Mad Tea Party!

Well, the Hatter has done it again!

He sent out invitations to Alice, the White Rabbit and myself, hoping to lure us to his home for tea and a book club. The Hatter is mad of course, but loves books....all types, and as we soon found out...in all ways!

The day began sunny as I headed outside to travel to his home.

Alice too, receiving her invitation also left her home and wandered the forest looking for the doorway that would lead her to the Hatter's world.

She stopped for a moment or two to catch up on her reading as she was behind the group....the Mad Hatter was always a fast reader, as was Rabbit who, surprisingly enough, never dallied over reading but got right to business.

So here is Alice still reading while I was making my way to Wonderland.

The Hatter, being anxious to greet his guest, met me halfway and then left me to continue as he sought for Alice and Rabbit.

He found Alice reading, and to minimize her embarrassment at being caught catching up, told her his hat was drooping...so she fixed it. And no more was said about her reading at the last minute!

It was at this time that a storm blew in, huge black clouds heavy with rain above them as they made haste to the Hatter's home. Luckily, I saw the storm coming from far off and I brought in everything the Hatter had set on his outside table and meticulously laid it all back in his dining room, knowing that details were very important to him.

The cupcakes spoke to me! "Eat Me!" they said! But no, I knew better than to start without the others and I am pleased to say I was not persuaded!

So tempting.....but no......

Just as I had filled the last tea pot with hot water and tea bags and sat down to rest my weary whimsical legs, Alice and the Hatter blew in the door with a strong gust of wind.

The Mad Hatter bowed to me with a flourish of his fanciful hat and Alice curtsied as if to the Queen...(Oh no! She is not coming, is she? I rather like my head!)

"I do hope you are not angry with me," I said as I showed them to the table. You never know with the Mad Hatter, he may have planned to have the tea party in the middle of a raging storm!

But the Hatter smiled and showed us into the room.

"Not at all, dear friend, I am in your debt for sorting out a dry place for us to have tea and to read our book... no need, none I say... no need to get books wet!"

Sitting comfortably in our chairs at the table, we talked of Wonderland's latest news and waited for our tea to steep. Before I knew what was happening, the Mad Hatter picked up an old silver tea pot and poured Alice a cup of...tea!?

"Buttons?" asked Alice as she peered into her pretty cup. Her puzzled face looked up.

The Hatter looked into her cup. "Yes, and my best buttons at that!"

"B-but," stammered Alice, "I can't drink buttons!" Still curious as to the Hatter's meaning.

"Why, my dear girl... I make it my business to drink a cup of buttons every day!" he stated cheerfully.

At this point I stepped in and asked how his reading was coming along, surreptitiously taking the tea bags from the tea pots and pouring myself a cup.

"Marvelous!" says he. "In fact I found a new book that I truly love and I want to share it with both of you."

Moments passed and he did not elaborate.

"Oh, well, would you tell us about it?" I asked.

The Mad Hatter smiled wide and said, "Read it yourself!" Alice and I looked puzzled at each other.

"Where is it, dear Hatter?" Alice asked in her sweetest voice.

The Hatter only chuckled and waved at the table. "Why, it is right here under your noses!"

We looked and looked at all the old books he had stacked on the table... Then he picked up a random sheet (I had painstakingly laid out all the loose pages when I recreated the table in his dining-room, quite surprised at it all).

"Here, I have laid all the pages out so you can enjoy this story too." He smiled again.

Alice and I looked at the hundreds of loose pages that covered the tablecloth.

"How do we know where to start and how to proceed?" Alice asked bravely.

The Hatter readjusted his hat and said, "Why, the book is so good, you can start anywhere and proceed how you like!"

In true Mad Hatter style, this made Alice and I smile and laugh, and then the Hatter was laughing...

Alice poured the Hatter and herself a proper cup of tea and we all gave in to the cries of the cakes. Mmmm....delicious!

There were bottles on the table that said, "Drink Me!" but we already knew from Alice's experience that we would not be drinking tonight!

Both of us had the same desire to return safely to our homes before nightfall.

Eventually we got around to talking about our book... the Hatter loves to discuss the characters, Alice enjoys the story setting, and I am always interested in the subplots. All in all, we had a wonderful time in Wonderland even though Rabbit did not arrive before I left (he must be really, really late!).

Thank you for visiting during Mad Hatter Tea Party hosted by A Fanciful Twist.

Click on the link and you can see all the other parties!

Hugs,

Terri

If you go to the end of my Happy June Giveaway post, you will see all 4 prizes I am offering as a thank you to all my readers! You can enter to will one or all of the gifts! Only need to be a follower for a chance to win a Tea Cup, a huge Goodie Bag, a Tea wall hanging or a lovely Altered Matchbox filled with fun! Good luck!