A Mad Tea Party 2010

To say we are excited is not the correct word!

It's the Day at last; the special Mad Tea Party,

where all the friends of Alice and Lewis Carroll meet in Cyberland to have one gigantic

mad day of fun.

(if you click on each photo, it will enlarge so you can study the details)

But where has Alice gone?

Here is her pretty party hat and gloves, yet she is nowhere to be found.

The centre of attraction at the tea table seems to be this very special Alice teapot.

Two mugs to match, given by a best friend as a gift.

However, pretty though they may be, we still can't find Alice!

Oh! Here she is...in a very small room indeed.

Suddenly Alice was transported to the Mad Tea Table, after drinking a very teeny weeny cup of tea in the Small Room.

The Rabbit who was concerned about Time was seated to her left.

A yummy chocolate hedgehog was on her plate.

Everything seemed a little big for Alice.

Alice noticed a black hat on the table, among all the other delicious looking things.

She was anxious to begin tea.

What was the holdup?

OH.

They were waiting for the Mad Hatter.

Alice wondered if she could return to the Small Room.

The size of the food would be enough to fit in one of her hands, and would hardly sustain her for more than 10 minutes, but it might be better than waiting forever for the host to appear.

So Alice asked a serious question.

"Should we begin the tea by ourselves?"

Meanwhile...in the Small Room...

...a tiny Alice was sitting at her table.

She had been studying some lovely Alice drawings by John Tenniel, after

finishing a really good book by Jenny Woolf.

Jenny's book had interested Alice because she wanted to find out more about what people really thought about Alice.

Some things were right, but the part about Alice's hair colour was dreadfully incorrect!

(A picture of Alice Liddell is hanging on the wall. Lewis Carroll told her the story of Alice in Wonderland, and wrote the book just for her.)

Suddenly Alice came to her senses.
Something special was to happen today.

A girl can only read and study for so long.

A certain ache began in her middle.

Alice looked down in surprise.

She hadn't grown or shrunk, yet she felt very odd, and there was a draft of air swirling around her ankles.

Alice stared in astonishment. She was surrounded by candles, food, a huge rabbit, flamingos, and another Alice! A big Alice. How extremely odd; nearly as odd as one of the Mad Hatter's riddles.

Alice gave herself up to enjoyment, and feasted on delicious ham sandwiches, potato salad, chocolate chip cookies and brownies, and a special un-birthday tea. It wasn't any one's birthday that she knew of, so it was a good name for the tea, although a tad strange.

Ah, there's the Mad Hatter.

But he's fast asleep, after a surfeit of tea!

I hope you've enjoyed our tea party.

I had such fun setting my table and planning the menu.

It was also fun taking the photos.

I enjoy doll collecting, and had to include two dolls as Alice, not just one.

The large Alice is a Canadian Chatty Cathy doll, dressed in an original Canadian dress.

The small Alice is a reproduction Bleuette doll. I made her Alice outfit.

I, too, have read Jenny Woolf's book, "The Mystery of Lewis Carroll", and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think if he were alive today, he'd so enjoy our party in cyberspace, don't you?

Thank you, Vanessa, for allowing me to take part in your online Tea Party!

If you leave a comment, your name will be entered into a drawing, to take place on the last day of June. The prize will be a package of chocolate hazelnut hedgehogs by Purdy's, the delicious local chocolate shop.