Sunday, July 26, 2015

The Mad Tea "After Party"...

Hello, All!

Yes, I am still Mad-Tea-Partying!

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Still!

Aren't these shortbread cookies lovely?

Again, from my kind friend in Tennessee and Stonehouse Ovens...

Love!!

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Almost too pretty to eat! (But we have forced ourselves!)

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I had to take a few more photos of the Wonderland-Character ornaments

before they go off to their new home...

Can you guess which ones were my favorites?? ;)

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"Chessie" rocks and a couple of Hatters...

Rocks are such fun little *canvases*!

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One last look...

I almost got a little too attached to this batch of whimsy!

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One more thing...

Those who have followed my blog for the past few years know how silly

I get over TUBEROSES this time of year...

(Sweet summer memories of spending hot summer nights at my grandparents' house

in blissful air conditioning...cool, tuberose-scented air! ~

 We just had fans at the farm back then.)

Anyway, this year I got some COLORED Tuberose Bulbs from Easy to Grow Bulbs...

"Yellow Baby" has been the first of them to bloom, but the others have flower stalks and buds

coming along, and I am anxiously awaiting "Cinderella" and "Pink Sensation"!

(Photos to follow, you can be sure!)

Thank you again for indulging my continuing Alice-Fun...

You know the newest Alice movie, "Through the Looking Glass",

is set to come out next May!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,
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Saturday, July 25, 2015

The Hot Bugs ("Cicada Mania")

I had to put "Cicada Mania" in the post title, because, can you believe there

 is actually a website by that name??

There is! 

Very informative, actually. (Click here...)

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As for "The Hot Bugs" part, that's what my youngest daughter, Katie,

called them when she was little...

Because their droning started when it was, well, HOT...usually mid-July ~

continuing into the dog-days of August ~ until reaching such a fever-pitch

that we wondered how we ever kind of enjoyed it when it first began...

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This particular Cicada, (Quesada gigas, the second-largest North American species, 

with brown and green "camo" markings) buzzed right into my up-done hair

a couple of nights ago and got TANGLED there... (I know, I know...)

I came inside...finagled him loose, and he took off, buzzing loudly

across the family room...

All three kitties snapped into Predator Mode.

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Tallulah is faster by far than either of the boys, and she was on him in a flash!

("Like a duck on a junebug"...maybe that should be, " Like a cat on a cicada"!)

I got him away from her...

(She had him in her mouth and was on her way to the second location with him...)

I put him in a (ventilated) box overnight, because the price for being rescued

from a gruesome death meted out by 6 pounds of fluff and teeth and claws ~

 (probably being eaten alive after being played with to near death) ~

...is being the model in a photo-shoot.

So, into the box he went; to cool his jets, literally. ;)

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So, next morning (he was presumably over the shock of Tallulah) ~

...sufficiently cooled by the air conditioning as to let me position

him on a couple of flowers to take pictures; we had our "shoot"...

and I did get a few pictures before he buzzed off loudly into the willows...

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Isn't he interesting, really??

Look at that face!

The clypeus is that bulbous structure on the cicada's head that looks like it

could be its nose, or the grill of a vintage automobile...

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"The clypeus holds the muscles the cicada uses to pump plant fluids through its needle-like

beak and into its digestive system. Clypeus means "shield" in Latin."

(From the Cicada Mania site.)

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"Alright, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." 

 Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) ~ "Sunset Boulevard", 1950

Or this fellow. 

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This is actually one of the Magicicada species,

in Union County Illinois, back in May.

He's one of the "periodical, or cyclical", Cicadas.

He was a lot smaller...(although they all feel HUGE if in one's hair...)

This one was maybe half the size of my photo-shoot model...

And look at those EYES! (Not enhanced!)


So now you know how I (sometimes) get insect photos!

Visit Cicada Mania, you'll be glad you did!

More soon!

Love,
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Saturday, July 11, 2015

Welcome! Mad Tea Party 2015

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Welcome, Mad Tea Partiers! 

 We're all a little mad... (all the best people are, you know!)

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First, I want to thank our hostess, Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist

for putting on yet another fabulous *Alice* bash...

Such fun!

And a lot of organizing ~ a lot of work...

So, again, thank you, dear Vanessa, for this most excellent way

to bring creative folk together!

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So.... I have learned never to trust a "7-Day Forecast"!

I waited all week to take my main Tea Party photos... (I did do a little preview

a week or so ago, and am glad I did!) ~

 Yesterday ~ Friday ~ was supposed to be sunny, but alas...rain, rain...

(..."go away ~ come again in....maybe August?" ~ I know that doesn't

rhyme, but we have had enough rain!)

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Finally, after a gloomy, gray afternoon, the sun came shining though ~

just before it set!

I ended up getting a few outdoor photos after all...


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I call this "Tea With the Earl"...don't you just love his expression??

I don't know who he is supposed to be...probably a real person, truly!

These "portrait cups" usually portray real historical figures...

but for me he will remain "Earl Grey"... ;)

(Oh, my SIL just told me that this is Washington...

by George, I believe she is right! 

I had just assumed (we all know where that gets us) because the cup

is Bavarian, that he was some European nobleman... ;) )

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This was my "practice-run" a few days ago when it was nice and sunny...

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I "borrowed a page" from Vanessa's book and stacked teacups under a glass cloche...

doesn't everything look much more interesting under glass?


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Would you like a spot of *Un-Tea* with your marshmallows??

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Some little nieces were amazed that roses are edible...

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Yes.

Again, inspired by A Fanciful Twist, I glittered a flower...

It was just too much fun ~ "gilding the lily", I know...

"Glittering the Althea", to be exact...

Because...why not?

Glitter makes everything more fun!

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Here we are, now, chased back inside by the storm clouds!

Still fun!

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My latest obsession has been painting turned wooden ornaments...

The "Wonderland" characters are a delight to paint!


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More "cupcakes under glass"...

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Lemonade? *Sparkling* or regular?

Make mine pink!

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Indoor parties do have their advantages...

I think my chandelier will "wear" her teacups for a little while!

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A Gourdly Queen...

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I love this little orphaned cup!

She doesn't have a saucer, but the other cups and saucers are happy to share...

I think she looks like Alice herself!

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Icing overload!!

(Can there be such a thing?...Can there??)

Yes...yes, there can. 

(Delicious, though!)

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More of the beautiful shortbread cookies from Stonehouse Oven,

a gift from my Tennessee friend!

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The Hatter's personal favorite from Tall Toad...

(With a little added whimsy from moi!)

Isn't the pink toile on the table lovely?

A gift in part from the kind owner of  www.uniquefabricpalette.com ;

 it's called "Tea Cakes"...I couldn't resist!

The Dobbs hat box was my grandmother's.

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Sometimes Alice wears different outfits and goes on unconventional adventures!

(This whimsical Alice is a custom commission.)

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Alice is EVERYWHERE!

Even on fanciful garden stones!

(Custom commissions.)

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A fun time was had by all, even if it was just a couple of us!

(And kittehs...)

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I did have a few little folks...little a long time ago,

but that's okay...

They were here in spirit ~ at whatever age they chose!

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I decided they needed party hats...

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My Grandpa, especially, looked like he needed a party!

That's him, of course, in the oval frame.

That's my husband's mom behind, and my mom on the right...

pretty little girls!

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We had planned to do the Mad Tea with some other little girls,

"modern-day" ones, but the weather just didn't cooperate...

Next year!!

Thank you so much for stopping by...

have fun along the Mad Hatter's Tea blog hop!

(See the list of revellers at A Fanciful Twist, if you're not familiar with it...

you'll be glad you did!)


"Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

Alice: I don't much care where.

The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.

Alice: ...So long as I get somewhere.

The Cheshire Cat: Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough."

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland


Oh, and one more thing...

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A few weeks ago, when working on the sash for the Hatter's

hat, I made sure to do some "unraveling/fringing" of an edge

outdoors, as it was just gossamer threads and those could be so 

dangerous if kitties (or any pets!) ingested them...

I thought I picked up most, but the birds found a few!!

Adorable, no?

(The eggs have hatched, but the hot pink lining is still there!)

Love,

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