ladies who lunch (redux!) Who: Ladies Who Lunch! What: Tea & snacks, then volunteering. Where: Cafe du ciel Rose, then a tenements orphanage. When: Today, afternoon. Rating: Mark as needed.
The weather that day was warmer than it had been. Emillion’s sun shone brightly, half-hidden behind clouds but still enough to reflect its light off the snow the blanketed the city. At Sunday mass, the churchgoers carried on as usual—genial, welcoming—perhaps, even more so for those who had their spirits lifted by the weather.
After the crowd dispersed and the day after church began, Elvira (while leading those of the ladies who chose to travel together) headed to the Cafe du Ciel Rose without dawdling. Their reserved table was located indoors, for shelter from the winter air, in the corner between the show window and the wall. Their menus featuring tea and scones and finger sandwiches and more were resting in front of the chairs when they arrived. Despite being primarily an open air cafe, the owner of the cafe took care to decorate the relatively small and cramped inside part of the business. At least the round table was enough to sit all of them with some room to move and chatter.
Elvira sat in the seat opposite the window, with a view of the busy street, and waited patiently for their tea to begin.
After the luncheon, the women gathered at an orphanage in the Tenements, not a new event for some of the group prone to volunteering. The children were happy to see the faces, both old and new; their matron welcomed any brand of help.
As the orphanage workers and children carried on with their day, the women were left with a variety of ways to participate. Some of the toddlers played with their broken toys. Older orphans tried to keep watch, help read or entertain the younger children. Some of the shyer folk avoided the strangers, some went right up to meet possible “new friends.”
Within minutes, everyone was preoccupied. There was much here to do.