Tea Time with Gabriella (and Delilah)

On Saturday I took my granddaughter Gabriella and her American Girl doll Delilah for tea at a lovely little restaurant called Ashland House. The restaurant is in a quaint wooden building with red siding.. The dining room walls are painted with butterflies and flowers and there are two artificial trees in the center of one of the rooms. It's a very girly place, and I thought she'd enjoy the experience. We both did.

Across from us was a birthday party. All the women at the table wore tiaras and some wore feather boas. One of the ladies was taking a picture and I offered to take one so she could be in it, too. Gabriella said, "I'll do it. I'm better," so the lady handed her the camera.

Tea consisted of four courses: the first was cheese crackers and ginger snaps with lemon curd; the second was tea sandwiches cut into fancy shapes; the third was a scone with whipped cream and jam, and the fourth was a plate of petit fours. And of course, tea accompanied everything. We chose the house blend, which had a slight blueberry flavor.

We spent two hours chatting about her upcoming first year in middle school, her videos (She's one of a circle of pre-teens and young teens who post videos of their American Girls on YouTube). We talked about books she's read this summer and her family's trip to Orlando which is coming up soon.

It was a delightful afternoon with my favorite person, and I am still on a sugar high.

Gabriella

Facebook | Thelma Zirkelbach

Thanksgiving was a beautiful, clear fall day. The morning felt peaceful. I baked and read The Handmaid's Tale for my book club. Hadn't read it in years but I love it.

Dinner was at my daughter-in-law's sister's house. It was a noisy family gathering with lots of good food and nine (yes, nine) pies. And best of all, it was my granddaughter Gabriella's 11th birthday. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. We went to the hospital soon after her mom went into labor and I thought I would never do this, but I stayed in the room for the birth and had the joy of seeing her whoosh into the world, with a crop of black hair and huge brown eyes.

She was so dear to Ralph. One of his last wishes was to see her one more time. He was on the bone marrow transplant floor at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and no children are allowed, but his wonderful doctor arranged for him to go downstairs in a wheelchair. It was a sweet but heartbreaking moment to see them together for the last time. When we went back to the floor, he said, "I hope she won't forget me."
I repeated this to Gabriella a year or so after he died, and she said, "How could I forget Popo? I loved him. If I could have one wish, I'd wish for him to come back to you."

Please, please click on the link to Facebook above. You'll see a video of Gabriella singing a song she dedicated to her granddad.

See you in seven.