merry christmas

i hope each and every one of you have a merry christmas and santa is very good to you (he ALWAYS brings me bills!). here is an excerpt expressing my wishes for you this christmas eve from a christmas poem written by fra giovanni. it is from one of tasha tudors books :



take joy



I salute you! There is nothing I can give you which you have not;
but there is much, that while I cannot give, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today.
Take Heaven.
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant.
Take Peace.
The gloom of the world is but a shadow,
behind it, yet, within our reach, is joy.
Take Joy.
And so, at this Christmas time, I greet you,
with the prayer that for you,
now and forever, the day breaks
and the shadows flee away.

happy birthday tasha tudor

happy birthday tasha tudor! across the world today, many people will take the time to remember this wonderful woman. she lived her life in the ways of the 1830's on a secluded farm with her garden, her pets, and her art. this is an excerpt from the tasha tudor cookbook where she has a recipe for their family birthday cake:

"this receipt has been the family birthday cake for as long as i can remember. for many of my daughter bethany's birthday parties we placed the cake on a woodshingle raft, surrounded it with flowers, and floated it down our stream. we also had a shingle raft and a candle for each child's sandwich. we positioned the guests downstream, and when the right moment came we would light the candles and send the cake and its flotilla of shingle boats out into the stream. it was dark by then, so you can imagine the surprise of the guests at the sudden appearance of this fairy convoy."

can you imagine having a mother like that? it's well worth your time to read the books by tovah martin and richard w. brown that give us a glimpse into her life. i have the private world of tasha tudor, tasha tudor's garden, and tasha tudor's heirloom crafts plus the tasha tudor cookbook by tasha tudor.

in the private world of tasha tudor, by tasha tudor and richard w. brown, tasha concludes her book with this quote:

"i'm perfectly content. i have no other desires than to live right here with my dogs and my goats and my birds.

i think i've done a good job of life, but i have no message to give anyone. if i do have a philosophy, it is one best expressed by henry david thoreau: "if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." that is my credo. it is absolutely true. it is my whole life summed up."

i think you did a very good job of life, tasha tudor. you will be missed.

tasha tudor

clarice at storybook woods has invited everyone to her blog on august 28 to celebrate tasha tudor on her birthday. if by chance you aren't aware of who tasha tudor is please visit her site. she was an amazing woman, artist, mother, gardener. she chose to live without the comforts of modern day society. she wove her own cloth, made her own clothing, grew her own food. amazing, amazing woman. i have her books and videos and wish i could be one tenth the person she was. check her site out here.