Friday, May 24, 2013

Prairie Primer Schoolmarms Go to Tea


 The Prairie Primer schoolmarms from our co-op were able to get out of town for an afternoon of bliss at Cup of Blessings Tea Parlor in Wallowa, OR. We decided we needed to do something fun to celebrate our making it through the Prairie Primer unit study. Out of five moms, four were able to attend. Poor Stephanie wasn't able to make it, so another friend of ours, Jaime, was able to join us in her place. We had a lovely, restful afternoon of eating, drinking five pots tea, walking around the garden, and of course, fellowship!
An exact replica of the dress I wore to my senior prom was hanging in the corner of the tea room. This dress wasn't even in style when I was a teenager, but I loved it so much, I didn't care, and wore it anyway.

Judi always does an amazing job with the presentation of the food she serves. She started us off with a creamy Earl Grey tea and some colorful veggie/cucumber cups.
Beautiful hands folded in prayer.
Along with cucumber sandwiches (shown in the above picture), she served chicken almond and smoked ham and Gouda sandwiches. Delicious! She always encourages us to eat the violets, too, since they are so good for you. We had the Bourbon St. Vanilla roobios tea to go with these.
After the sandwiches, came her huge, yummy lemon scones. She even had a whole wheat scone that was wonderful. She serves it with homemade lemon curd and Devon cream. We had a pot of Valley of Peace (and almond flavored roobios tea) to go with these.

Last but not least, came a lemon rhubarb cake. Can I just say that it tasted as wonderful as it looks? Wow, Judi can cook! She served us a Thai lemon ginger roobios tea with this dessert.
We enjoyed browsing her gift shop and trying on hats. These hats had to have weighed at least 5 lbs a piece!  I can always count on Jaime to be silly with me. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I adore hats.
In between scones and dessert, we walked around the garden. It was a little early for most of the flowers, but we found a few. I wanted to take pictures of each of the ladies since we are usually the ones behind the camera. The ladies were beautiful models for me, and I had so much fun setting up portrait shots. This is my sweet friend Beth.
The lovely Christine. Doesn't she look like she is straight out of a Downtown Abby episode? Loved her outfit!
I had fun editing this picture in black and white, leaving just a splash of color with the tea pot.
Now that my kids are older, I love wearing black and white again.

The lovely Jaime.

I had fun editing this photo, too.

This was my favorite picture of "Coy Cora".  Isn't she adorable?
Here we all are, enjoying the garden together.

I like this pic in black and white, too. It has been a privilege to know these women and call them my friends.  We've decided we need to do this every year to celebrate the end of each school year. It is so important to take these "Sabbath moments" and really have time to rest and relax. We were at the tea parlor for nearly 6 hours and it felt like the time raced by. Can't wait for next year!

Happy Memorial Day Everyone! God Bless, Jackie

6 comments:

Camille said...

So wonderful Jackie! What a blessing that you were able to have such a restful time with your friends. The LORD is Good! Have a great weekend. :)

Love,
Camille

aimee said...

Jackie~
Great photos in what looks to be a delightful place (in one of my favorite PNW locations)! I LOVED the photo of you holding hands in prayer--beautiful! The tea sounded wonderful (and looked delicious)!
Have a blessed weekend.
Blessings,
Aimee
PS: Wish me luck--Monday, if all goes well, I will be cooking the Scottish dinner to celebrate my heritage:)

RaD said...

Looks like fun and the food looks good too! Sometimes it's just all about the fellowship and food.

Grandmabeckyl.blogspot said...

What a fun time with your friends. That's great and I love the dress like you wore to prom. Pretty, how cares, if you liked it... that's all that mattered! I love tea houses. Not been to one lately but there is one in Salem I want to try out. Take care and have a great weekend!

Lizzy said...

Looks like you had an amazing time! I cherish mommy friends so I am so glad that you have such a good circle of moms near you!
I have ALWAYS wanted to go to a tea house! maybe when Sophie gets older... ;)
Hope you had a great Memorial Day!
-Liz

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, I had that dress as a teenager too! I wore it with a full underskirt and a Southern Belle style hat.
-Dessy

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