A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Tea Time in Hollister, California

Today Heather and I planned our first tea time. We woke up early that morning so Heather could make her whole wheat tomato basil bread. Then we made cream cheese and walnut sandwiches. For dessert we made strawberries with cream and ice cream snowballs. We had cozy chamomile herbal tea and our water was flavored with mint and thinly sliced lemons. For music we selected several lovely pieces by the great classical composer, Mozart.

We brought out our finest baby blue linens and for the first time, I used my tea set from Portugal. We then decorated our dinning room table with name cards, pink floating candles, and rose scented sachets. The flowers, red roses, yellow carnations, pink geraniums, and lavender, were freshly picked from our garden. Surrounding the flowers were delicately shaped sea shells. We even used warm water finger bowls scented with lemon balm.

Heather and I chose three great books to read for tea time. Heather read Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s book Gift From The Sea. Heather read the first chapter Channelled Whelk. Here is her favorite part of the first chapter, “One learns first of all in beach living the art of shedding; how little one can get along with, not how much.”

I read Ann’s Anthology, Following the Footnote Trail, by Margie Gray. Anne’s Anthology is a compilation of poetry which Lucy and Montgomery quoted or alluded to in Anne of Green Gables. My son Scott read sonnets from The Portuguese And Other Love Poems, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Scott read these poems with great feeling and expression.

Our dog, Snoopy was also invited to tea time. His favorite part was eating his yummy dog biscuits.

Heather’s favorite part of tea time was eating the tomato basil bread with raspberry jam and reading Gift From The Sea. I felt tea time was an uplifting venture well worth the effort.

Brave Writer Mom in Hollister, California

Julie,

Here are some pictures from our first tea time.

Before tea time, the boys “dressed up” and picked out the book they wanted me to read. Oldest ds was in the mood for humor and chose “George and Martha Stories” and my youngest ds chose a Richard Scarry book.

We selected “English Breakfast Tea” and it was delicious! (We finished a whole pot and oldest ds asked me to brew some more!) We sampled various cookies and decided “Strawberry Verona” and “Pirouette” were our favorites.

We talked as we sipped tea together and laughed as I read some George and Martha stories. Guess what I found out? Tea time brings out good manners! My boys, who usually need a little bit of reminding in the manners area, were perfect gentlemen. My dd and I have played tea party several times; she was thrilled to be a part of a real tea party.

It was really a special time together. I highly recommend it. Thanks so much for the suggestion, Julie. I can really see this becoming a weekly time to relax, talk and enjoy one another’s company.

Thanks again.

Brave Mom in Florida

Dear Julie:

We live in a suburban area and our children are big fans of nature. Although we can’t “camp out” in the traditional manner in our neighborhood, our kids wanted to come up with a way to do so. On their own they prepared a campfire on our driveway (using dirt and pavers to protect the driveway). We all gathered around the “campfire”, roasted marshmallows and salami, read poetry, and had a wonderful story time. Dad read (see attached pictures) while Mom, Grandpa, and the children ( 7 and 11) enjoyed the poems from Shel Silverstein’s Runny Babbit. After that, our daughter sang songs and danced for us. A great time was had by all and we thought we would share it with you. Enjoy.

Brave Mom and Dad

The following narrative was sent by a Brave Mom who shared her teatime experience with her friends:

This was so cool. I decided to do the poetry tea time suggested on a website my sister Holly recommended that promotes a lifestyle of writers. So we set out fancy tablecloth, and hot chocolate, lit candles and I got an anthology of poetry I had in college . I read a Robert Frost Poem, and was shocked to realize I knew the last stanza : “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.”

“Why did he say the last line twice?” asked my 7 year old.

We began a wonderful discussion of how the poet uses repetition, rhyme patterns, and images to create his message. We decided he was wistfully pausing to see the beauty of God’s creation, but duty and obligation called more loudly than his desire to remain watching the snow, so he somewhat regretfully moved on.

Then the seven year old chose a poem by Shakespeare called “Under the Greenwood Tree.” It uses wonderful metaphors to depict (we think) a flower under a tree. It was like a riddle, and we had great fun trying to figure out that he was talking about a flower. (If we are correct, which we may not be.)

Then she asked what was happening in the world when Shakespeare was alive. I got out my Wall Chart of World History, which I am not sure I have opened in the ten years I have owned it, and we discovered Copernicus, Henry the 8th, microscopes, and age of exploration were all occuring during Shakespeare’s time. She asked how people could have thought the earth was the center of the universe, and we discussed how observations can lead to wrong conclusions. Then, she decided she would like to write a poem, and illustrate it.

Sometimes life is like a geode, such surprising magical beauty behind the
simplest of exteriors.

Blessings,
Brave Mom!

This week’s teatime post features one photo from a Brave Writer family and one report from another Brave Writer family.

Thanks for all of your contributions to this blog. I love seeing/hearing how your family makes teatime personal and poetic!

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Hi Julie,

We had our first tea time recently and it was great!! Even though we don’t have a lot in the way of fancy linens and stuff, we still managed to make it elegant. My daughter decided to get really dressed up for the occasion. We each read two poems aloud to each other. Two of my daughter’s favorite poets are Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein (although she adores Mr. Shakespeare and Robert Frost just as much!). She picked two poems out of her Jack Prelutsky books and I read from “The Harp and Laurel Wreath”. I think she was just relieved that I didn’t choose to read “Oh Captain, My Captain”. She said there was no way I was aloud to cry during our first tea time! To add to the ambiance, we had Mozart playing softly in the background. Can you hear it?

Brave Mom

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Brave Writers in Oregon

Love those smiles. 🙂

Julie