While visiting Naples, FL recently we went to this lovely tea room, but were too late to be served (it was 2 p.m.) The gift shop was still open and we went inside it. The owner, a very gracious English gentleman talked to us a long time and apologized several times because of being closed. He allowed me to take as many photos as I wanted. I didn't see the menu so don't know what was served, or the prices, but I would love to go back there someday for tea!
Friday
Brambles Tea Room
While visiting Naples, FL recently we went to this lovely tea room, but were too late to be served (it was 2 p.m.) The gift shop was still open and we went inside it. The owner, a very gracious English gentleman talked to us a long time and apologized several times because of being closed. He allowed me to take as many photos as I wanted. I didn't see the menu so don't know what was served, or the prices, but I would love to go back there someday for tea!
Brambles Tea
Brambles tea counter. The owner told us they have their teas special blended. We bought a box of "Blue Lady" loose tea, and several samples of other loose teas. The box of tea was expensive, about $9, the samples were $1 each.The kitchen is on the right side of the picture. Many pretty tea pots were on the shelves.
Doggie Bar
We were amused to see this doggie bar at the beginng of the alley where Brambles is. How convenient that a fire hydrant is also there! Too bad our little Dody wasn't with us that day!
Saturday
For My Purple-Lover Friends
While vacationing in Punta Gorda, FL I thought of all of you ladies who love purple! The Purple House was a gift shop, but it had closed for business. I was thinking some of you may want to retire in Florida, live in the purple home below, and re-open this Purple House gift shop! How fun!
Purple Home
This adorable little purple house is in Punta Gorda, FL. It has a lot of gingerbread on it, (also under the porch roof, it doesn't show up very well.) Behind it is a two-story apartment house (also painted the light purple color.)
Wednesday
Sea Grapes at the Beach
These sea grapes were some of the biggest trees I've seen, usually they are just tall bushes on the beach. These were growing on Captiva Island near the Chapel by the Sea.It is unlawful to harvest sea grapes on the beaches, so unless you have them on your own property you can't make any of the delicious sea grape jelly!
Chapel by the Sea
This is the little Chapel by the Sea on Captiva Island. It is closed for the summer so we didn't get to see inside. The water (Gulf of Mexico) is just behind the trees. I think it's amazing this little wooden frame church has lasted many years through storms. I've forgotten what year it was built.
Tuesday
Big Bouganvillia
While on vacation recently we visited Captiva Island, a small island off of Sanibel Island in Southwest Florida. It was a fun little place. We had lunch there and shopped in some of the cute places.This large pot of bouganvillia was in front of a darling little rental cottage, across from where we ate.
Colorful Cottage
This tiny cottage was adorable, a perfect place for newlyweds. The colors painted on the cottage were so pretty and colorful, so Florida!
Cozy Cottage
I sat on this chair eating a toasted coconut ice cream cone that we bought next door at a shop named "Latte Dah." (Sorry, LaDonna, I forgot to take a picture of Latte Dah!)
Bistro
Unique!
This interesting place was across the road from the bistro, I think it was a cafe/bar. What a fun painting the exterior is!
Yes, patchwork!
Close-up of the painted patchwork house! Wonder how long it would take to paint this!
Sunday
Banyan Tree in Venice, FL
While visiting Venice, FL we stopped to take pictures of these Banyan trees in the median, not far from the downtown area, and near the beach area. I've always been fascinated by Banyan trees, with the roots growning down! Banyan trees don't grow where we are in Florida, they grow in South Florida.
Banyan (genus: Ficus subgenus: Urostigma) is a subgenus of many species of tropical figs with an unusual growth habit. They are large trees that usually start life as a seedling epiphytic on another tree (or on structures like buildings and bridges), where a fig-eating bird has deposited the seed. The roots descend over the trunk of the host seeking out the soil below, once they have rooted into this the fig roots rapidly thicken and lignify. Where the fig roots cross each other they fuse, thus creating a lattice around the host tree's trunk. The fig competes with its host for light, water and nutrients, while its roots prevent the host's trunk from growing. Eventually the host dies and rots away, leaving the fig self supporting as an ordinary tree, but with a tubular lattice of lignified roots instead of a trunk. For this reason banyans are often referred to as strangler figs.
Another unusual feature of the banyan is its ability to produce adventitious roots from the branches. This characteristic of developing aerial roots allows a single tree to spread over a large area. The biggest banyan tree in Pune, India is said to measure 800 m around its perimeter. Another famous banyan tree was planted in 1873 in Lahaina's Courthouse Square in Hawai'i, and has grown to now cover two-thirds of an acre. The single largest unity of Banyan tree in the world is in Howrah (West Bengal) in Botanical Gardens with a width of 420m.
Like other members of this genus (which includes the common edible fig Ficus carica), banyans have a unique fruit and insect mediated fertilization process.
Banyan (genus: Ficus subgenus: Urostigma) is a subgenus of many species of tropical figs with an unusual growth habit. They are large trees that usually start life as a seedling epiphytic on another tree (or on structures like buildings and bridges), where a fig-eating bird has deposited the seed. The roots descend over the trunk of the host seeking out the soil below, once they have rooted into this the fig roots rapidly thicken and lignify. Where the fig roots cross each other they fuse, thus creating a lattice around the host tree's trunk. The fig competes with its host for light, water and nutrients, while its roots prevent the host's trunk from growing. Eventually the host dies and rots away, leaving the fig self supporting as an ordinary tree, but with a tubular lattice of lignified roots instead of a trunk. For this reason banyans are often referred to as strangler figs.Another unusual feature of the banyan is its ability to produce adventitious roots from the branches. This characteristic of developing aerial roots allows a single tree to spread over a large area. The biggest banyan tree in Pune, India is said to measure 800 m around its perimeter. Another famous banyan tree was planted in 1873 in Lahaina's Courthouse Square in Hawai'i, and has grown to now cover two-thirds of an acre. The single largest unity of Banyan tree in the world is in Howrah (West Bengal) in Botanical Gardens with a width of 420m.
Like other members of this genus (which includes the common edible fig Ficus carica), banyans have a unique fruit and insect mediated fertilization process.
Saturday
The Cat's Meow
"The Cat's Meow" shop in Venice, FL is owned by the sister of the owner of "If Tea Cups Could Talk." It is right next door to the tea room. These sister's have been featured in Romantic Homes magazine several times, including the recent June issue.I was disappointed to see signs posted in The Cat's Meow shop that no photos were allowed. I was also surprised, as her sister allowed as many photos as you desired. I don't understand this no photo policy, I didn't see anything that could be copied. Most everything in the shop was very expensive, it was hard to find anything under $50. She had many antiques and all shabby chic styles, most of the colors were white, cream, rose and pinks. I didn't see anything in yellow, no yellow roses at all!
I must add that the owner and her husband were very nice.
The Tea Cup
This is the tea cup I bought at The Cat's Meow. It is an orphan cup without a saucer, it cost $10.00. I wanted to buy something from The Cat's Meow, and this was about the least expensive thing I could find!
Monday
Tearoom in Venice
When we visited Venice, FL recently we went to "If Tea Cups Could Talk" tea room. I had seen this tea room featured in the September 04 Romantic Homes and knew I wanted to go there when in the area. It was everything I had hoped for as I love frilly Victorian tea rooms. Following are many pictures of this tea room, it had so much eye candy everywhere, I took pictures of everything to share with my tea buddies! Enjoy!This sign looks just like a photograph!
Neat street!
The street has lots of neat shops. The tea room owner's sister has a shabby chic shop next door. It is "The Cat's Meow" which was also featured in Romantic Homes magazines.
Our table
We were the first customers there and could choose any table we wanted! I was also able to take many photos before the lunch crowd arrived.
Tea Date!
Joe is so good about taking me to tea rooms when we travel. He is a big man and sometimes tea time food doesn't fill him up, but he enjoyed a pasta special and he helped me eat my scone.
Supersized scone!
This was the largest scone I've ever seen! It was homemade and delicious, but I was a little disappointed that it was served with whipped cream (canned.)
Apricot scones were also available and a strawberry shortcake scone. This was a plain scone.
The yellow rose hat
I wasn't going to wear one of their hats because it was a hot and humid day outside and I didn't want hat hair, but when I saw these yellow rose hats, I couldn't resist!
Tea time
Joe had a pot of cherry vanilla tea, mine was decaf English Breakfast. I think all the china is so beautiful!
Tea Sandwiches
Tea sandwiches - fruited chicken salad, ham and cheese, date nut, and cucumber. All delicious
Lady Taylor Tea
I ordered the Lady Taylor Tea which had four tea sandwiches. It was almost like the Victorian High Tea, that had to be ordered a day in advance, but this had no desserts. The scone was my "dessert."I was a little disappointed that they had tea bags, and no unique teas. They also did not offer sugar cubes, which is always special.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
