July 30, 2008

Beatrix Potter's Legacy at The Lake District...

...just ask Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, and the rest of them who frolic about the land.

Thanks to Beatrix Potter who helped the National Trust organization preserve the Lake District out of sheer love for the countryside and out of her income from the Peter Rabbit books. A conservationist, a farmer, a writer, an artist, Ms. Potter continues to charm us, if not in person, in spirit, with her fascinating and fanciful characters and stories. Even an occasionally disgruntled "child" like me can't resist delighting in her creations and remembering her legacy, which has reached 142 years on July 28th, just three days ago, since her birth in Kensington of Victorian London in 1866.

Here is a link to the official Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter website and video clips of the delightful stories...

...and another to Hill Top in the magnificent Lake District...

...and still another link to a movie clip of Ms. Potter...there couldn't have been a better Norman Warne than Ewan McGregor, who played the character superbly; interestingly, one of the characters in The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Mr. McGregor, was a gardener whose wife had put Peter's father in a pie...some sort of a McGregor redemption perhaps? Anyway, Beatrix Potter's story is as endearing as her charming creations and the movie is rightly and whimsically seasoned with those delightful, animated, little creatures popping in and out of the scenes, either inspiring, peeving, or just keeping Ms. Potter company. This movie has no pretense about it whatsoever. It is real and insightful and a sure delight. All you'd need is a cup of tea to accompany this genuine delicacy...


...or this...

No comments: