I’ve had geese on my mind for a couple of weeks now. Geese and E.B. White. But I’ve been putting off writing about it because I thought it would be difficult to explain the connection with my brain as muddled as it has been since The Flu. To me, geese and E.B. White are as inexplicably intertwined as peanut butter and jelly.
But a couple of mornings ago, Erin and I were driving back from the farm and we saw three lovely geese in a little pond by our house. Not wild geese mind you. These are somebody’s pets and they are lovely and giant.
Then this morning I got my poultry catalog in the mail from Cackle Hatchery, and just like every other year, I immediately turned to the section on geese. I am tempted mightily to order a pair of Toulouses or maybe a couple of White Embdens.
E.B. White is one of my favorite writers and also my secret crush. Can you have a crush on someone who’s been dead since 1985? Well, I do. Most people immediately think of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little when they think of E.B. White and maybe The Trumpet of the Swan. But I love his essays, particularly the ones about his farm in Maine. The Geese is my favorite, but they are all just so lovely and well written and easy. That ease of his is what gets me. E.B. White is the reason I wanted to be a writer.
I get emails from people from time to time asking me to recommend books on writing; for my money, you can’t do much better than The Elements of Style. If you still have a copy kicking around your bookcases pick it up sometime and give it a read. I think you’ll find it to be the friendliest book on writing ever written. And one of the most important. “Make every word tell” is the best writing advice I ever got.
Do pick up a copy of Essays of E.B. White if you can find one. They’re the kind of essays you’ll read again and again.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Just remember that geese can be vicious. We had one at my Alma Mater who would chase any student that walked along “his” path alone at night. He also absolutely tortured the ducks. Then again, maybe geese can be trained, I do not know.
If I could video comment you’d see me do an INCREDIBLY overdone and cheesy rendition of the Golden Egg song from Willy Wonka. I saw the word “geese” and was immediately turned into Veruca Salt. “GOOSES! GEESES!” It’s really obnoxious in my head right now.
My fourth grade teacher read us Trumpet of the Swan, and I´ve been hooked on E.B. White ever since.
Susan you might consider one of ‘runner duck’ breeds too. They are so cute and they lean forward an run together like little mechanical Segways. I,too, love E.B. White… thanks for bringing him up in this
Did your blog address or settings change? I missed several posts that didn’t come through my Reader, even though I had subscribed. Just wondering, and worrying that you were really sick.
Me again, Just wanted to second your opinion on The Elements of Style. I work as a copyeditor, and outside editorial style, which is another matter, Strunk & White cover just about everything you really need to know.
My copy of EB White’s essays, from required reading in high school, is still in my nightstand after all these years. I’ve read it again and again over the years. I graduated high school in 1972.
When I was growing up we raised a pair of Embdens and hatched another in an incubator. When the female Embden was killed by loose dogs, the male fell in love with my mom. He would follow her through the garden when she was weeding. Sitting down in the dirt wherever she was, beeping and talking to her. We finally found him a mate with another flock and sadly gave him away. He also bit the president of the bank once.