She speaks!
You’ve ordered the book, now hear the audio!
For your listening pleasure, 4 current selections - the inimitable Mark Bramhall with a pitch perfect reading of the audio book; wonderful upstate podcaster James Cave with an interview conducted at Frederic Church’s Cosy Cottage; perennial New York City history favorites The Bowery Boys, early supporters of Victoria’s previous biography; and Modern Art Notes genius art historian Tyler Green’s erudite conversation on Church and American history. Pick one or listen to them all.
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/us/podcast/the-jiffy-stories-from-upstate-new-york/id1738994348
/us/podcast/the-bowery-boys-new-york-city-history/id258530615
/us/podcast/the-modern-art-notes-podcast/id479811154
Celebration at Donahue’s, one of the last real restaurants in NY and tragically closing soon. I will most miss the sound of the actual bell in the actual telephone phone hanging next to the bar.
Last night Victoria was honored at a lavish Olana gala at the Met for her forthcoming biography of Frederic Church. So proud. Available May 5th. Preorder now, please!
In Asheville for less than 24 hours and already I’ve seen my favorite spring wildflowers, fished for 5” brook trout and had my car broken into by a bear - the Asheville trifecta. Fortunately the bears are so adept at operating the door handles that the rental car company won’t see a scratch on it.
One morning in Munnar I went for a walk early and came across a herd of cows adorned with fresh flower garlands. This was for the celebration of Pongal which is more common in Tamil Nadu, but this part of Kerala has many Tamil people that came to work on the tea estates. Later that day we went to a workshop that employs developmentally disabled people to make paper goods and fabrics. On Pongal, a mixture of rice, sugar and spices is ceremonially cooked outside the front door and we were swept into the celebration with the community. Before eating the Pongal, we all stood with eyes closed as they sang a devotional song which I will not soon forget.
Some years ago I was on a long distance walk in Kerala and somehow stumbled upon the High Range Club on the outskirts of Munnar. It was founded by British tea planters and continues to serve Indian tea planters and it turned out you could stay there. I stayed for a few days and loved everything about it. 10 years later I’m back with wonderful friends who I thought would love it too. And I was right.
Early morning walk up into the tea fields near Munnar, where what to our wondering eyes should appear but ELEPHANTS. First a mother and two young, at a distance that seemed safe until we realized that we didn’t know where the male was and which direction he might come from. Magical but a little scary. Eventually the gigantic long-tusked male appeared safely on the other side of the valley. We met the Forest Department staff who keep an eye on elephant activity and deter human/elephant conflict. Interestingly the elephants mostly eat the weeds that grow between the tea bushes and the planters actually like to have them around.
A return visit to Nimmy Paul who taught me about Keralan cooking on my very first visit here about 20 years ago. She prepared a fantastic meal for us, including a dish using a local fruit called bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi) that I had never even heard of before.
