Early in the morning, before the Midsummer’s Day heat had settled, Rabbit set out to gather a basketful of white-and-yellow daisies, slender stalks of lavender, orange marigolds, and a few late-blooming, bright-yellow wood poppies.

By breakfast-time, she was at her worktable, sipping milky tea from a delicate cup and shaping the foraged blossoms into a dozen multi-colored flower crowns, including two tiny versions just of lavender, for Mr. and Mrs. Mouse.

Later that afternoon, Rabbit carried her party favors out to the meadow, where a table had been set up, and a feast of summery snacks had been laid out.

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Everyone stayed outside in the meadow throughout the long Midsummer dusk — chatting with the bees working late into the evening, enjoying Mr. Owl’s concert, visiting with neighbors and with friends and family who had come over from the woods, and sampling all the snacks: sugar-snap peas and carrots with dill-and-yoghurt dip, herb-and-walnut scones with basil butter, spicy deviled eggs with fresh chives, lemon-blueberry cake, and minty iced tea served from Old Possum’s antique cut-glass pitchers.