Betsy Devine: Funny ha-ha and/or funny peculiar

Thank god Martha Stewart didn’t come…

Yesterday, we threw a farewell party for Mickey, who’s headed off to Tasmania, Kangaroo Island, etc., all paid for by a fine natural history tour group.

To celebrate the hybrid nature of Australia, we had English-tea scones and jam and mounds of creamy stuff to put on top (Empire days) plus music in the background that was mostly dainty tea-party-classical interspersed with such Aussie classics as “Tie Me Kangaroo Down,” “Drunken Philosophers Song”, and “One-Eyed Trouser Snake.”

Instead of dainty little tea sandwiches, which are a nuisance to make, we had heaps of French bread and cheeses and fruit and chocolate cake and two pots of coffee for any non-tea-drinkers.

Mickey’s friends John and Lizzie brought a magnificently entertaining baby. Mickey read some hilarious short bits on duck-billed platypi. But for me, the most family-typical moment came just as everyone sat down at the food-piled-high tea table and I said,

Oh, whoops–I forgot to make any tea!