How
the Specialtea came to be
Once
upon a time there were two big-city
lawyers...
To those who were
expecting a lawyer joke (of which
we've heard more than our share), we
apologize, but there's no punchline
here. This is simply the tale of two
people who for several decades –
over forty years combined –
served the City of Houston Legal
Department. In 2005, we retired to
Waller County...or, more accurately,
we began our second career here. Joan
had several years of part-time baking
experience at the Houston Downtown
Aquarium Restaurant and the Texas
Renaissance Festival, all of which
came in handy for our current
enterprise. Gil too has always had a
passion for the culinary arts –
a love that runs in the family; his
parents, who were world travelers,
authored an exotic cookbook, which
we'll be glad to show you when you
pay us a visit.
The
Texas Specialtea Shoppe is located in Joan's
childhood home, which was literally
saved from the wrecking ball and
moved from Houston to its current
site on Clark Road in mid-2002. It
was used for storage for several
years. But the house was destined for
something more. One beautiful Spring
day in 2007, Joan went into the house
with a hammer, crow-bar and
sledgehammer... and so began our
painstaking and loving restoration
and reinvention. And it truly was a
labor of love for our entire family.
We tried to
preserve much of the original
character of the Craftsman-style
bungalow, with the restoration of its
original red-pine walls, ceilings,
floors, and trim. In some cases, we
stripped and sanded off up to six
coats of interior paint in order to
reveal the original underlying wood.
Our daughters Katey, then a
U.T.-Austin student, and Vikki, who
was still in high school at the time,
even helped out on the family project
by priming the kitchen walls (which
were originally painted surfaces),
and sanding the original doors.
We added some
modern conveniences such as central
air conditioning and heating, as well
as new electrical wiring throughout
the house, and new plumbing for the
state-of-the-art kitchen update. We
also added a spacious new
handicap-accessible unisex restroom,
and a wheelchair ramp on our outdoor
porch. (The house-moving company had
to remove the original porch flooring
in order to move the building over
fifty miles without cutting into its
roof.) Our newly reconstructed porch
features not only a wheelchair ramp
but ceiling fans to add extra
ventilation.
When you
visit, we'll be happy to show you the
stacks of photo albums that document
the renovation process. We'll also
have more about the history of our
little house on this site soon. So we
hope you'll come back to this site
often... or better yet, come on out
to our site in the woods of Waller
County.
We've
got stories... Joan is a
fifth-generation Texan whose
great-great grandfather, Willis
Price, came to Texas during the days
of the Republic. His descendants
later settled in Waller County. A
portrait of Joan's great-grandfather,
Dr. John Cameron Russell, hangs in
the main indoor dining area of Texas
Specialtea (that's Dr. Russell in the
picture above). Gil has a fascinating
family history too; his father was an
artist of some renown, and his folks
were friends with literary icon
Ernest Hemingway and Hemingway's wife
Mary. We'll have more about our
respective histories as we develop
this site and our blog.
As the sign
above the entry way leading to the
kiddie play area says, "Oh the
stories these old walls could
tell." We feel blessed that the
little old house with humble
beginnings has been given another
opportunity in Waller County to help
create new memories for generations
to come.
What's on the
menu
Photos
News, events
& miscellany
Interested
in a more extended stay in our
enchanted forest?
Check out our Waller
Holler Cottage Bed & Breakfast.
...Texas
Specialtea Shoppe
Gil and Joan Douglas, Proprietors
26734 Clark
Road
Waller, Texas USA 77484
936.372.0097
Saturday &
Sunday 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM