A Literary Luncheon

My friend Josie and I drove out to Shelton Laurel yesterday to have lunch with longtime friends, Drew and Louise Langsner. Louise's sister and niece were visiting and I was looking forward to seeing them again. Both are authors and I've blogged here about them before this.

I met  Ellen Graf and Eula Biss back in 1978 when John and I were attending a woodcarving class at Country Workshops, run by Drew and Louise.

Back in '78, Justin was about six months old and he attended the class in a Snugli on my back. Ellen was there too and Eula (not pictured below, alas) who was a little older than Justin, spent much of her time in a pack basket on Ellen's back.

Who knew that thirty some years later Eula would have an adorable year-old boy -- Juneau by name?

 Who knew that Ellen would have three more children and eventually a second marriage to a man she'd only just met -- in his native China? 

Who knew that she'd go on to write about this marriage in the critically acclaimed The Natural Laws of Good Luck?

  Who knew that the baby in the pack basket would become an noted essayist? Her first book -- The Balloonists

and her second,  Notes from No Man's Land (which I blogged about last year,) have won praise from some pretty high-faluting literary types . 

But here's the really neat thing, the REALLY AMAZINGLY COOL thing -- this book Notes just won the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award!!!

This is a major, major award and it feels kinda neat to say I knew Eula when.

We had an amazing lunch of winter squash soup, garnished with hot Indian pickles, and a savory Chinese dish that Ellen prepared, made of pork, leeks, celery, garlic, and lots of ginger, which we ate rolled up in lettuce leaves. (And I made the panna cotta I was going on about a while back.)

 What better way to spend a very beautiful day?

At the Other End of the County

On Friday night we drove to the other end of the county to have dinner with friends. The early evening light was golden and we stopped along the way so I could take pictures . . .

My friend Louise has an amazing garden. Mid October and it's still brimming with greens.

. . . the flowers haven't given up either . . .

The interior of the workshop, where Louise makes willow baskets and the Country Workshops classes are held.

Here's a slide show of more pictures from our visit.

Country Workshops

The following sounds a lot like an advertisement/testimonial. And it kind of is, but it's also an look at some of the folks who live in my county -- and maybe in Elizabeth's Marshall County too.

Back in 1978 when my younger son was about six months old (not two, as the album caption says), my husband and his father signed up for a week-long wood-working class with some folks we'd recently met. Drew and Louise Langsner lived (and still live) at the other end of our county, about a forty-five minute drive from our farm. Though I had little interest in woodworking, I was suffering from a serious case of cabin fever and insisted that I'd like to go too. Fortunately my mother-in-law was willing to stay at our house and look after our five year old, so off John and Jack and Justin and I went for a week at Country Workshops. It was the first year of classes at the Langsner farm.

The experience was wonderful! A week of calm and craft, of beautiful surroundings, interesting people and wonderful food. Justin (still nursing - a 'tittie baby' as some say around here) was a calm, laid back infant, and I was able to carve a spoon and a dough bowl along with the rest of the class. We became good friends with our hosts and over the course of the years have watched them build their log home, expand their gardens, and put together an amazing curriculum for wood crafters and country/nature lovers.

The farm is beautiful, Louise's gardens are inspiring, and the various items produced by students in the workshops are heirloom quality craft. Below is a willow basket made by Louise and a chair crafted by Tom Donahey -- one of Country Workshops' teachers. There are many more pictures and complete information on the Country Workshops website

I can't recommend a more pleasant way to spend a week -- and you come home with a new skill and a fine example of your own handicraft.