Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #579588 in Books
• Published on: 1992-11-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 134 pages

Synopsis
A passage into the private and anachronistic world of a favorite children's author and illustrator follows her throughout the seasons as she lives on her Vermont farm without electricity, plumbing, or other modern amenities.

Customer Reviews

A Vision of Creating the Life You Want
Summary: Ms. Tasha Tudor always wanted "to live on a secluded farm . . . with a garden and a menagerie of household pets and barnyard animals, and to illustrate children's books." And that's exactly what she did. This gorgeous book lovingly displays her life and her illustrations while recounting her personal philosophy of living an 1830's style life.

Review: Ms. Tudor's "greatest pleasure is clearly her garden." After seeing the spectacular images of the blooms bursting from that rocky Vermont soil, your views of what can be done with gardens will be transformed forever. For example, she has over 1000 daffodils. The book also features many lovely still lifes featuring blossoms, as well as garden-focused landscapes.

Much of her life is home-spun, literally. She spins her own cloth, and makes her own clothes from it. The clothing she wears will remind you of the costumes you have seen at Colonial Williamsburg and Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. But these are her daily garb. She has carefully dressed the rest of her life to match her preferences, as well.

Walking barefoot through her home, she enjoys her exotic birds (especially the silly sayings from her parrots) and corgis. The book also shows many fine drawings of the corgis.

Cooking is also a great joy, and she makes her own preserves. She sees the opportunity to display "artistry as a cook."

As to the 1830's, she says that "I'm drawn to the old ways, convinced that I lived before, in the 1830's." "When I die, I'm going right back to 1830." Seeing her life portrayed here, you'll swear she never left. Seeing her in her home reminds me of Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts where the Alcott family lived in the 19th century. The wardrobe there contains dresses that the Alcott daughters used in their theatrical productions that also evoke the images in this wonderful book.

Her professional interest in illustration was stimulated by seeing the drawings in The Vicar of Wakefield. Through the time this book was written, she had illustrated more than 75 children's books. You will enjoy seeing her work in this book.

After you finish looking at the delightful images here, and being warmed by the thoughtful expression of a considered life, you should think about what elements would bring perfection to your life if you crafted it as carefully as an artist does a large marble sculpture. What do you need to chip away? What do you need to refine? Where should the sculpture be displayed?

Make living a wonderful art!

What a fantastic lady!
This is an absolutely wonderful book about a woman who lives her life as people did in the 1830s. She grows her own fruits and vegetables, preserves them, wears clothes that are either from the 1800s or like them, bakes her own bread, weaves, has a wonderful and lovely garden, raises birds, goats, and or course Corgis, and paints wonderful pictures for us all to enjoy. The photographs are beautiful, and the text provides some real food for thought. Really did love this book.