Afternoon tea

Yesterday I went with Danielle and Leo to a tea held by Cara, one of Danielle's neighbors, who I've spent bits of time with since moving here. I wish I had followed through with my gut and brought my camera.

It was a feast for the senses.

Orange roses in the center of the table. Beautiful tea sets. I chose a tea cup that was yellow and green and gold. I thought Cara said it was "Martine", but a Google search has yielded no results.

I had a cup of "Romeo and Juliet" which was a white/clear tea infused with rose and my second cup was a Rooibos.

There was so much food I couldn't eat one of everything (which is what I am wont to do). I had a goat cheese and chopped olive finger sandwich, a smoked salmon and caper heart (open face for the color), a potato curry pita triangle, and a couple of cheese and caramelized onion puffs (from Trader Joe's...Lisa served these at my bday party).

I paced myself with conversation! I was pretty frozen when we first walked in. My plan to hold Leo to occupy myself went up in smoke fast when Krista nabbed the baby and proceeded to hold him for the next hour (I do not hold it against her :-) I did the wallflower thing for a bit, but then extracted myself from myself and started talking.

I spent the most time with Sonia, who I had chatted with once at the Y, and we really hit it off. She's from Massachusetts, which will give someone extra points off the bat :-) Danielle introduced me to Melissa about halfway through and I liked her, instantly. It turns out she has two boys who are on the spectrum. She had awesome glasses.

For dessert I had a piece of shortbread with clotted cream and marmalade. It was scrumptious.

It felt like time had stopped, in a way. That each of us had hit pause on our daily grinds to come together and be feted and served. What a wonderful gift. Thank you, Cara.