Back to reality...

... but yes, I'm still brewing my tea in a teapot, not a cup. Heavenly.  And I'm serving myself on a little porcelain tray... brown sugar crystals, room-temperature milk, a small teaspoon... and for that little while, I make believe I'm back in England. My white porcelain tray is in the shape of a feathered hen, which is very un-British, but my teapot has the British flag on it, and my cup and saucer was handpainted in England, so at least that's something.

Tomorrow is tea day.... we haven't had a Waldorf Wednesday tea in two weeks now, so tomorrow we resume with that. I've just baked a peach cake for tomorrow afternoon, and look forward to seeing everyone again.  Actually, we did see all the neighbors over the weekend.... at a moving-away party for S across the road. Her house is sold and she's moving up near Austin in less than two weeks. She will be here for tea tomorrow, but I don't know how many other Wednesdays we'll be seeing her once she gets up to Austin.

Still very hot here.... near to 100 degrees or over every day since we've been home. We had a bit of rain the other day... a good shower that lasted less than half an hour. Not much, but at least it was wet. I'm sure the grass soaked it all up in less than 15 minutes, and then after the rain quit, you couldn't tell it had rained at all after the sun came out again. There are still cracks in the ground from the combination of heat and lack of rain... and the grass is at the crispy stage of the summer.

The yellow and black spider that has made its web on the side of the back porch steps is still there... the web was built before we left for England and by the time we got back it was huge. The spider is also getting huge... I've named her "Charlotte" and by the size of her, she's been eating quite well. When I was sweeping the back steps this morning, I nicked part of the web with the tip of the broom. Charlotte wasn't too happy with my carelessness, and almost immediately began to mend the edges of her web. When I got back home after my errands earlier this afternoon, I noticed that not only did she repair the part of the web that was damaged by the broom, but she made the exterior ridges of the web much larger, with a more intricate pattern than was there before.  Charlotte has truly taken over that part of the back porch.... between the web and her spider-self, it looks like I've already started to decorate for Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween.... I'll be starting to decorate by the end of this month, so all of the Halloween decorations will be up for September and October. Our neighbors have asked if we're having a Halloween costume party this year, and I said that we were... some are already planning their costumes.  I say this every year, but I'll say it again.... once Halloween comes and goes, the rest of the year goes by in a heart-beat.

I've been re-reading "Emma" by Jane Austen this week......... I started that book before we left for England, and got up to Chapter 20 before putting it down and coming to the conclusion that I wasn't getting anywhere with that novel. I loved "Pride and Prejudice," so I have no idea what my problem was with "Emma."  However, after traveling to England, and visiting the Jane Austen Center in Bath, I felt that I owed it to Miss Austen to give "Emma" another try. So that's what I've been doing. So far, so good. (It helped to find a web-site via Google to refresh my memory on Chapters 1 through 20 before I started off with Chapter 21.)

So here I am.... writing about Jane Austen and England... and right now, I dearly would like a cup of tea. Which I shall make as soon as I finish typing. Tea in my British flag teapot... with the English tea from my friend J... served to myself on my white porcelain tray in the shape of a feathered hen.