A Sunday Tea, to Celebrate a Birthday

The ladies got together to celebrate the seventieth birthday of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana. The tea party featured cakes, coffee, cognac, and cherry liqueur. Tatjana used to cook up a batch of the super-sweet, cherry liqueur every year. It's the dark liquid in the crystal decanter.

A bottle of the liqueur usually lingered in the liquor cabinet for many years. The liqueur grew stronger, thicker, and browner.

Tatjana also made a citrus-flavored liqueur; its main ingredient was milk. That was tasty.

Suburban Chicago, November 1967. Tatjana raises a glass to my Dad, the photographer. My Dad's twin sister, Jonė, sits to Tatjana's left. My Mom is on the far right, in the foreground, and next to Mom is Mom's best friend, Donna. Mom is wearing her moccasin slippers.