Wedding celebrations aside, the most prominent meeting place in Shela is the Peponi, the town's most glamorous hotel (former guests include Naomi Campbell and Robert de Niro), where people gather for tea or beers and to watch the activities on the beach.
More welcoming were the Women of Altitude, a group of small businesswomen who had gathered for morning tea with Fiona Scott, the MP for Lindsay.
From the 1930's until the 70's, Ocampo was at the center of the Argentine equivalent of the Bloomsbury group, which gathered for Sunday tea at her grand family villa, with its eccentric Victorian architecture built above a ravine.
"Lily's Castle" features Ogden's paintings and clothing designs as well as an expanded collection of appliquéd and patchwork elephants, butterflies and other animals, some plush-toy cuddly, others the size of a rocking horse, and all of them gathered for afternoon tea.
Guests gather for iced tea each afternoon on the veranda at the Inn at Cooperstown, 16 Chestnut Street, (607) 547-5756, fax (607) 547-8779, www.innatcooperstown.com, a fine example of Second Empire architecture.
After the lecture, the Lolitas gathered for a pink-frosted tea party, snacking on pink mini-cupcakes and, of course, sizing up one another's outfits.
Again, there are other tea houses in Long Beach with more affordable teas, but the grandeur of the ship, of the service, the view, it's the perfect place to give that young little boy or girl their first high tea experience (as everyone should have one) and a great place for old friends to gather for a special tea.
At 3 p.m., after a stroll through the extraordinary gardens or a tour of the house, visitors gather for an elegant tea served on Caramoor's exquisite and original house china.
Playgoers surveying the London theater scene at present will surely mark the affinities between this assemblage and the gathering on view across the Thames at the very fine West End revival of "Absent Friends," Alan Ayckbourn's 1974 play in which six people gather for a suburban tea that comes with its own terrors.
People gather for a whole new community and experience around tea. Indeed, there are tea guides at every store who can walk you through the process of finding the right tea smell and taste for you and how you feel.
