Edenbrooke Book Club Tea Party

Tea Parties and book clubs (I belong to three) ... are two of my favorite things, and clearly I can not get enough of either ... Tea parties I have held ...

Jane Austen Birthday Tea for the Jane Austen Society of Utah

Witches Tea Party

Mad Hatter's out of doors Tea Party

Downton Abbey Tea Party and Geneva Heights Eighth Ward Reunion

Private Tea to celebrate Price William's Wedding with my friend Stacy (No Prince William did not actually marry Stacy, but I'm not sure she would have minded if he had.

Grandchildren's Tea Party

... and a few misc assorted, non themed tea parties ...

 So for this tea party, our first to arrive is our own glamorous Shanna, our book club leader.  

She was later joined by Ginny and Lori ... yes our book club is very intimate in size, and two other regular attendees, sadly had conflicts. Missed you Lindsey and Alison!

 Above is our tea table, and to the right is out toast station, including marmalade, clotted cream and lemon curd ... yum.

Eating cold toast, Brit style is just different ... but delicious with the accouterments.

Of course cucumbers sandwiches are a must for any tea menu.  I have always made them with just butter and cucumber, with maybe a tiny slice of red onion, like the ones I was served at a tea house in Brighton, UK ...

This time, however, I found a recipe on line for Lemon Dill Cucumber Sandwiches, that I am in love with.  You can find the recipe here.

We read Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson, and we all loved it, except for Lori, who had to read it a second time to fall in love with it ... so really how much could she have disliked it, if she read it again?  Yes, this book is very Austenish ... which I love, her next book, which three of us have already read, Blackmoore is definitely written by Donaldson as a Bronte soul sister ...

 .. and during the discussion of the book, if a question arises ... the total wealth of human knowledge is just one pink ipad away!!

You all come back now, hear?

Peter and the Star Catcher and More!

 

How fun, I just got back from three days, five plays, three pre-play discussions,  a backstage tour and a actor's seminar.

 My book club,  (all of us shown above at dinner)  the Waldon Ladies Book Club, attends the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, about three hours south of us, every year.

To the left is one of our guides on our back stage tour, a first for us ... and we learned all kinds of fun things, like that it can take 80 hours to hand tie a wig ... (Human hairs are tired into a fine netting.)  Such a wig costs the Festival $2500 ... whoa.

Here are some of us at the an actor's seminar.   An actor talks about how he came to be in the business, then tells insider tales of the Festival and other work he/she has done.  These are held in 'the pine grove' ... near the green shows stage, an outdoor stage that features dancing, singing, and comic antics every evening, for which there is no charge.

 We all loved the plays we saw this year, including two Shakespearean plays, The Tempest, we saw in the outdoor replica 'Globe' theater. We also saw Anything Goes by Cole Porter ... which was very fun. In addition to the Festival plays we attended Thoroughly Modern Milly at the Tuacahn Theater in St. George, another hour south ... then last of all we watched Peter and the Star Catcher, just off Broadway.  This is the book we had all read for August, and which we all enjoyed.  It is written by Dave Barry, and a cohort, so of course it is very funny.  It is the prequel to James Barrie's Peter Pan, and explains how 'Neverland' as we have all come to know and love it, came to be.

I admit I liked the book better than the play.  The book is fun and funny and sometimes touching ... the play borders on silly and, well, more silly. 

... and after all the fun, it was time to return home to my own Peter Pan, who resides in my bedroom.  It is a four foot tall painting that was done by an artist for a magazine cover.  I found it at an estate sale years ago and fell in love.   I have always wondered what magazine cover it graced ... but will probably never know.