Roger Mudd writes for the NYT about the restoration of Eudora Welty’s home, divulging a charming anecdote involving bourbon and a dinner catastrophe along the way. Mudd’s emergence as the Expert Friend of Eudora Welty would be a little annoying, if it wasn’t clear just how much he adored her:
Always close at hand was her favorite reference book, "Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" and in it her favorite entry — "Assemblage, nouns of" — as in, "a clutch of eggs," "a muster of peacocks," "a bench of bishops." Eudora once challenged me to play the game. She won hands down with "a stack of librarians" and "a plastering of politicians."