The Emilie Loring Collection

I have just come indoors after kayaking around the lake and taking a quick dip in clear, spring-fed water. The sun is warm, the water cool, and time has slowed to summer’s pace. It’s a day for shorts, a striped shirt, and bare feet.

Our family cottage, like Emilie’s Stone House, is stocked with books of all kinds, for all tastes. I know that, because I have just sorted and re-stocked our reading areas. Mine is a family of readers, so indoors and out, there are plenty of places to curl up with the book of the week.

Neighbor Bill stopped by to bring us this year’s lake directory. His family, like mine, has lived on the lakes for the better part of seventy years. We reminisced about our grandmothers, who dressed up cottage living with poured tea and dainty treats, and about our parents, who preferred picnic hampers and a shady spot outdoors.

Before too long, I will be on the deck of “my” Maine cottage again. Emilie’s Stone House will be just up the road, the place where she spent countless summer afternoons–gardening, reading, and enjoying an afternoon cup of tea.

In that spirit,

You are cordially invited to enjoy an Emilie-Loring-inspired tea 

on Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.

at your location, your local time.

Enjoy your tea, fancy or casual, indoors or out,

and take photos to share. 

I will open a blog post that morning and update it 

throughout that day and the next with your photos.

(Send to me at: contact@pattibender.com)

This is not a contest,

only a chance to meet with each other across the miles

and share a cup of tea.

Let’s sweeten the day a little more…

When you send in your photo(s), let me know if there is an Emilie Loring book you are missing or especially want to find. If I have an extra copy, we can figure out how to get it to you. We want you summer-reading ready!

“Now hear it then, my Rennie dear,

Nor hear it with a frown;

You cannot make the tea so fast

As I can gulp it down.

I therefore pray thee, Rennie dear,

That thou wilt give to me

With cream and sugar softened well,

Another dish of tea.”

Samuel Johnson