A Very Bloggy Morning Tea - Day Five

After a long week of tea, coffee, hot chocolate and sweet treats, I thought we might bring a bit of razzle-dazzle to round off the week. This has all been for my mum - who I miss terribly - and if there's one thing my mum didn't mind, it was a glass or two of the bubbly stuff. If the occasion called for it, even if it was before midday, then she would go stoically forth and pop that cork. Christmas morning, for example, always involved champers. Brunch often could. So A Very Bloggy Morning Tea really ought to as well, don't you agree? Pop!

I've a savoury treat for you today. Did I just hear someone cry "More tarts"? Why, yes, more tarts. Bacon and silver beet, don't you know?

We are so near the target, good people. Please pop over and donate if you were thinking you might and hadn't got around to it. Even a handful of dollars will be appreciated. And do pop back later for our final guest post from a stylish lady with an incredible eye for beauty. Gosh, there's a lot of popping going on.

And before I go, I thought I'd share the little story I put together for the Cancer Council website last week about last year's Very Bloggy Morning Tea. It's what this has all been about. I hope you don't mind.

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My mum rather liked a nice cuppa. 

She was a tea-in-the-morning type, like me. And she used to retire at night with a cup of black tea, always in a fine bone china cup and saucer, always with a slice of lemon. She’d sip on it as she sat up in bed reading her latest favourite book.

During the day, however, it was coffee - good coffee from good cafes. Like me, she ordered a soy latte every time.

Mum died five years ago when the renal cell carcinoma that had claimed a kidney years earlier and returned in her liver, won its brutal fight. She left behind seven grandbabies, three of them - one from each daughter - born in the year since her diagnosis

I never thought I’d be the fundraiser type. I read stories of people who, through illness, accident and loss, are inspired and energised to start foundations, run marathons, climb mountains for a cause. It takes a special kind of person.

But having some friends over for morning tea? That’s easy. That I can do.

Just over a year ago, my little family and I moved out of the city for a new life in a rural village. As keen as I was to put on my floral apron and start rolling out scones in my lovely country kitchen, the reality of my situation then was that I knew about three people who I could invite over. We wouldn’t have raised much money.

But I had a blog and I ‘knew’ lots of people in that virtual space who’d willingly “pop in” for some tea and a slice of cake (or at least a recipe). So I held my Biggest Morning Tea online. Unlike in the real world, this morning tea went on for an entire week. And I had guests showing up not only from all over the country, but as far afield as Singapore, England and Canada. My old Sydney friends came to the party with generous donations, and people I’d never met in real life, and still haven’t, also parted with their hard-earned cash.

Every day there was something sweet to eat, with an accompanying recipe. I showed off my collection of vintage tea sets, some that used to belong to my granny. I gathered together some lovely bits and pieces to give away as lucky door prizes to show my appreciation. And when it was all said and done, and the last teacup had been polished and put back in the cabinet, we’d raised over $1,000 for a mighty good cause.

So what did I learn from hosting my virtual Biggest Morning Tea? That no matter the context, people enjoy a celebration. That if you’re enthusiastic enough, they’ll come along for the ride. That parting with $10 or $20 or $100 in honour of my mum, or anyone’s mum, is heart-filling, not wallet-draining. 

And that just like my mum, people rather like a nice cuppa.

Photo by Briony of Catch Photography.