Taking Tea

As you know, I just returned home from a two-week road trip around the Pacific Northwest.  One of my stops was in Victoria, British Columbia, and while there I enjoyed not just one, but two lovely afternoon tea experiences.  As this blog is titled Tea and Talk for Two, I thought it fitting to tell you about the first of them.  And you can see I did a page spread in my Road Trip Journal about it.

To set the scene: earlier that day, I had come from Port Townsend, Washington where I'd been visiting friends for several days.  I enjoyed the ferry ride across the Strait of Juan de Fuca (between Port Angeles, Washington and Victoria, BC) but I was too early to check into my hotel.  So I parked my luggage and car there, and headed out to find food.  I was hungry.  I walked for a bit when it dawned on me that I was in Victoria and there were places to get afternoon tea!  Asking in a few shops, I was directed to the Venus Sophia Tearoom which was a few blocks away.

There it was.  It was quiet and not crowded at all, a pleasant and homey atmosphere, not intimidating or formal in the least.

I selected my tea (earl grey, my tea of choice with afternoon tea goodies) and when they brought me the beautiful tea cup, I thought I would have a go at painting it.

 I have to confess that if the shop had been full of people, I might have felt too self-conscious to actually paint.  I might have pulled out the sketchbook, but I would have felt a bit too conspicuous with my paint palette out.  But because it was quiet and there wasn't anyone around to watch (the only person near me was a woman who was engrossed in a book), I went ahead.

At that point, I decided to do the whole three-tiered plate of tea goodies.  And it was a struggle, I tell you -- I wanted to eat but I knew I needed to see them in order to draw them.  So I had to get a good start on the sketch before I could taste anything!