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Comments:
Anna - 2005-02-14 10:18:15 BTW, did you see the story about EB White in this week's New Yorker? I loved it because his old house is near ours. The author (his step-son) did a great job. People still miss him up there.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-02-14 12:15:44 Give people the output from the Old West Side literary contest. That might cure the tendency to read.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-14 12:19:15 Anna: Haven't herd of the Tiger Eye series, though I had lots of Nancy Drews. I remember that "mixed-up files" series but can't remember the rest of the title. Thank you for pointing out the E. B. White story. Haven't seen this week's New Yorker yet. Probably in the mailbox now. Did you ever see his actual house? Pretty interesting. I'd like to see it. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-14 12:46:29 Raymond: yeowch. I daresay you're right. I am kind of looking forward to reading it, actually. Should be out in the next newsletter, in a couple months or so. * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-14 13:15:50 Tiger Eyes is a book by Blume -- not a series... I've been by White's house more times than I could count, but I've never been inside. I almost bought a dog from his daughter-in-law, who breeds golden retrievers. She doesn't own the house -- she lives in a house across the street and down a ways. His son died too young a few years ago. Joel was a well-respected wooden boat builder. I recognised the names of almost all of the Mainers mentioned in the article.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-14 19:42:39 Anna, I just now read the White article in the new double issue. Very lovely. The "Some Pig" scrawled-sign anecdote was slightly disquieting, though. I'd never knew he was a "gentleman farmer." Sounds to me as though he had the best life imaginable. I also liked Roz Chast's "Valentines to Things" on p. 198 and this week's funny "Shouts and Murmurs." Saving the rest for the bus tomorrow (the shoe article looks interesting).* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-15 09:02:02 I know -- to make a living writing and living off the land. One of his best books is One Man's Meat -- it's a collection of essays. He talks a lot about life as a gentleman farmer. I didn't know until i read the article how wildly neurotic he was, which is funny because it doesn't come across in his writing. I found the "some pig" anecdote a bit unsettling, too. His old house is lovely, set a bit back from the water, old white farmhouse with lots of outbuildings and apple trees, a trimmed hedge at the road, hosta and flowering bulbs, an old field to the leftt, a pebble driveway. It seems to have resisted over-gentrification and still looks like it's in Maine, not Greenwich, CT. Charlotte's Web is set at the Blue Hill Fair -- still going on today (with ribbons for best pig, cow, chicken, etc.). Blue Hill & Brooklin are hard enough to get to that a lot of the places are still unchanged -- Central Hall (went to a potluck dinner there this past summer), the Congo (church), etc. I haven't read anything else in the issue -- I'm looking forward to it. I always love Shouts and Murmurs. * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-15 09:07:38 I should ammend that -- I feel guilty for calling him a "gentleman farmer" -- he was a real farmer, he did almost all of the work himself and had a profitable farm. People around Maine accepted him as one of their own, not some city slicker with a few animals.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-15 09:09:22 That's odd--my dad gave me One Man's Meat for Christmas but I haven't gotten around to it yet--I didn't realize it contained essays about White's gentleman-farming. Your description of the farm is vivid--I can picture it. Before this whole conversation I never knew about White's roots in Maine--very interesting to find out.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-15 09:20:24 re: gentleman vs. real farmer: yes, the NY article hints that he fully ran the place himself as you say. All the more admirable if you ask me.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-15 15:34:22 I *think* it was One Man's Meat. Either that or "Essays from the NYer" -- I've read them all so I forget.. but I'm pretty sure that there were at least some on OMM. In one he bemoans the building of highways which change the pace of life, and in another he bemoans the death of the railroad. Anyway -- enjoy -- he's a beautiful essayist.* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |