my 3 heros

(cat by Beatrix Potter, Emily Dickinson and Tasha Tudor)
I finished the pot of coffee after brewing up a pot of chili (don't you think its better for chili to simmer all day? I do) and so there I was, making a bunch of cat bowls and mugs which are a new style for me and I started thinking, of course, about my NUMBER ONE HERO, Beatrix Potter, whose work I love dearly, and then the radio was talking about Emily Dickinson and then I started thinking about Tasha Tudor.

Tasha has died only in the last year at 92, and what a living wonder, just as Beatrix was, gardening, farming, writing and illustrating books. We had lived not far from her in New England and she might be better known there. She has a simple illustrating style, and could have been Beatrix's American daughter, with her dogs and cats and paintings of them in wonderful books. I get less inspiration from other potters than I get from Tasha and Beatrix.
Beatrix, of course, is my number one hero of all time. When I was little my mother read me Peter Rabbit every day and I always wondered what chamomile tea was. You appreciate how she could illustrate so beautifully, and how she did so much to preserve the Lake District in England.

We lived in New England for 13 years and many times went through Amherst, Massachusetts, and I can't believe I never stopped at her house. Its right there, big and beautiful, just outside downtown Amherst. Emily Dickinson is not an illustrator, but there is something about her reclusive personality that I understand, which is not to say I am a genius as she was. When asked about her companions she replied:
"You ask of my companions. Hills, sir, and the sundown, and a dog large as myself...." I could say the same!