“Life isn't long enough to do all you could accomplish.
And what a privilege even to be alive.
In spite of all the pollutions and horrors,
how beautiful this world is.
Supposing you only saw the stars once every year.
Think what you would think.
The wonder of it!”
~~ Tasha Tudor
Ahhh Summer....blissful blissful days of summer. The joys of working in a school is that I have endless free days over summer...
I have been joyfully floating in my pool, reading books, and sewing.
The other day I popped into my local quilt shop and found some wonderful fabric of Tasha Tudor's prints. I was thrilled. I love Tasha Tudor's books and illustrations. It prompted me to return home and browse through my own beloved collection of Tasha Tudor.
Tasha Tudor was a quintessential New Englander. She lived on a beautiful farm in Vermont, where she raised four children, and wrote and illustrated more than 100 books. Her website includes the following biography on her:
Her Vermont home, though only 30 years old, feels as though it was built in the 1830's, her favorite time period. Seth Tudor, one of Tasha's four children, built her home using hand tools when Tasha moved to Vermont in the 1970's. Tasha Tudor lived among period antiques, using them in her daily life. She was quite adept at 'Heirloom Crafts', though she detested the term, including candle dipping, weaving, soap making, doll making and knitting. She lived without running water until her youngest child was five years old.
From a young age Tasha Tudor was interested in the home arts. She excelled in cooking, canning, cheese-making, ice cream making and many other home skills. As anyone who has eaten at Tasha Tudor's would know, her cooking skills were unsurpassed. She collected eggs from her chickens in the evenings, cooked and baked with fresh goats milk, and used only fresh or dried herbs from her garden. Tasha Tudor was renowned for her Afternoon Tea parties.
Once summer arrives, Tasha Tudor would always leave her art table to spend the season tending her large, beautiful garden which surrounds her home.
She won two Caldecott Honor Medals for:
Mother Goose
Honor Medal 1945
and
1 is One
Honor Medal 1957
One of my favorites is
A Time to Keep
She presents a year of holidays and traditions from her own childhood. It is a nostalgic look of a by-gone era, accompanied by her beautiful watercolor illustrations.
Another favorite is
A is for Annabelle: A Doll's Alphabet
An alphabet book illustrated with Victorian dolls and each letter represents one of her favorite things. Another lovely glimpse into a beautiful by-gone era.
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