Jane Austen Tea Party

As I mentioned last week, I decided to throw a little Jane Austen Party for my siblings, nieces and nephews over mid-winter break. It was great fun having everyone over and my guests were all great sports at playing along, being my guinea pigs in learning a dance, and reading my Jane Austen script. Here I sit with one of my sisters. She is in the blue gown, and I have the strange feather headpiece that photographs more like a static electricity problem than an adornment.

We started with a 'cocoa and punch tea party', then we performed an 'amature theatrical' dramatic reading of my adaptation of Jane Austen's Juvenile work "Love and Friendship". I assigned parts and doled out an ample supply of felt sideburns and mustaches for the male parts. This was a good laugh and It was fun to see my adaptation come to life.

After that we tried our hands at some English Country Dancing. I taught several couples the 'Hole in the Wall' dance and we got through it several times with music, and felt quite elegant, despite the small number of couples and cramped quarters in my living room, which served as the assembly room.

Thank you all for coming! I hope in the future to be hostess of many such events!