Who enjoys a good cuppa?

PS. I love the fair isle jumper Paul is wearing in >2 2wonderY:

I think this is too much awesome for one image, but I'll post it, anyway.


http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/maggie-smith/images/25472651/title/tea-with-mussolin...

and his essay: A Nice Cup of Tea

/ahem/

Agatha Christie

>27 2wonderY:

I have that picture or something VERY similar in Morton's In search of Wales. As Maira Kalman would say, SPECTACULAR hats!

>29 LolaWalser:

There are two books competing for this photo to be an illustration of the first lines:

"Three nice old ladies and a criminal, who is even nicer, are discussing the war over a cup of tea. The criminal, who is the hostess, calls it a dish of tea, which shows that she comes from Caledonia, but that is not her crime." --Echoes of the War by J. M. Barrie

and

“Mrs. Katy Scudder had invited Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. Jones, and Deacon Twitchel's wife to take tea with her on the afternoon of June second, A.D. 17--.
When one has a story to tell, one is always puzzled which end of it you begin at. You have a whole corps of people to introduce that you know and your reader doesn’t; and one thing so pre-supposes another, that, whichever way you turn your patchwork, the figures still seem ill-arranged. The small item which I have given will do as well as other to begin with, as it will certainly lead you to ask, “Pray, who was Mrs. Katy Scudder?” – and this will start me systematically on my story.” --The Minister's Wooing by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Aha!



I can't decide whether this means my memory's excellent or deplorable. :)

>31 LolaWalser: That is fine and wonderful.

The caption in the book (1932, first edition) is "A vanished generation" and in the list of illustrations it says only "Photo: Frith". Seems it was one Francis Frith--googling "Francis Frith Welsh women" brings up more interesting photos, including--speaking of tea--this:

I really like the look of those traffic cone hats in >27 2wonderY: But of course they must have made people wonder about the shape of the skull inside :-)

>31 LolaWalser:, >33 LolaWalser:

Um ... couple of rather odd looking photos.

>33 LolaWalser: looks like rather bad photoshopping - or, possibly, one of those oldtime fairground or seaside things where you had your photo taken with your face sticking through a hole in a decorated screen.

>31 LolaWalser: looks more like a genuine Victorian photo of Welsh women in traditional garb ... except that I can't rid myself of the suspicion that at least three of them are men in drag ...

>35 alaudacorax:

looks like rather bad photoshopping - or, possibly, one of those oldtime fairground or seaside things where you had your photo taken with your face sticking through a hole in a decorated screen.

And yet, apparently not...

Google it, there's tons:



A young woman in Welsh national dress, Pensarn, 1895. Francis Frith Collection / akg-images

I'd like to know the original reason for such a hat. They sit so high above the crown, especially as in 33left. And not all of them are tied on.

>37 2wonderY:

Hats take on a life of their own. :)



Two women in national dress drinking tea, Thomas Jones, ca. 1875

Ah, this is what I was looking for... wasn't sure whether any photos were from the 20th century:



Group of young women in Welsh national dress by Gyde of Aberystwyth (Undated, but probably taken c. 1910-1914)

For genealogy fans (and anyone who likes staring at other people's old photographs!), scroll down on this link for subject identification.

>37 2wonderY:

Do you think the hats in your picture might be the ones with the "slightly tapering crowns"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Welsh_costume

The distinctive feature of Welsh hats is the broad, stiff, flat brim and the tall crown. There were two main shapes of crown: those with drum shaped crowns were worn in north-west Wales and those with slightly tapering crowns were found in the rest of Wales. They were probably originally made of felt (known as beaver, but not necessarily made of beaver fur), but most surviving examples are of silk plush (also sometimes known as beaver) on a stiffened buckram base. A third type of hat, known as the cockle hat, was worn in the Swansea area.

Interesting to note it was a relatively recent (1840s) fashion. And short-lived.

They were obviously tea hats, according to the "historical record."

Hah, yes!

>36 LolaWalser:

Looking more carefully, I think I've figured out >33 LolaWalser:. Could what I took to be hair on the sides of their faces be bunches of black lace or similar? Especially with the girl on the left, could her real - and, presumably, very full - head of hair be all clipped-up onto the top of the head, thus giving the hat something to grip on to and giving that 'too-high' appearance?

o i c, you thought it was hair... yeah, I saw cloth from the start.

on topic!

>44 LolaWalser: - Don't think she was Welsh ...

Hats are not a strict requirement, but...



What is on your head?

Now here's a pretty one

In honor of Lotte Reiniger's birthday, I present Thumbelina and the field mouse

More tea drinking hats

>56 2wonderY: >57 2wonderY: I strongly approve of both these messages.