Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Chef, The Publisher and the Baby Snapping Turtle





It's been a busy Memorial Day weekend here at The Stone House, and we met many wonderful people. Chef, cookbook author and television personality Sara Moulton and husband Bill came to stay.
“Other TV chefs may own famous restaurants and perform with theatrical flair,” noted TV Guide’s Herma Rosenthal, “but Moulton’s the one you can actually picture popping over to help you fix the lumpy gravy or the fallen soufflĂ©.” Find out more about what Sara is up to, and pick up some great recipes at saramoulton.com .

Also up for the weekend was publisher Jill Schoolman, who runs her own publishing house archipelago books, a not-for-profit press devoted to publishing excellent translations of classic and contemporary world literature. Her spring 2011 catalogue, which you can see in the middle photograph above, features a cover photograph by Jill herself.

Our third featured visitor is a newly hatched Snapping Turtle we found in the garden this morning, trying to head down the bank towards the Esopus Creek. The shell was still soft, and it looked tiny on the palm of our hands. We set it down to continue on its way...

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

New Flowers, Old Lens

One evening recently I decided to take a stroll around the garden.


I had a old Dallmeyer lens on my camera, maybe 80 years old.


The soft, warm tones of the old lens seemed to give the new blooms an etherial glow in the damp evening light.


Sometimes it takes an old lens to show us this precious world in a new light. (Sam)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Rekindling enthusiasm for a disappearing art.......



Recently a certain wedding dress for a certain Royal wedding received a lot of attention. But who knew that the train, all 9 feet of it, was created at the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace? Embroiderers also worked on the skirt, changing their needles every three hours and washing their hands every 30 minutes to keep the lace pristine.

Meet Mary Ann Kronk, who is an enthusiast for the fast disappearing art of needlepoint. She has started the Needle Arts Guild of Historic Hudson Valley in Beacon, with the ambitious goal of creating a Guild that will promote, teach, preserve and pass on this unique and creative art form for future generations. Currently she gives workshops in historic settings, such as the Bevier House museum just down the road from us. She is doing a workshop there on July 23rd. Contact us for further information, or check out her site at http://nacientneedle.wordpress.com/

We hope to have needlepoint workshops of our own here soon! Let us know at host@hurleystonehouse.com if you would be interested, and we'll let you know when the workshops will be scheduled.