It's Frogwart's Mad Hatter Lunar Eclipse Tea Party!!

Come in!

Behind the garden's wall of leaves,

where poppies bloom bright red,

past the rosemary and thyme,

we've prepared a lovely seat for you! 

All the guests are just beginning to gather!

Alice already arrived in a flowery hat,

 just in time to wiggle her toes in the warm afternoon grass.

"Yes, do come in!" welcomes the Mad Hatter.

"It's a lovely afternoon for tea.

We've lemon drops, and poppy seeds, and fumbling dumble-dees!

The Frogwart Queen has made this spread,
and asked me just to host.

So I'll be sure that all are fed

and no one ends up toast!"

Do join Alice and find a seat at the table.

Would you like a cup of  'drink me' tea?

   

Everyone is here, you know.    In addition to Alice, there's Tweedle Dum,

and Tweedle Dee,                  and, of course, the Queen of Hearts is here!

March Hare arrived.    He's over there beside the Hatter!

"And who are you? If I may ask...or even if I might-n't!"  Hare says, turning to Alice

and taking a rather impolite whiff of the scrumptious flowers on her hat.

"I thought I knew who I was when I arrived, 

but now I must admit  feeling quite differently. 

If  I'm not the same as who I was before,

 then how can I ever say for sure just who I am?"  

asks Alice with great puzzlement.

Well, of course such a dilemma always makes one hungry.

Please do take a plate. 

There are so many de-luxious little bits crying "eat me"!

Oh yes,  how true!  says the Queen of Hearts replying to Alice, 

To know or not to know, that is indeed one of those questions, now isn't it?!!

and with that she chomps a bite of lemon poppy seed muffin with colored swirly frosting.

Tweedle Dee is not interested in missing out.

He promptly takes a seat upon the Red Queen's lap.

. . .which makes Tweedle Dum roll his eyes

because he knows what Dee is up to!!

. . . and with that look,

Tweedle Dee climbs off the Queen's lap,

seats himself among a bunch of yellow day-zees,

Now, he's whistling!

He learned long ago, you know,

that Tweedles must whistle for something good to eat.

As you might imagine, that little tweedle of his lips

caused a plate to appear straight away

- a magi-scal assemblage of miniscule morsels indeed!

Do please plan to stay the whole afternoon.
I promise this tea party shall progress with not one guest becoming toast! 

The Queen of Hearts will smile as she rests her feet upon a pork roast that fell off the table.

 Tweedle Dum can wile away hours observing a resident homing pigeon
gathering crumbs dropped by Tweedle Dee. 

The March Hare will surely once again explain that he was not the legendary Hare of the Dog.

Even the Mad Hatter will be certain to make a special announcement.

Oh!  Here he is now!!

"Ah- hem! " he begins, clearing his throat.
 


"To everyone who's here or not,
I've something grand to say.  
Although the weather's far from hot,
it's still a special day. 

The 26th of June brings us
a special-ish-ous treat. 
It's not a drink. It's not more fun...
not something else to eat!    

When day turns night, up in the sky,
an evening prize there'll be -
the moon eclipsed by all of us
is what you soon will see!"

You can see for yourself that the Mad Hatter is feeling very pleased with himself

at having done such a nice job with his announcement.

"Oh heavens", shouts Alice, "what on earth are you saying?

Most of the time, I do so like surprises,

 and I understand that this party has neither cabbages nor kings.

 (Just think of the tootles cabbage would cause!)

 But how, pray tell, can we carry on with this tea party

 into the night if there will be NO MOON?"

With that Alice takes a big bite out of yet another corn dog!

You can see for yourself how disturbed everyone is about this pending turn of events!

But I also notice that the Frogwart Queen has turned to the Mad Hatter with a smile.


"This," she says with great confidence, "we can easily fix!
As evening comes to our lovely party,
we shall all sing songs bright enough to light the darkest night."


Well there's a relief !

This king-less,  mean-less,  moon-less,
and totally MAD tea party
will stay bright and cheery even with an eclipes of the moon!

The Mad Hatter pours himself a warm cup of hibiscus tea
with 14 drops of shimmering, sun-kissed honey, 
takes a sip, and hums the first note of a tune.

"On that note." he says with joy, "please do stand up
and join me in a song.
An evening breeze is blowing in.
We know it won't be long.
The moon is rising in the east
and soon it will be night.
Our tunes will brighten just in time,
so sing with all your might!

We know you'll soon be on your way

as dew grows on the lawn,

we'll wiggle toes if fresh wet grass

and sing you this last song.

You've many parties yet to visit,

maybe one to host,

we hope your time is filled with fun

...and no one ends up toast.

Toast!