SNOHOMISH – The afternoon sun poured down on the Snohomish River. A few fishermen on the shore looked into the sparkling water. Above them, a cargo train rumbled across a bridge.
Kevin Nortz / The Herald
With the help of a breeze, the sunlight slipped through the white curtains into the apartment where the faint rumbling of the train blended in with classical music.
The panoramic view from the room is a blessing meant to be shared with others, Diane and Walter Westmoreland said.
“Anyone, everybody, has a gift to do something,” said Walter Westmoreland, 66, a retired Air Force officer who works as a bus driver in Seattle.
The couple, married 44 years, have found their own way to share the scenic view and their talent for hospitality with others. They invite friends and strangers to their apartment and serve them a Victorian-style afternoon tea.
With her husband’s help, Diane Westmoreland, 65, started “Roses in the Snow” in fall 2004. She hosts up to eight people at each tea. If guests want, they can make a donation to help serve future guests. Otherwise, there is no cost.
“Have you noticed? In the world, there is so much taking, not a lot of giving,” she said.
Word has spread, and Diane Westmoreland is booked through December with appointments from as far away as Wenatchee and Tacoma.
Diane Westmoreland, who encountered a Victorian tea several years ago in Arkansas, learned how to host one by visiting tearooms. From planning to clearing, afternoon tea takes five days to complete, Diane Westmoreland said.
Guests converse over tea and finger foods, shortbread cookies, chilled fruit soups, scones with Devonshire cream and cakes. Diane Westmoreland spends hours making all of them in a kitchen too small for two adults to work together.
“She’s doing it because it’s coming from her heart,” said Sandra Vandall, a retired Snohomish resident who has had tea at Westmoreland’s place.
Diane Westmoreland and servers say their reward is their guests’ laughter.
“Through life, you have a lot of joy and sorrow,” said Sandy Ferguson, a longtime friend of the Westmorelands and a volunteer tea server. “I like to see people happy. I want to be part of that.”
Tea usually lasts several hours. One evening, Walter Westmoreland came home from work and saw a few unfamiliar cars at the apartment. He put two and two together and waited in his 1994 Dodge Caravan for the tea to end.
“It’s our home, but at that time, it’s theirs,” he said.
Diane Westmoreland said she grew up in Lynnwood when people rode horses on the main street. Her father owned a furniture shop and her mother saved tips as a waitress at a restaurant to buy fruit trees for the family home.
The Westmorelands have no television and sit on couches from a thrift shop. A white tablecloth they’ve kept for 40 years hangs as a divider between the kitchen and the living room.
The couple intend to keep serving free tea as long as they can.
“Do we know what tomorrow brings?” Diane Westmoreland said.
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