Dear Readers of Tea Party Girl, I admit I am trying to hang on to the transporting I experienced 48 hours ago watching Becoming Jane, the biopic about one of our favorite women and writers of all time, Jane Austen. We need another post about tea and the movies, don’t you think?
Truthfully, I personally found myself transported most by the musical score and found myself humming it as I walked to the car. It is lovely, Mr. Johnston. The pastoral large-screen views of Ireland, where it was filmed, made it worth paying full price, and yes, I spotted a few tea-drinking scenes throughout the story.
I attended the movie with my number-one, in-real-life, tea-drinking friend. She caught the bug and never recovered when I introduced her to tea two-and-a-half years ago. Since that time, she carefully purchases teacups she loves, drinks multiple pots per day (with her three boys!), and hosts tea events. But the most remarkable change for her has been the way she makes room in her life for beauty, listening to more classical music, for example. And while I loved the movie, my dear friend wept during Becoming Jane.
The irony of her reaction (for those of you who’ve seen the movie, I say this with a smile) is that with a sigh, she expressed her longing to live in the Regency time period. And on that note, off we went to her highest priority errand…Wal-mart.
The practical side of me is thankful to be born in a society where girls can wear pants, vote, own property, marry whomever, and not die during childbirth or kill the chicken before eating it. I would enjoy seeing a movie about the servant class during the nineteenth century as I’m always curious about their lives (did they go home and then clean THEIR houses? And how did the human race propagate when men took baths once a week if they were lucky?).
But I understand her longings. I feel them, too. I feel it in the architecture, costumes, and unadulterated countryside the movies represent. I believe our souls long for and are nourished by beauty.
This is why I love the tea party. I cannot paint masterpieces. I gave up piano lessons as a young girl to chase boys instead. I live where telephone wires, cement, and more cars than drivers are a reality. A tailor no longer makes my clothes to wear at balls and the middle-class (my friends) shop at Wal-mart. I didn’t have the knowledge or money to purchase a vineyard. So I throw tea parties. Often.
My same dear in-real-life friend threw a tea gathering last week and called to thank me and my mother (again) for introducing tea to her life. One of her guests had never been to a tea party before. I see this guest around town; a mother of three young children, where low prices are key to survival, and her wardrobe is mainly sweats and quickly pulled-back hair. This woman, however, in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, was completely transported by the tea party, a slice of beauty. She’s already planning one for her daughter. And this ripple effect of the tea party happened DESPITE her initial scoffing and intimidation by the event.
So again, I ask you, how are you making room for a daily touch of beauty? Have you allowed quiet moments for tea with yourself or someone else? Will you let tea do its work on you?
And let me end this blog post with a nod to the serious fans of Becoming Jane, two fellow bloggers. Be sure to visit their site if you want to experience a bit more of the movie’s magic.
Dear Jen the Tea Party Girl,
As lovers of Becoming Jane, I thank you for leaving a nice comment and encouragement for the Becoming Jane Fansite. Not enough tea drinking there in the movie (only Mrs. Austen trying to offer Lady Gresham tea), but still very lovely and touchy.
And as a tea lover myself, I sure have bookmarked your site in my fave list, for I am an avid tea drinker (mostly herbal and green tea though…)
Thank you and take care!
It’s so lovely to read of your friend’s embracing of tea and beautiful things!
Have you seen Gosford Park? That’s the first movie I thought of that shows what it might have been like to be living in the period of household staff.
I LOVED this part of your post, thought it was SO clever:
“I cannot paint masterpieces. I gave up piano lessons as a young girl to chase boys instead. I live where telephone wires, cement, and more cars than drivers are a reality. A tailor no longer makes my clothes to wear at balls and the middle-class (my friends) shop at Wal-mart. I didn’t have the knowledge or money to purchase a vineyard. So I throw tea parties. Often.”
Best regards,
Eileen
Thanks, Eileen! I appreciate you taking the time to leave me such a positive comment.