventory' was all about. 

       

     Amanda had explained that the first picture would be the teacup with saucer 

and the next picture would be what was stamped under the cup.

Alice began to try to guess what country the teacup was from...

Germany

Norway

 

Germany

China

     

Japan

    

     Now Alice found that all the pictures were of cups only.  

     She looked at Amanda.  "Where are the rest of the saucers?"

     "I don't know.  They're not in any box.  The Hatter will just have to pretend there's a saucer with his teacup.  I guess he'll be upset."

     "Oh, I know him," laughed Alice.  "It won't bother him at all, he'll think it's a big joke!"

And then, VERY suddenly, the White Rabbit hopped into the storeroom, in a state of panic, as he usually is.  But this time, he was VERY panicky...

       "The Tea Party is beginning NOW....bring everything you can because the Hatter is getting Madder by every second!!"

        Alice and Amanda looked at each other and then quickly began gathering the boxes...there was no time to look at any more pictures....they rushed down the hallway, careful not to jostle their boxes and arrived at the Tea Party just in the nick of time. 

       And it turned out to be a Wonderful Mad Hatter Tea Party!!

 Now, dear reader, that is the end of the New Chapter...
and it's Time to join Vanessa Valencia at her 7th Annual Mad Tea Party...

Click here!

Hope you all had fun with my own Mad Tea Party story!!

Name that Color

I wondered what was blooming around the ol' homestead this week.

I found P.O.P. blooming all over.

That's a Preponderance of Pink,

and it begins inside the house with my geraniums.

Yes, it may surprise you that geraniums live happily as indoor plants.

I didn't know until I had to bring these inside last winter

because of the freezing temperatures.

I thought they would pine (!) for the outdoors,

But these blooms show they're just fine inside the glass window.

 In fact, they're showing off.

So let's see what's outside now...

Oh but first, in the interest of scientific study we'll do some seasonal comparisons.

 Sounds way harder than it is!!

For instance, back in March:

 The Tulip Tree bloomed long before the leaves believed it was Spring.

Ha, just noticed...there's a Red Cardinal sitting on a limb!

Now, in July, the branches are smothered in leaves.

The Cardinal flew away,

but if you look close...is there a bloom or two??

(You can see this is one of my favorite sitting places...

a chair within reach of a blue cup of coffee,

in the early morning shade of the Tulip Tree.)

 

Yes, there's a furled bloom!

I find it amazing that this is on a tree!

Now on to the next blooming plant...

The Crepe Myrtles on the edge of our driveway.

More science of Seasonal Comparisons:

AND: a continuing saga of "to prune or not to prune".

March:

 Heavily almost violently chopped pruned.

This will never come back.

 What's that??

Wait just a minute...or a month...

Wait 'til July and they're

All the way back to green life, and blooming.

Amazing.

 Light pink, very ruffled and high-lighted with yellow.

Vincent van Gogh, of Sunflower fame, should have tried painting these!

Recall the burning question of "to prune or not to prune"??

Well here's the Crepe Myrtle on the other side of the yard that didn't get pruned...

It's as high as the roof eaves.

And the blooms are actually bending the branches!

Imagine how feathery soft these feel.

They look edible.

(No, I did NOT taste them.)

Now that is PINK!

Could use some advice:

Every time I try to talk to someone on my flower phone,

all I get is a loud buzzing noise.

Anyone else having this problem??

Thanks for joining me for the POPT

Preponderance of Pink Tour...

Wonder what other colors are out there???

Inquiring minds certainly want to know :-)

Until next time...

But, wait, that's still not all....

look who's in the glass curio cabinet...

This glass pink poodle vase was a gift from my Grandpa Otto to Grandma Grace
(my dad's folks), probably in the 1950s.

(My silly photo skills put the Bulldogs blanket right behind poor little poodle.  Sorry.)

How about she gets to hold a fresh  frilly bouquet of the perfect color?!

I really think that's a happy look on her face!

AND now...until next time...

Laugh whenever possible!

The Fourth of July Party

 At the start of the day on July 4th,

the plan was for me, hubby and Amanda to celebrate at home.

Then a few phone calls were made

and more family was available

and the festivities were moved to Mamaw's house.

This is what it has been for the last 20 years that I've been part of the family.

But, as happens, kids grow up, people move away and it's harder to get folks together.

But we got it done this year!!

Welcome to our Little Fourth of July Celebration!!

And the weather, usually a sweltering Deep South summer day,

had a change of pace for 2 days

and gave us a temp of 85 degrees and a breeze!!

Hurrahhhhh!!

Okay, let's get started.

First you get to shop for the fireworks...

Yup, living in the country means you can  blow up light your own bombs fireworks!

This is the tent we shop at every year.

 Examining the possibilities.

Hubby and his brother confer.

The more explosions per unit time,  the better.

 Amanda scouts out the tables.

She and her dad read the labels looking for:

Loud booms and lots of intense colors sparkling!

Now back to the scene of the crime action...

The grill has been lit and the chairs gathered 'round!

 

The burgers and hots dogs and sausage are cooking away.

While the hungry crew waits for dinner time...

they play some yard games.

The "Throw-the-square-rice-filled-pouch

into-the-round-hole" game of chance.

There's some skill involved too.

I had neither luck nor skill, but others did!

 You can play against your dad who was a high school baseball champ.

SOMEBODY SCORED!!!

(One of them is happy, one is shocked!

Which is which??  I won't tell.)

Now cousin vs. cousin...

 Amanda demonstrates her professional stance!

Look in the middle left of the photo to see the little orange square sack she just threw,

heading straight for the hole in the board and 2  points!

And in other competition: it's The Talls against The Smalls in Badmitton.

And now for an IMPORTANT announcement....

 DINNER IS SERVED!!

Perfect picnic food.

 Don't be shy...dig in!

 Fresh watermelon...an absolute staple at a southern picnic!

And SALT it if you're a True Southernerner.

Amanda, born in Tucson, but raised Southern...

carries a SALT shaker!!)

Huge locally grown tomatoes from the Curb Market Produce Stand 

All is suddenly very quiet.

Barely a word is spoken but...

Munch, munch, yum, yum, nom, nom, nom.

Hey, enough eating...Look at the time...The sun is beginning to set...

The crape myrtle appears to explode into the air!

Is that a signal?

 HEY, it's time to open the presents and find the lighters!!

Beginning with the Roman Candles...

 The stinky smoke bombs...

 The ground level volcano sparklers...

And now the AERIAL DISPLAY!!

Seen and HEARD for miles!!

The crowd goes wild!!

Hope all of you had a fun July 4th...

Thanks for joining mine!!

See you next time...