DIY Thanksgiving “Craft”

Consider the Blue Hubbard Squash.

Do you see a Thanksgiving tradition?

Perhaps a savory side dish?

How about a centerpiece for the table?

How about the Mayflower?

I scoured the web looking for another example of Blue Hubbard Squash turned Mayflower ship, but this was as close as I could come.

My dad had different ideas. He took a huge squash, hollowed it out and carved it into a ship. He made dowel masts and paper sails.

My mom filled it with tangerines and nuts and the Blue Hubbard Mayflower sailed out on Thanksgiving tables in the early 1960s.

Thanksgiving in Ripton, VT 1962

And the next year, same sails, different squash!

Thanksgiving 1963, Ripton, VT

You can see me, smiling, directly to the left of the Mayflower, on my dad’s lap.

Time passed, I grew up, and when I had children I wanted my own Blue Hubbard Mayflower centerpiece.

San Francisco, 1997

 

Tutorial not included. This is truly DIY!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

A Thanksgiving Visit to Plimoth Plantation with Goody O’Grumpity

In 1993 my imagination was living in Plimoth Plantation.

I was illustrating a a poem by Carol Ryrie Brink. She is best known for her novel Caddie Woodlawn, which won the Newbery Medal in 1936. She also wrote a short, melodic poem called Goody O’Grumpity and I illustrated it as a picture book.

The communal beehive oven was at the center of the village and Goody bakes her “cake” among the nicely burned down coals.

I thought the strong, black lines of my linoleum cuts paired with the rich, autumnal watercolor, would compliment the linear quality of the mostly wooden and thatch built village of Plimoth Plantation. My neighbor, Marty, posed as Goody, in a homemade costume. Brennan and Rowan made appearances and so did a lovely Border Collie.

You can spot Rowan, then only 3, as the little curly head peeking over the fence and pointing. Boys and girls wore long dresses and caps until the boys were older and switched to breeches.

“And throughout the land went such a smell, of citron and spice~ no words can tell

How cinnamon bark and lemon rind, and round, brown nutmegs grated fine

A wonderful haunting perfume wove, together with allspice, ginger and clove,

When Goody but opened the door of her stove.”

If you want to try to make Goody’s cake, really a sweet bread, here is Plimoth Plantation’s own recipe, reprinted in the book.

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