Stone cold classic.

I sat opposite him in a small regional airport once, and he was just playing with his kids. Seemed like a really decent guy. It's so sad.

(I think this is one of the most profoundly moving games I have ever played.)

You made the right choice, narrative-wise, but also missed an extraordinary section if you'd pushed on.

In the first part of Archdruid, how he begins with dipping his hat in the water, and then, at the very end, having come full circle, takes his hat off to dip it in the water — I gasped.

Beyond. He makes structure look like a magic trick.

Yeppp

Me too. I'm writing something about him at the moment, and revisiting these nature books has been *such* a pleasure.

This is somehow reassuring, Philip!

Yes! On a writing level, too, it's just hard to imagine modern readers stomaching McPhee's granularity, which is, imo, part of his genius. I also just cannot imagine the New Yorker ever running these kind of pieces anymore unless they are somehow about politics.

Theo often comes home to me drinking scotch in the kitchen, waving my arms around and saying, "We're doomed! It's all over."

Messina ice cream! Don't forget.

I've been reading a lot of John McPhee this month, and his miraculous work (like "Encounters with the Archdruid") seems so very far away from anything that could get published these days except in a niche way.

Kiehl's hand salve is a lifesaver.