Topical Guide 44
Mark Dorset
Food, Chicken, Chicken versus Clams
WITH MY MOUTH FULL of Gumma’s fricasseed chicken and dumplings, I announced, “Raskol and I are going to travel the whole length of the Bolotomy, by boat.” My mother told me, as she often had before, not to talk with my mouth full, but Guppa had understood me through the chicken and dumpling just fine, and his eyes lit up at once.
Little Follies, “Life on the Bolotomy”
Babbington’s past has been marked by hostility between chicken farmers (or should that be chicken ranchers?) and clamdiggers. In the preface to “Take the Long Way Home” in Little Follies, Peter explores the causes of that hostility, its effect on Babbington’s culture and self-image, and its effect on his personal history. I won’t go into any of that now.
Plans and Schemes; Things Undone
So much of the pleasure of any project comes from the planning. I’ve passed many a happy hour at the little table on the lawn in front of the hotel here on Small’s Island drinking my coffee and smoking a few cigarettes, drawing plans for bookshelves, outlining fat books, marking maps for trips, compiling menus and guest lists for dinners. I keep all these plans in labeled folders, arranged in file cabinets, lined in ranks in a room of their own on the third floor, and when I have the time, someday, I’ll get down to work on one of them, I guess, but I’ve already enjoyed them all.
Little Follies, “Life on the Bolotomy”
This is not intended as a personal attack on me. I know that it isn’t because I’ve asked directly and Peter has assured me that he had only himself in mind when he wrote this assertion that plans unrealized have a value in themselves. He was grinning when he told me that. I’m not sure what to make of that grin. He has a repertoire of them:
The secretive grin.
The assured grin.
The ambiguous grin.
The dismissive grin.
The puzzled grin.
The tolerant grin.
The grin-and-bear-it grin.
The serene grin.
The mysterious grin.
The indulgent grin.
The seen-it-all grin.
The incredulous grin.
The mischievous grin.
The conspiratorial grin.
The sympathetic grin.
The nonjudgmental grin.
The judgmental grin.
The hopeful grin.
The finger grin.
The private grin.
The friendly grin.
The distant grin.
The dégagé grin.
The amused grin.
The bemused grin.
The cool grin.
The enigmatic grin.
The wise grin.
Names, Pronunciation of
I told Guppa, through that mouthful of chicken and dumpling, one Sunday, when my parents and I had gone to visit Gumma and Guppa for dinner. Those Sunday dinners at Gumma and Guppa’s were slow and luxurious affairs, with hours spent at the table and hours afterward spent sitting on the porch when the weather was warm or in front of the fire when it was cold.
Little Follies, “Life on the Bolotomy”
I should have mentioned this earlier. “Guppa,” should be pronounced GUHP-uh, not GOO-pah. “Gumma” should be pronounced GUHM-uh, not GOO-mah.
Impractical Craftsman
One panel swung open, revealing floor-to-ceiling bookcases that held all of Guppa’s copies of Impractical Craftsman, a monthly magazine chock full of plans for single-seater folding airplanes, concealed bookcases, inflatable rubber garages, and the like.
Little Follies, “Life on the Bolotomy”
This publication appears many times throughout the Personal History. It would not be exaggerating to say that it has had as profound an effect on Peter as anything he has read at any time in his life. Nor, I think, would it be inaccurate to describe Peter himself as an impractical craftsman. [Insert grin here.]
[more to come on Wednesday, July 14, 2021]
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