I recently taught a social skills etiquette class to some high school students from Puget Sound Community School. One of the topics I covered was poise. I asked my students what poise meant to them. They replied “good posture”, “being confident” and “grace”. While those are part of poise there is more to it.

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I stopped in the grocery store the other day, looking for a special item in addition to the ginger snap cookies my husband had requested. I didn’t find what I wanted but in addition to the ginger snaps I grabbed a bag of potato chips that were calling to me and some jelly beans for my kid’s etiquette class. 

As I paid for my three junk food items the clerk, who kept staring at me, asked me if I was feeling alright. He said my skin color didn’t look right. I thought of saying “Oh don’t worry, I eat an apple once a week to make sure I get my vitamins.” Kidding aside, I was both angry and embarrassed he asked me such a personal question. While he may have meant well, it was not his place to comment.

It is rude to ask questions of such a personal nature. Do not ask people things like how they broke their arm, got their black eye, if they color their hair, etc. While you may be dying to know the answer, be mannerly and forgo the curiosity. People will share their stories with you if they want you to know. Make sense? Good, now I’ve go to go and eat an apple.

A second cousin of mine, who I have been corresponding with via email and through letters, mentioned she was coming to Seattle for her grandnephew’s baptism. I was excited to see her as it had been probably 30 years since I’d seen her last. I invited her over for afternoon tea.

I have a cute yellow teapot that I bought years ago at an antique store and some lovely china my mom gave me, so I decided this was a good excuse to have a tea party. I knew I wanted to serve traditional tea fare, but wasn’t quite sure what that was. In my search for ideas, I found a recipe for cucumber mint sandwiches. They were very easy to make and so delicious.

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