Tasha Tudor Day~The Year of the Garden

The day is almost gone and I hope to post this before the clock chimes twelve midnight! Jim and I had a wonderful day together celebrating Tasha Tudor Day. We just watched both Take Joy and Take Peace to end the day with a heartful of lovely thoughts and bittersweet memories. I enjoy both programs so much yet it is a bit sad to watch and listen to Tasha now that she is no longer with us. But the reason we remember her on her birthday is to celebrate her life and to thank her for what she has given to us!
As this is the Year of the Garden, I decided to have a garden tea for Jim. I always do a tea for my girlfriends and he seems to get the leftovers, so I wanted to give him a "full presentation" as he calls it!

I like this picture of Tasha in her garden. What a lovely garden she had and how she enjoyed her time working away in that wonderful magical place. It's from an engagement calendar I recently acquired.

I decide to carry on my blue and white theme as I featured on Teacup Thursday. Here's a picture of the offering. It was really a fun menu to offer using fruits and vegetables as summer provides an abundance of each.

Tasha had a pet crow and I always think of Tasha every time I hear a crow caw. I like to collect crows as
they remind me of her.

I began the tea with a borrowed Strawberry Champagne Chiller from Trish at Sweetology. Her blog is wonderful and so was the drink! Nice on a hot summer afternoon.

I used as many herbs, vegetables and fruits as I could to stay with the garden theme. Everything turned out delicious and we couldn't choose which sandwich we liked the best.  So here's the menu:

Blueberry Scones*Fresh Fruit Cup with Blackberries, Raspberries and Blueberries*Cucumber/Mint Rounds*Italian Tempters (tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese)*
Curry Chicken*Egg Salad with Marigolds*Walla Walla Onion Tarts*Goat Cheese and Herbs with Crackers* and a Lima Bean Dip and Crackers*Turkey with Spinach, Cream Cheese and Cranberry*
Moonstruck Chocolates*Applets and Cottlets Candies* Mini Chocolate Cake* Chocolate Covered Strawberries*Variety of Tea Cakes* Black Vanilla and Almond Tea

Here we are enjoying our backyard and our Tasha Tudor Day tea on a lovely summer day. While we were eating, a humming bird kept coming by and our little squirrel buddy came begging for his treats.

I had asked the members of our Tasha Tudor group to share today how they came to be a Tasha fan, so I think I should add that to my post.
When our girls were young and we had our pharmacy, we could never get away for long vacations, but we did take many long weekend trips around Oregon. We loved to go to the Oregon coast and there was a book store at Newport, OR that we all really enjoyed. I was waiting for the girls as they were enjoying the children's books and I found Bethany Tudor's book DRAWN FROM NEW ENGLAND which was about her mother Tasha Tudor. I bought the book and fell in love with her work. There was a great little book store in Portland-The Skidmore Fountain Books and I became a very good customer...buying every Tasha book I could! She would call me when she received a new shipment. So I became a fan through her art and her children's books.

Down the road, I found the internet site and I was so very excited! I now belong to another site TAKE PEACE and four years ago we had a Kindred Spirits Gathering in Vermont. How fun it was to finally meet all those I had been emailing for years! Since then I have had the pleasure of meeting more members out here on the west side of the US. LaVonne from Montana has become a very dear friend who has come to visit me several times and I'm hoping she will be back soon! Kristen has family in Oregon and has been to visit my home twice. LaVonne and I have traveled North to meet Clarice, Angie, Linda Fox, Jane, and Robin. Oh the laughs and the fun times we have had! I did meet Christine thanks to Clarice last fall too. The friendships that Tasha has given me are one of my most favorite things about finding Tasha! I so hope to meet more Tashettes in the future.

So, as I say good night on this Tasha Tudor Day, I say thank you Tasha for giving me the gift of friendship with so many dear friends. You have inspired me to try new things, have given me the OK to play with dolls, and to realize that I am never too old to follow my dreams!

Thanks to my Jimmy who shares his time with me to have so much fun with Tasha and all that it means to me in my life. I love you big guy!