Mothers and daughters gather for tea

Little girls in frilly dresses sipping tea from tea cups is a scene often captured in an artist's sketch. Seldom is it transformed into real life except at occasions like Saturday's Girl Scouts Mother Daughter Tea.

Almost 90 girl scouts, mothers and grandmothers gathered at Sisters Community Church for crafts followed by high tea that included finger sandwiches, cookies and various teas. The annual event is in its fourth year.

In addition to the girls in Sisters troops, scouts from troops in Bend and Redmond were invited.

During the crafts hour mothers and/or grandmothers and daughters circulated from table to table to participate in the various craft activities. An important stop was the table where each person decorated her own place mat for the upcoming tea. At another table spring bunnies were crafted from washcloths. Paper birds that could be balanced on a finger were also made, as were decorative bookmarks.

Service Unit Manager for the Sisters Area Girl Scouts Evelyn Brush collected pretty cups for the tea throughout the year, and everyone chose her own tea cup. After the tea the cups were rinsed and the mothers or grandmothers planted a flower in their cups. The girls planted seeds in theirs.

"The mothers get a blossom that they will put into their cups. The girls will take their cups and put potting soil and the flower seeds into them, and theirs will bloom later in the spring," Brush said.

Sixth graders Elissa O'Connor and Adi Goodwin prepared the finger sandwiches for the tea. The girls are working on a bronze achievement award. They made cucumber, peanut butter and jelly, and meat

sandwiches.

To learn how to make finger sandwiches they consulted with Mary Giraudo, the office director at St. Edward the Martyr Catholic Church, as she has extensive experience from the Mother's Day tea the church has hosted over the years.

"They worked with her from her cookbook. They learned how to bake bread from scratch and how to slice finger sandwiches perfectly. They looked over tea books, Martha Stewart books. They really studied a lot to be able to prepare the sandwiches for today," Brush said.

As a public service project the girls are going to prepare three lunches for Habitat for Humanity workers during the next three weeks. According to Brush the preparation they have done learning how to make finger sandwiches has properly prepared them to be able to make a good lunch for the workers.

About 60 girls participate in the Sisters Girl Scouts. The group's youngest member, Zoey Barrett, joined on her fifth birthday the day before the tea on April 20. Zoey told The Nugget that she wanted to be a scout "because it's

fun."

The troop's oldest scout is Sisters High School senior Kelsey Reznick. When asked why she has stayed in scouts through the years Reznick responded: "I just like volunteering. Pretty much the volunteer experience is the best thing out there. I do brown bag programs here in Sisters (at Sisters Christian Church). I want to be a good role model for these girls."

Reznick also teaches at

A Joyful Noise Learning Center and is a projectionist at Sisters Movie House.

Sisters Girls Scouts welcomes all girls between the ages of five and 18.

For more information contact Brush at 549-2066 or visit http://www.girlscouts.org.