Sunday, August 24, 2008
Guess who's birthday is coming up?
She's someone who has inspired me for many years through her books and through her life --living simply, intentionally, traditionally and by celebrating the seasons and the work and play that goes with each of them. My life is richer because of Tasha Tudor.
Clarice, from Storybook Woods, and a few of her friends decided it would be an honor and a joyful tribute to Tasha to celebrate her birthday which is August 28th. Would you join me by sharing a small remembrance, book, or tradition that Tasha Tudor inspired you in? Please leave your thoughts in my comments section. I will cherish reading them.
I found Tasha Tudor's precious books in the children's section of my library. Our library is small, but is rich with the books of Tasha Tudor. Oh, what fun it was (and still is) for me to check out those beautiful, detailed, illustrated books that tell the the stories of children who lived close to nature, who enjoyed celebrating birthdays and holidays by using their hands to create cakes and dolls, pumpkin moonshines at Halloween, and Sparrow Post Offices to deliver Valentines. We still have a Sparrow Post that the children made and we used for many years at Valentine's Day! I love the borders she created around each picture. In fall, there would be branches with oak leaves, cornstalks, nuts, and asters. In winter, evergreen boughs, icicles and corgi dogs -- always the corgis were in the pictures.
If you've never "met" Tasha Tudor, you might enjoy a website that her children have been running for several years. You will see her art, her books, notecards, receipts (recipes) and a few tools and things that she might have used in her lifetime. Go to Tasha Tudor and Family for a taste of her creative life.
A Time to Keep is one of my favorite, cherished books by Tasha Tudor. Irene, a 96 year old pen pal, gave this to me before she died several years ago. She knew and appreciated my love of Tasha Tudor.
Do you have a favorite book or two?
I've never been a big follower of Tasha Tudor but I think maybe I should be! That little book of holidays looks really fun!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to celebrate her birthday, too, and will pop over to leave a comment for you that day.
ReplyDeleteJody, the book you posted here-- A Time to Keep-- is my absolute favorite. When Michelle moved away and took her copy, I bought my own. I keep it out where I can flip through it. I love the illustrations and stories of family celebrations of yesteryear. There's something beautiful captured in the book that I want to glean from as much as I can. Times change, but the spirit of love and family togetherness and tradition should not.
ReplyDeleteSusan :-)
Chiming in a little late here. I think my favorite book as a child was Tasha Tudor's version of *A Little Princess* by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I loved the warm, cheery look of the fires in her rooms, and the intelligent look she gave the heroine, Sara.
ReplyDeleteBut I love all her books, and I remember once, as a teen, finding a new one at a family's home where I babysat, and copying all the pictures in my sketchbook after the children went to bed! In fact, it might have been this one or *Take Joy*!
One book that has had many talented illustrators is *Wind in the Willows,* and I think we own the Kenneth Grahame version now, but I think I first read it in the Tudor version. I think it's quite valid to buy a good children's book in several illustrator's versions!