Tea and Crumpets---oops, Cupcakes

We went to a tea with Mother yesterday.  She beamed throughout, partly because the social event's purpose worked out just fine for those who put it on.  This was a spring tea, designed to lift everyone's spirits after a long winter.  

Colorful centerpieces and decorated goodies, along with a generally festive mood did the trick, I'm sure, for everyone in attendance. 

Mother also beamed because her three daughters showed up on an afternoon when they would normally choose to be outside, tromping around in the mud and doing something with a horse.

I think we had each already engaged in our individual  horse activities before tea time.  I know that I ate more than my share of horsehair before going to the tea and nibbling away at a delicious cupcake.  

The frosting on my cupcake tasted a heckuva lot better than Lefty's loose hair flying all over the place during his brush-down and clipping job. 

Before going, I got dressed up in my usual winter "dress-up" outfit.  Pastel green jeans, black turtleneck, mint green blouse, black sweater and even my dress black shoes.  That's the second time in 2011 I've squeezed my big feet into those dress shoes.

Last time was the Girl Scout luncheon in February.  

I figure when an event is meant to be special, I can break away from the usual barn jeans (these days heavier than usual with wet cuffs from slopping through the spring melt ponds), a cleaner sweater than usual and one of my fleece jackets.  Oh yeah, I change from my barn boots to my hiking shoes.

That's the standard outfit for going to town.  So, yesterday I'd say little ol' me appeared at the tea much more dapper than usual.

My sisters did too.  Of course, they still have to clean up and dress up five days a week, so dressing up a sixth time on Sunday afternoon,  when they're usually out there riding their horses,  was probably more of sacrifice for them than for me.

Mother seemed quite pleased when she saw her three daughters.  And, throughout the event, she kept thanking us for coming.  She thanked everyone, as a matter of fact.

And, she kept telling us how much fun we were having.  Well, we did have a good time, mainly because she was so happy.  

Barbara and Laurie are not tea-and-crumpets-type folks, so they settled for brownies and punch.  I had coffee with my cupcake.

We were supposed to bring our own teacup to the event.  We convened over the telephone beforehand and agreed to show up cupless.  

None of us was willing to grab Mother's Haviland or Bill's mother's china and haul it somewhere to hold onto, sipping tea with our pinkies extended into the air.

We know ourselves too well; surely at least one somebody of our group would certainly break something in the transport.  We agreed we were collectively not willing to face the consequences of a shattered teacup or saucer. 

So, the heirloom china stayed home, and the sponsoring folks did have extra cups and saucers on hand.

Years ago, Mother tried really hard and in vain to develop "ladies" out of her three daughters.  I'm sure as the decades have passed she has grimaced a time or two at our unladylike ways of preferring jeans and barn boots to elegant downtown apparel and fancy shoes. 

So, yesterday had to be a supreme moment as she convinced herself and tried to convince us that we had "arrived" into the sophisticated world of ladylike ways.  

We did our best to keep her smiling and proud, and as we walked out the door, we breathed a collective sigh of relief, knowing that Mother was, indeed, happy and that we had survived our tea and cupcake experience without embarrassing ourselves or her.