I wish I had kept the powdered wig, the one I wore as part of my Halloween costume when I was 10 years old. My fascination with first ladies had prompted me to dress as Martha Washington.
As a topper to the long dress she’d made for me, my mother found a white wig that had an up-do with long curls draping down one side. She painted a dark round beauty mark above my cheek and I looked in the mirror and felt transformed.
I asked mom for a cup of tea because I felt that was something Martha would do.
Although I loved tea parties from the time I was very young, sipping tea in my grown-up attire that evening was the beginning of a ritual that has stayed with me.
Tea was not to be gulped on the way out the door. It was a quieting experience. Slow and soft.
I was taken by Old World traditions. The dress and demeanor. The manners and motif and the lifestyle. British royalty intrigued me. So, it is not a surprise that I would become a dedicated fan of the British television drama “Downton Abbey.”
I longed to take tea with the Crawleys, Countess Cora and handsome husband, Robert, Earl of Grantham. His mother, the feisty Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, my favorite character, could destroy a person just by the way she raised her eyebrows. And yet, I yearned for an audience with her.
Although the Crawleys didn’t join me, I did get a taste of them at the Downton Abbey Tea at the Langham Huntington in Pasadena. Elegant enough to have been overseen by Crawley family butler, Mr. Carson, and housekeeper, Mrs. Hughes, the tables were laid with rose-covered china and a harpist provided soothing music.
I could picture Downton’s head cook, Mrs. Patmore, taking the scones out of the oven herself and having them delivered warm to guests, many of whom were dressed in period fashions.
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While I did wear a big hat for the occasion, when I glanced in the mirror, I saw a flash of a young girl in a white wig.
All dressed up and taking tea.
Email Patricia Bunin at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @PatriciaBunin.