Judith and Mabon

Today I had an unexpected surprise. I had tea with Judith Jones and her Havanese dog Mabon. Yes, that Judith Jones - editor to Julia, Lidia, John Updike and scads more and rescuer of the Anne Frank diary. Author of The Tenth Muse and The Pleasures of Cooking for One.  Owner of Bryn Teg Farm, a grass fed beef farm in northern Vermont. How's that for a day? I'm still pinching myself. 

Now this isn't a typical day around here. Usually I take a long walk with our Border Collies, feed the chickens, commune with Archie and Winston, work on a project for a book or whatever, and do what is on the ever present to-do list. But today it was raining (thank goodness - we really need it). Instead, I started the day off on a whim by calling our neighbor David Nussbaum (as in kind neighbor I wrote about here). David is a cookbook writer who has worked with Judith for years on projects including many of Julia's and Lidia's books. I had heard that Judith would be in Greenfield speaking at the Community College this Wednesday (info here and it is free). I assumed David was involved in getting her to our neck of the woods. I thought it would be fun to have my signed Julia cookbooks also signed by Julia's Editor Judith. What the heck, I might as well ask, I thought to myself. 

David answered the phone, Judith said yes, and he said, come right down. Off I went, books in hand, my heart all a pitter patter because I don't do anything quite so exciting as this on a Monday. 

Me and Judith Jones with her dog Mabon

What a treat this was. I spent a couple of hours with David and his new dog, Judith and her two year old Havanese Mabon talking about dogs, books, farming, cooking, publishing and teaching Judith about blogging.

What a wonderful woman Judith is - still learning at 88, still writing. (She retired from Knopf just last year at 87.) For all you fans of Judith, here's some good news. She is at work on a new book. And she wants to incorporate a blog into the mix. As I was showing Judith how a blog works and typing away, she was editing my words. Listening to Judith and David bantering back and forth, composing words for a post - it was an education for me to see them work together - to see great literary minds at work crafting a sentence. To hear David breaking down the process, like he would a step by step in a recipe.

So that was my day. The rest of the week won't compare. Now my Julia books are signed with Judith's famous green editing pen. Thank you Judith. Thank you David. See you Wednesday afternoon at GCC. Hope some of you all can come. It should be a good talk. Bring some canned food for The Food Bank.

Here's what I need from all of you.... Judith and David asked me what my favorite cooking and food blogs are. I told them mine. Would you be kind enough to leave your favorites in my comments section for Judith.... Thanks so much!