In Louise's Garden

Yesterday we drove out to Shelton Laurel for a socially distanced outdoor lunch with Drew and Louise. Louise told me to be sure to bring my camera to document her squash.

No worries--it's always a delight to wander through Louise's Giverny-like garden.

Flowers and vegetables sprawl everywhere in rampant profusion. And speaking of rampant . . . 

There's the squash--an Italian variety called (I think) Berrettina Piacetina. Planted in a compost pile inside an unused dog pen, it went crazy (pazzo.)

It covered the compost pile, climbed the chain-link fence, and is now meandering across the roof of the dog pen.

Bearing more and more squashes to loll in the sun on the roof.

Look at the size of that stem.

I'll be asking for some seed from this baby.

 

At Naomi and Teo's Wedding Celebration

We've known Naomi since she was a baby and it was a delight to be at her wedding and the celebration that followed.  The pictures here are just a few of the almost 200 that are on a web album HERE.  

A tent with a view of rolling pastures and distant mountains, a trellis made by the bride's mother,  burlap-covered hay bales for seating, bouquets in mason jars atop cedar logs . . . 

Music from a good friend -- one of the many talented musicians in attendance.

A simple ceremony. . .

A beautiful bride  . . .

and handsome groom . . .

Rings exchanged . . .

 

Congratulating the newly weds with champagne toasts after the ceremony.

.

 The parents of the bride . . .

Happy tears . . .

Later still more friends arrived and the grounds were full of folks enjoying the beautiful day.  Babies and toddlers . . . 

An impromptu game of hide-and-seek

Girls in their summer dresses . . .

A wonderful mix of family and friends . . .

And a feast of amazing salads and breads and home-raised barbecued pork. 

Later, the bride and her father shared the first dance . . . and I suspect that the party continued into the night . . . but we had to be on our way home so that Justin could milk.

It was a wonderful day . . .

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.