Chapman Tea

Thanks for the comments on yesterday’s post. Everyone was very nice agreeing or not, and I’m glad that if you dissented that you felt comfortable enough here to do that. Too bad Washington can’t act that way.  We certainly have a lot to do.

There has been biking in November still! I was out on Tuesday with a ride.

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Not too shabby.

I’ve been doing pretty good on the maintain thing through Halloween. I got rid of that pound I gained in Ireland and have been maintaining. It’s a little harder at this time of year and I have to really check myself sometimes. Candy corn snacking and all that. The last of the post Halloween sale candy corn is in the house, but will soon be gone LOL.  It’s sometimes being the adult and saying, “Well, I really want some eggnog, but I did have candy corn today and that was my choice”. Not that I couldn’t have the nog if I really wanted it, but realizing I don’t need to have it. Plus nog will be around through Christmas.

I realize I forgot to update the tea! We had the first Victorian tea at Chapman House (where I volunteer). It was pretty successful. When we did the tea run through, it was the day after we got back from Ireland. I could only attend the prep part of the practice tea because I was swamped with work, so I missed the actual tea part. Well, there was an open spot at the “real” tea and the coordinator put my name on a placecard to have a seat at the table since I missed the other tea. That was so nice!

I was part of the food crew. Because the museum doesn’t have a commercial kitchen, we had to use a  nearby church kitchen to prepare some of the food there and bring it back to the museum. I was part of that detail making the chicken salad sandwiches and egg salad cups.  Then I got back just in time for the presentation.

This is the dining room before decoration and lengthening the table:

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The tea begins with the education director talking about what Victorian women had to wear for clothing. Did you know their winter clothes could weigh up to 40 pounds? That was one of the reasons for the corset – to help you back support the weight of the clothes.  No wonder Victorian women fainted all the time 😀

We all got to wear period hats to the tea as well:

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It’s shocking to see me in a hat and not a helmet, isn’t it? Then to the dining room.

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I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked because I had to get in to the presentation and the table wasn’t all the way set up.

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Delicious scones donated by a local bakery.

The tea went quite smoothly and we learned about what to do better for the next tea in December. The attendees seemed to really enjoy it.  I will make sure to get pictures of the next tea table setting since it will be set up for Victorian Scottish Christmas.

8 thoughts on “Chapman Tea

  1. Helen

    Ooooh I love a good tea! There used to be a Victorian bed and breakfast 1/2 mile from my house that did them during the holidays but they sold and that went away. Actually I think all the tea houses in my area have closed, which is too bad.

    I have been pretty happy with the warmer and dry fall we are having. If it weren’t for drought, I’d wish it to stay this way until summer!

    1. Lori Post author

      The great thing about this tea is that our tea was donated by a local tea seller and everyone got to take home a packet of 8 different teas as well.

  2. debby

    Amazing you are still getting to bike–yay!! It seems like there used to be more tea houses around here for a while, but they have also gone away. I enjoy the sweet part of a tea. Not so much the fancy sandwiches :/

    1. Lori Post author

      The sweet part is the best part LOL! We have one tea house about 20 miles away, but they serve heartier food and it’s not a set tea time thing, although you can do that.

  3. Fran

    First: sorry I’m responding this late. Work is crazy at the moment and at night I often don’t feel like turning on my laptop. But I have promised myself to read some blogs today during work tasks.

    I love the tea party. Love the room, it all looks so lovely. I love that time period, one of the reasons I love Downton Abbey so much. What a great place to volunteer.

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