Thank you Tasha Tudor for the life you lived, the inspiration you gave to millions and for filling so many lives with sunshine.
To celebrate Tasha Tudor day at my home here in England the bears' best blue and white china was taken from the cupboard and we all enjoyed honey for tea.
The ‘Discovery’ apple in our small orchard is ready for picking. It has gone from blossom to fruit in just 14 weeks which seems quite amazing. It’s sweet and juicy and never lets us down. With its bright rosy red cheeks it’s a real ‘kids painting’ sort of apple. Scrumptious!
I always use my grandad's fruit picking basket which must be over 80 years old by now but is still as strong as the day it was made. Happily English apples are back in fashion and being taken seriously again by growers. With its mouth watering illustrations, Rosanne Sanders' book 'The English Apple' not only captures the character of 122 varieties but gives the reader many factual details as well.
Can't you just smell the scent of gathered apples when you read this verse taken from the poem 'After Trinity' by John Meade Falkner? You can read the full poem in my 'Favourite Poems and Wise Words'
When still the cloudlet dapples
The windless cobalt blue,
And the scent of gathered apples
Fills all the store-rooms through,
The gossamer silvers the bramble,
The lawns are gemmed with dew.
Several years ago I received the book Tasha Tudor’s Dollhouse, a Lifetime in Miniature by Harry Davis. I was immediately inspired and began planning my own dolls house project. Tasha chose her favourite 1830s period for her fantastic house and its contents. I chose the 1700s because I love the costumes and furniture of that period. My project is on going. I have made all the characters to inhabit the house but unfortunately they are currently lodging unceremoniously in a cardboard box as their property is still 'under construction'.
Seen above at her tea table is the first character I made, the lady of the house, Rosaline. She stands 5 inches tall and has a framework of florist’s wire covered in fine fabric (pipe cleaners would be a suitable alternative to wire). Her nose and mouth are stitched and her eyes are tiny black seed beads. I used mohair knitting yarn for her hair.
And here is the rest of the family with servants and estate workers; all enjoying a well earned holiday away from their home in the cardboard box.
1). Lady Alycia Danville. 2). Children - Master Edward, Maria and Katharine with Snowy the cat. 3). Marion Meadows the dairymaid talking to baby Tymothie 4). The Parson in conversation with William Danville 5). Squire Robert Danville 6). Rosaline Danville taking tea 7). Annie Rigg the nursemaid startled by 'Mouser' the kitchen cat. 8). Greasy Joan and maid Emma in the kitchen 9). Bailiff Abraham Byways with Tom Thwaite the forester and Dick Rigg the shepherd.
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