May 1, 2020. Madison, Mississippi. Tea at Ten.

With the shut down, I had not been able to get together with my Mississippi friends. But I decided that enough is enough, and I invited Eleanor to come for coffee today. And she agreed. Then, as she is a busy lady and I am not, I suggested that Kashina drive me to their home in the country, to avoid her drive to see me. In addition, I would also enjoy the ride in the country. Friday is not a normal day for Kashina but she was ill one day so came today instead which worked out perfectly for me. Eleanor and I decided to drink tea rather than coffee. She has beautiful china tea pots and beautiful tea cosies Madde by her so I like the scene, So we drank tea at ten o'clock. The day was perfect so we sat on the porch off the kitchen and enjoyed the warm air and beautiful surroundings. Eleanor is a good cook. She served us dew berry cobbler, made from the wild berries on their property. Dew berries are similar to blackberries but bigger. I had never heard of the berry but the cobbler was delicious. So we drank, ate and talked. Jim was going into work for 1:00 so he joined us which was an extra treat. Eleanor is a wonderful painter. The still life over my desk was done by her. But for the past two years she has not been painting. Today we talked seriously about the question. I must be boring because I always encourage her to get back to painting but today we delved into the question while we drank our tea, I know she is busy but I still feel she could find time in her day to paint. Finally she admitted that after her Mother died and the objects from her Mother was given to her, they were left in her studio. She can not paint with all those objects in the way. That made sense. But I suggested that her daughter Gabriella could help because Gabrielle has been asking for painting lessons. It is none of my business as to how she spends her time but her talent is so obvious that I hate to see it going to waste. Until our conversation today, she did not realize that the family objects in her studio were causing her not to paint. But now she knows. I have just gotten a text from Eleanor to say that she spent two hours this afternoon cleaning up her studio. I was delighted. My excursion for tea at ten was splendid. Now I hope it will motivate Eleanor to get back to the easle.