The Mountains Spring 2024 Issue

FROM THE CATSKILLS TO THE BERKSHIRES

PURSUIT OF

SPIRIT

CONNECTICUT ETIQUETTE TREASURE HUNTING AT KENT BARNS BY SARAH CARPENTER HOT DIGGETY DOG BY MARTHA FRANKEL + LET’S GO! CHARLESTON’S SOUTHERN CHARM REVEALED

DORINDA Welcome back, Ms. Medley

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

“When I go up my driveway at Blue Stone Manor in the Berkshires, I wouldn’t trade that feeling of peace for anything in the world.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE RUIZ

SCULPTED CABLE COLLECTION

ELEVATE YOUR ESCAPE

The ideal location for unwinding on weekends, celebrating extraordinary milestones, creating unforgettable memories, and discovering outdoor adventure in the natural beauty of the mountains.

36 Dorinda Medley Says ‘Yes’

By Richard Pérez-Feria

Photography by Mike Ruiz exclusively for The Mountains

special: the pursuit of happiness

45 Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy INTRO

By Richard Pérez-Feria FAITH

By Sean McAlindin

CANNABIS

By Melissa Reid

ADULTING

By Hal Rubenstein

JOURNEY | MIND | ACTIVISM

BODY | MOVEMENT | BREATH

By Mitch Rustad

62 Revealing Bob Marley

By James Long

Photography by Kate Simon on the cover

Dorinda Medley photographed by Mike Ruiz exclusively for The Mountains hair: Marco Medrano

make up: Deney Adam

set coordinator: Isabel Hochman

location: Love Studios NYC

hair

Balmain Leave-in Conditioning Spray

Balmain Moisturizing Argan Elixir

Balmain Hair Barrette

CHI Infra Texture Hairspray

makeup

Charlotte Tilbury (various)

cover

Shirt by Ralph Lauren Purple Label

Pants by MICHAEL KORS Collection

this page

Sweater by &Daughter

Shorts by Valentino

Shoes by Dolce & Gabbana

“And suddenly, in my 50s, I started this whole new career just being Dorinda Can you imagine?”

Photography by HARRISON LUBIN

1. 165 VAUGHN HILL ROAD

Middleburgh, NY. 5BR. 3.0 Baths

$1.895M. Web ID 22507389. Richard Orenstein 212-381-4248

Nancy Felcetto 917-626-6755

2. 1 BOG HOLLOW ROAD

Wassaic, NY. 6BR. 8.0 Baths

$8.0M. Web ID 22704006.

Joseph Lorino 212-452-4513

3. STATE ROUTE 97

Narrowsburg, NY. 370 Acres.

$2.95M. Web ID 22692757. Richard Orenstein 212-381-4248

Felicia De Chabris 212-381-6513

4. CATSKILL ROAD VIEW

Claverack, NY. 4BR. 2.0 Baths.

$799K. Web ID 22430784.

Nancy Felcetto 917-626-6755

5. 439 LAKE DRIVE

Rhinebeck, NY. 6BR. 7.5 Baths.

$838K. Web ID 22476081. Marc Wisotsky 718-613-2047

Jackie Lew 718-613-2046

6. 2205 STATE ROUTE 203

Chatham, NY. 3BR. 2.0 Baths.

$480K. Web ID 22715358. Maret Halinen 518-828-0181

7. 2215 BEAVERKILL ROAD

Livingston Manor, NY. 4BR. 3.5 Baths.

$525K. Web ID 22712924. Kathleen M. Sloane 212-906-9258

8. 450 UNION STREET

Hudson, NY. 6BR. 3.0 Bath. $949K. Web ID 22637649. Jean Stoler 518-660-1309

A er a relatively mild winter, our collective approach will likely be a tentative hope for a beautiful spring and balmy summer: time, as always, will tell. One thing is definitely certain though, as you navigate the seasons, your favorite magazine will strive to keep you ever engaged, informed and delighted. Remember, it’s cooler in The Mountains. It just is.

You are here. We are, too.

Art by Jan Kallwejt exclusively for The Mountains

Alan Katz FOUNDER | CEO

Richard Pérez-Feria EDITOR IN CHIEF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kathleen Gates

MANAGING EDITOR James Long

PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Erika Phenner

SENIOR EDITOR | RESEARCH DIRECTOR Sarah Carpenter

DESIGN EDITORS Eduardo Rodríguez, Herman Vega

ASSOCIATE EDITOR | SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Isabel Hochman

DIGITAL MANAGER Isabella Joslin

DESIGNER Linda Gates

EDITORS AT LARGE Martha Frankel, Jane Larkworthy, Marco Medrano Hal Rubenstein, Kevin Sessums, Tara Solomon

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Toni Gerunda

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Robin Baron, Greg Calejo, Kate Doyle Hooper

Anthony Giglio, Rebecca Hardiman, Bill Henning

Sean McAlindin, Simon Murray, Todd Plummer

Melissa Reid, Jack Rico, Mitch Rustad

WRITERS Abbe Aronson, Jonah Bayliss, Bill Cary

Renee Jermaine, Sandy MacDonald

Mira Peck, Robyn Perry Coe

PHOTOGRAPHERS | ARTISTS Fahnon Bennett, Natalie Chitwood, Bryan Derballa Jan Kallwejt, Daniella Murray, Robert Risko Mike Ruiz, Beth Schneck, Matthew Sussman

Amy Smith

EXECUTIVE SALES DIRECTOR

ACCOUNT DIRECTORS Barbara Bank, Libby Hall Abeel, Kira Proper

ACCOUNT MANAGER Livi Perrone

FINANCE AND OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Caryn Whitman

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Betsy Low

MARKETING DIRECTOR Bill Gibbons

MARKETING STRATEGIST Randi MacColl

TEXAS SALES DIRECTORS Ellen Lewis, Michael Stafford LEWIS STAFFORD COMPANY, INC

CANADA SALES DIRECTORS Lori Dodd, Bob Dodd DODD MEDIA GROUP

PRODUCTION Digital Workflow Solutions

advertising inquiries: advertising@themountainsmedia.com editorial submissions: editorial@themountainsmedia.com follow us on social media: @themountainsmedia The Mountains

THE TIMELESS SPIRIT OF THE HUDSON VALLEY

THE team

Abbe Aronson heads the eponymously named rm Abbe Does It, focusing on editorial, public relations and marketing, event planning, image and design consulting, fundraising and “artful schmoozing.” The coauthor of ve books and content editor for WelSpotted Magazine, Aronson has been quoted as a source in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Hu ngton Post, Better Homes & Gardens, Interior Design, Associated Press, NPR and Good Housekeeping

“I almost jumped up and down when I heard we were doing an issue based around joy, because these days I’m all about as much heartswelling joy as possible—it’s as vital as oxygen and we’re all pretty depleted right now. Few things give me as much joy as playing drums.”

Todd Plummer is a veteran fashion writer and consultant based in Boston, and found anywhere he can go shopping, be outdoors or both. His work has appeared in Vogue, The Wall Street Journal and Condé Nast Traveler “For me, the Catskills up through the Berkshires is the most exciting part of the Northeast these days,” he says. “Every time I visit, there’s always something new to explore.”

Melissa Reid has traveled the world writing about cannabis since 2015—

but has enjoyed it for a lot longer. She’s cofounded two successful cannabis media companies and is the current Deputy Editor of Cannabis Now. She enjoys telling the human-interest stories of the in-demand herb, from the underground growers in NorCal’s legacy market to the burgeoning Empire State scene. “It’s been fascinating to watch the ‘Green Wave’ wash across the US, particularly in and around Great Barrington and the Berkshires,” she says. “I’m fully anticipating more exciting innovation from the East Coast.”

BTS

Sweet Medley

She walked in with the energy you’d hope for on a long day of shooting: Dorinda Medley, vibrant reality TV star, was ready to play—and we were too. A happy day for all. Go to themountainsmedia.com for the full report and photos.

Happy

i don’t remember much from October 8, 2021, the day I buried both of my beloved parents (they died suddenly within 24 hours of each other, otherwise healthy and in love a er six decades of marriage), but as I watched the people I loved most in this world disappear into the ground forever, the wave of gratitude that washed over me nearly knocked me o my feet.

In the relentless Miami sun in that cacophonous cemetery, as my siblings, my partner, aunts, uncles, cousins and many of my dear, beautiful friends somberly looked on, my mind jumped to the happiest moment my parents and I shared, and it was unusual because I had been alone with them without my brother and sisters. And it happened in New York City, not exactly Mom and Dad’s favorite spot. Yet, it happened.

In 2005, I was in the best phase of my life and career as the high-pro le-ish editor in chief of People en Español, a cultural behemoth and the most important Hispanic publication published by the world’s largest magazine company. In May I hosted the most epic event in our title’s history, the “50 Most Beautiful” extravaganza in downtown Manhattan. We invited all 50 of the Latin

dreaming in cuban At People en Español’s 2005 epic “50 Most Beautiful” soirée in New York City, my beautiful parents, Addy and Manuel Pérez-Feria, joined me on the red carpet at the celebrity- lled event.

superstars on the list and nearly everyone showed up (Jennifer Lopez sent apologies and gorgeous owers). I had earlier surprised my parents with a four-day trip to NYC so that they, too, could partake in the overthe-top festivities.

Some back story: Though I had already been the top editor of many magazines by then, it wasn’t until I took over People en Español, a publication lled with my parents’ favorite stars, that I really saw what that meant to them. How proud they were of me. How right they had been to leave Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba to give their kids a shot at the American Dream. There, right in front of them, they saw me embody their hopes and dreams they had for my siblings and me. I was Exhibit ‘A’ in their “we did something right as parents” thoughts. At least that’s how it seemed to me. Then, the party started.

The full rst half of the soirée—which was easily the most celebrity- lled, elegant,

best realized event I had been to in years—I was planted on the red carpet, greeting the famous actors, singers, models and athletes who kept rolling in two minutes apart. A million laughs and photos later, I nally made my way inside to nd my parents. First, I saw Dad chatting up Enrique Iglesias (Enrique’s father, Julio Iglesias, is a singing demigod to Hispanics my parents’ age) and then I noticed Mom laughing with Emmy-winning journalist and respected news anchor, Maria Celeste Arrarás, as if it were their high school reunion (Maria Celeste, known as “Latin Oprah,” is one of my dearest friends to this day).

That unforgettable evening was my small “thank you” to the two people who made my incredible life possible.

Cut to the high-voltage yet intimate a er party where my parents and I were joined by some 40 celebs as we completely took over the Soho Grand Hotel bar very, very late into the night. My dear longtime friend Gloria Estefan and her legendary music producer husband Emilio Estefan served as uno cial co-hosts keeping the spirits high and the drinks owing. Every time I looked up to nd my parents, they were dancing or laughing or hugging or smiling. Even now I get emotional just thinking about that magical party if for no other reason because for at least one night, I was able to give my parents the gi of connecting with their favorite stars. It may sound super cial—and I guess on some level it very well may be—but that unforgettable evening was my small “thank you” to the two people who made my incredible life possible. And I wouldn’t trade that memory for anything in the world.

That’s what I was thinking about as I stared silently ahead in my sweat-soaked black suit on that most horrible of October days surrounded by so much love, pain and contradictions. But, somehow, all of that made me smile.

So, yes, that’s how I will always remember Addy and Manuel Pérez-Feria, my perfect parents. Happy. So very happy indeed.

—Richard Pérez-Feria EDITOR IN CHIEF

Photo: Stacey Bewkes

ivan’s castle The recent $12 million deal for the 20-room Georgian Federal-style mansion in Cornwall, CT—which has been home to tennis legend Ivan Lendl and his family since 1992—is the highest home sale ever recorded in Litch eld County.

Photography by Brian Wilcox

The Joy Of Fashion

Buying threads that’ll turn your closet into your happy place. |

By Todd Plummer

the funny thing about winter in this neck of the woods is that it never gets any easier. Even those of us who’ve lived in this region our entire lives still nd ourselves needing to actively shoo o the winter blues. It requires an e ort. Maybe this year we’ll take up running. Or maybe we’ll leave the house to see which new restaurants opened in our neighboring towns since we last visited.

But how about some good old fashioned retail therapy?

‘Dopamine dressing’ is an actual thing. In 2012, fashion psychologist and professor

Karen Pine published a study which found that when participants wore clothes of symbolic value—something that meant something to them, or sparked joy in some way—their perceived and actual con dence increased. Turns out, looking good makes you feel good!

Where to start your feel-good shopping spree? The hamlet of Holmes, due east of Beacon, where La Grotta Bazaar just opened its doors. Part vintage shop and part antiques market, this “cabinet of curiosities” was founded by native New

THE WEAR

Yorkers Jen Robbins and Blake Decker. The duo grew up on Roosevelt Island, just a tram ride away from iconic shopping hubs Fiorucci on 59th Street, Bloomingdale’s on Third Avenue and “Antiques Row” on 60th Street.

“I’m not a quiet person and I’m not a wall ower,” says Robbins. “The clothes are kind of like that. They’re de nitely not shy… I just want to make the world a little prettier, a little more fun, and the eco-sustainability of vintage is a feel-good bonus.”

La Grotta’s ebullient mix of vintage clothing is impossible not to love—think Dynasty and Studio 54 meet jet set bohemian, with oneof-a-kind treasures from around the world thrown in. With winter’s hibernation behind us, these are clothes that you’ll want to wear to your next party or social engagement. These are clothes that make you happy.

Your dopamine-centric shopping spree need not be limited to just fashion, either. There are plenty of new places to shop across the region: books, scented candles and art supplies at Ratty Books in Je ersonville; rare cheeses and specialty foods at Sullivan Sundries, also in Je ersonville; house-made jams and old-school candy at the Cider Mill in North Branch; and eclectic homewares in a restored 1800s storefront at Black Walnut in Callicoon.

For hostess gi s, for yourself, for no reason at all—it’s a great time to enjoy some shopping. So go ahead and spring clean your closets, put those parkas and mittens into storage and make room for something that will help you be your most stylish, joyful you.

LANTERN HOUSE

bizarre bazaar La Grotta Bazaar in Holmes, NY is an eclectic vintage shop meets antique market selling clothes that “are de nitely not shy,” says co-owner Jen Robbins.

Real Men Love Bling

Dog tags, bracelets and key rings all shine bright like a diamond. |

By Mitch Rustad

David Yurman Dog Tags

Known for creating a sparkling variety of precious metals and innovative materials with precise cra smanship and intricate details in every design, The David Yurman Company is also famous for its ability to fuse fashion, art and jewelry into signature design concepts. Their exquisite men’s tags collection comes in an eyepopping assortment of gorgeous yellow gold, rose gold, sterling silver and black titanium with sterling silver. The Chevron Tag in 18K yellow gold (21mm) comes in ve glorious colors aimed at satisfying your individual style. $1,500-$3,750 at Frank Adams 144 Wolf Road, Albany FrankAdams.com DavidYurman.com

Santos de Cartier Key Ring

Key rings are an almost universally essential tool for organizing our lives, but who says getting organized can’t also be supremely stylish and fun?

This gorgeous Santos de Cartier key ring (27mm wide x 75mm long) is made of stainless steel with a golden nish, and lets you showcase your personality while organizing all your keys in high style. $350 • Cartier.com

John Hardy Men’s Sterling Silver Classic Chain Multi Stone Transformable Wrap Bracelet

From the Classic Chain collection, this exquisite John Hardy men’s bracelet—which can be transformed into a single strand bracelet and short necklace—features an array of earthy gemstones, including dazzling Sapphire/Emerald/Ruby. Almost all gemstones and blue and black diamonds have been treated to enhance their beauty and require special care. $1,395 •Bloomingdales.com

restaurant/bar that’s part of the Hutton Brickyards portfolio. Stay tuned for the May reopening of the riverfront, open-air River Pavilion restaurant at Hutton Brickyards.

Spring Awakenings

Why the unusually active winter signals a real estate upswing. |

By Bill Cary

hello spring. As a passionate gardener who’s eager to get my ngernails dirty again, it’s one of my favorite seasons to savor in the Hudson Valley. My asparagus and rhubarb beds are waking up and ready to go. Ditto the da odils, hellebores and peonies—and the weeds, too, of course.

While local real estate agents will tell you that any time is the right time to put your house on the market, even in the dead of winter, traditionally it’s early spring when the real estate market begins to come alive again. Spring buyers have plenty of time to make sure they have a fabulous new summer house and that their children will easily be enrolled in their new schools by September.

Let’s take a look at what’s been happening in our north-of-the-city counties.

▪ Elyse Harney Morris and Bill Melnick of Elyse Harney Real Estate at long last brought the spectacular 445-acre estate and longtime home of tennis great Ivan Lendl to the closing table. The $12 million deal for the 20-room Georgian Federal-

style mansion in Cornwall, CT—which has been home to the Lendls since 1992—is the highest sale ever recorded in Litch eld County. It was rst listed for $25 million in 2005. No word yet on the buyer.

▪ One of my all-time favorite houses in Kingston, the hilltop 1873 Second Empire manse of the artist and house collector Hunt Slonem, has successfully found new life as Edgewood, a boutique hotel and

▪ Everyone I know who’s lived on or near Copake Lake in Columbia County is just crazy about the 410-acre lake for every water sport you can imagine and a tightknit community that loves it yearround. If you want to see your neighbors, head to the public Copake Country Club restaurant on Thursday and Friday nights, advises John Barbato, an agent with Compass and Berkshire Property Agents. If you’re looking for a trophy home right on the lake, check out Barbato’s $6.95 million listing on Golf Course Road in Hillsdale, which o ers a 1980s modern home on 134 acres, a pool and dock, equestrian facilities and a heated airplane hangar.

▪ Talk show icon Sally Jessy Raphael still hasn’t found a buyer for her 26-acre estate on Quaker Hill Road in Pawling that o ers a sprawling 15,000-square-foot Elizabethanstyle Tudor manor with 17 bedrooms, listed for $6.5 million with Harriet Norris of Douglas Elliman. I love its grand historic charm and outright quirkiness, like the three-story turret and the grand oak staircase with 30 hand-carved animals.

▪ Spring forward. Kyle Irwin, a Rhinebeck native and now a star agent at Corcoran Country Living, is looking ahead to a busy spring. Unlike most years, “this has been a very, very active winter,” she says. “Prices are still holding, and inventory is still incredibly low. As busy as winter has been, I think we’ll likely have a very active spring.”

(Raphael)

MICHAEL BOWMAN; (Lendl) ANNE DAY

advantage lendl Tennis great Ivan Lendl’s Cornwall, CT home sold for $25M, the highest sale ever recorded in Litch eld County; (left and below) Talk show icon Sally Jessy Raphael hasn’t found a buyer for her quirky estate in Pawling, NY.

CURB APPEAL

House Of (Un)Common

Home runs on the home front.

Prospect Hill Road | $9,950,000

7 Prospect Hill Road

Stockbridge, MA

5BR | 6.5BT | 9,339SF | 6.2 Acres

“This beautiful house with gracious rooms and stunning views, stonework and gardens was built with the quality of yesteryear and today’s conveniences. It’s a unique property located in a town lled with wonderful homes and history.”

PATRICE MELLUZZO BROKER ASSOCIATE

WILLIAM PITT SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY

Basswood

Pleasant Valley

$2,000,000

218-243 Smith Road

Pleasant Valley, NY

4BR | 2BT | 2,500SF

99.45 Acres

“Basswood is an old farmhouse on nearly 100 acres in Pleasant Valley, NY, replete with its own caretaker; only here, the home has been elegantly updated, with geo-thermal heating and cooling, solar panels, new plumbing and electric, even a whole house generator. Great views, too.”

RACHEL HYMAN-ROUSE

PRINCIPAL BROKER, ROUSE + CO REAL ESTATE

Copake Lake

$6,950,000

218-243 Smith Road

Pleasant Valley, NY

7BR | 6BT | 4,035SF

134 Acres

“181 Golf Course Road on Copake Lake is like having your own private nature preserve. It has it all: waterfront, open meadows, ponds, woodland trails and amazing vistas of sunsets.”

RUSS STEIN, BROKER ASSOCIATE, BERKSHIRE PROPERTY AGENTS

ELLSWORTH HOME

ARCHITECTURE + INTERIORS

NYC Zen, Baby!

Where to get your bliss on right now in Gotham. | By Jack Rico

with winter’s chill fading and spring very much in the air, it’s OK to be craving a trip to reconnect with the city and friends. And while you’re at it, why not indulge in some urban rejuvenation? New York City is a haven for luxurious sanctuaries that revitalize mind, body and spirit. From immersive Buddhist meditation labs to the focused art of Pilates, each experience o ers a closer path to nding your joy.

MEDITATION

Rubin Museum Of Art’s Mandala Lab

Take a beat and get in touch with your emotions at Rubin Museum’s Mandala Lab. Inspired by Buddhist principles, this interactive space o ers an immersive sensorial adventure into your kleshas emotions such as anger and

THE CITY

pride—to cultivate a greater understanding of yourself. Walk out feeling lighter, clearer and with some serious Zen.

SPA

WORLD SPA

Unplug and melt your stress away at WORLD SPA in Brooklyn and embark on some well-deserved me-time. Spanning three oors, this urban oasis o ers traditional spa experiences from around the world. Detox in authentic Turkish hammams, Finnish saunas and Japanese onsens. It’s your passport to global relaxation—all in one destination.

PILATES

True Pilates East

Sculpt your body at True Pilates East, one of Midtown’s best-kept secrets. Hidden away

on East 57th Street, this lowkey boutique studio is steeped in Pilates tradition. Tone your core with instructors trained in the original Pilates method under sunlit cathedral ceilings for a newly invigorated you.

MEDICAL SPA

Next Health

If you’re in need of a glowup or mental reboot, head to Next Health in NoMad, a medi-spa that blends luxury with science. Treat yourself to

metro healing (clockwise, from left) Next Health takes the medi-spa luxe; Rubin Museum Mandala Lab; True Pilates East in midtown; (opposite) WORLD SPA in Brooklyn is worth the trip.

a Hyperbaric Oxygen session or rehydrate at the IV Therapy lounge. It’s the ideal spot for a total mind and body reset.

art

MAD , MAD World

Our

Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge turns the iconic magazine’s pages into exhibition.

hot date

Antiques Road Show

Classic cars for vintage lovers in Cairo.

By Isabel Hochman on june 22, the Greene County Cruisers hosts their annual Classic Car Show at Angelo Canna Town Park in Cairo, NY. The car show includes a performance by the band Dusk Till Dawn, door prizes, food and drink. AJ Swart, secretary of The Greene County Cruisers, expects more than 100 classic vehicles to strut their stu

This Field Trip is Worth Taking

lfred E. Neuman. “Spy vs. Spy.” If you were among a certain generation of young readers like me, you know where this is going. From its launch in 1952, MAD was a rite of passage, its subversive humor and scathing satire the compendium of cool. The magazine’s irreverent parodies of pop culture, politics and the status quo—the “enemy of parents and teachers,” as The New York Times noted— fueled the countercultural movement with its impish illustrations and witty commentary. And now MAD connoisseurs—“It takes one to know one…and vice versa!” to quote Neuman—can relive its anti-establishment glory at an exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum, in Stockbridge, MA. From June 8 to October 27, “What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine” will feature more than 150 of the original illustrations, cartoons and relics created by the publication’s Usual Gang Of Idiots as well as works from its current slate of notable artists. Cue Neuman’s gap-toothed grin.

LONG

Athis year, provided the weather cooperates. But, he says, “It’s not just about meeting up with friends on a warm summer day. It’s also about learning about other vehicles and just enjoying the atmosphere of having so many classic/vintage/antique/muscle cars show up. The smell of burnouts and raw fuel just hits you di erently.” The Pride Of Kingston Unicorns exist! LGBTQIA+ bar set to open.

Just in time for Pride this summer, Unicorn Bar, a new LGBTQIA+ bar and music venue, opened its doors in Kingston. Owner Francesca Ho man (right)—who identi es as queer event producer, real estate agent, singer-songwriter and music festival founder—says the spot will serve cocktails and o er limited food items from The Corner Counter in Red Hook. The most distinctive visual at the bar is a massive mural depicting a unicorn and a phoenix by artist Singha Hon.

terri c assortment of gi s, stationery and pantry delicacies. Turns out I’m not the only one. Store owner Grace Sanchez was so in love with Hudson Natural’s all-natural, luxurious body butter that when she heard the previous owner was considering closing the shop, she bought it. Sanchez told me she wanted to support a local gem like Field Trip, given that she has family in the area (she lives in Los Angeles) and yes, keep herself supplied with her favorite body butter. But just as importantly, revitalizing and growing the business has been a constant source of happiness for this entrepreneur. Now that’s a boss move. 113 Liberty Street, Newburgh, NY

hile

Wtooling around Newburgh, marveling at new eateries and the blossoming street scenes, I was drawn into the deliciously cozy environs of Field Trip and captivated by the bath and body line from in-house brand Hudson Naturals, as well as the

reformatory school, the New York Training School for Girls, in Hudson, NY.

Like so many girls in detention during its 70year existence, Fitzgerald was deemed delinquent, sent there a er the death of her mother, irting with homelessness and dropping out of school. However, she soon escaped the institute and its manifest physical abuse and made her way to NYC where she ultimately found solace in music, launching her legendary career. Fitzgerald never spoke about her incarceration in public. Even so, I’m still drawn back to her bluesy ballads, not only because she’s “The First Lady of Song,” but a celebration of our shared sorrows and her moving consolations.

Just shy of her 16th birthday, Ella Fitzgerald was deemed delinquent, sent there after her mother’s death, and even flirted with homelessness and dropping out of school.

“scatting” ignited my love for jazz, my generational bona des undiminished by the fact my parents liked her too. And as I entered my rebellious teens and on through college my love for Fitzgerald’s music only deepened. Her songs spoke to me as I coped with the densities of unrequited love, her wailful opening to “Cry Me A River” convinced me she masked her own subliminal pain. I may have just been right. Just shy of her 16th birthday, Fitzgerald was incarcerated at a

doing this for a third of her life. It’s clear they aren’t in it for the money. The siblings’ business donates 50 percent of earnings to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other charities. Though our panda-loving Hudson Valley native didn’t win the ultimate prize in the intense competition, she made it through three “bake-to-school” challenges, demonstrating her skills with a banana sponge cake, pumpkin pecan blondies and cheesecake cups, among other baked goods. “It was very cool to be here because I got to make a lot of new friends,” Lendor says. “Even though I didn’t win, I’m still going to open up my bakery.” She’s 12 years old.

Baker’s Dozen

Monroe’s Madison Lendor competed on the Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship . By Sarah Carpenter a seventh grader from Monroe, NY has made a name for herself competing in Season 12 of Food Network’s popular Kids Baking Championship , which aired earlier this year. Madison Lendor was already baking professionally well before she appeared on the show. She and her twin started a baking business, Double Baked Culinary, when they were eight years old (what were you doing at eight?)—meaning she’s been

As a young boy, I eagerly watched variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, The Hollywood Palace and, with an old-fashioned glass in his hand, Dean Martin’s own varietycomedy series. I’d witness stars Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne perform along with hit-making 1960s groups The Supremes and The Mamas & The Papas. On those nights lying on the living room oor, a sofa pillow under my head inches away from our rst color TV, its rabbit ears in perfect alignment, I discovered the great Ella Fitzgerald. Solo or in a mesmerizing duet, Fitzgerald’s George and Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter songs and

The jazz legend did time in The Friendly City’s penal institution for girls.Um, what ? | By James Long

Ranch On The Side

So, here’s the pitch for The Ranch Hudson Valley, the luxe, bootcamp-like wellness retreat in Sloatsburg, NY that’s now open: “…an intimate group of 25 guests will embark on a total reset of their mind and body, tailored to their ability and personal needs.” Good luck, everyone!

–RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

cake news

Lendor’s battle is the icing on Kids

Baking Championship cake.

Rhinebeck Is The Answer

By Jason Karadus

exactly two decades ago, a er spending ten years of summer weekends on Long Island, I decided to look for an alternative place to decompress over the weekend. A close friend who knows me well suggested Rhinebeck. I knew nothing of Rhinebeck, but I remember her telling me, “It has a relaxed, unpretentious vibe, a great food and art scene and everybody is kind ” So, I headed 90 minutes up the Hudson River, checked into a bed-and-breakfast and fell completely in love.

Saturday

8 a.m. WORKOUT

Depending on what I did the night before, I nd a personal trainer is my key to motivation. Mike at IXL Fitness keeps me in line, in shape(ish) and leaves me in a good mood with more energy.

9:30 a.m. MORNING DOG WALK/BREAKFAST/COFFEE

I spent the rst 16 years as a weekender. Then during the pandemic, I decided to open a real estate company, loosen my grip on Manhattan and live here full-time. To me, Rhinebeck is the most special place I’ve ever known. It has uncommon authenticity, historical signi cance, gorgeous architecture and an understated elegance. Photos of Rhinebeck Village a century ago look basically the same as photos taken today. And my friend was right—Rhinebeck really is full of kind residents. It’s reminiscent of a small American town from the 1950s where everyone greeted you with a smile or held a door open just because. That kindness pairs perfectly with a subtle sophistication not always common in small town America. That easy classiness is undoubtedly deep-rooted in centuries of prominent New York City families (Roosevelt, Vanderbilt, Livingston, Rockefeller and Astor to name a few) that chose to live or weekend here.

When I was tasked with imagining the perfect Rhinebeck weekend, I knew the experiences I’d want everyone to see. The boutique shops and galleries are all charming and locally owned and the food scene here is remarkably high given its size. Every quality restaurant in Rhinebeck is either seasonal or farm-to-table and with much of the senior sta invariably trained down the street at the Culinary Institute of America, the result is both relaxed and impeccable. Let’s enjoy the weekend in Rhinebeck!

One of the advantages of living in the Village is that I can grab my dog, Blue, and we can walk to Bread Alone for my latte and breakfast burrito. The co ee’s amazing and the spot is super friendly. Everyone there greets us by name and there’s always a familiar face or two in line. This morning, I bump into my friend Betsy Jacaruso, who owns Betsy Jacaruso Studio, a gallery around the corner. BTW: I adopted Blue recently from Everyday Hero’s Animal Rescue and she’s settling in nicely.

11 a.m. WORK

Across the courtyard from Bread Alone (and Jacaruso Gallery) is one of my six Corcoran o ces in the Hudson Valley. By this time there’s usually one or two agents there and I can check in on things, show o the new pup and even do a little work.

1 p.m. SHOPPING

Rhinebeck Village has wonderful, small shops that are all close by and walkable. I start at Pause Dog Boutique in Montgomery Row in search of a snappy new collar for Blue. Next, I check into Paper Trail, also on Montgomery

blue’s clue At Bread Alone with Betsy Jacaruso, my go-to spot for latte and breakfast burrito. Even Blue loves it there.

for a birthday card for mom and then across the street to Hammertown in search of two living room chairs to ank my replace. The service is excellent, and Lisa helps me pick a style, pick a fabric and hopefully have it all together in six weeks. Other excellent shops in town are Cheese Louise, a fabulous fromage shop, Changes, one of the best men’s clothing stores anywhere, Hummingbird and Chefridi Jewelers, Krause’s Chocolates and Old Mill Wine & Spirits. The Rhinebeck Mercantile store is nostalgic and the shopping equivalent of Field Of Dreams. It feels like you’ve just walked into 1965.

3 p.m. LUNCH

For a relatively small town, the number of amazing restaurants in Rhinebeck is staggering. As many of the top restaurants in Manhattan source their provisions from the Hudson Valley, there’s an abundance of fresh produce and meats for local restaurants right in their backyard. Today I go next door to Cinnamon, a deliciously authentic Indian restaurant that even my visiting British friends rave about (which, trust me, is a ringing endorsement). Some of my favorite eating spots in Rhinebeck Village are Gigi Trattoria & Catering, Pizzeria Posto, Aba’s Falafel, Bia, The Amsterdam and more. If you want to really step back in time, The Tavern at Beekman Arms predates the American Revolution and is in the country’s oldest inn. There hasn’t been a lock on the door since the 1760s and George Washington and the Founding Fathers likely enjoyed a Tavern Burger at your table.

5:30 p.m.

FACIAL

In a historic mansion at 6464

Montgomery (and conveniently located across the street from my house) is Haven Spa, a wonderful place to unwind with a mani-pedi, massage or facial. Today, it’s a “Skin-Speci c Facial” ($130). It’s an hour of bliss and I’ll look a bit younger and more rested than when I walked in. Spa Mirbeau on West Market Street is also an excellent choice for treatments and pampering.

8 p.m. DINNER

The Italian-in uenced food is delicious and the service top-notch, but what I love most about Market Street is that every dinner there is like going to a friend’s house for a dinner party. I walk and spend the rst 30 minutes with a Bourbon Manhattan catching up with friends at the bar and the woodburning oven pizza bar in back. Luciano, Shayla and their team create the perfect vibe and like the food and drinks, the music is always on-point.

Sunday 10 a.m. PHOTOSHOOT

Spring in real estate is our busy season and new homes are coming to market weekly. Corcoran is the top real estate company in New York City and my business partner, Marie-Claire and I have six a liate o ces in the Hudson Valley. Today we’re shooting a house in Red Hook that’s about to come to market.

12 p.m.

MEETING

The Anderson Center for Autism, located on a beautiful 100-acre campus just south of Rhinebeck Village, has been serving individuals with special needs for more than a century. As a member of the Anderson Foundation Board of Trustees, I’m meeting with a fellow trustee and Anderson’s chief development o cer to discuss marketing ideas for the upcoming centennial celebration.

1:30 p.m. BRUNCH

A er my Anderson meeting, I walk up the street to Willow Restaurant in Mirbeau Inn & Spa for the best eggs benedict & spicy Bloody Mary. The bar seating there is great, and Paige always takes good care of me. P.S., they feature nonintrusive (lovely) live jazz there on Sunday a ernoons.

4 p.m. DOG WALK

There are a lot of hikes and nature walks just outside Rhinebeck Village. Burger Hill Park is an easy walk with the dog and it’s the highest point in Rhinebeck, o ering spectacular views of the Hudson River, Catskill Mountains and surrounding farms. It’s dog friendly and there’s plenty of opportunity for Blue to make new friends and for me to walk o some of my boozy brunch.

7 p.m. EARLY DINNER

Le Petit Bistro, a casual-chic eatery in the center of town, is an excellent choice on a cold evening. They o er a super-fresh raw bar and an incredible wine list with eclectic but delicious wines by the glass. Tonight, I have the steak frites and a Bordeaux-style red from Lebanon that is perfection. Manager Jess and her sta have been taking care of me for years and it’s the perfect way to wind down my sublime Rhinebeck weekend.

YOUR SOURCE FOR INDOOR AND OUTDOOR FUN ALL SPRING AND SUMMER PRESENTS

If You Grow It, They Will Come

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happy wife Dorinda Medley is having a moment. The Berkshires native and former The Real Housewives Of New York City standout says she’s happier than ever. And why not? Her corporate partnerships keep rolling in and her television appearances are escalating. It’s quite the joyful medley for sure.

makers

genius, in human form

Photography by Mike Ruiz

DORiNDA MEDLEY SAYS ‘YES’

The formidable former star of The Real Housewives Of New York City—and proud Berkshires native and champion—gets candid and gets busy. Are these her happiest days?

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE RUIZ exclusively for The Mountains

orinda Medley is on a roll. Yes, in her life and career certainly, but, in this case, I’m referring to Medley’s 90-second articulate, eye-opening monologue she’s delivering as we embark on a conversation for this story. She ends epic recitation thusly: “Look, when I was good, I was great. When I was bad, well…” says, throwing her head back laughing with the entirety of her being in one joyous, graceful motion. That clincher of a line this indisputably formidable woman uttered could be referring to her life, her career, her daily mantra or her autobiography title. After all, the Berkshires born and raised Bravolebrity is certainly known for her memorable zingers (“Not well, bitch!” anyone?). Luckily for me, today, this very moment, Dorinda Medley is good, oh so very good. And she came to play. rapid-fi her she

oh, joy! “I’m incredibly happy now,” Medley says. After many “bumps and bruises,” she’s on the other side and feeling (and looking) great.

Sweater by &Daughter

Shorts by Valentino Shoes by Dolce & Gabbana

Medley, of course, became a household name after her era-defining, half-decade run on The Real Housewives Of New York City where—it must be said—she and Bethenny Frankel were the decided standouts in the appealing cast of frenemies. To watch Medley and Frankel navigate conflict and ultimately find resolution was not unlike witnessing two world-class heavyweight champions respectfully assessing their daunting rival. By contrast, when Medley and castmate, socialite Tinsley Mortimer, fell out badly, it was nearly too cringe bearing witness to Medley routinely annihilating the grossly over matched Mortimer. Medley respects forces of nature, as she’s one herself. Mortimer never stood a chance.

In some ways, Medley’s 2015-20 star turn on RHONY seems like a million years ago. Her contribution to Andy Cohen’s zeitgeistloving creation isn’t insubstantial in the only currency Bravo fans understand: being memorable. “I made it nice!” “Clip! Clip! Clip!” and the aforementioned “Not well, bitch!” are the stu of legend at BravoCon (it’s exactly what it sounds like). I mean, which Upper East Side housewife delivered more quotable moments than Medley during her cut-through-the-noise stint on the show? Not a one.

A decade ago, my oldest friend Greg Calejo, co-founder of Amplify Partners, a powerhouse Manhattan-based luxury brand marketing firm, introduced me to his dear friend Medley at a chic downtown cocktail party. (Back then you knew the shindig was chic when the after party was in the Meatpacking District at Soho House). “My goodness, you look like Princess Di!” were my first words to Medley. She laughed, hu ed me hello and said, “I used to hear that all the time when I lived in London.” London? I thought. There’s a story there I wasn’t wrong.

Dorinda Cinkala was born in Great Barrington, MA to parents John and Diane. After graduating from Franklin & Marshall College she moved to NYC to work for Liz Claiborne. In Gotham, she met and married her first husband, Ralph Lynch and had daughter Hannah. Later, in London, she launched the cashmere brand DCL Cashmere. After ten happy years abroad, our heroine returned to New York City to work as a real estate agent, marrying the love of her life, hedge fund advisor Richard Medley in 2005 a mere six years before his passing at 60. The same age, not insignificantly, his widow will be celebrating come December.

By the by, Medley looks terrific. When I mention this to the Tuesday afternoon host of SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, best-selling author of Make It Nice and owner of Bluestone Manor Bourbon, named after her iconic almost-castle in Great Barrington, it launches her into action. Strap in, folks.

“Someone told me at a bar recently that I shouldn’t tell people I have a 30-year-old daughter because people believe I’m still 45,” Medley starts, gathering speed and ferocity with every syllable. “And I said, ‘Why would I possibly want people to believe I’m 45? I own every single year, space and period of my life. And each one has brought such wonderful things.’ You know, when I was in my 20s, I was getting married and having Hannah—and I love that. When I was in my 30s, I was newly divorced, moving back to New York City from living in London for ten years, and had to reestablish myself as, not a single mom exactly because Hannah’s father has always been present, but as someone who was now saying, ‘OK, this is the new me,

Dress: Mac Duggal Shoes: Fendi

I’m going to go back to work, I’m going to be raising Hannah, you got this!’ The truth is I left New York City as a child, and I came back to it as a full adult and mother.”

She’s just warming up.

“I love that in my 40s and 50s I was married to Richard and that brought such great things not only for me, but for Hannah. We were united as a family, and a whole di erent world involving politics opened to us. Richard and the DNC [Democratic National Committee] working and watching Richard navigate through being a speechwriter for so many important people. It was during this time that I’d say I found my stride. In my second marriage, I knew who I was going into it. I look at marriage very di erently now. You know, we were an incredible team and after he passed—12 years ago now—this growth period occurred. I watched Hannah go o to college, and my husband passed all in one year. It was a lot, equal parts humbling and reidentifying in every way because all I had identified with since probably even before I was married, was moving to New York, getting married, having a child—making my life and my daughter’s life a little better than my life was as my mother and father did for me. But almost instantly both of my identities—mother and wife—disappeared. I could have shut down or moved right through it. Guess what I chose? Exactly.” I’m transfixed by her raw, unapologetic passion in recounting her life so succinctly. I asked her what happened next as if I was reading a New York Times best-selling page-turner.

people I know are married. I don’t have to be Ralph Lynch’s wife. I don’t have to be Hannah’s mom. I don’t have to be Richard Medley’s wife—which were all incredible titles to be sure, and I’m honored to have had them. But, suddenly, in my 50s, I started this whole new career, just being Dorinda. Can you imagine? [Laughs] I now know how to make my own money. I’m finally… free.”

dorinda, inc. (clockwise, from top left) Medley’s business ventures include her popular Bluestone Manor Bourbon and hosting duties on Sirius XM’s Radio Andy: Make It Nice With Dorinda Medley; Medley attending an event with her castmates from The Real Housewives Of New York City; (opposite) “If someone likes me, great; if someone hates me, well, that’s OK, too,” Medley says.

“Well, then, Bravo came along, and most people didn’t see that fit for me,” Medley says. “But for me Bravo was…[Long pause] Listen, being on Bravo wasn’t always easy. I think one thing that made me both a success and made me probably exposed and vulnerable was that I was so authentic on camera. The truth is I love being around great women. Women have always been my friends—and of course my gay male friends as well who are like an extension of me. I once thought the only way to be happy: I had to have a husband. But you know what, some of the loneliest

At the conclusion of the 2020 season of RHONY, Andy Cohen and Bravo famously put Medley in what they referred to as a “pause” from the show (other former Housewives from several franchises still take umbrage with the term since it wasn’t a orded to them when they exited their respective shows). I ask Medley about being on pause, and her eyes light up and she smiles. “Oh, that… That’ll work itself out,” she says. “I think people love me for being di erent. And I’ll tell you what, I was made for reality TV because I don’t ever get overly attached: If someone likes me, great; if someone hates me, well that’s OK, too. You know why? I’m very happy with me. I’m very accepting of myself. Always.”

I have to say—and this is something even her detractors must begrudgingly admit as well—when Dorinda Medley is on a television screen, it’s hard to take your eyes o her. But how much do we really know about this public person who lives a kinda-sorta private life? Where did this galvanizing energy force who regularly explodes into our living rooms come from?

“As a child, I used to tell my mom all the time, ‘I never want to grow up!’ Medley says, a little softer in tone with a big smile on her flawless face. “I used to cry to my mother: ‘I don’t want to grow up! I just want to be a little girl forever!’ I never realized it when I was a kid, but my parents being together and in love gave me the baseline to do anything. Funny thing is I still feel like my parents—even now at 85 and 90—I know I could still go home if I ever got in trouble. That safety net of ‘home’ has always been there for me and I’m so grateful for it.”

Over the years of being in Medley’s company—often as a weekend guest at her magical home in GB, Blue Stone Manor, featured prominently in Architectural Digest a couple of years ago—or more

queen of the manor “I believe the house breathes you in and tells you how to live in it,” Medley says of her palatial—and celebrity in its own right—home, Blue Stone Manor.

often in New York City at some hot-ticket, must-attend opening in downtown Manhattan, we’d often chat about the small stu that looms large in our respective lives. The fibers that make up our life quilt. One such fiber I loved hearing about involved her time as a waitress at the iconic Berkshires hotel/restaurant/concert venue, Red Lion Inn. I hear she was even “employee of the month” several times.

“Oh, wow! Yes, the Red Lion Inn was the best training I ever had in my life,” Medley says, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Working there

set me up in such a way that no matter what I did after that I had confidence. I started working there when I was 14 or 15. I kept working there throughout my college years and then even after college, when I was in-between jobs, I’d go back.”

What’s the lure of the Red Lion Inn? So many of my Berkshires-based friends mention this place an inordinate number of times. Was this the de facto town square for locals?

“The thing about the Red Lion Inn being in a small town, is that’s where the famous—at least who I thought was famous—people went to eat and drink,” Medley says. “And rich people. You know, I was the waitress for Barbra Streisand when she came in for breakfast with Jean Stapleton.” What did Streisand order? I demand to know immediately. “She ordered… pastrami!” Medley says, as we both fall back laughing.

“Since we had The Berkshire Theatre Festival and we had Tanglewood so close by, celebrities would find their way to the Red Lion Inn. And Jean Stapleton was just wonderful.”

I then want to know about the Berkshires. So many folks there are adamant that patch of land is sacred, anointed, special—it’s theirs I ask one of its favorite daughters the question.

“Here’s the thing, if you’re from the Berkshires, you’re fiercely loyal about it,” Medley says excitedly. “We’re an exclusive group. And if you don’t get it, we don’t care. We just don’t. Simply put, the Berkshires is an incredible place that has historically been special because so many of the Gilded Age-era homes are up there. The Berkshires isn’t just a country place but has many of the virtues of a vacation place, too. Its residents have always been educated. You never know who you’re going to meet at a dinner party. But folks here tend to be on the quiet side, not flashy. It’s not about dressing up for people in the Berkshires. It’s about creating. People here are very creative and they’re amazing makers.”

Class isn’t over, friends.

“In the Berkshires, we want to be able to release, relax and reset,” Medley says emphatically. “No one’s looking to go to the fanciest cocktail party—no one here gives a shit about that. You know where

the most incredible people can be found every Saturday? At the farmers market. You see, the Berkshires has historically been a place— in the early 20th century—where the wealthy settled. It’s also had a lot of shamans. This land is energetically connected—it’s a very special place. And I’m telling you, when I go up my driveway to Blue Stone Manor, I wouldn’t trade that feeling of peace for anything in the world.”

Speaking of Blue Stone Manor, when you’re there it feels at once grander and more intimate at the same time. Many times over the years I found myself meandering from room to room genuinely admiring the tremendous care and time Medley has clearly put in making that once unruly palace a true home. Every detail—down to the tiniest curio—is perfection. Dorinda Medley may be a lot of other great things, but her expert-level design taste is a sight to behold. I love Blue Stone Manor (how could I not?), and like so many other homes, the kitchen is where you can usually find the once and future queen of reality television, elbow-deep in red sauce. And you may have heard, she’s quite a cook, too.

“At nearly 11,000-square feet, Blue Stone Manor was built by legendary architect Stanford White,” Medley says. “He built it to be used, meaning he studied the light, the doors, the walls are hugely open. So, by day you want to be in that sun-filled living room while on a Sunday night, you want to navigate into the billiards room. I believe the house breathes you in and tells you how to live in it. I love Blue Stone Manor because it wasn’t a house, exactly. It wasn’t a building. It was a place to gather for my family and for my friends to heal after Richard passed. It was my place to heal, too.”

“You know where the most incredible people in the Berkshires can be found every Saturday? At the farmers market.”

For true Bravo fans, Blue Stone Manor—along with Vanderpump Rules’powerful monarch Lisa Vanderpump’s Villa Rosa in Beverly Hills—are easily the two most recognizable, OTT homes on the network. Medley even hosted the second season of the franchise spino Ultimate Girls Trip (Peacock) at her palatial home with eight former Housewives causing delicious drama for our entertainment— and a hefty paycheck for themselves.

Talking money, Medley is decidedly—and impressively—business savvy and, as she says, needs to capitalize right now while “people are still paying attention.” She’s soon headed o for an extended period to fulfill a top-secret television project that will excite her legion of fans (Medley has more than a million followers on Instagram alone). As I write this, only a week into April, Medley’s already worked this month for the likes of Virgin Voyages, SiriusXM Radio Andy and Clorox. Busy doesn’t begin to cover it.

But, as this issue is insisting on finding out from all its subjects: Is Dorinda Medley happy?

“Yes, I’m incredibly happy now, but I’ll tell you when I think was my happiest period in my life: When I lived in London is

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer

Shoes: Jimmy Choo

where I really hit my stride,” Medley says. “I don’t know if there was a specific moment when I realized I was happy, but I remember the amazing feeling of thinking, ‘Wow, you know what? This girl from Great Barrington has come a long way. I’m married to a successful banker. I’ve got a beautiful daughter. I live in a beautiful place in South Kensington. I’m in Hyde Park walking my child in a stroller looking at Kensington Palace.’ So, yeah, how exactly did I get here? A girl from Great Barrington with big dreams. And there I was in London…happy.”

But, eventually, the bubble burst, and Medley found herself back in Manhattan, divorced and determined to make a great life

guilty pleasure

“I sleep great at night,” Medley says talking about her fearlessness. “Here’s my secret: I just don’t feel guilty about prioritizing myself. Full stop.”

for Hannah. “You know something my mother always told me that couldn’t be any truer: ‘No one gets out of this without a lot of bumps and bruises.’ And she’s right. Lots of bumps and lots of bruises.”

One bump and bruise currently dominating the Bravosphere involves the two-headed monster of the Bethenny Frankel-led socalled “reality reckoning,” holding docuseries producers and networks accountable and demanding similar contracts as their scripted counterparts; and pending lawsuits levied against show producers, the network as well as the a able principal of Bravo High, Andy Cohen, by two former Housewives widely-known as being, shall we say, hot messes on camera. Both former Housewives are now claiming, retroactively, all kind of malfeasance done to them, even while current Housewives have been quick to come to Cohen’s, the producers’ and the network’s defense. I asked Medley her opinion about this uncharted landscape.

“I think that we’re all adults here,” Medley says. “I signed the contract. These [Housewives] are not children, right? These are adults. They didn’t kidnap me to do this. I signed the contract. I always had a very strong and good relationship with the production company. I still do. But having said that, I’m not going to be dishonest and say I’ve always felt warm and fuzzy about them or what they showed. But that’s life. You know, I’ve had my moments where I’ve been like, ‘What the fuck,’ right? But a lot of that was because of my own doing. The truth is, we were not scripted. And I know other shows may be a little more interactive, but we were not. Our show was completely unscripted.”

As we start to wrap, I ask Medley, who’s been multitasking with an assistant as we chat (with her wall-to-wall schedule, it’s likely the only way she can get everything done), about the concept of happiness and what that means to her.

“As a woman, we can be fearful of so many things from aging to menopause to children leaving to being alone to finances—all those things that are both personal and that society puts on us,” Medley says thoughtfully. “And I don’t know why I’m not fearful of any of those things. I sleep great at night. Here’s my secret: I just don’t feel guilty about prioritizing myself. Full stop.”

Oh, what about love? We need to end on love, no? Is Dorinda Medley closed o to the concept of marriage or having another relationship?

“I’m not closed-o to anything,” Medley says, smiling that famous smile of hers. “I’m saying ‘yes’ to the universe, and I don’t know what shape or form that’ll come. But if it comes in the form of love, I’ll take it.”

As we say our goodbyes, I realize that today, at this very moment, Dorinda Medley chose to use her powers for good. And she was right: When she’s good, she’s great. What a woman. Pause indeed.

Pajamas: Anya Hindmarch Shoes: Prada

Peace, Love & HISTORY CONCERTS

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit cultural organization located at the historic site of the 1969 Woodstock festival, is committed to building upon our rich history of peace and music by providing extraordinary experiences and access to the arts.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS happy, happy, joy, joy

Be it through religion, meditating, cannabis, yoga, breathing, adulting, Pilates or by some other means, we sure do take our own happiness seriously in these parts.

HBY SEAN McALINDIN, MELISSA REID, HAL RUBENSTEIN and MITCH RUSTAD

ere’s a question: What’s more fundamentally American than the pursuit of happiness? I mean, the very phrase is enshrined as an “unalienable right” in our Founding Fathers’ OG document, The Declaration of Independence. But nearly two-and-a-half centuries a er that aspirational phrase was wri en on parchment, here we are, still chasing joy. y What’s taking so long? y In this most gleeful of issues, The Mountains asked an all-star roster of scribes to help find the answer to that most important of questions: Where’s the joy? Our expert writers explore religion, meditating, cannabis, breathing, yoga, Pilates, even adulting in hopes of ge ing closer to finding our happy place. It’s a journey worth taking—just ask George Washington and his wig-wearing friends. y Here’s a thought: Could the pursuit of happiness itself have been the answer all along? Hmmm…

—RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

high spirits

Religious sanctuary abounds in these mountains.

By Sean McAlindin

Iwas living with ghosts. I’d seen therapists, exorcists and shamans, healers and drug dealers, but the thoughts persisted. By then, I was desperate. Raised a Catholic, long since lapsed, I drove through the Berkshires up Eden Hill to The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, searching for penitence. I waited patiently for Father to take my confession. I held nothing back. He sent me inside to recite a special prayer—a chaplet.

“After you’re done, linger a little longer than usual,” he su ested.

Within the Shrine, the energy is profound. Holy candles burn amongst handcarved wooden arches, saintly sculptures and stained glass windows. I took my time and prayed—for real this time—as the sound of heavenly music filled my soul.

Over the next few weeks, the dark, heavy weight somehow lifted. I’d been forgiven, or maybe I’d finally forgiven myself. Either way, I was free.

“Pilgrims feel that when they come to the top of Eden Hill, there is a special presence and they are closer to God,” says communication director for the Shrine Dr. Joe McAleer. “They’re reminded of his mercy and that anything they’ve done can be forgiven with his help. It’s ‘a little bit a paradise’ high above Stockbridge.”

While my recovery from depression was a long and winding road, it somehow led me here. And it made me wonder—what other spiritual sanctuaries are hiding from us, here in and around the mountains?

MAHAYANA BUDDHIST TEMPLE

South Cairo, NY

Sunlight bends graciously through the surrounding forest as I wander the temple grounds with my daughter, Penelope. We round the pond looking for orange koi reflected in the sprawling gardens and traditional Chinese architecture. We’re entranced by hundreds of golden statues ruminating from within its sacred walls. Penelope lights incense in the seven-story Jade Buddha Pagoda and burns her fingers. Tears fall like rain as we journey onward.

KARMA TRIYANA DHARMACHAKRA

Woodstock, NY

Colorful prayer flags guide our way home from an afternoon hike to the abandoned Overlook hotel and fire tower. Back on the

Tibetan Buddhist temple grounds, Penelope spins prayer wheels before a yellow-pink sun. The spiritual energy at the home of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa is as clear as the mountain vistas that go on forever.

BODHIVASTU MEDITATION RETREAT AND HEALING SANCTUARY Big Indian, NY

Bodhivastu means “awakened landscape.”

Deep in the Catskill Mountains, this retreat’s shrines, stupas, statues, ponds and gardens come alive with meditation, prayer and mind training.

“Since the time of Native Americans, it’s been a peaceful gathering site,” says spiritual director Lama Rangbar. “People are welcome to come and gain the blessing of a place with a long history of transformation and world peace.”

WON

DHARMA CENTER Claverack, NY

The mission of the Won Dharma Center is to create a world free from su ering by cultivating mindfulness. The 426-acre campus along State Route 23 is known for panoramic views, organic food, meditation, yoga and qigong for serious practitioners, or those who are simply curious about this Korean school of Buddhism which stands for “circle.”

woulda coulda buddha (opposite) Buddha in the gardens of Mahana Buddhist Temple in South Cairo, NY; (left) Bodhivastu Meditation

Retreat and Healing Sanctuary in Big Indian, NY; (bottom) Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, NY.

SIVANANDA YOGA RANCH

Woodbourne, NY

The pristine ashram founded in 1974 by Swami Vishnudevananda provides immersion into the yogic life within the natural beauty of the southern Catskills. Simple living and vegetarian meals quiet the mind for meditation, Vedanta philosophy, asana (yoga), pranayama (breathing), kirtan (chanting) and karma yoga (service) based in a Hindu tradition.

MASJID AL NOOR Wappingers Falls, NY

Founded in the early 1960s by a dedicated group of young families who started o meeting within one another’s homes to hold weekly prayer services, the Mid-Hudson Islamic Association built this beautiful mosque in 1990 to provide a space for the local community to gather and learn about the sacred faith of Islam.

ISABELLA FREEDMAN JEWISH RETREAT CENTER Falls Village, CT

Tucked away on 400 acres in the Connecticut Berkshires, this rustic branch of the Adamah organization hosts year-round retreats focused on Jewish holidays, farmto-table food, music, meditation and yoga. Their Passover program is open to the public from April 22 to May 1.

HOLY CROSS MONASTERY West Park, NY

With a quiet openness arising out of a balanced life grounded in the rhythm of regular worship, a Benedictine religious community welcomes 3,000 guests each year for spiritual retreats.

PEACE POD PARK Catskill, NY

It’s a sunny Sunday as we walk the Hudson River Skywalk from Olana State Historic Site. Seagulls soar above and cargo ships chug below as we cross the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

“Watch me, Daddy!” Penelope yells as she runs o toward the hanging horizon.

Before we reach Thomas Cole’s house on the other side of the river, we sit on benches for a snack in a secret garden. This interfaith place of peace was created by Rabbi Zoe B. Zek of the nearby Temple Israel of Catskill whose vision is to fill the park with peace poles made by the many houses of worship throughout the region.

ZEN MOUNTAIN MONASTERY

Mount Tremper, NY

Welcome to the home of the Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism set at the confluence of the Esopus and Beaverkill creeks. Established by John Daido Loori Roshi who developed the “Eight Gates of Zen,” this mountainside monastery teaches a unique approach of Zen training for Western students.

BLUE CLIFF MONASTERY Pine Bush, NY

Nestled on Mindfulness Road in the southern Catskills,this spiritual center was founded by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author, peace activist and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. The Great Togetherness Meditation Hall built in 2008 can accommodate up to 800 people for meditations and teachings.

DAI BOSATSU ZENDO

Livingston Manor, NY

High in the heart of the central Catskills on the banks of Beecher Lake, a Zen Buddhist monastery veiled amid 1,400 acres of forest and meadows provides residential training and guided retreats.

HUDSON ISLAMIC CENTER Hudson, NY

The center in downtown Hudson was established in 1997 to serve and educate the community through daily prayer, service and Qur’an study.

TENDAI BUDDHIST INSTITUTE EAST Chatham, NY

A roadside temple in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition hosts meditation, dharma talks and potluck dinners every Wednesday evening.

KUNZANG PALCHEN LING Red Hook, NY

Drawing from the “Treasure” lineage of eastern Tibet, this Tibetan Buddhist Center o ers retreats, classes, pujas and meditation.

SERVE LOVE ASHRAM Ellenville, NY

Founded in 2020, this 60-acre ashram welcomes swamis from the holy city of Vrindavan, India to share their teachings of pure “bhakti,” Sanskrit for devotion.

SAINT MARY & POPE KYRILLOS VI

COPTIC MONASTERY Esopus, NY

Known for its history of martyrdom and

role in early Christian theology, the Coptic Orthodox Church was founded in the first century A.D. by New Testament author Mark the Evangelist. Its monastery on the banks of the Hudson River o ers daily services and retreats.

BROOKLYN ZEN CENTER Millerton, NY

The Millerton Zendo and nearby Ancestral Heart Temple o er “zazen” meditation and work study.

VIVEKANANDA RETREAT

Ridgely Stone Ridge, NY

This simple and serene center for Vedanta study was founded by Swami Vivekananda on the estate of Francis Le ett.

BABAJI KALI THANDAVA TEMPLE

Grahamsville, NY

A small temple to Divine Mother Kali Devi sheltered in the southern Catskills provides worship and prayers on Saturdays at midnight, and asana and chanting on Sunday mornings.

to peace and a pod (right) The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in the Berkshires; a welcoming sign at Peace Pod Park in Catskill, NY.

ADULTING

now, it counts

The Happy Grownup arrives at the perfect time in your life. By

Hal Rubenstein

You can’t deny it. Your driver’s license has the date right. But you look in the mirror and go, “Really? OK, so I’ve aged, but hey, I don’t look bad. In fact, give me a couple of minutes to put myself together here, and I’ll look pretty damn good. So, how did that happen? How did I get here? Am I really this old?”

Yup, you are. But c’mon, it’s really not bad, not bad at all. In fact, being a grownup is amazing, provided you look at it from a fresher perspective. That’s why I’ve created The Happy Grownup.

For all the angst and tension now sadly infused in our society, there’s never been a better time to be an adult and not just because the hair care aisle at Walgreens o ers so many ways to cover the gray. There are now more than 100 million Americans older than 50, and our demographic is growing rapidly. What’s so invigorating is how many of us have no intention of checking out and moving to Anywhere, Florida so we can spend the day playing shu eboard. On the contrary, we’re more vibrant, engaged and eager to remain relevant and curious about what lies ahead, more desirous of having a next act, of continuing to live well. People 50+ control more than 70 percent of the disposable income in this country. We spend more than a trillion dollars on self-care alone. We’re smarter about our health, more proactive about our appearance, make up a quarter of new college students, 25 percent of new business owners and, better yet, are half of successful new business owners. Of course, it’s frustrating to realize that only 15 percent of all advertising in the US is aimed at anyone older than 35 and that marketing ‘geniuses’ are too blinded by the glare of those brandishing their new white Supreme sneakers to see us.

But we see you. Which is why The Happy Grownup (THG) is the destination you’ve been looking, maybe even pining for, o ering a platform for a satisfying adulthood—a smart, pragmatic, proven and doable way to edit your life that I’m calling “new aging.”

So, what’s new aging? It’s simple, yet completely novel. Forget cutesy taglines such as “60 is the new 40.” No, 60 is 60. But being 60 today owes little to earlier reference points from previous generations. Instead, it’s uncharted territory ready for exploration. And THG is going to be your new map with a weekly newsletter, podcast, reviews and “Halgorhythms” (savvy words to live by).

And I’ve enlisted some of the most energized, brightest and most seasoned professionals to help show you the way. People including the coolest of all Sharks, Daymond John; designer Norma Kamali; former model and activist Bethann Hardison; Emmy-winning news icon Linda Ellerbee; retail visionary Mindy Grossman; beauty sorceresses Bobbi Brown & Anastasia Soare; author Steven Petrow;

ASME-winning journalist Terry McDonnell; celebrity stylist Elizabeth Stewart and psychotherapist Dr. Jennifer Hartstein. Thanks to their generosity, wit and expertise, they’ll celebrate, stimulate and inspire you to discover the clothing labels sure to help you look good, the skin care you can trust, the workout that works, practical ways to turn that long dormant daydream into a new career, the advice you need to fall in love again, to enjoy sex again… Oh the places you’ll go, the films you’ll connect with, the foolproof, stress-free ways to entertain and the restaurants that prefer reservations, yet lack the decibel levels that make you long for the serenity of a NASCAR grandstand.

The Happy Grownup is nostalgia-free. We look back only to go forward. Our mission is to banish the bell curve they showed you in freshman bio that plotted the trajectory of your life. Forget it. We have every intention of sustaining, even elevating the apex of that trajectory for as long as possible. So, join us. We’re finding the joy in being all grown up. We can’t imagine why you shouldn’t enjoy yourself too. TheHappyGrownup.com

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

CANNABIS happiness required at devine berkshires

This history-making retail cannabis shop in the Berkshires wants you to feel the joy. By

Melissa Reid

Heidi Zorn’s happiness stems from a lifetime of helping people pursue their health and healing journeys. “Making people happy all day makes me happy,” Zorn tells me happily.

Zorn and her husband and business partner Ari are the co-founders of the first cannabis dispensary in the charming town of South Egremont, MA, they named Devine Berkshires. For more than two decades, the entrepreneurial couple has lived in what Heidi calls her tiny town, raising their three children while building their careers in health and wellness and actively participating in the local community.

Zorn says her life-long mission to bring health and happiness to people began when she started volunteering as a candy striper at her local military hospital when she was 12. “That patient interaction sat somewhere in me,” she says.

After completing a university degree in psychology, Zorn moved to the Berkshires, where she would meet her future husband who was a restaurateur, personal trainer and environmental activist. With his encouragement, she continued her path to helping people by becoming a qualified chiropractor.

Zorn credits her mother-in-law—whom she calls “a brilliant civil rights lawyer”—for encouraging them to “get into the weed business.” One Friday night, Zorn says she and her husband stopped by the local wine store for an event. There, they learned that the building’s basement was the only place in town approved for a cannabis retail license. “All of a sudden,

zorn to be wild Heidi and Ari Zorn are co-owners of South Egremont, MA’s first cannabis dispensary, Devine Berkshires, whose vibe Heidi describes as “welcoming and relaxing.” Cool, man.

written by Amy Herzog directed by Lizzie Gottlieb with Maria Tucci as Vera

written by Robert E. Sherwood directed by David Auburn movement by Isadora Wolfe

grandma’s words are ringing true to us,” she says. The couple was familiar with the location, as they had considered moving their chiropractic and personal training businesses into the building.

“There’s something magnificent about it,” she says. “It’s on the historical register; it used to be a mill.”

Over the first few months, Heidi immersed herself in studies, trying to learn all the regulations of owning a cannabis dispensary. “I thought, ‘Can I do this? Can I open a pot shop in my little town?’ It was so exciting.” Heidi asked her sister, Christine, a Boston-based attorney for 20 years, to review the paperwork. “She came back and said, ‘I’m in. Let’s see what we can do.’”

When it came to raising capital, Zorn knew she wanted to involve locals. “I wanted my whole community around me to be happy because our success meant they’d be succeeding, too.”

She started a crowdfunding campaign to ask 100 residents to invest $1,000 each. It took three years from the time they started the licensing process to the day Devine opened its doors.

Zorn’s vision had become a reality.

During that time, COVID struck and the contracting work stopped. Zorn rolled up her sleeves and got to work. “I had to come up with the floor design, where the walls would be, where the bathroom would be,” she says. Her vision didn’t end with floor plans; she built the interiors herself, too, using locally sourced, sustainablyfocused materials. “Everything is upcycled, recycled or refurbished,” she says proudly.

Zorn credits her childhood in Germany for giving her a more holistic approach to health and wellness. “We went to bathing pools with the crystals on the walls—at that time, I enjoyed it,” she says. “Now, I can reflect on this as an older person and say, ‘Wow, these weren’t only just fun things to do, they were also very healing.’”

By incorporating crystals, gongs, incense and other “moon things,” as she calls them, Zorn says she’s made “the vibe” at Devine welcoming and relaxing, encouraging her clients to return to find products that bring them happiness. “When people who are having a bad day come in, I make them stand in the foyer, ring the gong bells and do some energy cleansing. Then I give them a hug and some good weed.”

Zorn credits the dispensary with bringing her happiness in myriad ways. “It’s brought me a whole new family,” she says. “Our happiness comes from selling happy weed and making people happy all day in our cute little crystallized hobbit hole.”

Who wouldn’t be happy with that?

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

JOURNEY

pro tennis made me super happy (until

it didn’t)

Finding joy by looking inside, turning work into play and embracing your path—easy. By

Mitch Rustad

It may not typically trend on Twitter (I still refuse to call it “X”) like Taylor Swift, Caturday or anything election related, but to me, the hottest topic on people’s minds in these troubled times—subconsciously or otherwise—is the pursuit of happiness. Whether they’re raging on social media about

how to fix the world, posting endless selfies for clicks or thirsting for more of something, everyone’s inner dialogue seems to be shouting, “I want to be happier!”

But what exactly is happiness? Is there a journey, a yellow brick road of sorts we all must take before we can earn that idyllic

state? Or is ‘happy’ our intrinsic state if we just got out of our own way and allowed what came naturally?

As a writer and life coach with plenty of experience navigating in the corporate world, I’ve come to conclude it’s the latter (more on my journey later).

“People are hardwired for connection. If we don’t have that, it’s hard to be happy,” says Sheri Winston, a Wholistic Sexuality™ teacher and founder and executive director of the Intimate Arts Center in Kingston, NY. “For me it’s always been about doing work that’s in service to other people, helping them learn and grow and get more pleasure in their lives.”

I love learning from other people’s insight and hard-earned wisdom. The reality is that there’s no single recipe for happiness. We’re all too di erent for that. I believe we also share foundational, universal experiences that promote happiness. Here’s some of what I’ve learned on my own journey:

TURN PLAY INTO WORK Everyone has surely heard the cliché, “do what you love.” But wow, ain’t it the truth? As a kid, I saw so many adults (my parents very much included) who seemed trapped in jobs they hated—in survival mode—it was just the norm for everyone. Work was work and play was play. I realized later a life intention had been formed inside of me way before I became an adult: I wanted work and play to be one and the same.

I feel blessed to have grown up in the 1970s, which coincided with the tennis boom in America. Christ Evert and Jimmy Connors were America’s sweethearts, and everyone was grabbing a racquet, including me. I couldn’t get enough. I was obsessed, and after endless hours of practice, I got good— really good. I became one of the highest ranked high school players in Minnesota. I didn’t know it yet, but my career path had already been decided.

Right out of college, I decided to make tennis my ‘work’: first as a tennis pro at country clubs and resorts in Arizona, then as a tennis writer and public relations professional based in Florida, traveling the world on the ATP Tour (men’s pro tennis). As a kid, I had dreamed of going to Wimbledon, rubbing elbows with famous people, being around that excitement. And I did it. For many years, it was great. But eventually, I’d

what a racquet “For many years working for the ATP Tour was great. But eventually, I’d realized that even dream jobs don’t guarantee happiness forever,” Rustad says.

realized that even dream jobs don’t guarantee happiness forever, that you can outgrow them, or they outgrow you. The constant travel and living out of a suitcase eventually wore me down. The ATP Tour was restructuring more sta to Europe, and I was ready to move on. Though painful, change is inevitable. Letting go and moving on isn’t failure; it’s life.

KNOW WHAT YOU WANT With one dream behind me, I did something really crazy. I moved to New York City at the prompting of a friend. I had no job lined up, but plenty of dreams and adventures in mind. Looking back, it seemed like an insane thing to do. But I believe the reason it all worked out—the dreams and adventures manifested, I made lifelong friends, enjoyed all my jobs, even landed a byline in The New York Times—was that despite the uncertainty, I felt clear about how I wanted (in truth, needed) to live. I demanded authenticity and freedom. Because of that, Manhattan became a necessary life force.

What exactly is happiness? Is there a journey, a yellow brick road we all must take before we can earn that idyllic state?

DO YOUR SELF HELP WORK: Knowing what you want won’t prevent traumas and tragedies, life crises and troubles. Life can be brutal. There’s long been a stigma attached to seeking mental health help (through great books, therapists, coaches, meditations, etc.). But the truth is that it can absolutely help to manage these inevitabilities. In my late 20s, I read a book called Your Erroneous Zones by Wayne Dyer, which truly rocked my world. I’d never heard such radical ideas, theories and audacity for living happily. Dyer’s message was that everything you need is already within. Freedom and independence are the ticket—be the boss of your own mind. It was like a light going o . That was it!

But for many, it often takes a tragedy or health crisis for us to take self-care seriously. When I faced an unexpected health crisis, the work I’d already done really helped me through it; serendipitously, I met an extraordinary New York-based energy healer named Aleta St. James. I interviewed her for a story, and we hit it o .

St. James became famous in 2004 when she gave birth to twins at age 57, and her life force is formidable, to say the least. Energy healing sessions with her were life-changing. I learned that old negative beliefs and experiences can literally get ‘stuck’ in the cells of your body, and we ‘loop’ those negatives over and over. I learned that we’re all energy, constantly regenerating, which means we can heal and transform almost anything. I started doing even deeper work on myself— simple meditations, using a rmations, breathwork, visualization, etc.—and helped St. James create amazing content on her website, podcasts and workshops. I found it fascinating—and fun. Like tennis, work had become play, truly enjoyable.

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE One of St. James’ life mantras is: “I believe in winding up, not down.” Age really is just a number. It’s never too late to start something new. Just a few years ago, I pitched a good friend and writing colleague on the idea of writing some TV pilot scripts together, just for fun. It was one of the most fun, fulfilling creative experiences

I’ve had. We’ve already completed four pilot scripts and are plotting our next idea now. I also studied life coaching, got my certification and love the fact that tapping into my own stru les and breakthroughs has been tremendously helpful in my private practice. I have total confidence in this work because I have lived it myself. In my coaching session, major breakthroughs almost always occur, in surprising, satisfying ways. My coaching mantra sums it up for me: “It’s time to get out of your own way.”

Pro Tip: Write everything down. What do you want? Write it down. What do you not want? Write it down. Clarity is super powerful. Focus. This practice was incredibly helpful for me and, as a writer, it felt natural and fun. I can be drifting to sleep, but if I get an idea, I sit up, pop open my laptop, which is always nearby, and write it down. It really works.

EMBRACE FEARLESSNESS I believe happiness also results from confronting fears and defeating them. Life is short, we all know that. Whatever it is you want to

do, do it now. Do not wait. In the last few years, I’ve lost four close friends, all close to my own age, which has been a sobering reminder that we don’t get guarantees of a future. We have now and can’t control what comes tomorrow.

While writing this story I realize how full circle life can be. I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything, but I wonder if I learned almost everything I ever really needed to know about happiness by chasing a fuzzy yellow ball around a tennis court, confronting the prospect of winning and losing. Maybe it all comes down to this:

Focus on the now. Take total responsibility for yourself, be self-reliant, the solutions are within you. It’s never over ’til it’s over, so never give up. Ebbs and flows are normal, so stay calm and if you face a setback, keep going. Be a good sport and stop complaining—it just wastes precious energy. It’s a game, so have fun. Relish the challenge and even if you’re match point down, stay calm. There’s still time to win, just get one more ball over the net and see what happens.

MIND

How Lucas Handwerker just may be exactly who you’re searching for.

By Mitch Rustad

My overall philosophy is that our natural state of being is happy,” says Lucas Handwerker, a subconscious guide and spiritual counselor from his somewhere between Woodstock and Kingston home. “Being joyful is who and what we are. The challenge is to untangle any obstacles and strip away any blocks to that natural happiness, so we always have access to it.”

Whether it’s through his remote private sessions, in-person retreats or newsletters, Handwerker delves deep with his clients to the core issues that impede their happiness. “I help people heal the unconscious roots—that’s

my focus,” he says. “The unconscious mind is like an ecosystem. Sometimes things go out of balance, so it’s essential to get to the roots, beliefs or experiences causing the problem.”

So what’s the most common issue people face in their quest for greater happiness? “Most people either want to stop doing something or they want to do something but find that they can’t because there’s a block in the way,” says Handwerker, who also has a NYC home.

For example, many people want to make more money, or find a healthy relationship or a better job. Yet, other people want to stop doing something, such as smoking, binge eating, feeling anxious or self-sabotaging.

“I had a client who had an issue with binge eating,” says Handwerker. “When she felt stressed, she ate too much, and it adversely a ected her health.” During a session, they discovered the subconscious root of her issue. “Whenever she felt upset, her mother would say to her, ‘eat something, you’ll feel better.’ That experience became a basis for an unhealthy life strategy. It got to a point where any time she didn’t feel OK, she ate. She was simply taking her mom’s su estion.”

Much of Handwerker’s focus involves working with traumas, old beliefs and unconscious life patterns that no longer serve people. “The main goal is to release trauma and limiting beliefs, so they can connect more with themselves.”

One way that Handwerker maintains his own happiness is through maintaining and nurturing his strong connection to the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. “The natural environment is the most obvious answer to why I love it here,” he says. “But the sheer volume of creative people living in such a tightknit community is also amazing and inspiring. There’s an energy and power here. It’s a special place.” LucasHandwerker.com

mind over chatter “I help people heal the unconscious roots—that’s my focus,” says Handwerker.

ACTIVISM

the fruits of her labor

Nkoula Badila creates better choices for Hudson’s diverse communities.

By Mitch Rustad

Happiness for me is being in a good mental space, healthy and connected to nature,” says Nkoula Badila, a native of Hudson, NY who’s making a unique and profound impact as the founder of Grow Black Hudson. “I love that feeling of community, where you have neighbors and feel like you’re in a safe environment.”

Badila describes Grow Black Hudson as a “movement” aimed at supporting, educating and helping the Black and Brown communities in the area literally build their own gardens (whether in their own backyards, planters or small patches of land) to grow their own fruits, vegetables

and herbs. The movement was born during the peak of the pandemic, when grocery store shelves were half-empty and food uncertainty was prevalent.

“Hudson has been deemed a food desert in many ways, because a lot of people here haven’t had access to or knowledge of a healthier lifestyle, so Grow Black Hudson tries to bridge that gap,” says Badila,

who also serves as g0-between helping redistribute everything from seedlings to soil, often from the front porch of her family home. “We connect with local organic farmers who have overstock of all kinds of seedlings including vegetables, fruits, herbs and they’re able to support us.”

For Badila, sharing her passion for food and healthier living is a source of happiness as well. “I’m kind of a garden tender,” she says. “I help people tend these gardens and learn to work with the earth. It’s like we’re a family. If people are sick, I’ll make them medicine teas and help them learn about di erent herbs.”

Being so close to nature is another key to happiness for Badila, 31, whose family moved to Hudson in 1997.

“I love it here because there’s so much access to nature,” he says. “That’s a beautiful thing. You can go just ten minutes out of town in any direction, and see deer and all kinds of greenery, and have that best of both worlds’ reality. Nature is very healing for people, and it’s accessible to anyone, of any background, at any time. I love that.” facebook.com/growblackhudson

coed boarding and day school for grades 9-12 & PG. Advanced Math/Science Research, Advanced Humanities Research, Pro Vita Winter Session, a range of arts offerings, and championship athletics on a stunning 400-acre campus in the Berkshires.

food for thought Grow Black Hudson is a movement aimed at supporting and educating diverse communities.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

BODY yoga bares

Jodi Hurwitz connects the mind and body through breath and motion. Cool.

By Mitch Rustad

“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” –Thich Nhat Hanh

This beautiful statement best describes how Jodi Hurwitz, coowner of Greenhouse Yoga in Great Barrington, MA defines happiness. “It’s our favorite quote and answers all the questions at once,” says Hurwitz, who owns the artful, innovative studio, which recently moved into a brand new, expanded space with fellow yoga instructor, Alex Cosgrove. But she’s quick to add another essential element for happiness: “Acknowledging what you’re grateful for,” says Hurwitz, who weaves

change agent “The path to happiness is to see joy and transformation in others,” says Jodi Hurwitz, co-owner of Greenhouse Yoga in Great Barrington.

together creativity, humor, physicality and spirituality in her classes. “The act of leading a beautiful yoga class makes us happy and thankful. There’s nothing quite as wonderful as thinking ‘Who’s going to come into the studio today?’ ‘What can we o er them to bring them peace and relaxation?’”

Yoga is defined as union, the yoking of breath with body and mind. “A breath of fresh air can wake you up or calm you down, can change your mood and provide a mini vacation in your day,” Hurwitz says. “Coming together as a like-minded community to move expansively and regenerate energy allows us to become present in this exact moment.”

Hurwitz says she loves residing in Great Barrington because it o ers “nature and art at its unfiltered finest, which gives us all a reason to pause and wonder.”

She also sees serving the local community as a sacred part of her work.

“The path to happiness is to see joy and transformation in others,” she says. “At Greenhouse Yoga we serve with love. Every day we strive to bring our community together, keeping them connected to the practice. Our goal is to continue to create very good yoga for very good people.”

“One of America’s best historic homes”

—Architectural Digest

MOVEMENT pilates to the rescue

Nicole Meadors Keegan is living the dream. She’s wondering why you aren’t.

By Mitch Rustad

An ordinary sunny day with no plans and the ease that comes with maturity.”

That’s how Hudson-based Pilates instructor Nicole Meadors Keegan defines happiness. But she also finds joy and delight through her Pilates practice and teaching classes at her stunning studio which she says has attracted celebrities, artists, doctors, stone masons, parents, carpenters and kids since it opened in 2003.

“Exercise is essential for my own well-being,” says Keegan. “As for my older generation Pilates clients, they have joie de vivre For them, exercise is a tonic for vitality and longevity—a mood boost.”

Keegan teaches Classical Pilates, which was invented by Joe Pilates. Though he passed away decades ago, Keegan says he defined the essence of Pilates as “the coordination of mind, body, spirit—or an ‘internal shower.’” But, most of all, learning to breathe correctly is the foundation necessary. Keegan says the current science— from experts including Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, author of Feel Better In 5 and Andrew Huberman, a professor of neuroscience at Stanford University—tells us that a simple, slow deep breathing practice is an immediate physiological and psychological balm for our nervous system.

In addition to Pilates, Keegan tells me she finds happiness by calling this area home where she has lived for more than three decades. She worked at Upstate Films in the late 1990s and Time & Space Limited in 2000 before opening her Pilates studio a couple of years later. “I’ve met the most amazing, low-key, authentic, creative artists and thinkers,” she says. “This community is an unusual mix of people. I love driving to my studio on Blue Hill Road, past the apple orchards and snow-covered mountains while the sun rises. No tra c, no stress, one stoplight. Fifteen minutes. Perfection.”

Keegan says she started her Pilates training in her late 20s after a tumultuous and quietly sad period, while navigating the symptoms

of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD). Through Columbia Count Mental Health, she received grant funding for Pilates rehabilitation training and then won a selfemployment grant from New York State to open her own studio. “It was a complex, bureaucratic process, hard won and it took time,” she says. “Twenty odd years later, I have the life of my dreams; I feel peaceful and utterly content almost all the time. Pilates has literally saved my life.”

good mood Hudson-based Pilates instructor Nicole Meadors Keegan says her older clients view her classes as “a mood boost.”

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BREATHING breath becomes you

The Kripalu Center’s Jon Orsini says inhaling is where it all begins.

By Mitch Rustad

Attention stressed out fellow mountaineers! If you’re feeling anxious, panicked or just agitated by something, don’t try to fix it (that’s not a mistake or typo, keep reading). To ultimately feel better, just learn to breathe into whatever it is you’re feeling, recommends Jon Orsini, a guided breathwork and meditation expert.

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“The approach isn’t to make yourself calm—it’s to compassionately sit with whatever is there and ask, ‘What’s this trying to tell me?’” says Orsini, who does one-on-one and Zoom sessions as well as in-person workshops at the largest mindful wellness retreat in North America, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, MA.

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“That’s a core component of my message,” he says. “When people are so focused on being a certain way, or so focused on trying to be happy, then we create a friction that didn’t exist. If you sit down to meditate to try to force an emotion, or force being calm, the more di cult it becomes.”

Orsini’s quick to acknowledge the seeming paradox of this message: “Mindfulness isn’t about getting somewhere; it’s about allowing yourself to arrive exactly where you are—that’s the irony. Once you allow yourself to arrive exactly where you are, that’s when shifts and healing happen,” says Orsini, whose personal breathwork practice began nearly two decades ago when he experienced panic attacks in college.

“Breathwork is specifically what helped me stop having panic attacks,” says Orsini, who’s also an award-winning Broadway and film actor as well as audiobook narrator. “When I learned about the physiology of breathing, it became a habit and my body naturally breathed more calmly.”

Though his sessions and workshops delve far deeper into the experience, Orsini says he can narrow down his practice into three words. Nose. Belly. Slow. “The simplest point to remember is to breathe slowly through your nose, with a slow exhale. A simple pattern is to inhale for four seconds and exhale for six seconds.”

And what’s Orsini’s personal definition of happiness? “The bi est component of happiness that’s ever been proven is community,” he says. “Healing happens in the presence of an empathetic witness. We’re in an epidemic of loneliness. It’s not realistic that everything in your life will always be perfect, but if we know we’re not alone, that’s everything.” JonOrsini.com

calm springs John Orsini is a meditation and breathwork expert at the renowned The Kripalu Center in Stockbridge, MA.

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REVEALiNG BOB MARLEY

Poughkeepsie’s own Kate Simon’s brilliant book captures the reggae era’s superstars. Ya mon.

BY JAMES LONG

If you wanna dance then you go dance disco. But if it’s something more for the benefit musically, then you gonna listen to the re ae because you have to listen to it as our God make it. He make it up for your interest, it no gonna trick you.” Such was the intriguing insight from Bob Marley in 1979. Marley—as anyone who prefers analog LPs or Spotify knows—was the high priest of re ae and the iconic head of the Rastafarian movement, “the spiritual journey emerging from material poverty that’s embodied in their music,” as Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Patti Smith writes in Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae, the bookstore edition from Genesis Publications. Flip through the glossy hardcover’s 256 pages and the tome captivates you with stunning images captured by celebrated photographer—and Poughkeepsie-born—Kate Simon, with more than 400 photographs from her archive, most published here for the first time. You’re transported back to re ae’s dazzling cultural moment, or as Simon writes, “a chance to bring a special era back to life: Jamaica and her musicians from the mid-’70s until just before the mid-’80s.”

Simon’s own observations and visual narratives evoke emotions and ignite curiosity, accompanied with soulful reflections of Marley and other re ae luminaries—Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh; Aston “Family Man” Barrett—and the era’s iconic happenings, The Wailers on the Exodus Tour; 1978’s politically-uptight One Love Peace Concert—from 24 famous contributors, including Smith, Chris Blackwell, Lenny Kravitz, Keith Richards and Bruce Springsteen. Quite the list of music legends and Simon’s genuine testament to re ae’s unique cultural allure and Bob Marley’s human and spiritual achievement. One love, indeed—and Poughkeepsie proud.

bus driver Poughkeepsie native Kate Simon’s epic Bob Marley photographic book takes the reader— and her—for quite a ride. One love for all.

mode

bimi up Our discerning restaurant critic writes he’s happy to see the generational mix that has rallied around Bimi’s Canteen & Bar in Chatham, the newest—and welcome—culinary kid in town.

IWhat Happiness Tastes Like

How {pretty to think so} and Bimi’s Canteen & Bar get it right. | By Hal Rubenstein

tower power {pretty to think so} co-owner Eric Mushel’s rustically elegant Rhinebeck restaurant features an impressive—and aesthetically pleasing—seafood tower.

of places where the food is just ne, but upon arrival, you walk into an array of “Hey!”s and “Good to see ya”s, your favorite table is waiting, your cocktail of choice already on its way, you readily access a vibe both kinetic and relaxing, are treated to dessert on the house, and leave amid heartfelt handshakes and hugs. But I’ll buy you Beyoncé’s disco cowboy CD and get her to sign it if you can tell me just one place you frequent where the food is four-star, but the house barely acknowledges you showed up. Happiness is a warm puppy. It’s also a welcoming restaurant.

{pretty to think so}

n 1983, I donned a starched white apron as one of Café Luxembourg’s rst cadre of waiters when it opened on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Since it was the second venture for Keith McNally and Lynn Wagenknecht, the pair who launched The Odeon, the restaurant that reignited life below Canal Street and became the blueprint for every cool bistro from Miami to San Francisco, it was an instant got-to-be-there spot. Predictably, Marian Burros began her stint as restaurant critic for The New York Times with a review of Luxembourg by adopting the paper’s then customary nose-pressed-up-against-the-glass disadvantage point. Starting with “The stretch limos are lined up outside,” the review wasn’t a complete rave but her woebegone

envy of “the scene” was so blatant, the house’s phone lines were jammed by 9am.

That a ernoon, McNally assembled the sta before service, brandishing Burros’ critique. “I know you’ve all read it,” he said. “But in case you’ve misread it, here’s some clari cation. You are not fabulous. No, no, no. Rather, your job is to make everyone who walks through that door feel fabulous I suggest you don’t forget it.”

Forty years later, as a diner, I still believe in this mantra. Feed me right, treat me right, and going out to eat is as much fun as you can have in public with your clothes on.

McNally’s pointed edict is also a reminder that what’s on the menu isn’t enough to make dining out a desirable experience. As sure as Beyoncé is destined for a CMA Award, you frequent a number

4:30pm is not my idea of an appetizing dinner hour, but we were driving Upstate early in the a ernoon, and since home is an hour north of Rhinebeck, it didn’t make a lot of sense to go all the way up to come right back down, so there we were, even beating those soon to be searching for an early bird special. Finding the door to {pretty to think so} locked, co-owner Eric Mushel stepped outside and requested our patience for a few minutes while they put the nishing touches on setup. Three minutes later, he welcomed us into his rustically elegant dining room framed with enough candles lit to make you wonder if it wasn’t Ascension Thursday. In fact, Mushel welcomed us back. “You guys were here last week, weren’t you? Table of six, right? Well, glad you’re with us again. Hope that’s a good sign.” That greeting certainly was for me. Rhinebeck may not be Tribeca, but it’s a metropolis when compared to others, so it’s gratifying knowing we made an impression that didn’t involve civil disobedience.

Granted, it’s a little easier to make your mark in a space that only seats two dozen at tables with another dozen around the bar, yet these close quarters are hardly a de cit, for this is a jewel box of a dining room. It really is ‘pretty,’ though that’s not how the in-demand place derived its name—they’re the last four words of The Sun Also Rises,

Ernest Hemingway’s only bearable novel— with subdued Federal blue walls, except for the back one covered in pastoral pen and ink sketched Schumacher wallpaper, a pair of stately midcentury style brass up-lighting xtures and a row of bar stools so admirably streamlined I momentarily considered stealing two except I didn’t want Mushel to get the wrong impression. The result of such enveloping décor is that, though seating is tight and the room o en full, diners are less inclined to raise their voices to local brewery levels, so you can hear your attentive and knowing server recite specials, or, even better, enjoy a dinner partner’s shhh-just-between-us storytelling.

However, you may want to sideline such Scheherazadic web spinning until a er you’ve perused the menu, since there’s a lot being o ered. For starters, the no-way-haveyou-heard-of-these cocktails developed by co-owner and resident mixologist Madeline Dillon are so artisanally complex they might confound, though more likely intrigue, Brie Larson’s brilliant researcher in Apple TV’s Lessons In Chemistry Despite the limited

clientele, the bartender is perpetually in overdrive, muddling, shaking, stirring, ring and smoking one intricate libation a er the next. Should you wave o a Fire Ceremony (mezcal espadín, red bitters, orange + pink vermouth, chile de arból, strawberry and cherry wood smoke), in favor of a Patron straight up, squeeze of lime, I wouldn’t blame him for skidding to a complete stop while giving you the stink eye.

Whether you opt for an adventure on the rocks, it’s readily apparent that {pretty} is a passion project for its trio of owners, and it comes across most notably in Chef Mark Margiotta’s exacting execution of his eclectic menu. You may initially bristle at a $9 charge for bread, but these ain’t dinner rolls. Made from butternut squash, nutty quinoa our, spiked by fermented cranberries and served with pumpkin butter, it’s an appealing curtain raiser. A lovely balance of tart and tang marks a poached pear, roasted beet and chicory salad splashed with a pistachio orange vinaigrette. White bean and escarole soup is familiar southern Italian fare. Margiotta’s

addition of con t garlic, crispy onions and an heirloom tomato broth isn’t familiar at all, and a er you try it, you’re likely to regret that it isn’t. Fried green tomatoes read like an out-of-le - eld o ering, but why not go deep when they come dusted in corn our and served with creamed grits, pickled chanterelles and Swiss chard. However, the nominal item that had me unapologetically lching o other people’s plates was these addictive potato crisps, halfway between fries and chips. When they came with my favorite appetizer, beef tartare and roasted bone marrow in a briny caper-gherkin remoulade, I was so grateful few people fancy marrow. Whipped brandade didn’t animate the table, but the twice baked tru e potato in celery root cream is a sensual option not to be ignored.

Entrées o en compromise originality to satiate mass appeal. Not here. Manhattanbased foodies are currently salivating over the hands-down terri c fried chicken at Coqodaq in Koreatown. Margiotta’s bird isn’t fried, but he could con dently challenge that prominence with his pot-au-feu, a

sizable, succulent wonder framed by crispy artichokes and Bok choy in a Portobello mushroom ragout. The duck con t appears less dramatic, but its skin is so irresistibly crackling I gnawed at the burnished leg until the bone splintered. The shank of pork osso buco is formidable but the spices are too muted. However, the wine braised short ribs are exactly what you were hoping for, plus the potato-celery root gratin is a tip-thescales bonus. Lobster pot pie is avorful, though its star attraction needs to make a

bigger appearance (which may be why the price isn’t astronomical), especially when up against a delicious pan-roasted cod, buoyed by silken Manila clam chowder.

The three desserts on the menu, a gentle tea cake, chocolate tart (I don’t cotton to marshmallows) and panna cotta (the strawberry gelato really is the star) are ne, but if this praise sounds tempered, it’s only because Baked Alaska was a special dessert one night and it was a sensational variation with dark drunken cherries, chocolate ice

wish and chips The addictive potato chips {pretty to think so} Executive Chef Mark Margiotta serves up in his celebrated Rhinebeck eatery comes with the powerhouse duo of beef tartare and roasted bone marrow. Wow.

cream, a crunchy meringue, plus the chance to witness yet one more house specialty set on re for all the right reasons.

“Are we going to see you again soon?” the bartender asked when we le . While this is hardly around the corner for us, I nodded, because I do look forward to returning, though I’m still not sure why it’s called {pretty to think so}. Happy to be Here is a much better t. But don’t look for that name on Resy just yet.

{PRETTY TO THINK SO}

6417 Montgomery Street Rhinebeck, New York 12572

845-516-4558

hours: Friday–Sunday 4:30–11pm Monday & Thursday 4:30–10:30pm Closed Tuesday & Wednesday prettytothink.so

Bimi’s Canteen & Bar

Doesn’t matter whether you live in Fort Greene or Fort Ticonderoga, when you’re hungry for something comforting and spirit-li ing, but spending the next few hours prepping, roasting or sautéing is too high a climb, salvation is that neighborhood place right down the block, where you fall in, drop your shoulders and gladly let others take good care of you. But unless you reside right outside a town center, few of us have a block to walk down. Instead, you get in the car and drive. And drive. And drive. Granted, this column has its territorial requirements, but even ‘o -the-clock,’ living up in bucolic paradise requires acceptance that it’s routine to drive a half or three quarters of an hour to have or meet for dinner. Our nearest town is Chatham—only ten minutes away—and in an issue of The Mountains, I bemoaned

its lack of worthy options for dining a er sunset other than the dependable Chatham Brewery, which, though they o er keen chicken wings and burgers, is more focused on what’s on tap to wash it down. Equally bumming was constantly listening to the risk-averse, excuse-on-aloop that the town is too small, the homes too sprawled and the location too far

from a main artery to support a quality eatery with artisanal cocktails. So, when stomachs rumbled, and the cupboard was bare it was time for another road trip. Until now. With the chamber of commerce’s permission, I’d like to throw Ellen Waggett and Christopher Landy, the ebullient proprietors of Bimi’s Canteen and Bar, a parade for demolishing that

cheese head Bimi’s Canteen & Bar Chef Jesse Curtin serves up cheese and fruit that brings a smile to the happy diners.

shopworn ruse that if you build it, they may not come (on four visits, the dining room was full, even at 9pm), for o ering me somewhere to eat when I exit The Crandell, Chatham’s raw gem of a movie house (new seats are coming!), and best of all, for o ering here-try-this! nourishment in an easy-to-settle-in setting so close to home. And a er one slurp and bite of Chef Jesse Curtin’s chicken and lemon-thyme laced dumplings, I plan to lobby for the man to have his own oat in that parade. It may not be James Beard-worthy criticism, but this dish couldn’t be yummier. What’s so cool about Curtin’s bill of fare is his use of less familiar sources to achieve soulful pleasure. For example, mac n’ cheese is guaranteed to instigate childhood reversion, and Bimi’s o ers two commendable options, including one with crab, but the appetizer that more readily induces cheesy bliss is a wedge of torched feta, glazed in white balsamic, served with grilled grapes and a chunk of ne sourdough. Crab salad, tossed with radicchio, braised fennel, radishes and

seaweed tastes fresh as the rst whi of spring. A little gem salad is just that, a brisk stack of lettuces with orange, almonds and olives with a zap of anchovy. Kale has never been high on my list of cravings, but when roasted in tandem with rings of delicata squash, tweaked with a splash of agrodolce and crowned by slices of ricotta salata, it nearly approaches mashed potatoes in a butter and duck fat level of swell.

In February, Bimi’s hosted a Chinese New Year feast that featured two items I wish they’d add to the menu: covetable fried pork and cabbage dumplings, and a bracing spinach in hot sour dressing. But until then, I’ll gladly indulge in their bountiful cassoulet of pork belly, mutton and nutty Toulouse sausage, a bouillabaisse in which seafood is nestled in a lighter-than-classic broth of tomato and sa ron, rosy, pink duck breast agleam with a sweet/sour juniper and birch reduction, plus a nearly upstaging hash of duck con t and root vegetables, and a brawny pork chop, in a dash of onion mustard gravy under a carpet of braised red cabbage.

Desserts change nightly, but rarely get overly complicated. So far, our favorite was an instantly devoured berry galette.

It’s a pleasure to see the generational mix that has rallied ’round this new kid in town. Bimi’s Canteen’s (which has a sultry, hideaway style bar downstairs) only drawback is that it’s become popular so quickly, you should make reservations during prime hours. Nevertheless, ngers crossed that Bimi’s success will spur other local, would-be restaurateurs to ignore the dig-in-the-heels pessimists who discourage go-for-broke bravado. But what I like most, is that nally, I can say to friends who want to meet for dinner, “Why don’t you come up by us? Meet us at Bimi’s in Chatham. See you there.”

Now that makes me really happy.

BIMI’S CANTEEN & BAR

19 Main Street Chatham, NY (518) 938-1415

hours: Thursday, Monday 5-9pm, Friday & Saturday 5-10pm, Sunday 10am-2pm, 5-9pm BimisCanteen.com

Forgotten Fruit

C. Cassis in Rhinebeck will ignite your Next obsession: blackcurrants.

By Anthony Giglio

Rachael Petach started messing around with the idea of creating a versatile, vermouth-y, blackcurrant aperitif when she was pregnant with her son in 2018. That may sound like a disconnect, but she was craving all sorts of avors. “I was thinking about Low ABV (alcohol by volume) and No ABV things that I actually wanted to drink,” she says, pointing out that this was before the revolution that’s the current non-alcoholic landscape, so she was getting a lot of sweet mocktails and could only have so many seltzers with lime. As someone who became obsessed with blackcurrants a decade earlier in Europe, she kept coming back to that sensory avor memory and wanted to make something that tasted like that fruit.

If this were a melodrama, we’d see Petach pop a blackcurrant in her mouth, smile with satisfaction, close her eyes and then the screen would get all wavy as she embarks on a Proustian madeleine ashback.

In 2007 Petach graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (where she studied English and rhetoric), but as she recalls, the economy was terrible, and she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do professionally. So, she wound up moving to Madrid with an ex. That’s where she became obsessed with blackcurrants.

“I was cooking a lot and teaching English, and toward the end I was hitchhiking and wwoo ng in France for two months…” Wwoo ng? Petach catches herself and explains that the peculiar term stems from the acronym WWOOF, which stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, which links people who want agricultural experience and/or cultural exchanges to organic farms who are looking for help. While she was there WWOOFing, she fell in love with cassis and blackcurrants… all over again. A ashback within a ashback shows us 19-year-old Petach tasting her rst Kir Royale (sparkling

wine poured over cassis, a.k.a. blackcurrant liqueur) in Paris at a Le Bank jazz bar. “This sounds cheesy, I’m sure, but I was young! It just felt like accessible luxury because I was broke at the time and this felt decidedly fancy.”

In her own words, blackcurrants are practically everywhere in Europe and beyond. According to Modern Farmer, blackcurrants are ubiquitous in many parts of the world—especially in Eastern Europe—where the succulent berry is used to make jams, jellies, syrups, candies and liqueurs. Fun fact: In the UK, the fruit is so prevalent that the purple Skittle avor there is blackcurrant, not grape, as it is in the US.

All of which begs the question, why aren’t blackcurrants popular in the US?

As Petach quickly discovered during her pregnancy cravings, the reason they were so absent in America was that they were illegal to cultivate here for most of the 20th Century. Her research led her to Greg Quinn, who Petach describes as “sort of the de facto godfather of blackcurrants in the northeast, he’s a botanist and educator who was instrumental in overturning the ban on growing blackcurrants in New York.”

As Quinn explained it to her, more than 120 years ago, blackcurrants carried a fungus called blister rust, endangering white pine trees that were then essential

to construction, and thus became federally banned in 1911. When disease-resistant varieties of blackcurrants became available in the US in the mid-1960s, the federal government le it up to the states to overturn the ban. In New York, the ban still existed until Quinn petitioned the state to change the law in 2002 and succeeded in 2003.

And that’s how Petach got started, ordering fruit from Quinn’s farm in Staatsburg, and then driving up there with her husband, Steve, to haul increasingly large quantities of blackcurrants back to their third- oor walk-up apartment in Brooklyn. “I was chasing this dream avor for totally personal reasons, but it kept turning into something bigger and more inspiring that I had to follow.” They moved Upstate and launched C. Cassis in 2020, opening a tasting room in Rhinebeck.

But, how does it taste? “There’s so much to be had. There’s this beautiful musty, herbaceous, fruity/not fruity avor that really appeals to me,” she says. “It’s typically layered with so much sugar to make it more palatable, but I love it for the opposite reasons: more herbaceous and savorier.”

Try it yourself as a tribute to Petach’s rst taste a Kir Royale in Paris by way of her “Kir Americano,” comprising 1 oz. C. Cassis plus 1 oz. Acha Red Vermouth, topped with soda water over ice in a Collins glass and garnished with an orange twist. Cheers!

blackcurrant events C. Cassis, the brand launched by Rachael Petach (left) and her husband, Steve; has taken Rhinebeck by storm highlighting the misunderstood and unappreciated blackcurrant.

inside edition

The latest trends are making indoors even more enchanting in the mountains. | By

Eduardo Rodríguez and Herman Vega

HAPPY CAMPERS

If you’re on the prowl for the ultimate Upstate New York hideaway, your search ends right here. Nestled at the base of the Catskills in the quaint hamlet of Leeds, behold the delightfully revamped, boutiquey Camptown Hotel—your passport to the nostalgia of a motor lodge paired with a bespoke design aesthetic that’s positively irresistible.

With 26 stylish log cabins and 24 dreamy rooms, each a masterpiece of exquisite design, Camptown Hotel pays homage to yesteryear while seducing us with the modern comforts we simply can’t live without. Ready, set, let the enchantment begin. This spellbinding mountainside retreat has all the trimmings to help you unwind and bask in the wonders of nature—with a chic twist, of course. 810 County Road 23B, Leeds, NY CamptownCatskills.com

HGTV AND CHILL

Get ready for a delightful dose of home transformation magic with Small Town Potential, HGTV’s fresh and fabulous addition to its lineup. This eight-episode gem strikes a chord as it follows urbanites making the leap to the charming Hudson Valley in pursuit of a more serene and laid-back lifestyle—just like we did a couple of years ago.

Guiding the way are the dynamic duo of real estate: maven and designer extraordinaire Davina Thomasula and her life partner, renovation virtuoso Kristin Leitheuser, who grew up in the area. Together, they embark on a mission to unearth the ideal properties for a jawdropping makeover, turning it into the perfect retreat. “Always have the end game in mind, especially if the plan is to renovate over time. Design-wise, budget-wise, etc.,” Leitheuser says. “We came up to visit family and I absolutely fell in love with how beautiful and peaceful the Hudson Valley is,” Thomasula says. “I just knew this would be the best place to call home.” Tune in to witness the enchantment unfold in Small Town Potential

CURATED FINDS

“An organized whole that’s perceived as more than the sum of its parts” is the mantra at Gestalt Haus, an e ortlessly chic haven in Hudson showcasing a thoughtfully curated ensemble of handcra ed furniture, lighting and home accessories from across the globe. Kudos to the brilliant minds behind this sanctuary— design consultants and business partners  Karolina Dabo and Adrian Pollack—who have masterfully cra ed a divine collection of homewares that’s extraordinary. This modernist paradise beckons every time we step into this design-centric town, a testament to the allure of Gestalt Haus, a stylish shop where sophistication meets heavenly design. 614 Warren Street, Hudson Gestalt-Haus.com

look and feel Interior designer Thomasula and her life partner, renovation virtuoso Leitheuser host HGTV’s Small Town Potential; (opposite, top) Gestalt Haus in Hudson features handcra ed furniture; (bottom) nostalgia lovers ock to Camptown Hotel.

Healing A Skeptic

These are real, Don’t knock ’em ’til you try ’em solutions. Who Would’ve thought? |

By Jane Larkworthy

When ice cream-and-bingewatching my favorite TV shows wasn’t quite cutting it, I decided it was time to explore alternative therapies. I used to sco at what I considered these “woo-woo” treatments, lumping the entire category into one big crystal-adorned sweat lodge. But when I found myself struggling with some challenges, several friends encouraged me to check a few out. First thing I did was check my cynicism at the door.

sound stage Rose Petruzzi’s Gong Bath at Be Well Community Yoga in Canaan, CT is a welcome—and quite unexpected—source of joy. Sound the alarm, people!

Reiki

There are those for whom the only hands-on work worth its salt is a serious deep tissue massage. Reiki ain’t that. The Japanese form of hands-on healing is like being hugged for an hour (or however long your session may be) and fans swear by its healing powers. Some Reiki practitioners don’t even touch; rather, the energy of their hands hover over parts of the body. I prefer the light physical contact that Sandy Cleary bestows on my aching body parts. At Back to Heart Center in Great Barrington, Cleary plays sound gong music during her treatment, so it’s almost like killing two birds.

Sound Healing

The notion of lying on a yoga mat while someone bangs on a gong held zero interest for me. But a few minutes in to Rose Petruzzi’s Gong Bath at Be Well Community Yoga in Canaan, CT, and I was completely on board. Some rely on sound baths for their de-stressing or

meditative properties; I let my imagination run wild and allowed the deep vibrations and frequencies to take me wherever they did, which included many moments from my childhood. Like many things in life, we get what we need out of sound baths, and a good sound bath includes some seriously intense…well, sound I want to feel swept up in it, and Rose’s mastery of the gong had me imagining myself rolling through crashing waves, then being gently deposited into yet another curious memory whose mystery hadn’t been solved—at least, not until it was bathed in sound.

The Happiness Journey

I didn’t enter my MDMA-assisted therapy journey lightly. First, it’s not legal (though I hear that FDA approval could come sometime this year). Also, as a selfprofessed control freak, I’d always been strongly averse to the idea of giving in to any type of psychedelic drug (that one time in college when my friends took mushrooms, I was the babysitter who made sure no one walked into traffic).

MODERN

But I had some issues (and, fine, demons) that were holding me back and the studies I’d read about MDMA helping with PTSD were so convincing, as were my friends who’d done it, that I took the plunge.

MDMA decreases the brain’s fear response which allows one to access and process painful memories with an increased sense of safety and connection. It helped me address my traumas in what felt like an extremely safe, calm and gentle environment. That said, not everyone experiences the warm and fuzzies. The process can be quite mentally painful for some, so if you’re curious, ask friends for recommendations, and meet the practitioner—ideally, a few times—to make sure you’ll feel you’re in good hands. Also strongly recommended is having a therapist with whom you can discuss the experience afterward. What’s important to know going in is that psychedelics aren’t a quick fix, but they can be a first step toward alleviating trauma pain.

Well, at least for me, it worked: my level of contentment significantly increased.

be described as a Bravo lovers’ dream weekend. More on that in a moment. First, we checked in at the impressive Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, a mere ten minutes from town in scenic Mount Pleasant, SC. Our palatial, nautical-themed room had stunning unobstructed views of the marina and downtown. The amenities in the suite were perfection and the sta were, yes, charming. So far, so good.

Bravo, Charleston!

Pictures + Words by Richard Pérez-Feria

You don’t have to be a reality television personality to discover the best of this charming destination, but it surely doesn’t hurt.

Thadine was super secretive about our rst dinner out and since we were more than a tad late, I walked into Bourbon N’ Bubbles—the luxe restaurant that’s part of Southern Charm star Leva Bonaparte’s and husband, Lamar’s, King Street downtown food and beverage empire—to a decked-out table lled with a dozen of the most gorgeous humans I’ve ever seen, all smiling and happy to see me. Then, I recognized the dude holding a seat for me was none other than Rodrigo Reyes, one of the stars of Southern Charm (he’s the funny interior designer who together with partner, Tyler Dugas, are always the hit show’s voice of reason). Tickle me thrilled. And wait for it, Rodrigo was everything and a bag of chips: funny, smart, handsome, mischievous. This was going to be a very good weekend indeed.

As someone who’s been fortunate in my life to travel extensively—both within the US and abroad, for work as well as pleasure—it was becoming sort-of an annoying joke that for some inexplicable reason, I had yet to visit the two hottest cities in the American South: Nashville and Charleston. I mean, it’s not like me to ever be behind any youmust-visit-here spot, so when I got the opportunity to knock one of those two pesky destinations o my shame list, I jumped at the chance. Oh, and I happen to be a big fan of Bravo’s hit shows based in what residents call the “Holy City,” the long-running Southern Charm and its

more recent Vanderpump Rules-esque spino , Southern Hospitality. So, yeah, I was excited to see what all the fuss was about down there.

Best news? Breeze Airways is now ying nonstop to Charleston out of Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, a short drive from my home, no exhausting half-day treks to NYC airports this time. Stewart could very well be the easiest and most e cient airport I’ve ever been to. The whole experience—from checking bags to clearing security—took maybe ten minutes. More of that, please. Next stop, Charleston.

My dear friend Thadine Cli on, a New Jersey native who’s made Charleston her home for years, took it upon herself to surprise me with what could only

The day a er some late-night shenanigans on (and o ) King Street, I caught up with Rodrigo and Tyler at the super chill brunchy/co ee/bistro Félix for a bite (sublime deviled eggs) before we moved on to my favorite spot in this intoxicating town, Citrus Club on the roof of the über-chic Dewberry Hotel (think Manhattan’s Soho House roof deck circa 2005 without the attitude). The 360-degree views were, in a word, breathtaking. Happily, Rodrigo and Tyler were in full ight, regaling me with all kinds of insider-y Charleston tidbits, making the city—and them—that much more delicious.

To top o our evening, we took a short stroll over to Halls Chophouse where we ran into, I kid you not—two of the principal stars of Southern Hospitality, DJ extraordinaire Madison (Maddi) Reese and lady-killer Joe Bradley, having dinner. Did I mention this was on St. Patrick’s Day and the joint was jumpin’? Maddi and Joe were exactly as you’d hope they’d be. And more. A little later, my scallops—I always order

charm offensive (clockwise, from top) Thadine Cli on (front left) assembled the gorgeous troops at chic Bourbon N’ Bubbles; the beautiful views from Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina; the resort’s winning restaurant, Fish House; Sewing Down South on King Street; Southern Hospitality’s Joe Bradley and Maddi Reese at Halls Chophouse; lunch at The Peacock downtown; Southern Charm star and interior designer Rodrigo Reyes; (opposite) the stunning Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge connects downtown Charleston with Mount Pleasant, SC. from

seafood in steakhouses and it’s always great—were delish. Of course they were. It was now time to really explore Charleston and Thadine took it upon herself to make sure we saw it all: The Citadel (legendary military academy), the o ces of both Garden & Gun magazine and Charleston City Paper, the awardwinning weekly (Owner Andy Brack was extraordinarily gracious with his time); the Market Pavilion Hotel; US

Custom House; Charleston City Market and, of course, the iconic Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge were all served up on a platter. Then, we inadvertently discovered The Peacock, the new roo op downtown restaurant/bar on East Bay Street. By then we had managed to be joined by a small group of Thadine’s coworkers and friends and, boy, did we laugh nonstop for hours. What a day.

A er another late a ernoon tour of the city’s more majestic homes and landmarks— including two of my Southern Charm favorites: Patricia Altschul’s famous estate and Craig Conover’s pillow empire HQ, Sewing Down South—we took the ferry back to our beautiful resort. I highly

recommend this unique (and lifea rming) short boat ride. Dinner was yet another winner as we stayed in at the Charleston Harbor Fish House and, yes, my shrimp… amazing).

Before making our way back to the Empire State, we smartly booked massages in the resort’s small, but pitch-perfect spa. No surprise at all when Thadine once again ensured we got to the airport on time and had one last opportunity to try to convince us to make Charleston our second home. She made a compelling case. Have I mentioned how much I love this woman for making this weekend so special?

Back at Stewart—the Breeze ight was terri c, and the planes seemed to be brand new—we were in our car and out of there in minutes. Suddenly, we’re back home just in time to receive a pillow I ordered from Sewing Down South, one of Conover’s more inspired designs. I’m looking at the pillow now as I smile thinking how happy I am to check Charleston o my must-visit list. Don’t worry, Rodrigo and friends: I’ll be back. Boy, will I ever. Southern charm doesn’t begin to explain Charleston’s magic. Maybe it’s a Holy City a er all.

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SWheels Of Fortune

There’s a cadre of motorcycle debuts we want. We really, really want. | By Simon

Murray

now clung to the frozen earth as I drove along the jagged western spine of Massachusetts to the lowly New York valley below. If you’ve ever driven the full Taconic Parkway, starting from either the city or the mountains, you know it’s a rollicking good time—even in winter, when long, toothy icicles glint from rocky outcrops and herds of deer munch on ragweed a little too close beside the shoulder. Enjoying such a scenic roadway is only heightened by riding a motorcycle. If you’re one of the few riders who makes use of heated grips and bundles up for any weather, well,

Godspeed. Luckily for the rest of us, if the winter thaw sticks to its schedule, we won’t have to wait much longer to grab a handful of throttle on one of these exciting new debuts.

2024 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide ST

It’s the dawn of a new era at Harley-Davidson. “Together we dream and united we ride,” a disembodied, gravelly voice says over a cruiser’s throaty roar in the announcement trailer. Not to be outdone, an electric guitar belts the unmistakable nal chords of the StarSpangled Banner. All this pageantry appears to be justi ed. Following up a somewhat quieter

spin cycle Three sexy motorcycle options have hit the market in 2024: HarleyDavidson’s revolutionary—and surprisingly light—CVO Road Glide ST; (right) KTM 990 Duke is the successor to the 790 Duke and 890 Duke models blurring the lines between middleweight and liter-plus bikes; (opposite) the stunningly beautiful Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 is a modern, a ordable, entry-level motorcycle.

year, Harley has pulled out all the stops with a lineup characterized by drastic changes and signi cant price decreases.

The star of the show is undoubtedly the CVO Road Glide ST, which, compared to other limited edition factory bikes, has a lowly MSRP of $42,999. O ered in either black metallic or golden-white pearl, the RG ST is out tted with a 121 cubic-inch, high-output V-twin powerplant that revs to 5,900 rpm and puts out a claimed 127 bhp at 4,900 rpm. Higher intake valves and a bigger camsha mean the engine will be more e cient at higher rpm, pushing you closer and closer to redline. Coupled with overall weight reductions and suspension upgrades means this absolute stunner is going to impress its fair share of riders for years to come.

2024 Husqvarna Svartpilen 401

Pound for pound, I have a hard time nding a more aesthetically pleasing bike than the Svartpilen 401. So imagine my surprise, and joy, when Husqvarna announced that the Svartpilen 401 and Vitpilen 401—or “black arrow” and “white arrow,” respectively— will be redesigned for the rst time since their introduction in 2018. In both bikes, Scandinavian modernism combines with a classical café rider style to create modern, a ordable, entry-level bikes.

By far the better scrambler of the two, the Svartpilen is distinguished by a higher, o -road-style handlebar, a y screen and a tank-mounted rack. But where it matters, both bikes are inherently the same. Both the Swedish-based Husqvarna and KTM are owned by the Pierer Mobility Group, so everything—from the revised styling to the updates to the engine, chassis and electronics—comes from the 2024 KTM 390 Duke. That includes a revised LC4c single-cylinder engine, which increases displacement to 399cc (up from 373cc). And according to the maker, the engine is lighter and has “improved weight distribution and a revised gearbox.”

KTM claims the LC4c produces 44 hp and 28.8 lb.- . of torque, which isn’t going to win any race. But with lines like those riding along Taconic, that’s perfectly ne with me.

2024 KTM 990 Duke

For the track-inspired enthusiasts out there, Austrian-based KTM is doubling down on their secret sauce to unleash more power on and o the racetrack. Following the success of the 790 Duke and 890 Duke, the 990 Duke is blurring the lines between middleweight and liter-plus bikes. KTM has dubbed it ‘The Sniper,’ and calls it the “lightest, sharpest, most performance-focused mid-class naked” to ever bear the Duke nameplate.

While its styling won’t be for everyone, its power output certainly will be. Nestled into its all-new die-cast aluminum frame is a 990cc LC8c parallel-twin engine that KTM claims is still the most compact twin in the middleweight naked class. It’ll be good for 123 hp at 9,500 rpm. Though that’s still a ways o from the marque’s new agship—the 1390 Super Duke R Evo, with its 190-hp LC8 V-twin engine—it’s more than enough for a liquid-cooled crotch-rocket weighing under 400 pounds.

The Boathouse

Reliving Gilmore Girls…(Sigh)

By

Sarah Carpenter

’m sure there are a million better reasons to visit Kent, CT, but as any millennial who ever got swept up in the show Gilmore Girls might say: it’s the Stars Hollow vibes for me.

That epic show produced many a celebrity crush for me when I was in middle school and even now there are aspects of Stars Hollow life I could nd myself daydreaming about…though I’m increasingly nding that if I had to deal with any of these characters in real life I’d regret my decision to share a small town with them, however idyllic. But when you’re in Kent, one of four Connecticut towns believed to inspire the ctional setting, there’s no better place to play out your I’m-the-hottest-andsmartest-girl-in-my-walkable-small-town fantasy than shopping at Kent Barns.

Kent Barns is a meanderable complex of antique barns in the hills of Litch eld County boasting everything from NYC-style galleries to outstanding eateries and excellent shops.

If you’re role-playing the quiet yet alluringly bookish type, start at House of Books at 10 North Main Street. If you’re visiting in May, you might catch the annual used book sale at the library down the street—you’ll feel as though your hot grocer-next-door boyfriend is about to encourage you to check out the Astronomy section even though your book buying habit is wildly out of control and you’ve been developing a will-they-won’t-they with the town’s bad boy behind his back.

If, however, you’re more the insu erably quick-talking manic pixie dream mom with

kent touch this The many shops at Kent Barns have authentic charm and well-curated products with the convenience of a strip mall making this special Connecticut destination ideal as you search for amazing treasures.

a playful cunning and a penchant for making bad decisions, steer clear of the incredible ne art galleries (this stu is too good for you to enter with the sole intention of exercising your wit), pick up anything you need at home or for the inn at Woodford’s General Store and grab a seat at Wilson’s by High Watch Bakery & Café. Maybe you can fall in love with the bearded man pouring your co ee and pester him endlessly but also show up for him emotionally, endlessly, until, as a frog in hot water, he is boiling and in love with you.

The two of you can meet up at RT Facts, in the old Town Hall of Kent, the boldest antique shop in the county, and the worst kept secret for unusual, unique “fashion for interiors.”

Role-playing or not, this is the crowned jewel of the barns in my eyes. Any antique store would hit the spot for me, but this place is a visual feast inside—which is probably why they have so many devoted followers on Instagram.

The beautiful thing about Kent Barns is that the storefronts are not facades, and each shop isn’t merely a setting for some main character’s story. Each barn is historic, either restored or re-built. The shops have authentic charm and well-curated products with the convenience of a strip mall, making it a destination if just to search for treasures to commemorate your On The Road era.

Kent Barns may very well be about halfway to where you’re going, but it ful lls your retail and artistic needs all the way.

The NotSo-Secret Garden

Douglas Thomas let her imagination guide her Litchfield County green oasis.

Pictures + Words by Mira Peck

Behind every great garden is a visionary with a twinkle in their eye. For Twin Maples, an impressive estate inhabiting more than 400 acres in Salisbury, CT, that visionary is one Douglas Thomas. As soon as you arrive through a woodland of native trees and glades of ferns, you’re launched into the bold beauty of a valley surrounded by 40 acres of native wild ower meadow.

When she and her late husband Wilmer Thomas bought the property in the mid-1990s, none of these meadows nor the majestic house with its immaculately maintained perennial borders, cutting garden, greenhouse and one acre re ecting pool even existed. A

grand vision indeed—there wasn’t even a road! They were able to get a atbed contraption onto the site where the house was going to be, and the couple was able to stand on it and endeavor to imagine what the view might be (among all the bittersweet vines). Thomas, a board member of the Lady Bird Johnson Wild ower Center for nine years, says the idea for the meadows came to her “immediately.”

The rest of the layout came about very practically in response to the site conditions: the axis of the house, location of greenhouse and gardens and later a large oval re ecting pool in a low-lying area of the property.

Thomas is conscious of the artistic cocreation with nature and describes a screen

of native tamarack trees as a natural border when you cross from natural areas to a more cultivated landscape. Scores of horticultural groups from The Garden Conservancy, Trade Secrets, New York Botanical Garden (where she’s also a board member) and countless other garden clubs have enthusiastically walked the grounds. She says sharing the magic of the property is one of her favorite things.

What brings her the most joy? “The beauty of nature, because it changes all the time,” she says. Whether it’s watching the changing light on the pond or the evolving landscape over the seasons, she knows she could never be bored and will always be fascinated by nature. Thomas also concedes, with a laugh, that change is the thing that poses the most challenge for a gardener. She’s put her whole life into this landscape, and it’ll never truly be “done,” because when you invest so much of yourself into it, gardening is truly a devotional practice for mind, body and soul.

Homework

Spring is a great time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials in your garden before the heat of summer fully sets in. You can plant cold hardy annuals and vegetables in early spring when temps are still dipping below freezing; look for your rst “frost free day” (generally around Memorial Day or earlier) to plant heat-loving tender annuals and veggies.

salisbury stakes At the Twin Maples estate in Salisbury, CT, the owners transformed the property’s grounds into a jaw-dropping, must-see masterpiece.

Nature Man

Reclaiming the Sacred highlights the Author’s joy of living in this region.

By Isabel Hochman

Je Golden is well-known as a natureobsessed writer and professor. He’s been teaching for more than three decades, most recently at Vassar College. Among his many accolades, he was a Fulbright Scholar in sustainable development, a recipient of the State Department’s Millennium International Volunteer Award and has headed several nonpro ts promoting social justice, sustainability and international education. His new book, Reclaiming The Sacred: Healing Our Relationships With Ourselves And The World, won the Nautilus Book Award Grand Prize. Golden discussed what he wants readers to take away from his latest work and how his home environment helped shape the writing.

How has living here in uenced your writing?

The landscape of the Hudson Valley is deeply woven throughout this entire book. I remember one time I was hiking near the top of Storm King at a spot where there’s a view looking north, where you can really take in the vastness of the river and the sky. I was lled with the river and the sky, and I could feel their power.

What’s the most important thing you’d like readers to take away from your book?

My greatest hope is that this book will leave readers with a real clarity—both the idea and the feeling, a knowing that surges within them—that so much more is possible in this life than what most of us are experiencing. So much about this culture and this economic system distances us from the inherent wonder and joy in the world around us, and the wonder and joy within us.

hundred bucks

How to Spend $100: Job Lot

Happiness at a big box store? Oh, yes. | By

Robyn Perry Coe

Abig box store that sparks joy? You might not recognize it in the wild— but if you like to shop a lot, seek out Ocean State Job Lot.

Local maple syrup, artisan crackers, Lily’s chocolate (IYKYK $2.49), French butter cookies ($2), Oeko-Tex towels, leather work gloves, California pistachios. It’s never the same store twice, so if you see something, save something.

Sparkling pink lemonade, $2.49 Fever-Tree tonic water, $5.99 Put these in your savings account now for Tanglewood.

Dust o that BBQ— here comes local hero Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Slathering Sauce, $3.69

Seeds (400 varieties, $4.99/ea) for your Italian window box ($19.99) or grow your vegetables with a whole kitchen garden’s worth of heirloom seeds ($19.99).

Organic Flavored EVOO $7.99 Always eat your vegetables.

Sunscreen. $7.99 Half o —stock up.

Pastel springtime picnicware $1/ea Eat outside if you can catch a sunny day. Mackie’s of Scotland Crisps, $5.99 Get two. Salt Water Ta y, $2.99 Summer in Nantucket. Cheers! 220 cocktail umbrellas $3.99

Serving the business community for over 60 years, we are your friends, your neighbors, your chamber!

Join us and learn what over 500 local business already know— Chamber membership is a great bgo^lmf^gmZg]bml_hk^o^krhg^ columbiachamber-ny.com (518) 828-4417

Dr. Beat

Live music heals and enthralls us. It does a body good. |

By Sean McAlindin

Music is medicine for the soul. In my decade as a coast-to-coast music journalist, I’ve heard this cliché enough times for it to have lost all meaning—and yet, I still know it to be true.

Have you ever watched the wild swirl of an untamed ocean, or the silent dri of a country river? Well, humans are about 60 percent water, too. And sonic waves have always been one of the best ways to reorganize our vibrations. Curated sound alters our mood and changes us in ways that nothing else can. Like gentle rain on a growing garden, it nurtures our very being. So, give yourself some self-care this spring and go see some live music. I promise you’ll

feel more connected with yourself and others well beyond the closing note.

Trust me—up here in the mountains— there’s something for everybody.

Let’s begin at the historical center of good vibes—Woodstock—where Levon Helm Studios features NYC songstress Margaret Glaspy on May 4 and Brighton rockers The Heavy Heavy on May 24, among others.

The Colony gathers for Philly indiepop stars Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on April 25, outlaw country Marine-vet Gethen Jenkins with Pittsburg biker band Sourmash on May 2 and Quebecois folkies Durham County Poets on May 17.

Opus 40 in Saugerties opens its season with experimental Colombian quintet Meridian Brothers on May 9 and idiosyncratic Montreal saxophonist Colin Stetson on May 12.

Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston presents Mexican acoustic duo Rodrigo y Gabriela on May 1.

Superstar chanteuse Norah Jones headlines the Bardavon gala in Poughkeepsie on May 7.

Protect what matters most

Towne Crier Café in Beacon celebrates enchanting vocalist Shemekia Copeland on May 18.

Daryl’s House in Pawling invites Cajun pickers The Sonny Landreth Band and The Iguanas on May 26.

Basilica Hudson celebrates its annual 24-Hour Drone May 18-19 (noon to noon) with “jambient” supergroup Cowboy Sadness, experimental noise-punk farmer-duo mirrored fatality and Sudanese saxophonist dragonchild

albany or bust Get ready for a couple of short trips to Albany for two genredefying music titans: Rickie Lee Jones at The Egg May 8 and (opposite) Gary Clark Jr. at Palace Theater on June 1.

Indian autist Eric Fraser arrives at Hudson Hall on April 24.

In the Berkshires, Mass MoCA in North Adams brings singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane and Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto in collaboration as “Council” on May 9. Albany party band The Refrigerators play The Stationery Factory in Dalton on May 18.

The Capital District’s lively music lineup is punctuated by classic rockers Kansas on May 11 and bluesman Gary Clark Jr. on June 1 at Palace Theater, iconic American singer Rickie Lee Jones on May 8 at The Egg and Philly indie kids Sheer Mag on May 4 at No Fun in Troy.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) features Lara Downes and the Miró Quartet on April 21 at Spa Little Theater. The Broadview Stage opens on May 19 with Irish pop star Hozier with Allison Russell Ca è Lena, a folk-co ee house in downtown Saratoga Springs founded in 1960, welcomes Vermont vocalist Kat Wright on April 20 and bluegrass cowboy Peter Rowan on May 12.

Music Mountain Announces 95th Summer Festival Dedicated to the Power of Music

Highly anticipated chamber music and jazz concerts, family concerts, and pre-concert talks will headline the storied music festival in its acoustically pristine Gordon Hall on 16 consecutive weekends, from June 2 through September 15.

Learn more at musicmountain.org

Wanda’s Vision

Powerhouse Wanda Houston rockets to the Berkshires. No problem here, Friends.

By Sean McAlindin

I’m a storyteller—I want to be taken on a journey,” says jazz, R&B singer and musical theater performer Wanda Houston. “What do you want people to feel?”

As she sits across from me at Industry Kitchen & Bar in Canaan, CT, her wild silver curls spin outward in every direction like the untamable life force of this Berkshire County vocalist. “I’m inspired by music that touches my soul,” she tells me. “Life’s too short. If we’re not a ecting others, what’s the point?”

church perch Houston, a longtime Berkshires resident, leads the First Baptist Church every Sunday morning in Pitts eld, MA. She also appears monthly at Fire y Gastropub in Lenox, MA.

Houston was literally born on stage by entering this world during a live University of Chicago medical school class at St. Luke’s Hospital. “They slapped me on the bottom, applauded and that’s the way it’s been ever since,” she laughs.

Houston’s parents were actors and singers who ran a theater company called Newer Still Productions on the West Side of Chicago. She grew up touring local churches with her siblings as The Houston Singers. She says an adventurous performing career took her around the world from Hollywood to Broadway before leading her to Sharon Playhouse in Litch eld County. Not long a er, Houston moved to the Berkshires.

And she’s still here almost two decades later. “It’s things like that,” she says, pointing out the restaurant window toward a hawk gliding gracefully across the rolling horizon.

“I’ve lived all over the country and this is the most open, loving place. For the rst time, I feel like I belong somewhere.”

Houston leads the First Baptist Church choir in Pitts eld every Sunday morning and sings fourth Fridays at Fire y Gastropub in Lenox.

“I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m a total freak,” she says. “I love it because I live by these ideals.” And that she does.

CALENDAR

april

22-28

Family Fun Week

Mohonk Mountain Mohonk, NY

One free child (ages 4-12) per adult guest can expend their energy on tomahawk throwing and hiking, then mellow out with music and marshmallows by the camp re. Mohonk.com

27

Flamenco Íntimo

MASSMoCA

North Adams, MA

Caracas-born Siudy Garrido and company, spurred on by guitarist José Luis de la Paz, lend glamour and modernity to a passionate tradition. MassMoCA.org

27-28

Spring Open Studios

Whiting Mills

Whiting, CT

Consort with 50-odd artists and artisans—and maybe sign up for a class—in this handsome repurposed factory. WhitingMills.com

27 & MAY 4

Tulip Walk

Meadowbrook Farm Leeds, NY

Take a shortcut to Holland and enjoy 15,000 bobbing spring blooms, plus food, cra s and children’s activities. MeadowbrookFarmCatskill.com

may 10-11

47th Annual ‘Plants and Answers’ Plant Sale

17

Beyond Ballet, Beyond Hip-Hop

PS21 Chatham Chatham, NY

Berkshire Botanical Gardens

Stockbridge, MA

No point in stocking up on showy, persnickety perennials if you don’t know how to care for them! Buy and learn. BerkshireBotanical.org

10, 12 Momentum

Dia Beacon Beacon, NY

The experimental performance collective “discoteca aming star” explores the “Rita McBride: Arena Momentum” installation; visitors are welcome to mix in. DiaArt.org

11

17th Annual Rip Van Winkle Wine, Brew & Beverage Festival

Catskill, NY

Enjoy a riverside qua as well as local cheeses, cra s and live music in a waterfront park anked by historic buildings. FortnightlyEvents.com

Japanese prima ballerina Hana Sakai, a proponent of “gender-norm-defying hip-hop” segues from Saint-Saëns to an environmental protest penned by Toshiki Okada. PS21Chatham.org

17-19

Meditation Party

Omega Institute

Rhinebeck, NY

It may sound like an oxymoron, but 400-plus practitioners are expected at this non-silent gathering promising “reckless conviviality with mindfulness superfriends.” Eomega.org

19

Día de las Familias

Ashokan Center

Olivebridge, NY

Introduce the fam to Latin culture with food, music, activities, nature walks and maybe some canoeing—¡todo es gratis! AshokanCenter.org

24

25th Anniversary Gala

MASSMoCA

North Adams, MA

Gala guests get rst crack at Osman Khan’s “Road to Hybridabad,” an exploration of Muslim folklore promising a giant animatronic djinn head and drone-powered ying carpets. MassMoCA.org

hot ticket Write Stuff

MAY 3-5: Don’t miss Cheryl Strayed’s truly amazing workshop in Stockbridge.

Scary? Convivial?

Healing? All three? When bestselling author Cheryl Strayed (Wild et al.) leads a “generative workshop” at this sylvan 100-acre yoga retreat, the 300 seats ll up fast, and 1,000 or so livestreamers glom on remotely. For many, says Strayed, the experience is nothing short of “life-changing.”

The format is simple, the potential impact anything but. Strayed speaks about her own path, outlines aspects of the cra and poses a choice of prompts: e.g., “Write about a time you felt embarrassed or helpless.” Her guiding principle? “Trust the heat.”

Repeatedly throughout the weekend, participants scribble away for about ten minutes, then share the result with a partner—typically a stranger, but not for long. (“People stay friends forever,” she says. “Some have literally gotten married and had babies.”) She then randomly picks a handful of participants to read their work aloud.

“Very o en their voices are shaking with emotion,” she says. “Sometimes they’re crying, because it’s incredibly empowering to put your deepest inner voice on the page and then out in the world. It’s transformative. You feel healed.” kripalu.org

—Sandy MacDonald

The Drumbeat Sounds Like Courage (And Joy)

‘It’s never too late to start anything new’ was music to my ears.

By Abbe Aronson | Photography by Vickie Muller

When the editor in chief sent over the theme for this issue, I almost leapt in the air and clicked my heels, like I was a lovesick fool in a Turner Classic Movies oldie to whom something miraculous had just happened. Because something miraculous has happened. I’m a drummer.

Nearly everyone around me whom I admire plays music and I, a er an utterly unsatisfying dabble in violin lessons as a kid, could only say that I love music in all its forms, but that making music escapes me. I can turn on the stereo, ip over a record, buy concert tix like a pro, but I can’t sing a note and have never done karaoke (there are not enough cocktails in the world to make that happen).

A er a love a air with a bass player, a guy with a local cover band, the Top Brass in that band turned to me and said, “Well?” And I knew what he meant. I’d been threatening to start drum lessons so that Lover Boy and I could play together on a song with the band.

Carpe diem. “I’m in,” I told him. “When you start planning the next performance, I’ll be behind a drum kit.”

Tip: Playing drums, learning how to play and hearing myself get better as I practice—it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. Ever

This was spring 2022. Rock Academy, the music school based in Woodstock, has an adult program that draws about 25-30 people of various skill sets, and the “band” performs over a weekend several times a year, a er about three months of once-a-week rehearsals. A er I gulped and said yes to Top Brass, I received the o cial email welcoming me and the other adults to the fall season. It was happening. Then I started panicking. Obviously, I had no idea what to do behind a kit, except sit down, pick up sticks and bang away. I knew the names of the drums

drum sticks Rock Academy in Woodstock, NY is where the author’s inspired journey began to become a drummer in a band.

and I knew, based on playing music 24/7, that certain drums made certain sounds and that those sounds had a pattern of sorts in di erent types of music. I also knew that I could keep a beat—I can clap or stomp the hell out of a song and if you’re in the car with me, it’s a safe bet that I’m keeping time on the steering wheel. First up, I had to get a set of drums for home. Easier than you think. All you need to do is post on social media something like this: “Does anyone have a kid who got bored with drums and now you’ve got a kit languishing in your basement or attic?” Bingo. My pal John Pelosi even dropped o the kit at my house, in a jumble of unknown parts. “All yours,” he practically screamed. My soon-to-be (long-su ering) drum teacher Macky Bowman (drummer extraordinaire, known around these parts as the stickman for The Bobby Lees) came over and assembled it. And then it was countdown ’til our rst rehearsal with the band, with Macky giving me some extra lessons to get me going.

On the rst day of band rehearsal, when our director called one of the songs that I was on, I have to be honest, I nearly fainted. What followed next was about ten weeks of sheer horror and delight, my heart pounding every time I was called up to play at rehearsal, both because of my own Type A personality to “play it perfectly” and my astonishment at how much I loved any time I got to play, mistakes and all. And when I played something well? The joy that owed from every pore on my body, along with sweat and tears, was something I’d never expect to feel from middle-aged me. Me who thought I had sort of done it all, seen it all. I hadn’t. Not by a long shot.

I’ve now been playing for about a year-anda-half, and I’ve gigged with our band ve times. Sometimes I stink. Sometimes I soar. I’ve surprised myself beyond my wildest dreams. I’m a drummer now. I’m a drummer!

Drum Major

•If you wanna nd your joy, Adult Rock Academy is open to all levels of players! Yes, they’ve got kids lessons, too. RockAcademy.com

•Got a musical instrument at home and don’t know how to start? Easy! Search YouTube like this: “isolated drums for Livin’ On A Prayer” or any song you want to play (”isolated guitar,” “isolated bass”). You’ll nd endless sources of musicians to teach you any song you want •Esoteric but true: learning a song you don’t necessarily like gives you a whole other skill set and trains your ear to forever hear di erently. A “learning something new” joyful moment

spiritual shops

The Awareness Shop

180 Main Street

New Paltz, NY 12561

845.255.5756

AwarenessShop.com

When you step inside the Awareness Shop’s world between the worlds, here are just some of the magical and wonder- lled things you’ll nd— scented candles, aromatherapy, crystals and gemstones, incense, smudging and cleansing and more.

Paradise Emporium

275 Fair Street #15 Kingston, NY 12401 845.768.8300

ParadiseEmporium.com

Shaman’s Dawn

2 Twin Maples Plaza Saugerties, NY 12477 845.247.7323

ShamansDawn.com

Notions-N-Potions

175 Main Street Beacon, NY 12508 (845) 765-2410

Notions-n-Potions.com

Persephone’s Pearl

1014 Main Street B Peekskill, NY 10566 914.737.3460

PersephonesPearl.com

Dreaming Goddess

44 Raymond Avenue Poughkeepsie, NY 12603 845.473.2206

DreamingGoddess.com

Crystal Essence

39 Railroad Street

Great Barrington, MA 01230 413.528.2595

CrystalEssence.com

The Healing Shop of Woodstock

69 Tinker Street Woodstock, NY 12498 845.684.0389 EverydayMagicWoodstock.com

Litch eld-Spa.com your road to happiness begins here

Meditation Centers

The Compassion Center

1226 Bogart Road Catskill, NY 12414

888.377.7761

TheCompassionCenter.com

Created out of the need to help people utilize meditation and meditative techniques in their daily lives, The Compassion Center o ers both Zoom and private meditation classes to help cultivate greater compassion for others and yourself.

The Source NY 22 Fairmont Avenue Poughkeepsie, NY 12603 845.214.0452

TheSource-NY.com

Kripalu Center For Yoga & Health 57 Interlaken Road Stockbridge, MA 01262 413.448.3500

Kripalu.org

Won Dharma Center 361 NY-23 Claverack, NY 12513 518.851.2581 WonDharmaCenter.org

Ananda Ashram Yoga 13 Sapphire Road, Monroe, NY 10950 845.782.5575

AnandaAshram.org

Meditation House 1226 Bogart Road Palenville, NY 12463 888.377.7761

MeditationHouse.com

Beacon Zen Temple 2 Robinson Street Beacon, NY 12508 BeaconZen.org

Kadampa Meditation Center New York

47 Sweeney Road Glen Spey, NY 12737 845.856.9000 KadampaNewYork.org

Pilates / Yoga Studios

Greenhouse Yoga

47 Railroad Street Suite 4 Great Barrington, MA 01230 413.213.3497

GreenhouseYogaBerkshires.com

Tap into your bliss with unlimited classes in this chic heated studio in downtown Great Barrington. Choose from hot power vinyasa, Zen strength, power down stretching and Be meditation, where you’ll learn to concentrate the mind to notice a joyful, powerful, highly aware state of being.

Breathe Studio: Barre & Pilates 6423 Montgomery Street #17A Rhinebeck, NY 12572 845.876.5880

BreatheRhinebeck.com

Pilates Hudson 403 Warren Street Hudson, NY 12534 518.929.0931

PilatesHudson.com

Radiance Yoga 401 North Street Pitts eld, MA 01201 413.676.2007

Radiance-Yoga.com

Wise Body Healing

284 Main Street O ce 1 Great Barrington, MA 01230 413.770.1558 WiseBodyHealing.com

Charym Yoga Studio 174 West Street Litch eld, CT 06759 860.567.2241 Charym.com

Shakti Yoga Woodstock 1685 Sawkill Road Woodstock, NY 12498 845.389.5826

ShaktiYogaWoodstock.com

Stone Wave Yoga POUGHKEEPSIE

2 Lagrange Avenue Suite 206 Poughkeepsie, NY 12603 845.419.5219

StoneWaveYoga.com/poughkeepsie

Serenity Wellness Medical & Laser Spa 968 Columbia Street Hudson, NY 12534 518.671.6700

SerenityMediSpa.com

The Hebe Medical Spa 1131 Main Street Fishkill, NY 12524 845.765.8181 TheHebeSpa.com

Silver Solutions MedSpa 75 North Street Pitts eld, MA 01201 413.441.8453 SilverSolutionsMedSpa.com

Wellness and Skincare Medical Spa 74 West Cedar Street 2B Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 845.790.2254 WellnessAndSkincareUSA.com

Catskill Cryo 414 Main Street Catskill, NY 12414 518.947.8718 CatskillCryo.com

Canyon Ranch Lenox 165 Kemble Street Lenox, MA 01240 800.742.9000 CanyonRanch.com/lenox

Litchfield Medspa 17 Commons Drive Litch eld, CT 06759 860.361.6568

Litch eldMedspa.com

Spa at Litchfield Hills 407 Bantam Road Litch eld, CT 06759 860-567-8575

MED SPAS

Sleep Centers & Specialists

BMC Sleep Disorders Center

165 Tor Court Pitts eld, MA 01201 413.447.2701

BerkshireHealthSystems.org

Sleep Center-St Francis Hospital

241 North Road Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 845.431.8214

MidHudsonRegional.org/sleep-center

Sta ed with highly trained, licensed and credentialed clinicians whose expertise includes respiratory therapy, electroencephalography and polysomnography, this sleep center can help you once again enjoy the bene ts of regular, restorative sleep.

Health Quest Medical PracticeOutpatient Sleep Center

200 Westage Business Center Drive Suite 234 Fishkill, NY 12524

845.838.8160

Patients.HealthQuest.org

Center for Sleep Medicine at Garnet Health Medical Center

75 Crystal Run Road Suite G-22 Middletown, NY 10940 845.333.7378

GarnetHealth.org/sleepmedicine

Nuvance HealthCenter for Sleep Medicine 6511 Spring Brook Avenue Rhinebeck, NY 12572 845.838.8160 NuvanceHealth.org

Hartford HealthCare Sleep Care Center 1151 East Main Street D Torrington, CT 06790 860.738.6620 CharlotteHungerford.org

Timothy P. Collins, DO

21 Reade Place Suite 1000 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 (845) 214-1880

Philanthropic Organizations

Alliance for Positive Health

160 Fairview Avenue Hudson, NY 12534

518.828.3624

AllianceForPositiveHealth.org

Provides accurate, non-judgmental health education, rapid testing, early and sustained treatment and supportive care to ensure that people have stable, healthy living conditions, creating new opportunities for living well.

Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood 369 Warren Street Hudson, NY 12534

518.929.7732

GreaterHudsonPromise.org

Nonprofit Center Of The Berkshires

222 Main Street Box 388 Great Barrington, MA 01230 413.441.9542

NPCBerkshires.org

Dutchess Outreach

29 North Hamilton Street Suite 220

Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

845.454.3792

DutchessOutreach.org

Project M.O.R.E Community Transition Center

161 Mansion Street

Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

845.454.4731

ProjectMORE.org/ny-programs

Good Work Institute 65 Saint James Street Kingston, NY 12401

GoodWorkInstitute.org

Catskill Mountain Foundation 7971 Main Street Hunter, NY 12442 (518) 263-2063

CatskillMtn.org

Berkshire United Way

200 South Street Pitts eld, MA 01201 413.442.6948 BerkshireUnitedWay.org

life coaches

Kingston Reiki + Holistic Therapy 31 Broadway Kingston, NY 12401 845.383.0137

@kingstonreiki (Instagram)

Reiki by StephanieReiki Master, Life Coach Fishkill & Nearby Areas 845.661.1726

Ann Patsalos 188 Quassaick Avenue New Windsor, NY 12553 914.474.5865

AnnPatsalos.com

Aspire Life Coaching

19 Main Street Suite 3 New Milford, CT 860.222.0797

AspireSelf.com

Focusing on adult and teens, Aspire’s empowerment coaching fosters self-awareness and instills e ective leadership skills so individuals can unlock their full potential and achieve personal growth.

Li le Wave Coaching Serving Dutchess County and surrounding areas 914.440.3713

LittleWaveCoaching.com

Mary Anne Fielding, Life Coach 2345 NY-52 Suite F Hopewell Junction, NY 12533 914.860.6762

MaryAnneFieldingLifeCoach.com

Mitch Rustad, Certified Life Coach Hudson Valley / New York City 646.319.4282 MitchRustad.com

Judith Pomerantz

401 Stockbridge Road Great Barrington, MA 01230 413.644.8810

JPomerantzTherapy.com

Psychedelics Facilities

Intensive Therapy Retreats

451 Main Street Beacon, NY 12508 413.331.7421

IntensiveTherapyRetreat.com

Clearwave Mental HealthPsychiatric and TMS Center 370 Violet Avenue Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 845.471.1807

ClearwaveMentalHealth.com

Berkshire Mountain Health 446 Monterey Road Great Barrington, MA 01230 413.259.0341

BerkshireMountainDetox.com

Their compassionate team understands the complexities of substance use and addiction such as traumas, pain and mental health conditions and provides just the right level of medical intervention and supervision.

Austen Riggs Center 25 Main Street Stockbridge, MA 01262 800.517.4447

AustenRiggs.org

The Brien Center 60 Cottage Street Great Barrington, MA 01230 413.528.9155 BrienCenter.org

CMC:Berkshires 100 Stone Manor Drive New Marlborough, MA 01230 866.439.1842

MotivationAndChange.com/ cmc-berkshires

MHA Addiction Crisis Center

51 Cannon Street Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 845.471.0310

ihave two pet peeves: People who show up early for a dinner party, and people who think their little dogs are so special they pretend they’re service dogs. This story isn’t about dinner parties. My husband Steve and I love big dogs. We’ve had seven dogs in the time we’ve been together, and except for the two medium sized ones he had when I met him, the others have been big, lumbering Doberman mixes. Having a 90-pound dog isn’t easy. People don’t invite them into their homes. Others are afraid of them. But we put lots of time into training them and they’ve all been wonderful. We laugh at people with their ten pounders.

In 2017 we drove to Toronto to visit a friend. She has two miniature poodles, Lou and Max. They ve and eight pounds, respectively. Being with them was akin to when I played with dolls— they weren’t real, but they sure made me laugh. I thought about them a lot and would o en ask for photos.

Then, during the rst few months of the pandemic, our dog Rocket suddenly died. We were bere . We’d never been without a dog. We had always gotten a second dog when the rst was getting older, so the older one can help train the new one. We looked and looked, but pet adoption sites were overwhelmed. So many people wanted a new pet.

The night before Thanksgiving in 2020 a dog popped up on Pet nder. A 90-pound Doberman female. She was in Connecticut. We asked if we could come down the next day, because we were going to be alone for Thanksgiving anyway. On the way there I said to Steve, “That dog would have to run out, lick us and jump in the van. We don’t need a 90-pound dog right now.” Of course the dog did exactly that. Within an hour, we three were on our way back to the Hudson Valley. We named her Daisy Foote, a er our dear friend Daisy Foote, who very sternly told us we needed a dog.

“Oh look. It’s the dog I’m going to get,” I thought as I swallowed hard, ghting back tears.

A few weeks later, I sat Steve down. I told him I was feeling a real loneliness. Sadness was seeping into me. It wasn’t healthy. I wanted a little dog, I was yearning for one.

“You’re yearning?” Steve asked compassionately. “If you’re yearning, then, you have to get one.”

That was at nine on a snowy Monday morning. At ten, I posted to social media that I was looking for a small dog, not a puppy, and I wasn’t going to pay a lot. By Noon, 50 people were the threads, suggesting this and that. At one in the a ernoon a woman called me from a small rescue in Accord, NY. “I think I might actually have the dog you want.”

Old Dogs, New Tricks

How Fluffy Frankel stole our hearts

Pictures + Words by Martha Frankel

For the next two-and-a-half years, Steve and Daisy would leave for work six days a week and I’d stand at the door, watch the van pull away and feel something I had never felt before. I couldn’t even name it. I started asking for more photos of Max and Lou. I started looking at little dogs online. I started smiling at people with their dogs in the supermarket (Who does that?!)

I went on Adopt-A-Pet and Pet nder, but little dogs get scooped up immediately and cost a fortune. I broached the subject with Steve every few weeks. “Could we actually get a little dog?” He’d just laugh.

Around New Year’s 2023, I went with a friend to Clouds Gallery in Woodstock to look for a new charm to add to my collection. I picked up a small charm with the outline of a big dog’s snout. “Oh look,” I said. “It’s the dog I have and love!”

And then I turned it over. I stared at the drawing of a sprite of a dog, its ears standing straight out, glee radiating from it.

Snow be damned! I rushed over. The dog was a poodle mix and weighed less than ten pounds. And she was trembling.

As soon as I picked her up she took a deep breath and completely melted into my arms. I called Steve to come meet her. He came with Daisy, and the two of them stood as far away as possible. They weren’t going to fall in love with this one, that was clear. But part of me already was.

The woman at the rescue asked me for $100. I gave her $200. I borrowed a crate and some dog food. I’d never had a dog of own, Steve was always in charge of them. I wondered if I had made a terrible mistake.

When Steve came home later that night he said we had to decide whether this dog could go on the furniture, as none of the big dogs ever had. As he said that, she jumped up on the couch and ran from one end to the other. I guess that’s already been decided!

Steve then asked me what I was going to name her and I told him that he could have the honors since I was the one who got the dog. He decided she should be called Suzy Q. He kept singing some old rock song with her name in it. I cringed but I was deliriously happy with her in my arms. I wanted Steve to fall in love with her, too.

A couple of nights later, when we were getting ready for bed, Steve said, “How about we name her Flu y?” I started giggling because it sounded like a name a ve-year-old would come up with. “Sure,” I said with glee. Right before I fell sleep he whispered, “Flu y Frankel.”

In the year since, we have both been taken over by Flu y Frankel’s exuberance and joy. We stop other small dog owners and have talks about sweaters and harnesses. We notice them everywhere and although we’ll never try to sneak her on a plane or put her in a stroller, we’re total converts. And believe me, we’re as surprised by this as everyone else.

3 DAYS FOOD FLAVOR & FUN!

FRIDAY, MAY 10 • 11:30 AM

SATURDAY, MAY 11 • 11

SUNDAY, MAY 12 • NOON

Michael Symon

Marcus Samuelsson

Andrew Zimmern

Geo rey Zakarian

Melba Wilson

Scott Conant

Anne Burrell