In Memory of Tasha Tudor

I received the following Email this afternoon announcing the death of beloved children's illustrator and corgi enthusiast, Tasha Tudor. I have loved Tasha's artwork and books for many years and several of her prints grace our walls, as well as a photograph of her (taken several years ago) which hangs on the wall of my bedroom. She will be missed.

It is with great sadness that we must tell you Tasha Tudor, 92, passed away in her Vermont home on June 18, 2008 surrounded by family and friends. We have created an online memorial website and invite all who loved Tasha to share their feelings and memories in the Memory Book section. Memorial Website

The office of Tasha Tudor and Family is closed for the time being and will reopen on June 30th.

Due to the extensive travel plans of our national and international guests, the Secret Garden Tours of Tasha Tudor and Family will proceed as scheduled. They will, however, be led by our capable staff, instead of the family.

We thank you for supporting Tasha Tudor's lifestyle and artwork during her long career. We hope that Tasha's message of 'taking joy' in all that one does will be remembered as we pass through this difficult time together.

-The Tudor Family

The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet, within our reach, is joy. Take Joy.

Fra Giovanni

A Stormy Night in June

The weather this spring has been memorable nationwide. A couple of months ago it was the Southcentral part of the US that was being battered, and now it is the Midwest. My thoughts and prayers are with my many friends in Iowa as they face these historic floods. Seeing the pictures reminds me of the 1997 Red River flood here in my corner of the world. This evening the girls and I are in the basement since there are wall clouds and funnels in the area. I needed to do my ironing anyway! We met my brother Dan at our church camp near Brainerd over Memorial Day and dodged storms all weekend. Dee Dee hates thunder and that weekend hail was added to her long list of scarey things in life. We did have fun though. The girls (Dee Dee especially) loved climbing on the tires looking for squirrels.

One night Dee Dee asked to 'go outside' and I assumed she needed to go potty.  Wrong. She just wanted to go play in the tires some more. Never mind that it was 11 p.m. and pitch black. We don't get to see Dan very often since he works in East Asia and we had a wonderful time just hanging out with him.

A Divine Appointment?

Call it providence ... call it a divine appointment ... call it what you will. Something very neat happened this evening.

I had to go to WalMart to pick up a prescription, and since the parks are flooded, I decided we would go for a walk in one of the newer housing developments on the way. I had never walked over there, and the yards are big and lush and really nice. So I found a nice open area where I could park, and I let the girls out. As soon as I got them on their leash, I noticed a woman come around the side of the house and she was looking at me very intently. I wasn't sure if she didn't want me parking there, was afraid the dogs would go potty on her lovely lawn or what. I thought maybe she knew me from somwhere, so I said "Hi". She said, "What are the names of your dogs?" and I noticed her lip was quivering. I said "Princess and Dee Dee." And then, with her eyes full of tears, she replied, "I'm Tammy. I'm Bruno's mom."

Bruno was Princess' brother. He was diagnosed with cancer in March and they put him down a week ago. She went on to tell me that her family was gone and she was all alone in the house and was missing Bruno terribly. So she decided to work in the yard and we happened to park right in front! I was able to introduce her to the girls and we sat on her driveway for a while so she could pet them. Princess (who can be a real snob) wasn't all that interested, but Dee Dee snuggled up next to her. Bruno looked so much like Princess (except a LOT bigger, she said). We had never met before and chatted for a while. Eventually we parted, and I took my girls on their walk but I couldn't help but think how cool it is that God cares about us so much that He would orchestrate such a meeting.

Happy Mother's Day!

I always wanted to be a Mom. I'm not sure what it is about women, but the need to nurture is very strong for most of us. And so, for those who, for whatever reason, don't have the opportunity to express that, Mother's Day can be a difficult day. It's a reminder of what we are missing. For me, I have found great fulfillment in being a 'mom' to my two corgis. It seems that all of my unmet maternal longings have attached to these two girls. If you, like me, experience the joys and sometimes frustrations of motherhood associated with kids of the four-legged variety, .

Happy Mother's Day! We may not go to school programs and drive our kids to soccer practice, but we still give the love, comfort, security and companionship that a mom provides and thus, are deserving of a pat on the back - or, perhaps a lick on the face! We might not get flowers, dinner out or a fluffy new bathrobe, but the unspoken love and gratitude of our four-legged kids is just as real. The next time you come home from work and are greeted with tails (or in the case of corgis, back ends) that are wagging so hard you'd think they would pull a muscle, remember that you are loved and appreciated as much as any Mom.

These pictures, by the way, were taken at the opening of the Moorhead Dog Park a couple of years ago. We won the trophy for 'best dressed' that evening. It was very fun!

I'm Dreaming of a White ..... May Day?!?!

Ok - this is ridiculous. I've lived in the Upper Midwest for most of my life and I've seen plenty of snow in April ... even an occasional flake in May. But this year April is going down as the snowiest month of the 'winter' - by far! Three snowstorms this month and we're starting to wonder if spring is ever going to come. We've had a few nice days ... emphasis on the word few. But these crazy snowstorms that seem to always hit the weekend ... well, it's getting a bit depressing, to be honest. The girls love the snow ... but even they were a bit bug-eyed this morning when I went to let them out and couldn't even get the door open because of the drift! April snow has a way of clogging up snowblowers too ... and it's just too darn heavy to shovel ... so I had to get professional to get the driveway cleared. Surely, this has to be the end. (We've said that now for the past three storms!) May is just around the corner; my tulips are thoroughly confused and I've been getting my camping gear ready for what I hope will be a long, warm summer. Maybe we'll just skip spring this year and go directly to summer. As much as we like to complain, a foot of wet, heavy snow is still preferable to the tornados that some parts of the country experience with alarming regularity this time of year. And the ground has thawed enough so that the snow - when it melts - will soak in, and green things up instead of running off to the river and flooding. Yep, there is a bright side ... even to a foot of new snow the last week in April.

Happy Birthday Babe!

Midnight is fast approaching, but we can't let this day slip away without wishing a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the matriarch of our corgi family, Babe Diana Wales. Babe is Princess' mother and Dee Dee's grandmother and a very good 'mama' corgi to everyone. In fact, she is the only corgi in the family (possibly the only corgi in the world) who can effectively discipline Dee Dee ... and do it with great patience and without anyone getting hurt!! Babe is 10 years old today; that is 70 in dog years, and though she has some extra pounds she needs to shed (don't we all?!), she is in pretty good shape. She doesn't run real fast, but she's a great swimmer and has helped all the corgis in the family (except for great-grandson Scooter who, frankly, is just too big to float) learn to swim. Babe has a sweet and gentle nature, but don't let that fool you .... she can be tough as nails if she needs to be. And she has quite a sense of humor ... takes great delight in striking some very funny poses and just 'holding' them until she's knows you're looking at her and laughing at her antics!

One of my favorite is what Susan and I call the "Mother Teresa" pose where she gets underneath the drapery sheer and walks forward just far enough so that she appears to have on a nun's habit. (Too late tonight to dig that photo up and scan it in but maybe I'll post it later.) Babe loves 'wabbits' and milk bones and has a secret stash of treats that she thinks are safe. She evidently hasn't been watching carefully enough when Princess comes to visit. Babe, we love you and wish you many more birthdays!

Early Spring - the MUD Season

This is the worst time of year to be a corgi. No, actually I'll re-phrase that. This is the worst time of year to be a corgi owner - particularly if you're a person who likes a clean house like I do. The snow melts, and on the flat land of the northern plains, it has nowhere to run off to, so it just pools and creates giant mud puddles that last for weeks. We've had a pretty cold winter, but not an excessive amount of snow - until this past Friday, when we got 9 inches of wet, slushy snow. We had been well on our way through the mud season, but now we get to start melting snow all over again ... and another extended period of mud. When your legs are only 4-5 inches long, that means that you carry mud into the house not only on your feet but on your tummy as well. It's a season that tests my patience every year, and this one is no exception. Hard as I try to take walks on paved roads and trails, the girls still seem to pick up a lot of ice and dirt on their bellies and bring it into the house.

Oh well. It's only a few weeks and I keep telling myself that you have to endure this season before we get to the good stuff .... the green lawns, flowers and rivers that stay within their banks. Spring will come and it will be worth the wait. It always is.