The last meeting I planned for my community in June 2026 was the finale concert to the Season 5 Arazzo Music Festival. The final program, "Roots Reimagined" was a two-hour concert performed by the Callisto Quartet and held at the Morgan Great Hall at The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT. And it was 100% free to attend. All you needed to do was pre-register on The Wadsworth's website and show up at the appointed time. 

Cordelia and I both play the cello, although Cordelia started learning cello as a child and has played entire pieces as part of an orchestra. I'm an experimental hobbyist cellist. I started as an adult learner in my mid twenties and learned as much as 5th hand position, but not quite a grasp of treble clef as far as my playing ability. I have a high quality pick-up, portable bass amplifier, a vibrato guitar effect pedal and a looping pedal. I record parts that I play 100% by ear and through a general vibe/feeling and layer them over each other with the looping pedal. I have never been in an orchestra, but I was in an Experimental Band once. But the point of all this is that we both appreciate live string music and can talk about it to each other like true critics about the program choices, cohesive playing of the group, intonation, etc, that goes beyond the average classical enjoyer. Aly also attended this meeting, but we didn't get a group shot with her because she had to sneak out during intermission due to my mistake of the length of the program.

The program started off with Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No.5. (If you click on the title of the piece, I have included a YouTube link to a different quartet playing each piece, as Callisto Quartet doesn't have this program on their YouTube.) This piece is approximately 26 minutes long, and is one of Beethoven's earlier works. Cordelia and I thought it was a "safe" opener for the program, something people who listen to Classical music would recognize right away. A crowd favorite if you will. 

They followed with Reena Esmail's Ragamala, which is a modern composition created in 2013 that weaves together the traditions of Hindustani and Western Classical music. It starts off with a slow sweeping and undulating droning of the instruments, which is often how I start my own experimental compositions. One of the members of the quartet described the first and third measures to be like this, while the second and fourth measures were far more lively and celebratory sounding with lots of double stops and plucking (playing without the bow). I knew I instantly liked it, but what would Cordelia the trained classical cellist think? She thought it was bold and interesting!

After intermission, they concluded with Edvard Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 27. This composition has been described as having a complex depth of feeling and runs just over 36 minutes. Cordelia already assumed that they would have played this piece and said afterwards, "You can never go wrong with Grieg". To me it was the perfect conclusion, especially because we watched it being performed at the end of June during the Cancer zodiac season. In fact, the depth of emotion that I was hoping to hear in this evening's performances was what inspired my coordinate!

This concert occurred just a few days before my actual birthday, so I am also a Cancer sun sign. You can expect my moods to change as frequently as those in Grieg's piece above. Now I hadn't worn this dress for about three years because it's kind of dramatic. The navy chiffon material has streaks of silver throughout it, and an embroidered shell on the bodice with a chain of pearls that hang delicately between the black lace trims in the design. Then the skirt is a layering of several petals of the same translucent chiffon material that catch the light just like scales of a fish. There's an additional bow trailing that I've pinned on one side. I didn't always have the matching headpiece, but it truly ties the coordinate together, no matter the additional accessories one chooses. To be a bit more mermaid-like, I put on an apricot colored princess sleeve mesh blouse under it (like the inside of a shell). I repeated the mesh in my choice of arm warmers. I intentionally wanted the rhinestones to look like beads of water sitting on top of my skin. Of course I had to wear fancy black FISHNET tights to go with all the mesh in the upper half. Then I chose ivory shoes to repeat the lighter color of the blouse. Additional accessories include a necklace made out of a shell with clay gold tentacles coming around the sides and back of the piece, and an ivory and light brown string instrument bag. Cordelia agrees with me that its not a violin and at best that it is a viola or a very small cello. 

Wearing this coordinate in front of an active fountain depicting the goddess Venus with a Nymph and Satyr seemed about right for the beautiful but possibly dangerous mermaid vibe I was going for.  I don't know if it was the fountain or not, but this area of the museum had AMAZING acoustics as well. 10/10 would recommend any concert in this space, but a string quartet takes the cake!

The Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, CT is pretty much known nowadays as being a premier wedding venue, as well as a place that hosts some open air local vendor markets and free concert series on the back lawn during summer evenings. I've been there twice before, once for their Friends of the Mansion Tea , and to a Gothic Vampire Masquerade Ball . Both of those previous events were sold out affairs with between 100-200 people. I could do my best to look around the mansion and its grounds, but I wasn't going to get a docent led tour unless I attended one of the bi-monthly Tea & Tours offered by the mansion every second and third Wednesday afternoon. I asked my community if anyone could swing the third Wednesday of June 2026, and a few people actually could make it to a middle of the week meeting! Tickets for the tour had to be purchased at least a week in advance, but I advised folks to buy as soon as they were able. To be honest, this was the cheapest tea I've ever been to. $15.00 plus tax!! To my surprise, the Tea & Tour sold out within a few weeks! Can you guess how many people were at the tea this time? 14! An introverts paradise! I don't think I could have gotten fourteen members from my group on a Wednesday afternoon, but we were competing with the local Congregational Church's ladies book club as far as tickets, and they pretty much grabbed the rest of them. 

The afternoon is an approximately two-hour program that starts with a docent led tour of the Mansion. They split us up into two groups and led us around some of the rooms on the first floor, explaining who had the mansion built, the family who lived in it, and showed some of the family treasures in a side entertaining room near the entrance that is usually closed off during events.

Then we proceeded to the bar area where we learned that there was a secret room above the bar for a live band to be heard but not seen from. I noticed that while there were some oil paintings here and there, the decor was an understated elegance whether it was curtains or painted on wall borders. It was interesting to me how the outside of the mansion always appears grandiose on a larger than life scale, but the inside is more carefully curated with a "less is more" approach.

After we saw the entirety of the first floor, they took us outside to admire the back of the mansion. It was built in the style of the Newport Mansions of the day. The sun was bright, and I lamented not choosing a parasol over a hand fan for my look of the day, but it freed up my hands to take photos of the group. 

Then they brought us all inside to sit down for the tea portion. Someone in the ladies book club group was gluten-free, and they were able to accomodate that dietary need, but I don't think they could easily have done a dairy-free tea or a vegan tea (outside of just the tea itself). All the food was very yummy and they encouraged us to eat extras if there were any, so I grabbed an extra half cucumber sandwich. 

They also said we were free to roam around the grounds of the mansion pretty much any time, I suppose outside of a private event. There are walking trails that connect to the back of the mansion and a beautiful rose garden way out back, which happened to be in full bloom during the event. Of course we took iconic photos with our coordinates to celebrate!

I had been planning to wear this black French Style Elegant Rose JSK dress from Chinese indie brand Miss Point for weeks gearing up for the Tea & Tour.  I have had this dress for about four years now and have coordinated it differently each time that I wear it. Since the middle of June is very warm, it didn't make sense to try to wear a blouse under it, but I still wanted a little more shoulder coverage. I remembered that I had a black and apricot colored sleeveless duster from another set of mine, and it really was the perfect "over-dress" for this dress. The cage like structure of the chiffon over skirt echoes the rose trellis around me. Soft pink and white roses on my dress are similar to the ones so carefully blooming and dropping petals around me. In this angle, the decorative black and gold fan is the MVP echoing the ornateness of the column behind me. You can't see it in this photo, but my purse has similar white  columns on it with a light pink rose in the middle as well. I couldn't have planned the thematic repeating elements any better!

The "before I left for the meeting" pose with a different accessory and angle of my coordinate. The dress does have the gold buttons down the center, which you cannot see when I am using the fan in other photos. The duster cinches at the waist, but has a black flared chiffon part over the top of the hips before the apricot chiffon starts. The bag is a small white square shaped cross-body with ornate metal handles or optional cord. I paired simple short lace white socks with black patent tea-party mary-janes, and a very lightweight black bonnet worn to one side. The only thing I would improve in this coordinate is my natural hair. I think I should have put it up in some kind of up do and secured the hat a bit better. The hat has widely placed alligator clips glued under it, which can be hard to secure at an angle especially.

Hannah's coordinate looks incredibly elegant in the rose garden. She is wearing a tea time themed ivory and white JSK with a white ruffle collar princess sleeve blouse. Accessories include delicately printed white tights, decorative white mid-heels, an ivory and white bonnet, a white rectangle shaped ornate purse on a long chain, and a beautiful white lace parasol. It is almost as if she just happened to live in the garden itself with all the incredible color-matching. 

Johanna also chose to wear a JSK dress with a tea time theme. Their dress is from Japanese brand Angelic Pretty and the name of the print is "Flower Garden Teatime", which could not have been more appropriate for this meeting theme and activity. They are also wearing a white lace three-quarter sleeve blouse under the dress, a straw bonnet with a lilac colored hat band and pink and purple flowers, short lace purple socks, light pink platform sneakers, and a variety of fun jewelry pieces that I admired up close but are not really visible in this photograph. They also have a stunning pink lace parasol that perfectly matches their dress!

Jax's coordinate for the meeting worked with the classic combination of black and white. They paired a black ruffle neck and placket long sleeve blouse over a skirt that they made with a white and black pastoral print on it. Between the skirt and the blouse, they paired an ornate waist belt with antique gold peacocks cinching the waist together. Short white lace socks over black leggings with black shoes balance the coordinate. They have their hair tied into back space buns wrapped with celestial black and white scrunchies. 

After our shots in the rose garden, we had a little more time to take some other pictures. Jax took this photo of Johanna and I in front of the mansion. They had to stand pretty far away to get the top of the building in the photo. 

I am glad that I was finally able to attend one of the Tea and Tours at the Wadsworth Mansion!!! June was the absolute perfect time of the year outside as well as to catch the rose garden in bloom! I am also happy that I had a few fashionable friends who could come out and enjoy it with me!

June through October in Connecticut is when there are about at least 6 equally interesting competing weekend events in the state vying for your time and attention. Coincidentally also happening the second weekend of June 2026 was Olde Mistick Village's Strawberry Festival. Souda had planned for the fashion group to attend on the Sunday of that weekend, so it didn't end up conflicting with CT Open House Day (which only occurs on the second Saturday of June). 

Now, I must tell you that the image above of the group has been altered a bit. Sarah H (second from left) warned the group that any and all themed festivals at Olde Mistick Village are insane. Not for the faint of heart. The village itself, which is more like a carefully curated  outdoor mall has free parking, but that parking becomes incredibly sparse during a festival weekend. The village has at least 50 additional vendors lining the village streets along with tons of food trucks and additional activities for children sprinkled around the village. The walkways become even tighter, but the stores are suddenly easier to shop inside of, because everyone is outside. Sarah had decided to go in the morning when the village opened for the day, rather than at the group's afternoon time. Their loved one snapped a photo of them and Pahl took that photo and added it to a group photo, which moved folks around a bit. In the original photo, everyone was standing in front of the display in the window, so by combining both Sarah's photo and a different group photo, we got a more interesting image with everyone in it.

I arrived at the appointed time, only by parking next to a weekday only business in a strip mall across the street from Olde Mistick Village. I hustled to stand in a shady spot across from Arisu, which is a Japanese themed pop-culture store that also sells Japanese snacks and some groceries. (Arisu is how the name Alice would sound in Japanese. And it's one of 3 Alice themed stores in the village itself!)  Everyone was struggling to find parking in the village, but they eventually succeeded and we spent time at Arisu, as well as Alice in the Village, which is an afternoon tea shop that sells macarons and other treats as well as flavored boba tea and other beverages. Alice in the Village used to be by reservation only, but now it's more of a casual place where you order your drink, pick it up, and then decide if you want to sit inside or outside. The group was actually larger than pictured if you include partners and friends, so if we had stayed inside, we would have been spread across 3.5 tables, but it was a beautiful day to be outside with just enough breeze to make it pleasant with a cold boba tea in one's hand. 

​Souda's coordinate suggestions for the event were to incorporate prints or accessories with strawberries, a cut or style that was indicative of spring/summer, any Sweet sub-style, and/or red clothes. I tried my hand at spring/summer, strawberries, and red clothes. I had purchased the Metamorphose Ladder Lace long length JSK in Bordeaux with matching bolero a few years ago under K's guidance around second-hand shopping on Wunderwelt, and I wanted to show it to her in person as well as wear something summery and red. Now it was another hot 85+ degree Fahrenheit day in Connecticut and I did something a little risque in the fashion, which is to wear the dress without a blouse under it. I thought, the bolero will be enough to adequately cover my shoulders. It pretty much was, although I felt I should have brought sunscreen, rather than just a parasol for SPF, as I forgot how intense the sun can be outside in June and July.  Additional accessories include a white lace choker with wine red colored ribbon going through the lace, a straw "trivet" bonnet with dark red ribbon tied under the chin, white lace wrist cuffs with bordeaux colored bows, short white socks, and my tan oxfords. Another star of the show is my purse which has an image of two rabbits wearing bonnets while surrounded by a vine of strawberries on each side. And of course my Peter Rabbit keychain is also holding a strawberry!

Since it was so hot outside, I encouraged Pahl to use natural fabrics in his outfit. He created a summer looking outfit with pops of red.  He started with a white cotton blouse and linen striped pants that also have wine red in them. He is wearing a deep red tie around his neck as well. Contrasting navy colored suspenders work with his straw boating hat that has a navy and burgundy striped hat band on it. Brown oxfords boots and his dark round glasses complete the look. 

If we look back at the group photo, we can see many interpretations of the summer, Sweet style, and pops of red themes. Sarah styled a Sweet Old School coordinate with lots of cotton pieces. A white short sleeve blouse with a peter pan collar is layered over an ivory eyelet ruffled skirt with white peeking bloomers. Over the blouse there is a red gingham vest with heart pocket appliques, and two kinds of necklaces, a cherry theme and a Vivienne Westwood silver globe. They have a white eyelet over the shoulder bag that matches their skirt, a red handled rectangle bag from Angelic Pretty that repeats the heart applique style and color. White utk (under the knee) socks with three dimensional cherries hanging off the side and white platform shoes. Sarah prefers cherries over strawberries. 

Souda's coordinate also leans more Old School. She is wearing a white short sleeve cotton blouse with a black single button vest over it. She has this paired with a black skirt with white lace ruffles on it. She is wearing white socks with little red bows going down the front as well as wearing a red bow at the neck. Ivory sneaker and a black and white headdress complete the look. It looks cool and comfortable for summer and incorporated a little bit of red.

Kendra's short sleeve OP dress amazingly hits every single one of Souda's suggestions. There are strawberries in the print (as well as chocolates), the dress is a perfect length for spring/summer, and it is definitely a Sweet cut and style. Peter pan collars, ruffled yokes, and shorter fuller skirts are all indicative of the Sweet style versus something that is more Classic style like my dress or K's. The strawberry chocolate otk (over the knee) socks paired with pink shoes and a pink bow in her hair definitely complete the look. 

K's brown dress with ivory lace and subtly ruffled hem is a Classic style. She paired it with an white short sleeve cotton cap sleeve blouse, white legwear, and bordeaux red colored shoes. To add the strawberry theme in, she is wearing a half style white cotton apron with embroidered strawberries on it and a ruffled hem. 

Ally went with red and summer! Ally's dress is a red sleeveless cotton dress with tiered ruffles at the hem. She paired it well with her white fabulous home made hat which she has swapped out the hat band for red gingham with, white sandals, and a matching red purse. 

While we were all hanging outside of Alice in the Village sipping our cold boba teas, we naturally sort of ended up in little groups socializing about things going on in our lives or other activities we were excited to participate in this summer. I was standing outside between Pahl and Ally for awhile having a little convo and then Souda said hey I drew this picture of you! I thought it was so neat how she captured the style of my coordinate in such a quick sketch!  

After finishing our teas, we attempted to walk around the village together as a group, but the pathways were just extremely narrow with hundreds of people, and everyone sort of got separated and did their own thing. Miraculously we all ended at Alice's Haunted Bookshop, which is a great horror themed bookstore right next to the Alice in the Village tea shop.

You might be wondering, where were all the strawberries at the festival anyway? This year the picking season for strawberries in Connecticut had only lasted about a week. Peak time was the previous weekend. I was a bit disappointed that there were not many strawberry themed dessert and food items for purchase at the festival, but what can you do? Local agriculture does not always align with festivals planned a year or more in advance. At least we did our part to welcome summer in our outfits for the event!