We lost a great lady, Tasha Tudor...

Veronica introduced me to Tasha Tudor back in the 80's. The woman intrigued me with her country life, her dogs, her dedication to nature and her strength of character. Veronica was intrigued with her artistic ability, she was an amazing illustrator, but for me it was the way she lived, in her farmhouse, walking barefoot thru her gardens with her dogs, growing her own food, I thought she was one of the most interesting women I had ever read about. Later, I saw a special about her life on PBS, Take Joy: The Magical World of Tasha Tudor, it was a mesmerizing glimpse into her world.

She actually reminded me a lot of my own grandmother, and she died a couple of weeks ago, at the grand old age of 92. Ms. Tudor lived an admirable life, and she was an amazing woman. We could all learn from her.

Your local library will have a video recording of her PBS special, as well as her many books, including her biography, The Private World of Tasha Tudor. If you have some lazy days this summer, and if you still has a VCR, you're in luck, pick up the video and watch it, read her biography, it will be time worth spent...

The following is taken from the New York Times:

Tasha Tudor, a children’s illustrator whose pastel watercolors and delicately penciled lines depicted an idyllic, old-fashioned vision of the 19th-century way of life she famously pursued — including weaving, spinning, gathering eggs and milking goats — died on Wednesday at her home in Marlboro, Vt.

She was 92, if one counts only the life that began on Aug. 28, 1915. Ms. Tudor frequently said that she was the reincarnation of a sea captain’s wife who lived from 1800 to 1840 or 1842, and that it was this earlier life she was replicating by living so ardently in the past.

But it was her uncompromising immersion in another, less comfortable century that most fascinated people. She wore kerchiefs, hand-knitted sweaters, fitted bodices and flowing skirts, and often went barefoot. She reared her four children in a home without electricity or running water until her youngest turned 5. She raised her own farm animals; turned flax she had grown into clothing; and lived by homespun wisdom: sow root crops on a waning moon, above-ground plants on a waxing one.

Read the obituary in it's entirety by clicking here. It's too lengthy to post, but it's well worth reading.