june 2013
Open road Prince, pal & polo Harry and Nacho in Greenwich
Matthew Polenzani, Globe-trotting tenor • Traveling in style • Memories of the old Silk Road • taking on Kilimanjaro • Hot Spots: Ridgefield
1 facebook.com/WoodrowJewelers
June 2013
Getting from here to there • 12 head trips • 14 Songs of a wayfarer • 16 Ghostly route • 20 zen and the art of innkeeping • 24 Mountain man • 28 world traveler settles, a bit • 32 Drawing inspiration from travel, nature • 34 Traveling man • 36 ingraining signature style • 38 Where Greenwich and Europe aren’t an ocean apart • 40 A most artful day • 44 Road warrior • 47 Girls gone wild in Paris • 55 DreamY destination: Las Catalinas, Costa Rica • 70
Stephanie Seymour arriving at Greenwich Polo Club. Photograph by Bob Rozycki.
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Real life. Real care. www.greenwichhospital.org
June 2013
51 way
Features
The lake house
58 wear
‘Oscar’ night
62 wear
Traveling in comfort and style
64 wear
Suitable companions for your trip
66 hot spots
Ridgefield – in their own words
68 wagging
Pets on vacation – yea or nay?
72 wanders Road trips
74 w’reel deal Art-house escape
76 where are they now? Soaring to glittering new heights
78 well
Let the medical tourist beware
79 well
Play it smart to stay healthy away from home
80 wit
We wonder: What has been your favorite journey?
82 when&where Upcoming events
84 worthy
Travel accessories
86 watch
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We’re out and about
96 class&sass
With Martha Handler and Jennifer Pappas
8 Waggers 10 Editor’s letter Cover photograph by Bob Rozycki. Anne Jordan Duffy, Barbara Hanlon, Marcia Pflug, Corinne Stanton and Patrice Sullivan
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Prince Harry and Nacho Figueras at the Greenwich Polo Club. Photograph by Bob Rozycki.
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editor's letter Georgette Gouveia This month WAG takes to the open road in more ways than one. Few know more about this than our cover guy Capt. Harry Wales, aka Prince Harry, one of the ultimate road warriors when you consider the miles he’s logged in pursuit of both charity and pleasure, not to mention his service in Afghanistan. So the least we could do is venture a short distance up I-95 to watch His Royal Highness play at the Greenwich Polo Club in support of Sentebale, the charity he co-founded. Indeed, June finds our intrepid beloved Waggers venturing near and far. Longtime China watcher Audrey Topping reports on the ghosts of the Old Silk Road. Patricia Espinosa shares her touching trip to Paris with daughter Natalie for her Sweet 16 birthday. Martha Handler introduces us to fabulous Las Catalinas, Costa Rica, the latest in eco-communities. And Mary Shustack offers the inspiring tale of Kurt Kannemeyer, the South African-born director of development at St. Christopher’s in Dobbs Ferry, who’ll attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro this summer in support of the challenged youngsters St. Christopher’s serves. Then there are those who take to the road in service of their art or craft, like Thomas Throop (Mary again), the furniture maker who burns rubber for
the Architectural Digest and Smithsonian shows along with client deliveries; Lionheart Gallery director Susan D. Grissom, who spent years traveling as an architectural restorer and decorative painter; and The Met’s rising Matthew Polenzani, who lends us his tenor in a conversation that reveals the sweet family guy along with the globe-trotting opera star. If we do say so ourselves, this may be our most practical WAG yet. Dr. Michael Rosenberg weighs in with different views of medical tourism, while Dr. Erika Schwartz offers sound advice on what you can do to keep yourself healthy away from home. From feeling good to looking good: WAG alums “Diva Debbi” O’Shea and Kendra Charisse Porter tell you how to dress for travel day – and how and what to pack. But being “On the Road” doesn’t mean just leaving this place. It means seeing WAG country as a destination, too. Ninety percent of the guests at the Bedford Post Inn are from New York City. The Homestead Inn in Greenwich draws many visitors from Europe, Texas and California. They’ve learned – as no doubt Prince Harry has – that this is a place of tony grace, sporting fun and pastoral serenity. But then, we always knew that, didn’t we?
Letter to the editor To the Editor: As always, I was delighted to receive the April 2013 copy of WAG. As a nature and animal advocate, I was so taken with the “Animal Love & Lust” segment and the way it was presented. It opened up how very fortunate we are to share our world with them. As I continued thumbing through the magazine, I came across “Animal House”
and “A Most Fur-Midable Designer” glorifying what the fashion world contributes to the slaughter of helpless animals for profit and society. Shame on you for not displaying better judgment in your extraordinary publication. Sincerely, Lynda Baremore
Oops! Well, if the devil is in the details, can we say with Flip Wilson the devil made us do these errors? In Andrea’s story on “A Tale of Two Species” in April WAG (Page 18), we accidentally demoted “Nature” producer Bill Murphy. He is series producer. In Patricia’s story on “Girl Power” in May WAG (Page 20) we misidentified the original title of the “Makers” proj10
ect. It was “The Women’s 2.0 Media Project.” Finally, we’d like to give a shout-out to the Candlewood Fencing Center in Danbury and director/head coach Tom Ciccarone, who were so helpful to Martha Handler and Jennifer Pappas for their May Class and Sass piece (and whom we inadvertently did not acknowledge. See Page 95.) Apologies, all.
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Maria Bowen and son Carter
Getting from here to there By Georgette Gouveia
Giovanni Paolo Cimerlinus, “Cosmographia Universalis Ab Orontio Olim Descripta” (“Map of the Whole World that was Once Upon a Time Engraved From or By Oronce Fine”) Courtesy of Arader Galleries.
n the hilarious “Tropic Thunder” – about a group of preening male movie stars making a disastrous film about the Vietnam War on location – there’s a scene in which Robert Downey Jr.’s method actor (think Russell Crowe crossed with Daniel Day-Lewis) tries to teach Ben Stiller’s action hero (Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, take your pick) how to read a map. The letters go one way and the numbers the other, Downey’s lofty Kirk Lazarus informs Stiller’s posturing Tugg Speedman. But Tugg is having none of it and it’s not long before the team is lost in the land 12
of drug lords, who mistake the actors for actual DEA agents. Ah, maps, can’t live with ’em sometimes. But certainly can’t live without ’em either. “Maps are of historical importance,” says Graham Arader of the Arader Galleries in Manhattan, the go-to place for antique maps, globes and atlases as well as Audubon prints and other artworks and artifacts. “Often they show us significant information for the very first time.” They also, he adds, “tell us the wonderful story of the development of our country.” And of the world. Generally, the oldest maps were preserved on Babylonian clay tablets. The Greeks and Romans contrib-
uted the idea that the world was spherical (thanks, Aristotle) as well as an influential geography book (ditto, Ptolemy). But let’s not get all Western-centric here. The Chinese and Indians were busy mapping the stars, while Arab scholars translated the work of Greek geographers and updated atlases. Medieval maps – made of vellum or sheepskin – tended to a Christian world view, with Jerusalem at the center and east at the top where north would be. It’s not until the Renaissance, Arader says, that you come into the golden age of mapping, with global exploration and the invention of printing – first with carved wooden blocks and then engraved cop-
per plates – dovetailing to produce works that were exquisitely detailed navigation charts. (Globes also made their appearance at this time.) Among the noteworthy works from this period, Arader says, is a Ptolemaic map by Martin Waldseemüller (1513) that followed Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic and was the first to use the name America for the New World. It’s worth $50,000 to $60,000. So important were maps to the Renaissance and the Baroque periods that they took on increasing significance in the works of the Dutch Old Masters. Just as every line, shape and color has meaning on a map, so the objects in painting – and in
Dutch painting in particular – are symbolic. The maps, globes and windows that appear in the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch and Gabriel Metsu “spoke to a life of ambition, order and to empire,” says Peter C. Sutton, executive director of the Bruce Museum in Greenwich and an authority on the northern Baroque. “It had to do with the pride of a new nation and a far-flung colonial empire.” Many of the names we still locate on maps, places far (Cape Horn) and near (Tappan Zee), come from the Dutch. Even in the golden age, maps, Arader says, were about “trial and error.” Cartographers who were taking measurements and drawing freehand, would also sometimes deliberately include mistakes as a way of copyrighting their work. Mistakes accidental and otherwise, such as California appearing as an island, make a map more valuable, Arader says. Today, advances in technology such as GPS and Google Earth enable cartographers to create maps of astonishing accuracy and immediacy. These advances have no bearing on the market for antique maps, Arader says. What is driving – and depressing – it, he adds, is the state of the economy, despite Wall Street’s waltz with Dow 15,000. The time to buy is now. A 17th-century map can be had for as little as $300, he says.
Oronce Fine (1494-1555), “Nova, Et Integra Universi Orbis Descriptio” from “Novus Orbis Regionum...,” Paris, 1531 (1532), woodcut. Courtesy of Arader Galleries.
Or you might choose to spend instead on the many calendar, wallet and luggage reproductions.
“I think they’re great,” Arader says. “I love them.” As well we all might, for maps don’t
only tell us where we’re going. They remind us where we’ve been. For more, visit aradergalleries.com. n
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Head trips By Georgette Gouveia
N
ot every journey is outward bound. Some of the greatest chart a course across the interior landscape. That’s what British philosopher Charles Hampden-Turner did when he took on an almost unimaginable challenge – to map out much of the great secular thinking in Western history in one book. Hampden-Turner published “Maps of the Mind” (Collier Books/Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., 224 pages) in 1981, a time when left brain/right brain theories were all the rage in academia and the media. So with apologies to Saab and the car company’s iconic commercial, this is a book for your left brain (provocative text by Hampden-Turner) and your right brain (blue-black “maps,” i.e. drawings by a team of eight illustrators that riff on the old noggin). The good news is that there’s no reason why you can’t pick and choose – in 14
a spontaneous right-brain way, of course – among the 60 short but incredibly dense chapters, instead of proceeding in an orderly, left-brain fashion. There’s stuff for Freudians and Jungians and folks who are interested in Marxism, existentialism and a whole bunch of other isms. Yet in his introduction, Hampden-Turner apologizes “for the arbitrary nature of inclusions and exclusions in this book.” “The contents are limited by my own strained comprehension and the gaps in my knowledge and also by my search for an overall coherence which has deterred me from making a mere collection of separate pieces.” So you won’t find a great deal on Eastern thought or the world’s religions. Not for Hampden-Turner a parsing of Augustine and Aquinas. When religions do appear here they do so as mythologies, as in Map 4, “The Tree With Poisoned Fruit: St. Augustine and Others.” (It’s accompanied by an illustration of a human profile made up of a skeletal tree, a coiling snake
and a dangling apple.) What there is is a lot of is left brain/right brain stuff, which more than 30 years ago held that we were all too left-brainy (verbal, mathematical, linear, organized) and we needed to get in touch with our visual, spatial, artsy, free-associating right-brain side. We now understand that the complementariness of and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain are much more complex than that – particularly in women and left-handers – and that left brain/right brain may work best as a metaphor. Still, there’s fascinating stuff here. Hampden-Turner has a chapter (Map 24) on psychologist Julian Jaynes, who theorizes that the right brain was once the center of godlike auditory hallucinations that, filtered through the left brain, told human beings what to do, as when the gods direct the Greeks and Trojans in Homer’s “The Iliad.” It was only with the advent of writing in the last several thousand years and apocalyptic volcanic eruptions on the is-
land of Thera in 2000 B.C. that human beings developed conscious thought and discovered the godhead within. You can see why Jaynes is not a hit with the Joel Osteen set. But then, his work has farreaching implications for schizophrenics, artists, mystics and others who experience auditory hallucinations today. Perhaps the most moving chapter – the one that spurred Hampden-Turner to write the book – is Map 48, which contains his reflections on the work of anthropologist Gregory Bateson. Bateson’s theories of alcoholism – in which the alcoholic’s mind-over-matter willfulness and lack of balance fuel the very drinking he wants to control until he becomes a runaway train – have found credence in Alcoholics Anonymous, whose members seek sobriety through surrender to community and their individual understanding of God. Reading of such moments, you realize that no GPS will ever replace HampdenTurner’s maps of these minds. n
IntroducIng the brIstal
the best of assIsted lIvIng noW comes to WhIte PlaIns s Another Quality Community By The Engel Burman Group
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I share my stories with new friends, now that I live at The Bristal. Alma, Resident of The Bristal
“I grew up in the music business and it feels like yesterday that I was finding new acts for Rudy Vallee. Perry Como was my good friend and thought me an up-and-comer at 20. By the time Frank Sinatra breezed by my office at Capitol Records, I had worked my way up to the Professional Department that handled all new music. Then one day I met Marilyn Monroe. My heart jumped! Before I knew it 50 years had sped by like a taxi on 8th Avenue. Now I listen to my music and share stories with my “family” at The Bristal. I’ve earned this comfortable life.” Hear more about Alma’s glamorous life. Tune in at thebristal.com/lifestories
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Songs of a wayfarer Opera star Matthew Polenzani’s favorite journey is home By Georgette Gouveia
Matthew Polenzani in “L’Elisir d’Amore.” Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.
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With the exception of those in the travel industry, few know more about being “on the road” than opera singers. That’s because opera companies tend to book their casts several years in advance. So if it’s Tuesday, this must be the San Francisco Opera and Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann.” Or so it is for Matthew Polenzani, who was given the honor of opening The Metropolitan Opera’s past season with soprano Anna Netrebko in a new production of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore.” The tenor – who made his Met debut in a 1997 production of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” – is one of the nicest guys around. And one of the busiest. “If I didn’t take on any more work in the next four years, I’d still have enough,” he says during a break at his Pelham Manor home before heading out to the West Coast to rehearse “Hoffmann,” which bows June 5. No doubt, though, he’ll be taking on a few more gigs. That’s because “concert presenters don’t plan that far in advance. And if you like to sing concerts – which I
do – you have to leave some spaces open.” There are other more important reasons, however, why Matthew likes to have some downtime – wife Rosa and sons Gianluca, 6, Nicola, 4, and Giovanni, 2. Recently, after two weeks in Vienna, Matthew – who’s on the road five or six months of the year – headed back to Pelham Manor for six days. “It was just long enough to come home,” he says. Then he heard that the Deutsche Oper Berlin was in need of a tenor for one of its productions due to an illness. Matthew decided not to lend the company his. “I would’ve had to leave the next day. I said no. You need time. You need life time. Singing is a big part of my life but I hope… my real legacies are my kids and how they’re being raised.”
Family guy As if on operatic cue, the two youngest arrive with mom, who’s dropping them off with dad before heading out for a parent-teacher conference. Rosa is the former mezzo-soprano Rosa Maria Pascarella, a vibrant woman who met her husband at
the Yale School of Music. (Matthew, who hails from Evanston, Ill., is also the product of Eastern Illinois University and the professional artist-development program at Lyric Opera of Chicago.) Rosa’s friendly, outgoing nature is in tune with her husband’s, a sensibility that the two older boys apparently share as well. Chubby-cheeked Giovanni is more of a shy guy. Not Nicola. When one of his visitors requests a song, he obliges with a brief Top 40 rendition. Though it may come as a surprise to some, opera singers don’t spend their downtime with classical music. Matthew likes pop, classic rock and Christian-contemporary, and when asked to name a great nonoperatic singer doesn’t hesitate to compliment Christina Aguilera and the late Whitney Houston. He doesn’t sing with Rosa, because she gave up her career to focus on motherhood. But it turns out to be more complex than that. “After our daughter died, I didn’t have the passion (for music),” Rosa says, nodding fondly toward the photograph of oldest child, Alessandra, which hangs in the hall with those of the brothers she
never knew. Alessandra died of a brain aneurysm on Christmas Eve 2005 at just 16 months of age. Spending time at the Polenzanis’ handsome 1917 home, you get the sense that a close family has been knit more tightly by great loss. So when Nicola runs into the living room with a tiny action figure and a request to straighten out whatever it’s holding, Matthew doesn’t miss a beat, concentrating on the task at hand while chatting. And soon Nicola is off, lofting the figure with slow wrist circles into that rarefied world where little boys and action figures go. Ah, yes, we were talking about travel.
Have clubs will travel Some opera singers are notoriously germaphobic, swathing their throats in big scarves even in the dead of summer. (Thanks, air conditioning.) Matthew’s concerns are more for son Gianluca, whose peanut allergy is such that even coming in contact with the nut’s oil on an airline flight can set off a reaction. That happened recently on the trip home from the family’s first visit to Walt Disney World. Though everything turned out
Making Fairfield County roads more enjoyable since 1967.
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fine, the incident offered some anxious moments at 35,000 feet. For himself, Matthew “tries not to think about” getting sick while traveling. If he feels something coming on, he may use Airborne, First Defense Nasal Screens or Zicam. If traveling Business Class, which is rare, he tries to get some shuteye. In Economy, he knows that’s going to be unlikely. As a veteran traveler, Matthew has packing down to a science – eight or nine outfits equal 50 pounds exactly. He can always do laundry. If he’s able to, he stays in an apartment rather than a hotel so he can cook for himself. “I’m not a great cook, but I can boil water,” he says with his easy laugh. Though he may not travel with a spatula, two things he’s rarely without are his Kindle and his set of golf clubs. He stuffs his musical scores in his golf bag. No doubt that golf bag will be seeing a lot more of the globe as Matthew is one of the premier tenors of our time, justly acclaimed by critics and opera buffs alike for a voice of exceptional beauty and purity and an engaging, impassioned stage presence. Just call up his performance of “Danny Boy” on YouTube, sure to bring a smile to the lips, a lump to the throat and tears to the eyes. And before you wonder what a tenor named Polenzani is doing with the ultimate Irish chestnut, Matthew is mostly of Irish descent. This past season was a gala one, beginning with opening night at The Met Sept. 24 and culminating in the April 30 New Rochelle Opera gala, at which Matthew was honored. His mantel contains the framed proclamation of May 1 as Matthew Polenzani Day in New Rochelle. All were special, albeit in different ways. He calls The Met opener “an awesome experience,” particularly with a bunch of friends in the cast, including Russian superstar Netrebko, who once whipped up a batch of blinis for him when he visited her Vienna home. Next season Met audiences will find him as Ferrando, a man torn between two sisters, in Mozart’s sexually complex, morally ambivalent “Così Fan Tutte,” part of the opera house’s “Live in HD” simulcasts into movie theaters and other venues worldwide. He’ll also play the womanizing Duke of Mantua as a Sinatra-style Vegas crooner in The Met’s update of Giussepe Verdi’s “Rigoletto.” It’s a production that has its share of detractors. But then, Matthew is no stranger to the passion of opera’s audiences and critics. He once appeared in a Robert Wilson production of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” that was so roundly booed, he took a step back onstage. Boos or bravos, Matthew has learned to take it all in stride. “Here’s the thing about opera,” he says. “In the end, you’re hoping to make someone go ‘wow’.” For more, visit matthewpolenzani. com and metoperafamily.org. n 18
Matthew Polenzani. Photograph by Bob Rozycki.
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Ghostly route
The old Silk Road
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Add Some
SHADE to Your Backyard
Audrey Topping enjoying a camel ride.
Time cannot vanquish the Old Silk Road
I
Story and photographs by Audrey Topping
f any place deserves to be haunted, it is the old Silk Road. For amid the ruins of ancient cities, once strung like Buddhist prayer beads across the forbidding terrain of Central Asia, there have occurred more mysterious happenings, rich pageantry, magical rituals, sinister intrigue, heroic battles and cruel massacres than the imagination can encompass. Ten centuries ago, the Silk Road became the first artery of globalization linking East and West. Known as “the Emperor’s Route,” it was far more than the first trans-Asian highway that joined ancient civilizations and linked the two superpowers of the world – imperial China and the Holy Roman Empire. It was a 5,000-mile network of trade arteries that split and converged like dueling dragons romping across the breadth of Eurasia. The Silk Road was composed of the most exotic, but also the most treacherous, overland routes on earth. Over the centuries, the history has been blended with mystery, magic and myth. Ancient sites, mummies, silks and treasures are still being discovered. Today, the old Silk Road is known in China as National Highway 315, but to Westerners it has become the stuff that legends are made of. Tourists may still see horse carts and Bactrian camels loaded with yurts and the household goods of the nomads’ descendants –
reminiscent of centuries past – yet noisy tractor-trailers and private cars have replaced the fabled caravans. To travel the old Silk Road today is to trace not only the passage of early trade, heroic battles and warring conquerors, but more lastingly, the exchange and blending of diverse ideas, religions, philosophies, sciences and musical styles. One memorable morning I rode along the old Silk Road between the furry humps of a Bactrian camel. In the timeless space of the Singing Sands in the Gobi Desert I imagined I was a character in the Chinese epic novel “The Journey to the West,” first published 400 years ago. In my desert mirage, I visualized the hero of the story, the pilgrim Xuanzang, who around 645 brought Buddhist scriptures to China from India. Aloft another camel I visualized Fa-hsien, the monk who in 399 wrote the first eyewitness account of wondrous Buddhist cities that flourished for 1,000 years along the Silk Road. The death knell came when the king of Kashgar converted to Islam and Arab armies conquered the unarmed Buddhist cities. After the Muslim invasion came Genghis Kahn and his “Golden Hordes.” By 1211, the Mongol warrior had unified Mongolia and begun the conquest that devastated north China and Central Asia on his way to carving out the largest empire on earth.
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Camels pausing for a drink.
A lost city along the old Silk Road.
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Any city, Buddhist or Muslim, that refused to join his armies was destroyed. So complete was the devastation that all traces of this once glorious Buddhist civilization vanished for a millennium. But the essence or perhaps the soul of the dead cities along the Silk Road still hovered in the collective memory of mankind. Like stars that emit light beams centuries after they cease to exist, the lost cities continued to spark ghostly legends for 10 centuries before the haunted ruins were finally discovered in 1873 by Sir Douglas Forsyth. The Englishman stumbled on two clay figures from a sand-entombed city that had disappeared some 800 years before – one of the Buddha and one of the legendary Monkey King immortalized in “Journey to The West.� Some 300 cities had been decimated by man and vanished beneath the ruthless desert sands. Then in the early 20th century, the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin and British archeologist Aurel Stein discovered more ruins and an archeological gold rush to rescue the remains began. These legendary figures populate only a fraction of the history of the old Silk Road. n
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en Z
and the art of innkeeping
The inn and Farmhouse restaurant glowing at dusk.
Community, caring and calm at the Bedford Post Inn By Georgette Gouveia Photographs by Guy van Grinsven
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T
here’s a peacefulness that descends on the Bedford Post Inn in the early spring. You can hear it in the burble of the reflecting pool, with its cozy outdoor seating and fireplace. You can see it in the soaring, timeless rocks that buttress the hiking and Bedford Riding Lanes Association trails. You can feel it in the deep breathing of the students in The Yoga Loft classes. The Yoga Loft, overlooking the Zen garden, is a good place to begin the story of our visit to the Bedford Post, because yoga is an integral part of the inn’s daily rhythm and also a metaphor for the attention to detail and sense of community that define the inn. After an hour of gentle but focused stretches with instructor Tricia Keane in a space distinguished by polished wood, light-filled windows and a huge white paper-lantern chandelier, you feel not
only a new fluidity in the body but a lightness of spirit that puts the cares of the day in perspective. The yoga program isn’t just for guests and staffers. There are six to seven classes a day, seven days a week, with hundreds of students, says Oscar Henquet, the inn’s general manager. “Richard, Carey and Russell wanted this to be a haven for the community,” says Yoga Loft director Rebekah Jacobs. That would be actor Richard Gere, his wife, actress Carey Lowell, and their business partner, Russell Hernandez, who live nearby. “In my long career, I’ve played many challenging and demanding characters,” Gere notes in his charming introduction to the inn’s brochure, “but believe me, none more so than my real life role as an innkeeper.” Henquet picks up what is by now a fairly well-known tale: Riding his
A busy dinner at The Farmhouse.
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A group class in The Yoga Loft.
Executive Chef Jeremy McMillan grilling cauliflower on his outdoor grill.
An inn room with balcony and four-post bed.
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horse, Gere noticed a dilapidated piece of Americana, a Dutch Colonial circa 1762 that was once a post office and is one of only three 18th-century structures still extant in Bedford. Six years ago, he, Lowell and Hernandez brought it back to life – renovating the original building and creating a barn that houses The Yoga Loft and The Barn restaurant. More important, Bedford Post has a new purpose that in part reflects Gere’s commitment to Buddhism. “There’s a very active meditation program and workshops in art and yoga,” Tricia Keane says of a schedule that recently included two explorations of Tibetan medicine. “It’s really an effort for wellness. And there’s lots of different styles of yoga, from gentle to vigorous vinyasa (breathsynchronized movements). There’s something for everyone here. “The teachers also support one another,” she adds, so that if a student needs to transfer to a more rigorous class, there’s no possessiveness or jealousy among the instructors. That sense of community goes handin-hand with caring. “There’s such an attention to detail,” Keane says, pointing to the handsome wood cubbyholes where the yoga props – blankets, bolsters and blocks – are stored neatly. You’ll find the same meticulousness in the inn itself, which was designed by Lowell, right down to the pale-colored ceramic cups that contain lightly scented candles. The eight suites – some
of which have terraces – feature a restful creamy palette, queen- or king-size beds, rich wood and Frette linens and towels in an atmosphere that is at once modern (reclaimed wood, geothermal heating and cooling) and romantically rustic. But where you really see a woman’s touch is in the spacious, blue-gray Cararra marble baths with their mosaicstyle floors, upholstered chairs, double sinks and claw-foot tubs – the better for guests, 90 percent of whom are from New York City – to unwind in. Caring and community extend to the kitchen. On the day WAG visits, Executive Chef Jeremy McMillan has been called away to an emergency on a nearby farm. Locally sourced food is key to the menu at The Barn, which bustles for breakfast, lunch, weekend brunch and dinner Mondays and Tuesdays; and at The Farmhouse, which serves only dinner Wednesdays-Sundays. (There’s also a chefs table for up to 12 guests, a private dining room for up to 24 and a classic wine cellar that seats up to 14 where French limestone keeps the vintages at a constant temperature.) But food at the Bedford Post isn’t just about the quail, guinea hen, sweetbreads and lamb that may be served from the wood-fire grill on the Farmhouse Patio through October. Farm-to-table hits close to home as some of the inn’s 85 staffers forage for plants on its 14 acres. (Kitchen staffers went on a four-hour forage for edible stuff with naturalist Wildman Steve Brill and continue to consult with him before using any unknown plant in their dishes.) As we sample a spring vegetable salad of garlic mustard greens, trout lilies, ramps, peas, asparagus and watermelon radishes, lightly dressed with lemon and olive oil, Daniel Sabia, one of two souschefs, dropped by to chat about some of the popular offerings. At The Barn, they include the lentil, quinoa and shaved vegetables; the jasmine rice veggie burger, served with avocado, pickled beet and daikon slaw; and the more traditional double bacon cheeseburger with fontina, pickled cherry peppers and caramelized onion. Meanwhile, patrons at The Farmhouse can’t get enough of the salt-roasted branzino; the fagotelli, with parmigiano fonduta and chopped truffles; and Johnboy’s chicken, served with sunchokes and shitake mushrooms. Yet it was clear that foraging – wellestablished in Europe and now finding a home here – has caught the fancy of Sabia and the Bedford Post Inn. As he says, “It gives you respect for what you’re eating.” The Bedford Post Inn is at 954 Old Post Road. Suites range from $395 to $650 per night. For inn reservations, call (914) 205-377. For restaurant reservations, call (914) 234-7800. Or visit bedfordpostinn.com. n
Photograph by Muhammad Mahdi Karim
By Mary Shustack
When Kurt Kannemeyer sees a mountain, be it literal or symbolic, he sees an opportunity rather than an obstacle. And that perspective has, as they say, made all the difference. It’s what brought the South African native first to America and then to St. Christopher’s in Dobbs Ferry, where Kannemeyer serves as the director of development for the residential treatment center for special education students. And it’s also the driving force behind his latest endeavor, an August attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to raise funds for and awareness of the work of St. Christopher’s. In fundraising materials for the trip, Kannemeyer employs a quote from Abraham Lincoln: “I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards.” He writes that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is “feasible but not easy.” But he adds that, “Many of our students are facing their own ‘mountains’ on a daily basis, and for them, life has never been easy. The greatest joy for me in climbing is being a role model and showing our kids that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. No mountain is unreachable, no dream is impossible.” And that right there reaches to the heart of Kannemeyer’s own story. During a recent morning visit at his office on the St. Christopher’s campus overlooking the Hudson River, where he has worked for the past nine years, Kannemeyer shares what’s so special about his proposed trip. 28
It’s all about setting goals and working to make them happen, to believe in yourself and help others feel the same way. Raised in South Africa during the apartheid era (Kannemeyer clearly remembers as a young boy asking his father why one section of the beach they were visiting was designated for “whites only”), he wanted to make his mark. He says his parents and three sisters were always supportive of his dreams, whether they were to be a teacher, a pilot or a lawyer. He says American television shows, from “Murder, She Wrote” to “L.A. Law,” had a great effect on his dreams. Sometimes a bit too much, he shares with a laugh as he tells of typical exchanges he’d have with his mother. “She would say ‘Kurt, take out the trash.’ I would say ‘Objection, your honor,’ and she would say ‘Overruled.’” Still, he was determined to become a lawyer, thinking to himself, “If you put your guts and gusto, you can accomplish that.” Kannemeyer was also captivated by airplanes and knew one day he’d be on one to America. That eventually came true, when he traveled to the U.S. for a camp counselor job in 2001 and returned the following year for another position with the same organization. Before his third year, he was gathering other young people to try for similar positions and met up with a representative from St. Christopher’s, who shortly after offered him a job running its camp programs.
He accepted the job and over the years accepted an invitation to stay on, transitioning from one post to another, including one that drew on his legal background and another within its school system. It was about five years ago when he suggested something dramatic for the students he had come to love – a humanitarian trip to South Africa. After all, many “traditional” schools often take students abroad, so why shouldn’t St. Christopher’s students have that same chance? “They’re not special needs because of any abnormality,” he says of the students who have emotional, behavioral and learning disabilities. “We must afford them the same opportunities.” Plenty of convincing, fundraising and determination ended up with a groundbreaking journey with a group of students to his native land. The main goal was to work with an AIDS orphanage in Port Elizabeth, near where Kannemeyer was from. The trip, which gained media attention, was a moving experience, both for the students and Kannemeyer himself. “It was life-changing, more so for me than them,” he says. He was constantly amazed by their determination, their reactions and how the trip opened up the world for them. The effect of the journey typifies the goals of Kannemeyer’s day-to-day work at St. Christopher’s. A recent annual gala was a smashing success, but he is not one to take a pause. His role in the development of St. Christopher’s is a priority. “It entails so much more than having an event or two,” he says. “Most of my work is trying to advocate for them,
trying to get resources that will better their life.” And that’s what this climb is all about. Kannemeyer, who’s been hitting the gym in preparation and has a trip to Colorado planned for July to help his body adjust to higher elevations, will be following the Rongai Route with a group of three friends, in August. Just like when he proposed the trip to South Africa, there have been skeptics, he says. But he’s not one to listen. “Once again what they don’t know about Kurt is once Kurt decides something, it’s very hard to change his mind,” he says. The climb itself, a seven-day journey that begins Aug. 18, will ideally end at the summit, some 19,500 feet above sea level. Kannemeyer hopes to raise $50,000 for St. Christopher’s, with funding going to programming for the students in transitional cottages to ensure they receive the necessary life skills to become independent once they graduate. The climb will also fuel Kannemeyer’s vision for students to return to South Africa to continue the work they began there in 2009. New projects there would include funding a perpetual garden and renovating bathrooms for children living with HIV/AIDS. That’s what keeps him motivated – and motivating. He says even if, for some reason, he cannot reach the summit, he feels the students will still be inspired by his effort. “I’m going to get to the top, but even if I don’t, that to me is my success. That no matter, knowing the obstacle… I was willing to try.”
“I’m going to get to the top, but even if I don’t, that to me is my success. That no matter, knowing the obstacle… I was willing to try.” — Kurt Kannemeyer
It’s all reflective, he says, of the spirit that has kept St. Christopher’s going since the late 19th century. “Today, I’m carrying that legacy forth,” he says. “All the staff here, we carry that legacy forth.” Throughout the trip, Kannemeyer hopes to be able to broadcast updates, blog and keep in touch with his followers, especially those at St. Christopher’s who know someone was willing to take a very real risk for them.
“For many of our kids, the sad reality for them is before they came to us they never had someone who believed in them.” And come August, the students of St. Christopher’s will be able to think about the man they call “Mr. Kurt” continents away, making a climb for their future. To learn more about St. Christopher’s, visit sc1881. org. n
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“Many students
of
our
are
facing
their own ‘mountains’ on a daily basis, and for them, life has never been easy. The greatest joy for me in climbing is being a role model and showing our kids that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. No mountain is
unreachable,
no
”
dream is impossible.
— Kurt Kannemeyer, on his climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for the students of St. Christopher’s
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Kurt Kannemeyer, center of top photo, took a group of students from St. Christopher’s to South Africa in 2009. One of the goals of his August climb of Mount Kilimanjaro is to raise funds for a return visit. Photographs courtesy Kurt Kannemeyer.
world traveler settles, a bit By Georgette Gouveia
S
usan D. Grissom, director of the recently renovated Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge, savors her smalltown life, with its regular forays into New York City and neighboring states to meet with artists and collectors. Coffee with the locals at Lionheart (pssst: She’s got a Keurig), lunch at The Barn at the neighboring Bedford Post Inn (see related story) – it’s all just dandy with her. But then, she’s lived the kind of life many people dream about, painting in the south of France or under the Tuscan sun. “Done it. Loved it,” she says. “I go into the city once a week. But I just love being in a small town.” These days, she travels mainly through the canvases of motorcars and boats she exhibits at the gallery, which is owned by a French art dealer. He prefers to let her do the talking, something that the Southern charmer is more than capable of. Next up for the Lionheart is “The Eye of Klemantaski” (June 8-July 21), featuring works from one of the largest collections of motorsports and motor-racing photography. The black-and-white kineticism of images of sleek men driving sleeker cars contrasts with the hypnotic blue-and-white stasis of Celine McDonald’s boat paintings. But this does not begin to describe the range of artists and works you’ll find at the 1,500-square-foot gallery. There’s the plummy sensuality of Betsy Podlach’s selfportraits; the acidic wit of Geoffrey Stein’s “Irrational Exuberance” collage series, in which Stein uses words written about and by the players in the recent economic crisis to create their portraits. Bernard Madoff’s, for instance, is made up of the legal complaints against him. There’s Serge Strosberg’s Realist take on the seven deadly sins and society’s seedier side and Mihail’s moving bronze elephants, with one tusk broken off to underscore the vulnerability of these gentle giants. Mihail is the Bulgarian artist who went to Kenya to cast a wild (sleeping) bull elephant in plaster. The result, cast in bronze, became a gift for the United Nations from the countries of Kenya, Namibia and Nepal and is the subject of the book “Cast the Sleeping Elephant.” Add gritty black-and-white photos of bygone New York City by Vivian Cherry, who’s still clicking at 92, totemic figures by Soledad Leonicio and abstract painting by Pablo McClure – just to name a few – and you have quite an array of artwork. Grissom does photographs, prints and abstract paintings, too, richly textured af-
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“The Junior Car Club Meeting; Brooklands, May 6, 1939.” ©The Klemantaski Collection.
Geoffrey Stein’s “Madoff” (2009), collage of SEC and Department of Justice complaints against Madoff and acrylic on canvas.
fairs that remind you that she used to be a decorative painter, giving kitchens different finishes. She worked for Smallbone of Devizes, the English company she calls
“the Rolls-Royce of kitchens.” She came by that trade naturally, growing up in Jackson, Tenn., near Memphis, in a family of architectural restorers. When
she followed her brother to New York City in 1978 – “I just loved it,” she says of the city – she took up restoration arts. Among the projects she worked on was the Spannocchia Estate in Siena, Italy through the Etruscan Foundation. She went on to become a decorative painter for such British companies as the Clive Christian perfume collection and Mark Wilkinson Furniture, as well as Smallbone. Ultimately, however, Grissom decided she wanted to be a fine-art painter and attended SUNY Empire State College. She’s also studied at the Silvermine Arts Center in New Canaan – see related story – and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk. “It took me to some wonderful places,” she says of an early career that found her in Nice and Strasbourg, France and Vancouver, Canada. “It was at a certain point, though, that I’d wake up and I wasn’t sure what town I was in.” Now with a new home right above the store, so to speak, Grissom always knows exactly where she is. The Lionheart Gallery, 27 Westchester Ave. in Pound Ridge, is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and noon-4 p.m. Sundays. If you’re coming from a distance, call ahead to (914) 764-8689 in case the gallery is closed for an appointment with a collector. For more, visit thelionheartgallery.com. n
Kathleen Gilje (American, b. 1945), Lowery Sims as Ingres’s Napoleon with a Gun, 2006, oil on linen. Collection of Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy
Everything Old Is New Again
Revised & Restored: The Art of Kathleen Gilje
May 11–September 8, 2013
Bruce MuSeuM | Greenwich, cT | brucemuseum.org
Paintings from left, “Wild Sky;” “Georgia Tree Morning;” “Burgundy Road.” Painting photographs by John Maggiotto.
Drawing inspiration from travel, nature By Jane K. Dove
L
andscape painter Joy Moser has learned much about art from visiting other places. “During my travels, (husband) Marvin and I had taken hundreds of photographs, which became the inspiration for my paintings,” she says. Her series “European Trees,” for example, evolved from her interest in the carefully constructed manmade landscapes of Europe. “Nature is tamed in a particular way,” she says. “You don’t find trees planted this way in America.” Buoyant, outgoing and physically fit at the age of 80, Moser has plenty of creative fuel left in her tanks. Her physician husband, in his mid-80s, is one of the nation’s foremost experts on hypertension and teaches at Yale University in New Haven. The art educator-turned-painter credits him with the financial security that has enabled her to do what she believes in. “It’s great to wake up in the morning and look forward with enthusiasm to what you are going to do that day.” The Scarsdale resident has done much over the course of a long and fulfilling career, though ironically she had no interest in art at first. “I attended Sarah Lawrence College, majoring in philosophy,” Moser, who
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comes from a small town in Pennsylvania, recalls. “I was then admitted to Columbia University law school. Instead of finishing my degree, I met and married Marvin and moved to the suburbs.” The Mosers had their first child early on and Moser became acquainted with a Scarsdale neighbor who was a painter. “She gave me some basic instruction and started me out in landscape painting, which I did in the attic on the third floor of our home. I made another friend who was a painter of abstracts and he helped me to get admitted into an art education program.” Moser had two more children and continued to paint mostly abstract works in the attic of her Scarsdale home for several decades as her children grew. She acquired a teaching position in the art education program at New York University that morphed into a full professorship. She received her master’s degree in l963 and a doctorate in art education in l979. By this time Moser had already taken her first painting courses, leading her to explore geometric abstraction. She had also become intrigued with the art of children. Although this was a very busy period in her life, Moser decided to help found the Storefront Studio, a children’s art program
in downtown White Plains. “At this point in time, White Plains was undergoing urban renewal and there were plenty of empty buildings and storefronts,” she says. “Our group wanted to have something life-affirming in the midst of the urban-renewal chaos. We started small and the Storefront Studio eventually became a large program that ran for four years out of a storefront right on the street. This was a very happy time in my life.” As urban renewal advanced through White Plains, the Storefront Studio moved along with it. But by 1972 usable buildings had disappeared. “The Storefront Studio was offered space in a housing project, but we turned it down,” Moser says. “There were too many rules. I realized the time had come for it to end.” But the Storefront Studio had sealed Moser’s reputation in art education. “Our program used rich original resources, not watering things down and used culture in an authentic way,” she says. “The children thrived.” In the mid-1980s, Moser went on to teach at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, becoming increasingly intrigued with 17th- and 18-century Dutch and English landscape painting. Her new fascination with landscape began to influence her own
painting, which she continued to produce in her attic studio. By 1987, teaching full time had lost its appeal for a number of reasons, including departmental politics. With the children well on their way to independent lives – daughter Jill was now an artist herself; son John, an actor; and son Stephen, an architect – Moser took a sabbatical and devoted it to landscape painting. Since redirecting her artistic vision, she has had many exhibits and seen her works hung in many prestigious institutions, including the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, the Greenwich Library and the Whitney Museum of American Art and Columbia University’s Macy Gallery, both in Manhattan. Moser now paints regularly in an airy, light-filled studio added on the back of the family home’s garage. With soaring ceilings and ample space for storage of art supplies and finished canvases, the neatlykept studio is a haven. But she still keeps a hand in teaching as an adjunct professor. “In 1992 Teachers College of Columbia University asked me to join the faculty, and I have been there ever since,” she says. “I teach art theory and the contemporary art world. I also teach a studio class. I went to teach for one semester and I am still there.”
Joy and Marvin Moser
Looking back over her career in the fine arts, Moser says it’s been a matter of progression. “I began in the late 1950s when abstraction was ‘the only game in town,’” she says. “I followed along and progressed through many styles, finally ending with biometric and nonobjective painting.” “The radical move for me was to discover that the real world of landscape lurked behind all that past work. My childhood in the mountains of Pennsyl-
vania pervaded my way of seeing and I wanted to investigate and celebrate the infinite variety of tone, color and composition that I found around me.” Moser says sky, the structure of trees, mist and water appeared to fill a hunger in her to look again and again. “There was mystery and danger lurking behind the beauty and my aim was to try to avoid the cliché and explore the infinite structure of the visual landscape.” For more, visit joymoserstudio.com. n
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Traveling man Telling the tales of Elvis, The Beatles and Paul Anka By Tarice L.S. Gray
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magine your life’s work as a journeyman, traveling with and chronicling the endeavors of some of the most influential men and women in the history of pop culture. That’s essentially the life of David Dalton. A founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine, he’s also earned distinction as a New York Times best-selling author. He’s penned the life story of James Dean, ventured to Las Vegas to document the comeback of Elvis Presley and traveled to England to write a book on The Beatles. The award-winning writer discovered parallel journeys for not just his subjects but himself as well. James Dean, for example, reminded Dalton of former teen idol Paul Anka. “I always say James Dean was the Abraham Lincoln of adolescence: He freed the teenagers. They were anonymous. Then James Dean came along and identified them as the core character of American culture.” In the same way, Anka was like the Pied Piper, only musically magnetic. Dalton’s latest book, “My Way,” charts Anka’s journey. For subject and author, music was the yellow brick road to success, albeit one mined with sex and drugs. Anka was never seduced by the some of the fatal temptations that took many of those he met along the way. But it was a ride nonetheless. One pit stop that became a pitfall for some was Sin City. When the singer-songwriter – bestknown for hits like “Diana” and the iconic Frank Sinatra anthem “My Way” – met Dalton in Las Vegas to discuss the book, they reminisced about the city then and now. “We spent the afternoon with (casino mogul Steve) Wynn and he told us a bunch of stories about Vegas in the ’60s,” Dalton says. “He told me, ‘Paul is the last of the Rat Pack. He’s the last person from that scene.’” Anka, who called himself a Rat Pack mascot, knew that Las Vegas was fertile ground for legends.
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Paul Anka and David Dalton
It was a city run by gangsters, flooded with booze and celebrated for a glittering parade of icons ushered in and out of town, a place that held a particular mystique that Dalton describes as beautiful and ominous. Now, he says, it’s a mature version of Disneyland, no longer veiled in luminous mystery. Dalton is no stranger to the lures of Las Vegas. He traveled there in the late ’60s to write about Elvis. “The King” had a comeback on the Vegas strip and Dalton described his arrival in Rolling Stone magazine. “As you drove in from the airport, the giant neon billboard for the Showroom Internationale flashed, ‘Elvis Now (in Person)’ in 20-foot letters of solid light.” Presley was Vegas personified, Dalton says, larger and louder than life. While Las Vegas proved to be the place for memorable shows, New York City was the mecca for music and opportunity. Dalton says it drew Anka out of his cocooned existence in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada. The singer told Dalton that as a teenager in the 1950s, he was so determined to get to New York that he made it happen by collecting the most Campbell’s
soup can labels to win a trip. Anka returned to the city a short time later, Dalton says, and signed with ABC records. “If you think about it, it was absolutely preposterous. A 16-, 17-year-old kid went to New York wanting to be a pop star and did it.” Dalton, a resident of upstate New York, also embraced the city, which proved to be a launching pad for him as well. Through his work at Rolling Stone magazine and immersion in the world of rock ’n’ roll, he met Derek Taylor, the publicist for The Beatles. Dalton says he escaped from New York to London to avoid the drug culture here and found not only solace but the opportunity of a lifetime. He and fellow Rolling Stone writer Jonathan Cott wrote the only book ever commissioned by the group, “The Beatles Get Back.” “That was at Abbey Road and part of it was at the Twickenham Film Studios.” The group was filming a documentary as well as creating another musical masterpiece. Dalton says he was a gofer at first, running both legal (and illegal) errands for members of the Fab Four.
“I was there and got the opportunity towards the end of that trip. Those were great days.” Traveling along the path of musical success paved by The Beatles, Anka and Presley, Dalton unearthed story after story. He found reminiscing about Anka’s travels while writing and researching the book to be a way to recall his own escapades. Anka talked about how The Beatles put him out of the music business. The tsunami that was the British invasion redefined radio and music in general. Every musician was affected. But the savvy Anka took his music to Europe and even wrote a No. 1 hit in Italy in that country’s native tongue. One day Dalton hopes to write a book about his own journey that has spanned as many continents as generations, from The Beatles and Abbey Road to the newly integrated South with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, on his black private jet, which Dalton says he called “The Sex Machine.” Dalton says he looks forward to documenting the next chapter, echoing the Anka credo: “I’ve always believed that if you don’t keep moving, they will throw dirt on you.” n
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By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki and courtesy Thomas Throop
T
homas Throop has traveled many roads in his twoplus decades as a furniture maker. The most dramatic was near the very start of his career, his first glimpse of the British estate where he would fine-tune his craft with a two-year program helmed by one of England’s finest contemporary furniture designers and makers. “I have this great recollection of driving down this chestnut-lined drive to this 15th-century manor house,” he says. Having arrived at the training grounds run by John Makepeace, whose contemporary work resonated with Throop, he felt an instant connection when he saw Makepeace’s modern furniture in such a historic setting. “It fit so beautifully into the context of the building,” he says. “I said that ‘This is very special.’” And that feeling has stayed with him through the years, as his career continues to find him on the road at times. It might be to exhibit at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in Manhattan, as he did this past March, to appear at the prestigious Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., as he did in late April, or simply to deliver his heirloom-quality work to one of his clients personally. Most days, though, it’s a quick drive from his Rowayton home to his studio and showroom of the past six years. The light, airy space is tucked into the heart of New Canaan, the town he grew up in. It’s a garage-like setting, where hand tools stand steps away from large-scale saws. And it has a fitting history, having been the studio of a cabinetmaker since the 1940s. “Here we are between two office buildings, a little woodshop,” Throop says with a smile. Throop has a clear enthusiasm for his craft, down to the very materials. “I work with suppliers all around the country,” he says. “You kind of go where the wood is.” The wood, from maple to English walnut, cherry to oak, each has its own characteristics. “I’m fascinated by the material itself,” Throop says. “It’s a living thing. I love
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looking at beautiful trees.” And he certainly knows what goes into that beauty. “All woods have terroir,” referring to the characteristics of a location of origin. “A walnut from Connecticut looks different from a walnut from Pennsylvania looks different from a walnut from California.” A favorite to work with is indeed walnut, as featured on a dramatic table from his “Laguna” series in progress on a recent morning. “The walnut for this table base came from California,” he says. “I actually went out there and bought a log and had it milled up right in front of me and had it shipped out. It adds a lot to the experience.” Each decision, from selecting the wood to hand-applying the finish, plays into the process, whether it’s a table or chair, desk or cabinet. “It’s a reciprocal sort of equation. You design a piece having a sense of the wood quality, and the wood quality informs the piece.” The wood is treated as a living material, with designs taking into account the changes that different climates and seasons will bring. Then an unwavering attention to precise fabrication and joinery assures the pieces are of heirloom quality. Handrubbed finishes both enhance the wood’s natural beauty and add protection while setting the tone for the patina over time. Many of his pieces are first made as maquettes, or scale models, which help a client visualize the finished piece. They also help Throop, too. “You have to understand structure. You have to understand what you’re supporting, the nature of balance from a physical standpoint.” “Each part of the process asks for different choices to be made.” He likens it to a game of chess, thinking out what one move will lead to. “I’ll clamp it together and walk around and see how it relates to the other pieces,” he says. “At a certain point you say ‘All right, I’m going to commit and let the cards fall where they may.’” Even when the woodwork is done, the process sometimes is not yet complete. The “Laguna” tables, for example, which feature what Throop calls “tapering arcs,” are topped by glass.
The question is square, round or oval. “Just a different-shaped top can totally change the vocabulary of a thing,” he says. And precise work is Throop’s trademark. Though he’s not against modern conveniences – cutting-edge equipment, mostly from Europe, dots the studio – he has an affinity for what has worked for ages. Taking up a weathered tool, his admiration is clear. “This plane is from about 1902. This is one of the best tools ever made. It does the job beautifully. … I love doing hand work.” Most pieces take weeks to create, a process that finds him in the studio during traditional business hours, though design is always on his mind. Throop didn’t set about to study furniture design in college, though he certainly had an interest in the field having helped his uncle, a boatbuilder and restorer of antiques, during his younger years. Family connections also influenced him further. His company, Black Creek Designs, is named after a favorite family retreat, his grandmother’s Washington County farm in upstate New York that included the headwaters for the Black Creek. Throop’s course of study at Connecticut College focused on economics and
photography. Following graduation, he became involved in house restoration and soon realized he wanted to go further. “I had wanted to refine my skills,” he says. He began looking at schools and learned of a program run by John Makepeace, the noted British furniture designer and maker. As he had recently traveled to England, Throop knew he liked the country. After a rigorous admissions process, Throop was accepted and would spend two years in Dorset at the John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood. It was there, he says, that he learned not only the practical, from furniture-making skills to marketing and selling work, but the more artistic. “It really gave me a very sound background for understanding the material.” And his undergraduate studies have served him well, too. “You know, I use that every day,” he says of the economics background. “The great thing about a liberal arts education is it teaches you to problem-solve.” Coming back to the United States in 1992, Throop began to specialize in designing and creating what he calls “oneoff” furniture. Each piece is unique, a handcrafted study in design.
Laguna series table
Through the years, Throop has sold pieces for public and private collections, exhibited in galleries and earned awards. He is a repeat exhibitor at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in Manhattan as well. The AD show, he says, offers a “great way for me to get a sense of what’s going on out there.” He has also shown in more than 75 juried exhibitions, most recently at the renowned Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C. and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. “It’s really great,” he says of these outings. “It’s one of the few times I get to be with other people who do what I do.” And for him, it’s all about receiving
Camden cabinet
feedback – and connecting with potential clients. “I try to make a new piece for every show,” he says, though he doesn’t necessarily design something for a particular market. “It’s more about what I’m working on.” Throop says that there is indeed more attention paid to artisan work and locally crafted goods these days. “I couldn’t be happier with the whole ‘local movement’… but I’ve been doing that for 20 years.” “I’ve been very fortunate,” Throop says. “I’ve always found an audience for this type of work.” The collaborative process with a client is especially rewarding, he says.
“It’s my challenge to create a piece that works with their context that has my aesthetic.” He names many pieces after the client who commissioned the work – “It feels like that’s a nice homage to them.” “My speculative work I typically name after a place that inspires me.” The “Laguna” series, he notes, “evokes wind and water.” Throop says he’s been asked if it’s hard to part with his work. But for him, having work reach the client simply completes the artistic process. “The fun for me is to have it have a new life with somebody else, have them enjoy the object. That’s the next critical piece of the project.” But surely he has filled his own home
Series chair
with custom work? “You’ve heard of the shoemaker’s children having no shoes…,” he says with a laugh. But, he adds, with a sweep of his hand, “I do occasionally make a piece for my wife. She tolerates this.” And “this,” is an ever-changing world, where Throop says his work has continued to adapt, with some pieces even evoking a sculptural feel. “There’s a thread that goes through my work that has led up to this,” he says. “It’s been an evolution.” And that is a road that Throop will continue to travel. For more details on Thomas Throop and his work, visit blackcreekdesigns.com.n
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The dining room of the Thomas Henkelmann restaurant in the Homestead Inn.
Where Greenwich and Europe aren’t an ocean apart By Georgette Gouveia
The Homestead Inn.
The Homestead Inn in Greenwich is so much more than that. “We are a full-service luxury hotel,” says Theresa Henkelmann, proprietor with husband and Chef Thomas Henkelmann. After whiling away a few hours in its gracious company on a lovely spring day you can’t help but concur. The Homestead is set back from winding Field Point Road in the Belle Haven area on three manicured acres laced with tulips, potted plants and flowering bushes. A porch set with white wicker furnishings, green-and-white striped cushions and hanging geraniums offers an airy yin to the cozy yang of the bar, with its dark red walls, rich wood and oversize leather chairs. As you wait in the bar for Theresa – a glamorous blonde resplendent in a yellow and black ensemble – maitre d’ Rocco Petratta, all courtly charm, pours you a cup of coffee from a silver pot. You notice the pale green map on a far wall that stands in vivid contrast to the bar’s deep red palette. Commissioned by Theresa from Redstone Studios in Durham, Conn. – where artist Connie Brown does one-of-kind wall maps on canvas for private clients, companies and organizations – the Homestead map is less geography than biography. It’s the story of the Henkelmanns and their journey, with Greenwich and Europe no longer an ocean apart.
Europe is a key to the Homestead. The main building is a former Italianate Gothic-style inn dating from 1859. A portion of it is even older, dating from 1799 when the property was a colonial homestead. “Europe has always been a huge part of our clientele,” Theresa says, along with California and Texas. And, Europe is where Thomas, a master French chef, got his start, studying in his native Germany and Geneva before being mentored by Paul Haeberlin, the late chef and owner of L’Auberge de l’ill, one of the great classic French restaurants. It was Paul’s son Marc who paved the way for Thomas to become executive chef of the restaurant Maurice at Le Parker Meridien in Manhattan. Subsequently, he became executive chef of La Panetière in Rye. In 1997, the Henkelmanns bought the Homestead to showcase Thomas’s cuisine. “The food’s the draw,” Theresa says, to which a leisurely lunch during our visit attests. The soup du jour – an asparagus soup with lobster meat, croutons and no cream – nonetheless has a velvety texture to go along with its savory taste. The meaty, lightly browned Maryland crab cakes are served with tender baby carrots, a gentle bed of sautéed spinach and delicate waffle chips that are a filigree of flavor. We abstain (reluctantly) from dessert, but the ladies at the table next to us can’t stop talking about the profiteroles and indeed their entire meal. 41
The setting for the jewel that is the cuisine at Thomas’ eponymous restaurant is the attentive but unhurried service. That, too, has a Continental air, with a nod as well to the Midwest. “I’m from Grosse Pointe, Michigan,” Theresa says, “and I genuinely like people.” Her approach, then, is part good Midwestern manners and part Golden Rule. She asks herself how she would like to be treated and then does unto others. It helps, she says, to have the Homestead staff, which ranges from 38 to 50, depending on the need. “They’re such terrific people and so professional.” Still, being a hotelier is not for the fainthearted. “Had I known,” she says with a laugh. “Would I like to have more time for myself?” Indeed, she would like to write. “I have a great pamphlet inside of me,” she adds with self-deprecating wit. “But I do love it here.” If her husband’s food is the draw, then her artfully eclectic interior design keeps you there. The Homestead has 11 rooms and seven suites, with nine accommodations in the main building and nine in the Carriage House. There’s also the newly renovated Cottage Boardroom for corporate retreats while the Barn is used for
storage. As a tour with hotel manager and events director Renata Augusto demonstrates, no two suites/rooms are alike. They’re painted goldenrod, pistachio, melon and celadon. (Our favorite is red and white with a red and yellow, skylit bath.) They contain Chinese urns and Indian prints. They’re accented by pear sculptures, dragonfly lights and everywhere monkeys – monkey sconces, stuffed monkeys in fanciful birdcages and monkeys bearing trays that hold the Homestead’s business cards. Theresa is fond of monkeys and elephants. The textiles and furnishings are by Brunschwig & Fils and Donghia; the cherry bespoke furniture by Dana Robes. But the fascinating décor, blending accents from the roads to Morocco and Bali, suggests a life well-traveled. You just want to sink into these spaces. The home page on the Homestead’s website says that the difference between real life and the movies is that real life has bad lighting and no score. Backlit by the Homestead, you’ll always hear the music. The Homestead Inn & Thomas Henkelmann restaurant are at 420 Field Point Road in Greenwich. Rates range from $350 to $495 a night. For more, call (203) 869-7500 or visit homesteadinn.com. n
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The sculpture walk at the Silvermine Arts Center in New Canaan; and, clockwise from below, Leslee Asch, executive director, in Silvermine gallery space; Mary Americo at work in a jewelrymaking class; Silvermine Market with Scott Kaluczky, an owner (inset); and a Silvermine painting class in progress.
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A most artful day
By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki
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ulling into the Silvermine Arts Center on a vibrantly sunny spring afternoon, it’s almost surprising to find the parking lot nearly full. It’s close to 3 p.m. on a random Thursday, after all. But the storied arts center with a reputation as one of Fairfield County’s hidden gems – it’s nestled into a curve in a mostly residential enclave of New Canaan – is clearly bustling. An informal tour led by Executive Director Leslee Asch quickly reveals, though, just what has brought so many to this 90-year-old cultural institution on a weekday afternoon – and continues to make it an ideal option for the most artful of trips any day of the week. It’s the provocative art in the main exhibition space or the sculpture walk that finds the grounds dotted with intricate work. In one building, a group of women devote their attention to a jewelry class. A wooden bridge over a stream that leads into the pond takes you to another studio, where a class designed to capture the beauty of flowers is just breaking up. In the main studio, adjacent to the main gallery, two painting classes are under way. “It’s very important that there are multiple entry points to our program,” Asch says. She says that Silvermine draws visitors from North Haven, Conn. to Brooklyn, all attracted to its offerings and proximity. “How many places can you be right near home and feel like you’re away?” The laid-back surroundings, a collection of buildings mostly from the 1960s and ’70s set within 4.5 ambling acres, have been attracting – and inspiring – artists ever since sculptor Solon Borglum moved here in 1908, turning it into a gathering place for artists. That informal artists’ colony eventually became the Silvermine Guild of Artists, which was founded in 1922 and formally incorporated two years later with the founding of the School of Art. Silvermine’s place in the art world has been carved out over the years. Milton Avery, Helen Frankenthaler and Jacques Lipchitz have exhibited here, while dance teachers have included Merce Cunningham and Alvin Ailey. The New York Philharmonic has performed on the grounds. Silvermine just resonates with artists, whether it’s those well-established and seeking to exhibit in its respected galleries or the emerging ones determined to hone their skills in a variety of media. Today, Silvermine Arts Center’s guild, a prestigious juried group, features more than 300 professional artists. The center itself boasts five gal-
leries that showcase local and national work. All complement an array of public programs, such as an arts summer camp and outreach programs in the Norwalk and Stamford schools. The visual arts center has an enrollment of more than 4,500 annual students and attracts some 12,000 visitors to its galleries each year. The sculpture walk, launched during the guild’s 90th anniversary last year, features a selection of work from the permanent collection and is continuing to expand to include work by noted 20thcentury sculptural pioneers. “The environment is actually an integral part of it,” Asch says of Silvermine’s strengths. “One of the things I realized early on (is) we have a loyal student body,” Asch says. And those students find a wealth of resources with instruction available in ceramics, creative writing, digital imaging, drawing, flame-working, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, silversmithing and special studies. Study can range from full time to a simple afternoon workshop. “There are a lot of things you can do in one day,” Asch says. “You don’t have to take a yearlong study.” Students find the surroundings both practical and artistic. Facilities include expansive painting studios with natural light, a printmaking studio, a photography classroom and darkroom, a digital lab and studios for ceramics, jewelry, metal and stone sculptures, as well as a bronze-casting facility. “Silvermine is very broad in terms of its artistic vocabulary, if you will,” Asch says. Capital funds left over from a campaign in the early 1990s allowed some physical moves at Silvermine in recent years. A building directly across from the main campus was purchased and has become both the school and administration offices. The vacated space opposite the pond is being transformed into additional studio space. “Paint It Black,” the 90th anniversary gala, featured honorary chairs Keith Richards and wife Patti Hansen, who live in Connecticut, and raised more than $200,000 for outreach, scholarship and educational programs. The special events abound, some raising funds, others awareness. June 1 is the spring fundraiser, a culinary fete called “The Silvermine Palette.” The 63d annual “Art of the Northeast” exhibition concluded May 24 and yields to the annual student show, which will be presented from June 9 to July 20. “Not What Happened,” a play by Obie Awardwinner Ain Gordon, will be presented the weekend of June 22.
And the third annual “ArtsFest,” a free community program that will include hands-on art activities for all ages and a special performance and parade led by Brazilian maracatu company Estrela Brilhante is set for Aug. 10. “I love work at the intersection of visual and performing arts,” Asch says. Expectations are high for this signature event. “We will very much be putting ourselves on the map as a destination,” with that event, Asch says. “‘ArtsFest’ is becoming known as a real multigenerational experience.” Many come to Silvermine for a particular event, but then come back for a class. It all makes for a destination worth exploring in any season. And what’s a day trip without a bit of shopping and perhaps a light bite? Silvermine has a charming gift shop filled with one-of-a-kind artistic and fine craft creations, while the Silvermine Market (at 1032 Silvermine Road, across from the main campus and next to the administration building) is an ultra-convenient option for both casual and more sophisticated fare. It’s got the charming feeling of an old general store, complete with vintage photographs. Gourmet foods are in the spotlight during breakfast and lunch hours, with options ranging from eggs Benedict or cinnamon French toast to the Silvermine spinach salad to a BLT chicken Caesar. “Silvermine Art School is a big part of our business,” says Scott Kaluczky, an owner since 2006. And the market fits right into the historic setting. “This property’s been in operation for more than 100 years,” as a food establishment, he adds, also noting that on Friday and Saturday evenings it turns into a full-service café. “It’s just a great area to be in,” Kaluczky says of his artistic surroundings. It’s all a bit of a secret treasure, easily accessible if not readily seen. “You don’t just stumble on us,” Asch says of Silvermine Arts Center. “We’re not in the middle of any town.” But it seems fitting for this countryside setting that has long inspired artists – and visitors. As Asch says, “One you get here, people, they breathe more deeply. They relax. It’s kind of an oasis here.” As the Silvermine mission statement says, in part, “Art is vital to the spirit, creativity and wholeness of human beings.” A trip to this New Canaan gem proves just that. For more on Silvermine Arts Center, at 1037 Silvermine Road in New Canaan, call (203) 9669700 or visit silvermineart.org. For more on Silvermine Market, visit silverminemarket.com.n
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“Those who are fond of boating will have ample opportunity of enjoying themselves in the company of many enthusiastic pond navigators.” From the original brochure–Weekapaug Inn, circa 1942
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Road warrior Prince Harry comes to Greenwich By Georgette Gouveia Photographs by Bob Rozycki
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Clockwise from top: Prince Harry with children in Lesotho; Nacho Figueras; Prince Seeiso; and more Sentebale youngsters. Photographs courtesy of Sentabale.
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Prince Harry with children in Lesotho. Photograph courtesy of Sentabale.
C
apt. Harry Wales came to America in May, and like many soldiers traditionally have done, he paid his respects to comradesin-arms, serenaded a pretty girl and made time for children. But he also had some R&R – if you can call the high-speed, high-stakes world of polo rest and relaxation. Wales is better known, of course, as Prince Harry of Wales, and he culminated a week of conquering the colonies with charm and compassion by playing for the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup at the Greenwich Polo Club May 15 against a team led by Argentine star Nacho Figueras. Sentebale, which means “forget me not,” is the name of the charity Prince Harry founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006 in memory of their mothers to help children there who face the challenges of poverty and HIV/ AIDS. The event – which featured 400 invited guests and half as many members of the media – set normally sedate Greenwich (along with many a feminine heart) aflutter, with stores like Atelier360 on Greenwich Avenue flying the Union Jack, featuring British designers and serving tea and Pimm’s Cups, the iconic Wimbledon drink.
Prince of players Did it live up to the hype? Did it ever. The match was a taut affair that reflected the dynamic power of polo, a game that originated with the military elite of ancient Persia. This latest incarnation showcased good defense by Figueras, captain of the St. Regis team, and aggressive
play by teammate and match MVP Dawn Jones, wife of actor Tommy Lee Jones, who more than held her own with the guys and demonstrated that equine sports can be a level playing field for both sexes. She played the No. 4 position normally reserved for Peter M. Brant – polo club co-founder, publisher, art collector and, on this day, umpire. But fittingly in the end, the Sentebale Land Rover team prevailed, 4-3, with Prince Harry scoring the winning goal. One person who foreshadowed the outcome was natty Sentebale team captain Malcolm Borwick, who scored two goals and had played with Prince Harry thrice before. Walking the red carpet before the event, Borwick told the press he expected a close, competitive match. This would be no casual exhibition. But then, he said, Prince Harry was no token athlete: “He’s a very good player, who plays all over the world in support of his charities.” In a sense, the seesaw match was a metaphor for the elements that two- and four-legged creatures endured all day – sun, rain, sun, rain and, for a change of pace, sun with rain followed by wind. Guests and members of the fourth estate took it all in stride, however. “Let me pretend I’m not cold,” said Gayle King – coanchor of “CBS This Morning,” Greenwich resident and BFFOO (Best Friend Forever of Oprah) as she slipped off a shawl to reveal a silky, sleeveless print dress that caressed her curves. When Delfina Blaquier – the gamine wife of “Nacho, Nacho Man,” as the press dubbed Figueras – found her billowing dress threatening to turn her into Marilyn Monroe in “The Seven Year Itch,” she smoothed
it down with a gesture that said “ooh-la-la.” Few were more amiable than the prince himself, who joked with Figueras, with whom he seems to have a real camaraderie, and posed for post-match photographs with teammates, opponents and their family members. As one British TV journalist noted in his stand-up, gone were the “naked antics” of Prince Harry’s last visit to America. In their place was a growing maturity that revealed a real prince among men.
Boardwalk dreams Perhaps like all road trips, Prince Harry’s was a mixture of fun and poignance. On Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where the prince began his official visit, he and U.S. Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, toured a photographic exhibit on efforts to rid the world of landmines – a cause dear to the heart of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Prince Harry visited with wounded U.S. servicemen at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and, in a particularly touching moment, laid a wreath at the grave of Michael L. Stansbery in Arlington National Cemetery. Stansbery, who was chosen for the honor at random, was a 21-year-old Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient, killed by an explosive device on July 30, 2010 while on foot patrol in Afghanistan. Prince Harry, who served two tours there, left a note reading, “To my comrades-in-arms of the United States of America, who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of freedom. Captain Harry Wales.” The prince, wearing a ceremonial British Army uniform with a sky-blue beret, also placed flowers near the 49
Prince Harry with Dawn Jones in Greenwich.
eternal flame of President John F. Kennedy’s grave and paid his respects at the grave of British Major Gen. Orde Wingate, a World War II pioneer in guerilla warfare who died in the crash of a U.S. bomber in 1944. But there were light hearted moments in the capital as well, as when the prince surprised first lady Michelle Obama; Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and a group of military mothers and children at a White House tea, pitching in to help the kids make Mother’s Day gifts. (Clearly, Prince Harry was sharpening his uncle skills for the pending arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s baby next month.) In Colorado, he helped kick off the Warrior Games for 50
wounded servicemen, tried his hand at sitting volleyball and American football and serenaded Olympic swimmer and four-time gold medalist Missy Franklin on her 18th birthday. Then it was on to Manhattan to promote British tourism with Prime Minister David Cameron and show his adaptability to another American sport, baseball. But not before the prince toured areas of the Jersey Shore ravaged by Hurricane Sandy and greeted first responders with Gov. Chris Christie, who presented him with a Christie classic, a fleece jacket. The governor and the prince even took part in a quintessential boardwalk game, throwing plastic balls through holes for prizes they gave to the chil-
dren they partnered with. In Prince Harry’s case it was Allie Cirigliano, 7, of Middletown, N.J. When the prince suggested she pick a blue penguin as her prize and she demurred – preferring a Hello Kitty stuffed doll – he said, “Don’t listen to me,” with a laugh. Such self-deprecating humor – and ginger good looks – went along way with older members of Allie’s sex, who flocked to, tweeted, Instagramed and Facebooked every stop on the prince’s route. Like 17-year-old Camilla Bowdon – who came to the Jersey Shore probably for the same reason that she’s visited London and studied royal history: “’Cause he’s my future husband.” Ah, well, a girl can dream, can’t she? n
way
lake house
The
A movie-star setting for a movie-star home By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki and Tim Lee
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Presented by Houlihan Lawrence
MYSTERY LAKE at a Glance
• Pound Ridge • 5,308 square feet • 22.32 acres • Bedrooms: 10 • Baths: 6 full, 1 half • Amenities: Total privacy, lake views, first-floor master suite, pool, dining room with wet bar, eat-in kitchen, butler’s pantry, vaulted/cathedral ceilings, fireplaces, walkout basement, water access, guest/caretaker cottage, extensive decks, electric tram links boathouse to main home, two-car garage. • Price: $3.45 million
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ctors Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy built Mystery Lake, a stunning Pound Ridge property artfully situated on a rocky outcropping, as a secluded country escape back in the 1970s. Just one other family has called the property home, maintaining its intended use as a year-round, one-of-akind retreat for more than 30 years. With the property now available to welcome its next guardian, it remains a testament to bold yet thoughtful design, incredible natural beauty and more than a few lives well-lived. Making a recent morning visit to what for so long has been a part of his family’s history, film and television producer Mitchell Cannold talks about what the more than 20 acres of lakeside serenity have meant to his extended family since it was bought by his parents as the ’70s drew to a close. “My father always thought of it and we’ve also thought of it, therefore, as a giant tree house,” he says. And it’s a whimsical – if fitting – way to sum up the way of life at this home away from home. As Cannold says, “The spirit of Mystery Lake is a family compound, a retreat, the opportunity to feel like you’re in Vermont, thoroughly removed from the city and the stresses of everyday life.”
A serene escape That sense of adventure begins with the long drive around Mystery Lake as one glimpses then nears the main residence. Appetite whetted, visitors have two ways to reach the intricately carved front door to the pumpkin-hued contemporary home, either the artistic and dramatic cantilevered wooden bridge or the electric tram, a most convenient amenity, especially when bringing in supplies. Once inside, visitors are awed by the symphony of stone and sunlight and sweeping views of the lake from
so many of the rooms. Mystery Lake clearly is a home to be savored in every season. The design of the home, built on a rocky promenade, reflects, not fights with, its surroundings. A massive stone in the entryway brings nature right inside in a way that cannot be duplicated and sets the tone for life here. It’s multilevel living, with four separate suites – a total of 10 bedrooms and six full baths in more than 5,000 square feet of living space – Mitchell Cannold creating a cohesive sensibility. A loft area, for example, is an ideal hideaway within a hideaway, while the master suite is an tures a kitchenette, bedroom, bath and sitting room for expansive wing complete with an office, fireplace, sitting additional living or staff options. room, bedroom and bath. Most every area has access to Adding to the property’s sheer drama is a stunning the series of decks that hug the main residence and take swimming pool that mimics the feel of an infinity pool, full advantage of indoor-outdoor living. here seemingly stretching out over the lake itself. A more-than-functional kitchen features sleek counAll add up to a place that’s been an anchor of family life tertops and a soothing sense in cream with vibrant plum since its creation in 1971. accents. A simple yet elegant dining room is an adjacent And it remains, Cannold says, as captivating a natural space ideal for entertaining, a modern, generous-sized retreat as it was when his family arrived. room as are all at Mystery Lake. “Nothing’s changed,” he notes. “It’s been protected as Decorative touches, from frosted-glass elements to sky- it was.” lights to a circular stairway to reach the loft, add sophisticated distinction throughout. Ample wall and gallery Acquiring the property space make the home a perfect backdrop for art as well. Cannold says he was moving back to New York from The family, Cannold says, did the entire house over a stint in Los Angeles, so his parents decided to lend a when it was purchased by his parents, who consistently hand. maintained and upgraded the home ever since, “both ar“My father and mother were out on a lark looking for tistically and mechanically.” a house for my family when my father saw the brochure for this,” he says. “He said ‘Ooh, what’s that?’” The great outdoors The property was no longer for sale at the time, but he Enjoying the outdoors could not be easier at Mystery still was captivated. Lake, which itself has hosted many a boater, fisherman, “I think more because he was a passionate amateur arswimmer and skater over the years. Access, it should be chitect he wanted to see the house,” Cannold says. noted, is shared with just one other property. So he did, getting a tour from Cronyn, who enjoyed a A boathouse is nestled below the main home and fea- long career on stage and screen, often with his Tony- and 53
Oscar-winning wife, Jessica Tandy. “They struck up a beautiful friendship,” Cannold says. “My father and Hume became fast friends over their shared passion.” That direct link to the creation of Mystery Lake only added to its outward charms, Cannold adds. “That it was created by and lived in by Hume and Jessie made it even more tantalizing.” In time, Cronyn and Tandy finally agreed to sell it – and Cannold’s parents were the buyers. “It’s been a family compound ever since,” Cannold says. “It’s really been a combination of a tree house, a family compound, a party house, a lake house… it was a fabulous party house, the site of many, many clambakes, rehearsal dinners, family reunions.” There was even, he notes, a surprise birthday party for his late father that came complete with a hot-air balloon launched over the lake.
Sweet memories When a home, even a part-time residence like this lakeside getaway, is in a family for decades, it becomes part of the family’s unique history. Cannold has especially fond memories of his parents’ connection to the home and recalls something his mother said that illustrates the importance of Mystery Lake in their lives. When the family would drive up from their Sound Shore-area home, even though his mother was in the back seat, she knew when they were getting close to their destination by her husband’s reaction. “She could see him begin to smile through the back of his head when he came to Pound Ridge,” Cannold shares. It’s a statement that is symbolic of the sense of “peace, comfort,” Cannold says, that Mystery Lake brought his father and in turn, his entire family. And those deeper qualities, Cannold concludes, truly explain what Mystery Lake can do for whoever is lucky enough to call it home. “It really plays into the spirit of why people will love it.” For more information, contact Brian Murray at (914) 417-1510 or bmurray@houlihanlawrence.com; or JB Avery at (914) 646-3557 or javery@houlihanlawrence.com. n 54
Girls gone wild in Paris A mother-daughter story By Patricia Espinosa
Patricia and Natalie aboard a night cruise boat along the Seine.
Hermès boutique on the Left Bank.
There’s something about mother-daughter trips that make women smile. Perhaps it’s because for many of us they evoke the rite-of-passage trips we took with our own moms, like the one I fondly remember taking to Europe the summer before college at age 18. It remains one of my most treasured memories not just because of where I traveled, but with whom I shared it. Still, for others it’s a jaunt they plan to take one day. The trick, though, is waiting until that perfect moment when she’s just old enough and you’re still young enough to enjoy doing the same things. Think of it as the stars aligning. That’s precisely what happened when I took my daughter, Natalie, to Paris in April for her Sweet 16. Together we turned the usual mother-daughter dynamic on its head as she unplugged and I unwound, all for the sake of a little Parisian joie de vivre. Noticeably absent were the incessant texting, Facebooking and Instagraming. (I deliberately opted-out of an international data plan on my daughter’s cell phone.) Instead, Natalie’s iPhone simply became her camera, which she used to take beautiful pictures. But she wasn’t the only one off her game. I scarcely uttered a judgmental word and not one mention of college, homework or anything remotely resembling nagging. Well, except for the occasional, “Stand up straight.” Traveling with your daughter means never having to explain why you need 10 pairs of shoes for a seven-day trip. Overpacking is a given, as is a shop-til-
you-drop mindset, because eight hours of shopping is not the sort of thing that would generally fly with my husband or worse, my 10-year-old son. The beauty is there’s no one there to reel you in. It’s girls gone wild in Paris, which I might add is distinctly different from the spring break-bikini-tops-off-girls-gone-wild variety that usually comes to mind. But don’t be fooled. It wasn’t all shopping for this mother-daughter duo. Indeed, from the sublime to the frivolous, our trip was divided into four tidy categories, all of which we pursued with equal vigor – good food, art, shopping and sightseeing. Together we scoured Paris for our favorite things, from the best macarons to the most unique vintage clothing store. For this we consulted trusted friends, travel books and good old-fashioned intuition, which led us to discover many a hidden treasure. There were far too many wonderful moments to mention, but for me, the highlight was visiting the Musée Rodin on a balmy spring day, and for my daughter, sitting next to Kanye West at dinner in the Hôtel Costes. Okay, so maybe our interests don’t perfectly align. A word of caution: Paris is notorious for pickpockets, so watch out for groups of teenage girls who will try to distract you while robbing you blind. Just like the bevy of girls who converged on my daughter as we descended the Montmartre stairs, until mama bear realized what was happening and scared them off. n 55
Parisian Favorites Museums If it’s your first time visiting Paris, the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay are not to be missed, but my favorite museum is the Musée Rodin, which offers a spectacular outdoor garden and indoor setting. If possible, try to time it for the nicest day of your trip and be sure to pay extra for the audio tour. A close second, for me, is the Musée National Picasso Paris. But you should know it’s closed until the end of 2013 for renovation. musee-rodin.fr/en Brasserie Le Café Marly at the Musée du Louvre When you visit the Louvre, you must have lunch at Le Café Marly. Be sure to sit outside on the shady terrace, which offers a stunning view of the Louvre pyramid. I splurged on lobster salad that was worth every last Euro.
Other restaurants Le Castiglione Café 235 Rue Saint-Honore lecastiglione.com Great for people-watching if you sit outside and for burgers, too. Les Cocottes 135 Rue Saint Dominique maisonconstant.com “Cocottes” mean “little pots.” All the courses are served in mini castiron pans. The tiny space is modern and chic but not pretentious. Hands-down my best meal. In case you’re wondering, I ordered sea bass cocottes. Hôtel Costes 239 Rue Saint-Honore hotelcostes.com Be forewarned, this place is very expensive. The food is good, not great, but the setting is unmatchable. It’s where all the beautiful people go to be seen. Be sure to ask for courtyard seating.
Cafés Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Both these cafés are great for people-watching. Café de Flore 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain Café Les Deux Magots 6, place St-Germain-des-Pres Favorite Plaza Place des Vosges Paris has no shortage of plazas, but this one in particular, located in the Marais section, is our favorite. Macarons Aux Merveilleux auxmerveilleux.com Conveniently, it has four locations where you can pick up these sublime little treats. Tea Salon Mariage Frères mariagefreres.com The place has an amazing presentation of teas.
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Gelato Amorino amorino.com/en/ Never mind that these Italian gelato shops are all over the globe, it’s still our Parisian favorite. No worries if you can’t make it to Paris as there is a Manhattan locale, too. Luxury Shopping Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche 24, rue de Sèvres Think Bergdorf Goodman. Hermès 17 rue de Sèvre The interior architecture is simply spectacular. Vintage Stores La Boutique Noire 22 Rue La Vieuville There were some amazing finds in this petite shop, located in Montmartre. American Retro 40 Rue Des Francs Bourgeois
Outlet Stores Catherine Max 17 Avenue Raymond Poincare catherinemax.com The place sells designer closeouts. Expect to wait on line outside to get in. Check out the website for the designer sale schedule. When we went, it was Kenzo week. Sandro 26 Rue De Sivigne Sandro is a global brand coming to Greenwich Avenue soon. You’ll find great bargains at this location. Zadig Et Voltaire 22 Rue Du Bourtibourg Another popular store chain found throughout Paris. Take advantage of the sale boutique because the regular stores are quite pricey. — Patricia Espinosa
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‘Oscar’ night A glamorous benefit for White Plains Hospital
Photographs by 5th Avenue Digital
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T
he star of White Plains Hospital’s 120th anniversary gala wasn’t in attendance. But his presence was felt in every fold, bead and stunning effect. The presentation of Oscar de la Renta’s Fall 2013 Collection was a triumph for event cochairwomen Susan Yubas and Mary Jane Denzer – whose eponymous store has been selling de la Renta fashions for more than 30 years. (The ladies looked elegant, too, Denzer in flowing black lace de la Renta, Yubas in a short pale-green lace J. Mendel dress from Mary Jane Denzer.) The runway show – held in the lucent atrium of 800 Westchester Ave., the Rye Brook home of RPW Group – reaffirmed de la Renta’s fearless affinity for pattern, texture and color and reflected the 21st century’s anything-goes attitude toward styles and previous decades, even other centuries. A ruby Versailles toile print chine offshoulder sweetheart ball gown and a mulberry silk faille gown with gold bullion and bead toile embroidery echoed the age of Mozart. A silver tulle beaded shift dress with flounce hem and a shocking pink silk faille gown with gold bullion and bead
embroidery evoked “The Great Gatsby,” which is all the rage now thanks to Baz Luhrmann’s new 3-D film. Many of the dresses and gowns had ’50s silhouettes – long pencil skirts and gently draped jackets topped by gumdrop hats; cinch-waist cocktail numbers. But de la Renta also had fun with the ’60s with bubble dresses like the teal silk faille strapless number that made the models look like psychedelic lollipops. Given the range and baroque elegance of the collection, were we right to detect more than a hint of John Galliano, the former Dior bad boy whom de la Renta has brought in from the fashion cold after his anti-Semitic meltdown? The Anti-Defamation League itself has given this its seal of approval. De la Renta is like the E.F. Hutton of old: When he speaks, others listen. The women at the hospital gala, however, couldn’t stop talking about everything the runway models were wearing, from their drop earrings to their high peekaboo shoes. Whereas the men in attendance looked as if they had never seen women that tall or that thin. For more see Watch in this issue. – Georgette Gouveia
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Traveling in comfort and style By Georgette Gouveia Photographs by Bob Rozycki
There’s a terrific moment in “Pride and Prejudice” – not the one with Keira Knightley but the definitive version with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy – where Maria Lucas (sister of Charlotte, who’s the BFF of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennet and wife of the fatuous Mr. Collins, whom Lizzie has rejected even though he’s going to inherit the Bennet estate, which has been entailed away from the female line) packs and repacks her trunk, because she fears it is not up to the Olympian standards of the imperious Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy’s aunt and Lizzie’s nemesis. Whereupon the self-possessed Lizzie informs Maria (pronounced Mah-RYE-ah) that since it’s her trunk and her dresses, she should pack anyway she wants and no one will ever know. Way to go, Lizzie. Still, you sympathize with Maria. You plan the perfect vacation. You have your mode of transportation and lodging all lined up. And then you’re almost done in before you even depart by the daunting challenge of what to wear and how to pack it. It’s why some people hate to travel. We know the feeling. That’s why we asked style gurus and WAG alumnae “Diva” Debbi O’Shea and Kendra Charisse Porter for some tips to help us put our best (sandaled) foot forward:
Heidi wears Etro gathered round-neck paisley dress, $1,375; Bottega Veneta patent travel tote, $3,180. Jimmy Choo Verdict suede cutout, $995. Available at Neiman Marcus, The 62 Westchester in White Plains.
1. Travel light. As the child of an overpacking mother, Kendra never checks luggage and went all the way to Mexico for a cousin’s wedding with just a carryon and a book bag. Debbi, too, says, “I’ve given myself permission to repeat outfits. You want to look chic, but you’re not going to be able to take everything with you.” With that in mind, what you wear on travel day is important, because it sets the tone and foundation of your vacation wardrobe. “There are no orphan pieces,” Debbi says. 2. Layer your travel-day look. Debbi likes a light cashmere tank, long jersey
cardigan, Ali Ro skinny jeans in a color other than the traditional blue, a lightweight microfiber raincoat that rolls up, a medium-size purse and sturdy Yosi Samra packable flats in a neutral color. Kendra likes to wear the bulkier items that would take up space in her suitcase, traveling in jeans, sneakers, a tank, a button-down shirt, sweater and jeans jacket. (Obviously, the number of layers you wear will depend on the season and destination.) Key for both women – a big scarf that ties the outfit together and can serve as a cover-up, shawl or blanket. For the guys, the stylists say, same idea. Debbi says a man can’t go wrong in dark-blue boot-cut jeans, a polo shirt, a good-looking travel shoe, a nice belt, a Zegna microfiber zip fleece pullover and a lightweight jacket. Kendra adds that light sports, track or cargo jackets are all good options for them. 3. The carry-on is all that stands between you and disaster. Veterans of the Lost or Misdirected Luggage Wars, Debbi and Kendra swear by their carryons. Debbi even recently treated herself to a woven hemp tote with leather trim by Fairchild Baldwin. In general, your carryon should always contain your valuables and necessities should your checked bag be delayed – jewelry in a jewelry bag, electronics and chargers, overnight toiletries and makeup in TSA-appropriate bottles (look for sample sizes), medication in a multiday pill container you can find in any discount drugstore, a change of underwear and top, nightwear and socks to keep the tootsies warm, dry and clean in any environment. 4. Try the pyramid approach to packing. Having selected a palette of no more than four colors – say white, taupe, navy and black – Debbi and Kendra pack from the heaviest items to the lightest but in different ways. Debbi, who is checking her suitcase, begins with her beach bag, umbrella and
toiletries, contained in those heavy zippered bags that sheets come in, on the bottom. Next go her beige wedge sandals and pewter flat Jack Rogers sandals in cloth sacks. Then in go two pairs of shorts – one white, one bright; three bathing suits; one Calypso St. Barth coverup; one pair of white jeans; one cardigan (white or taupe); two tanks; two Ts; one V-neck long-sleeve sweater; two pairs of yoga pants; two exercise tops; a neutral clutch; three jersey dresses on one hanger in a dry-cleaning bag; two oversize scarves; two nightgowns in different weights; and a packable hat with tissue in the crown. (No, we didn’t forget the undies. They line the sides of the suitcase.) Kendra, who is using her carry-on as her suitcase, favors unlined, washable linen pants in white and taupe, corresponding blouses, a linen jacket, sundresses, a nightgown, two bathing suits (in ziplock bags) and a cover-up that can be transformed into a dress, top or towel. To these, Kendra takes the military-style approach, folding and rolling each article. She places her toiletries on the top or side of the bag in a clear cosmetic case so airport security doesn’t have to hunt for them. But doesn’t linen wrinkle? “It will have creases anyway,” Kendra says. “Besides, I’m OK with a little ironing.” 5. And for the guys: Kendra and Debbi favor a pair of dress shoes and something they can be comfortable in – mules, good-looking leather sandals, water shoes; a couple of pairs of shorts; a bathing suit; well-fitting khakis (try olive green and navy, Kendra says); chinos; cargo, convertible or running pants; a dress shirt; some polos and Ts; and a blazer in a garment bag on top. And don’t forget a tie, guys. You never know what fancy place we’ll wind up in. For more on Debbi O’Shea, visit divadebbi.blogspot.com. For more on Kendra Charisse Porter, visit kendraporter.com. n
Escada pants, $757; and Balenciaga Weekender tote, $2,195. Available at Neiman Marcus, The Westchester in White Plains.
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wear Suitable companions for your trip Whether you’re escaping for the weekend – or just determined to fit what you’re packing in a carry-all – these bags make stylish sidekicks: And they’re all available at Neiman Marcus, The Westchester, White Plains. Tom Ford satchel, $3,310.
Balenciaga Giant 12 Nickel work bag, Rose Thulian, $2,045.
Bottega Veneta convertible Veneta tote bag, black, $4,050.
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Balenciaga Classic 24-Hour Voyage, Jacynthe, $1,875.
Gucci GG Plus wheeled duffel, $1,995.
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hot spots — ridgefield in their own words, directly to you
addessi jewelers
olley court
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Located at 387 Main St. in the heart of Ridgefield, Addessi Jewelers was established in1948. We provide the finest jewels, gifts and custom services to discriminating clients in local Fairfield County, Westchester and Putnam counties, as well as national and international clientele. Addessi Jewelers offers fine diamonds and gems, a beautiful assortment of designer gold jewelry, Tahitian and South Sea pearls, as well as luxury Swiss wristwatches. Our beautiful sterling silver items are the newest addition to the store. Our fine gifts include Herend, Waterford and Moser crystal. Fair pricing and a full range of matchless custom design and repair services are among the keys to our success. Our partnerships with suppliers here in America and around the world make it possible for us to offer only the finest choices. Addessi hand-crafted jewelry, created here on our premises in our state-of-the-art laboratory, is second to none. We offer appraisals by our independent master gemologist appraiser and luxury watch repair by our master watchmaker. We service such brands as Rolex, Cartier, Baume & Mercier and many other fine brands. We have a beautiful collection of estate jewelry, which continuously offers very unique pieces of the past. Our promise to you is to continue to surpass your expectations ––– time and time again. We would love to welcome you into our store and thank you for placing your trust in us. Wayne Addessi, owner and president, is very engaged in the day-to-day business, supported by a very knowledgeable client consultant staff to meet your jewelry needs. Visit us today online at www.addessijewelers.com or stop by. Addessi Jewelers is a third-generation family business ––– “Trusted Since 1948.” Our commitment to serve you is our first priority. Our hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is convenient parking on the street or private lot in back. Please call us at (203) 438-6549.
Susan Buzaid and Robin Curnan opened Olley Court in September of 2007 out of a passion for beautiful objects. The two have been friends since 1984 when they met in the fashion industry. The owners opened shop with the goal of providing a unique place to shop for local art as well as unique pieces from around the globe. Olley Court has a collection of furnishings, lighting, rugs, accessories, art and gifts that will enhance any type of setting. The owners’ aesthetic is a mix of contemporary and organic with a calm palette adding pops of color for personality. Olley Court has become a haunt for home owners and designers searching for a piece of modern art, horn accessories, hide rugs, gorgeous ottomans, beautiful custom pillows and stone-top tables. Interior designer Danielle Wallinger is on staff and designs amazing spaces, with great attention to detail. Susan and Robin remain committed to strong customer service, providing a warm and intimate shopping experience and a desire to find what you are looking for. “We have a fantastic selection of wallpapers and gorgeous fabrics, not seen in our area. We love searching for the ultimate object to complete the rooms. In addition, we now boast a beautiful collection of jewelry from around the globe, including Israel, Turkey and Peru. The collections are as unique and organic as the furnishing items in the store. Olley Court buyers work hard to bring our customers a unique well-edited collection of product from globally respected vendors. We search for unique pieces of hand-blown glass objects; recycled wood product; serving pieces crafted from wood, horn, shell and silver; pillows of Tibetan lamb, hand-pressed velvet, silk screened velvet, gorgeous linens and cottons; furniture and lighting to suit all sensibilities; eco-friendly candles; and body products from DayNa Decker; and a vast array of objects to make your house a home! The selection is ever changing, so please visit our Main Street store..
Founder, Rob Freeman, Poplar Network, says parents and children today are spending more money than ever before on higher education and often going deeply in debt to do it. Indeed, student debt recently exceeded $1 trillion, surpassing credit card debt as the most significant type of debt in the U.S. In the past fuve years, tuition costs at public universities increased by 27 percent, while the median income shrank. We all want the best college education for our children, but we need to ask, is this debt producing any value for them? Is there a better way? Higher education should be an asset, something that puts money in your pocket, not a liability. In my mind, a sustainable education model is one that is more affordable, flexible, leverages technology, offers job experience and addresses long-term opportunities. In the process, students should learn the basics of life and business, such as how to sell. Young people should be taught to create sustainable businesses. Poplar Network (www.poplarnetwork.com) is a free networking and education platform for the $100-billion green building industry. We believe in providing our members with opportunities to connect and learn from one another via an engaging Q&A system, rich profiles and the highest quality professional education tools. It’s our goal to develop technology and a curriculum that not only educates, but helps members sell what they do and find opportunities for work and experience. We are a startup and just launched but we grew by more than 500 percent last month and now have more than 1,000 members. We’re proud that some very smart people who worked at the Gates Foundation and Thomson Reuters have invested in us.
ADDESSI JEWELERS 387 Main St. • Ridgefield • (203) 438-6549 www.addessijewelers.com 66
OLLEY COURT 418 Main St. • Ridgefield • (203) 438- 1270 www.olleycourt.com • Follow on FACEBOOK and Twitter
POPLAR NETWORK (866)715-7737 www.PoplarNetwork.com
ridgefield playhouse
Summer sizzles at the Ridgefield Playhouse! Get out of the heat and enjoy our 500-seat, air conditioned, nonprofit performing arts center –– open year round –– but with a special summer lineup that includes amazing stars in an intimate setting. On July 8, help support The Ridgefield Playhouse’s “Arts for Everyone” outreach program with our summer gala starring Lyle Lovett! The evening kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with an amazing silent auction, dinner by the bite and an open bar under the stars in a tent on the green next to the playhouse. Then step inside for an unforgettable live auction followed by a performance by Lyle Lovett and his acoustic group. All to benefit our Arts for Everyone program, which donates tickets to children in low-income areas so that they can experience the arts for free. Other great summer shows include The Go Go’s June 20, Survivor July 13th, Kenny Wayne Shepherd July 17, Leon Russell July 21, Todd Rundgren Aug. 3, John Hiatt Aug. 9, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes August 16, comedian Rita Rudner Aug. 23 and a whole lot more. Go online to ridgefieldplayhouse.org or call (203) 438-5795 for tickets today RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE (203) 438-5795 www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org
stonehenge inn & RESTAURANT
touch of sedona
The critically acclaimed Stonehenge Inn & Restaurant offers a wonderful country setting and lakeside views tucked into the back roads of Ridgefield. Be prepared to experience its delicious American cuisine made with the finest and freshest ingredients. In addition, a professional and attentive staff allows for a truly memorable dining experience. Dinner is served 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Reservations are preferred. Open seven days a week for private functions. Attire is business casual (no jackets for men required). Our bar and taproom provide a more relaxed atmosphere and lighter appetizer fare. The charm-filled country inn provides a cozy retreat and is also open seven days a week, has pet-friendly rooms available and includes continental breakfast. Additionally, it has been named “Connecticut record holder for the American Automobile Association’s Four Diamond Award” for 21 consecutive years. At the helm is Douglas Seville who has owned the Stonehenge Inn for more than 40 years. He purchased the property in 1972. Over the years Stonehenge has weathered many a storm, including a fire in 1988, which led to a major rebuilding and revamping of the main house, dining room and expansion of the terrace. We look forward to seeing you soon and experiencing our restaurant and inn steeped in history while still being current, vibrant and charming.
Looking for a wonderful spiritual gift? Come be transformed into the celestial appeal of Arizona. You won’t believe you’re in Connecticut. Even before you walk inside, you can smell the fragrance of a flower garden. A combination of sage incenses, candles, oils and wonderful Native-American music. Calm and spiritual. You are quickly moved into a different world of peace and harmony. Open seven days a week, we are a very unique boutique and spiritual center located right in the heart of downtown Ridgefield. Among the treasures and specialty items you will find are Native-American gifts, one-of-akind Native-American signed jewelry, magical crystals of all sizes and shapes, semi-precious stones, dream catchers, buddas, pottery, equestrian gifts, framed artwork, drums and more! Many evening events happen throughout the month, including Drum Circles, The Course in Miracles, and Intuitive Readers on weekends. Just give a call to find out what’s on the calendar. Layaway and gift certificates are available. Whenever Marge is in, her Pomeranian, Lulu, is also in. Stop by and say hi.
STONEHENGE INN & RESTAURANT 35 Stonehenge Road (Rte 7) • Ridgefield • (203) 438-6511 info@stonehengeinn-ct.com
TOUCH OF SEDONA 452 Main St. • Ridgefield • (203) 438- 7146 www.touchofsedonaridgefield.com 67
wagging Pets on vacation – yea or nay? By Sarah Hodgson
’Round about April I become giddy with vacation planning. I gather the family around the computer as we winnow down our options and pick our dates. This year with the Northeast held prisoner by an unusual chill, nothing could levitate my mood as reliably as thinking about the future. And then the invariable happens. A dog wanders into the room. Or two dogs, or all four of them gallop into my office as if to remind us of their place in our lives. This is followed by the usual pleas from my still innocent, everything-is-possible children, who plead for their pets’ inclusion. As often as not, I check the pet-friendly option just to see if per chance I could find a house where we all could stay. Though my final verdict will be revealed momentarily, there are many considerations that should go into the decision of what to do with your beloved fur-children while you’re on holiday. First and foremost – What’s right for your pet? Should pets accompany their families or be left behind? Most caged or exotic pets would do best at home. Small rodents, mammals, reptiles and birds are motion-sensitive and stressed by sounds, and temperature and schedule changes. Cats are quite environmentally dependent as well, having magnetic particles in their bodies and homing instincts that often override their human affections. As a rule, most cats need weeks to orient to a new living space. As far as dogs go, it might seem like a no-brainer. All dogs love adventures. Or do they? The truth is some do, while others are more akin to little kids who are comforted by routine and familiarity. If your dog is upset when you rearrange the furniture, reorienting to a new landscape and the inconsistencies of your vacation schedule may not get his tail wagging. Will your holiday spell more isolation than is usual for your dog? The stress of travel, acclimating to a new location plus isolation can send even the most stable dogs into a behavior meltdown. While people displace ten68
sion from overeating to nail-biting, dogs alleviate stress through chewing, maturating (aka peeing) and other destructive habits. These dogs aren’t bad. They’re homesick. Take your dog’s personality into consideration. Is he a fun-loving, everybody’s-my-friend type, or more reserved with strangers? Does he walk into new places with his tail held high? If so, then I’d probably agree that if your schedule would allow him daily jaunts, he’d have more fun joining you than being left staring at your taillights from the kitchen window. On the other hand, if new aromas, strange topographies and fresh faces stress your dog, his reactions to them will affect your holiday. Here are some other questions to ask yourself: If children will be on holiday with you, can your dog be trusted with them? Unless they’re your kids, check to see if they’re comfortable with dogs or have allergies to them. How about other dogs? Vacation hot spots are usually rife with dogs and dog lovers. How will your dog fare with strange dogs? A territorial dispute between dogs can derail the most congenial of gatherings. If you’ve decided to leave your dog at home – what then? Kennel, house sitter, overnight stay or routine visits? Kennels are the ideal option for dogfriendly dogs, who view a trip to the kennel like going to summer camp. Is your dog eager to meet and play with new dogs? If he is, I’d vote for a kennel stay. You’ll waste no energy worrying if your dog is all right while you’re away. Now that I have a pack of dogs, however, I have acquiesced to the needs of my most fragile canine, my German Shepherd, Balderdash. A momma’s boy since the day I rescued him, he frets when we’re separated – even for half a day. The one kennel stay we attempted was his emotional undoing. For his sake, I hire live-in house sitters, or secure someone to stop in four times during the course of the day. The sitters mirror our routines and schedule in an effort to keep all the pets busy and happy while we’re away. Whatever you choose, try, as I do, to fend off the feelings of guilt. Dogs prefer what is familiar and besides, as we all know, vacations are not always what they are cracked up to be. The car breaks down, the kids get sick, you get poison ivy. In the end you may wish you stayed home as well. n
Pet of the Month
Sajek travels in style with a piece of luggage from Roma, available at Bloomingdale’s in White Plains. (Prices range from $750 to $1,500.)
Whoever invented the saying “You’re not getting older, you’re getting better” must’ve had Sajek in mind. This 9-year-old Chocolate Labrador was dumped at a high-kill shelter by his owners, who no longer wanted to care for an older dog. But he’s a gentle giant and such a love. (Face it: Who doesn’t love Labs?) Sajek adores everyone he meets and is good with other animals and children. And as another old saying goes, just because there’s snow on the roof, that doesn’t mean there’s no fire in the furnace. Sajek still has some spunk and loves playing fetch with a tennis ball. His favorite thing to
do, however, is just relax and be a pet. He would make a great addition to any family, being grateful to live out his golden years in a warm, loving home. To meet Sajek, visit the SPCA of Westchester at 590 N. State Road in Briarcliff Manor. Please note: The SPCA does not accept deposits, make appointments or reserve animals for adoption even if it has spoken about a particular dog or cat with you. It’s always firstcome, first-served among applicants, pending approval. The SPCA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. To learn more, call (914) 941-2896 or visit spca914.org.
Recognizing our most precious resource: The people in our community. Like individuals, businesses are members of the community too. The most extraordinary enterprises take this connection to heart, doing what they can to help their neighborhoods grow. Bank of America is pleased to support the businessmen and -women who thrive on active community involvement and appreciate their important role in advancing the public good. Visit us at bankofamerica.com
Š2013 Bank of America Corporation | AR9E9C35
DreamY destination: Las Catalinas, Costa Rica By Martha Handler
(Ed. note: Last month Cappy Devlin introduced us to some of her favorite spots in Costa Rica. This month, Martha Handler continues our journey there with a trip to Las Catalinas.)
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or those of us who are lucky enough to take regular vacations, our trips often fall into two general categories – cultural and leisure. Our cultural excursions encourage immersion into a foreign country and its peoples, but our leisure vacations tend to do just the opposite. You may get a glimpse of the country’s geography from your resort, but having genuine interactions with the indigenous population is often difficult. But what if you could combine the two – travel to somewhere unique and stay in a beautiful home while you live and play among the locals? Such a destination was the dream of my friend, Charles Brewer. But before I tell you about the destination, let me tell you a bit about the man behind the dream. I’ve known Charles for many years (he was my husband’s roommate in business school) and I liked him from the start, partly because he’s quirky (he generously tosses around the 70 phrase “Good grief” and he has a thing for three-legged
Rottweilers – long story), but more important, because he tends to think pretty far outside of the box. After getting his MBA, Charles founded MindSpring, which quickly became one of the largest Internet service providers in the country. (When he first told my husband of this venture, my husband responded, “But you barely know how to use your own computer.”) In 1995 he took his company public and four years later, at the height of the dot-com boom, he merged it with EarthLink. (I guess my husband isn’t right about everything.) Shortly thereafter, he left the combined companies to follow his new passion, “New Urbanism,” a design movement that promotes walkable neighborhoods containing a range of housing and job types. What spurred Charles into this movement was a disturbing trend he saw sweeping across not only Atlanta – where he resides with his lovely wife, Ginny, and their three children – but the nation. Suburban housing developments were sprawling farther and farther from their respective cities, thereby increasing commute times and correspondingly adding to the pollution and congestion. Equally alarming to Charles was how homogenous the inhabitants of these new developments had become –
everyone was about the same age, made about the same amount of money and had the same number of children – due to the uniform size and layout of the homes in any particular housing tract. With New Urbanism in mind, Charles began to visit (with tape measure, camera and sketchbook in hand) towns and cities across the globe that incorporated mixed land use in a walkable setting with natural landscapes. Europe is full of these types of places but America, not so much. With this knowledge in hand and “seed” money in his pocket from his sale of MindSpring, Charles set out to create a model community in Atlanta featuring environmental sustainability and New Urban design. The result is Glenwood Park, developed from an abandoned 28-acre site – 85 percent of which was covered by impervious concrete surfaces and other contaminants – a community that is now home to 375 residents dwelling in 194 households with 17 unique businesses. Following Glenwood Park’s success, Charles began to look for a seaside resort destination where he could build a whole town incorporating the New Urbanism themes. Charles eventually chose Costa Rica because of its yearround good weather and stable government that caters to
the tourist trade. After an extensive search, he found the perfect spot along Costa Rica’s Northern Pacific Coast, just north of Bahia Potrero in Playa Danta, Guanacaste, for which he, three general partners and 30 other investors (this time around we jumped on board) paid $26 million for 1,200 acres in August 2006. And the lovely eco-town of Las Catalinas was born. Though I’ve been hearing about the place for years, this past March was the first time I had the pleasure of visiting and I was mightily impressed. Landing in Liberia, we (12 assorted family members and friends) were greeted by staffers who then drove us in SUVs for about 45 minutes to the quaintly nestled seaside town of Las Catalinas. (We were thankful that only the last five miles were on bumpy, dirt roads – something unfortunately you have to get used to in Costa Rica.) Our “home” for the next week was StuCasa, a lovely beachfront house, complete with swimming pool and mamasitas (Costa Rican “mothers” who come daily to clean and cook breakfast and whom we often hired to cook dinner), located along a cobblestone pedestrian walkway with beautiful plazas, a surf/coffee shop and a restaurant. What’s nice about Las Catalinas is that is has some-
thing for everyone. If relaxing is your thing, the beach and surrounding area are heavenly and tranquil with turquoise Pacific waters and soft, silky sand. And if being adventurous is more your style, the options are nearly limitless. On property there’s a 10k single-track trail for biking or hiking, from which you can see a wide variety of flora and fauna – most notably the howler monkeys, iguanas and collared anteaters. (The trail is already the longest in the country, but it will one day be extended to 50k.)From the surf shop you can rent top quality kayaks, boogie boards, stand-up paddleboards, sailboats, bikes, snorkels, volleyballs and more. There are daily yoga and boot-camp classes while a top-notch equestrian center will be opening shortly. Off-property excursions within a 90-minute drive include zip-lining, surfing, sailing and catamaran charters to protected coves to snorkel and barbecue. There’s deep-sea fishing, river rides to see crocodiles, assorted birds and reptiles and volcano hikes. If you’re willing to travel a bit farther, even more adventures await. We took full advantage of all that was offered – both on- and off-property – and each day was more exhilarating and magical than the one before. But inevitably, my
favorite time of day was sunset, when everyone (locals, residents and renters) would stroll along the pedestrian walkway and chat with one another about their day, the local economy, the best new restaurants and excursions, etc., while children played at our feet, local musicians gathered to strum their guitars, local families picnicked on the sand, waves broke in the background and the sky burst with vibrant streaks of color as the sun slowly sank beneath the waves. Though I’ve been to Costa Rica many times before, this was the first time I felt connected to the land and its people, which somehow made the experience feel much more genuine. And I believe Las Catalinas will keep getting better, because it’s only in Phase I of a multiphase plan. (Charles expects it will take decades to be fully realized). The next phases will include a mix of homes, hotels, restaurants, a church, a soccer field and offices serving both full- and part-time residents. In the end, 200 acres will be developed while the remaining 1,000 will be left as open space. Las Catalinas is truly a dream come true – an eco-community where locals and vacationers can gather together and connect with nature. 71 To read more, visit lascatalinascr.com. n
wanders
Road trips BAYSIDE TRAVEL recommends a road trip along the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The winding road along the coastline from Salerno through Ravello and ending up in Positano offers the most exquisite vistas in all of Italy. This spectacular trip takes you through grottoes, gorges, gardens and beautiful towns nestled high above the azure sea. Take this trip in the colder seasons to avoid some of the tour buses. Bayside Travel Group of Companies 124 Larchmont Ave. • Larchmont (914) 833-8880 • luxurytravelservice.com
Amalfi Coast
D. TOURS TRAVEL recommends New Zealand for a road trip. Compact and ruggedly beautiful, it’s almost as if the universe created New Zealand first and foremost as a paradise for road-tripping. Honestly. With car and camper rental –– a well-established and popular option for visitors –– New Zealand’s 10 official themed highways crisscross both islands and treat road trippers to the best of what New Zealand has to offer. With these routes as your guide, you can customize your vacation just for you. Are you an epicurean? Looking to unwind? Combine the Thermal Explorer and Classic New Zealand Wine Trail highways on the North Island and spend a week lolling in hot springs and sipping Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc as you make your way from Auckland to Wellington. Looking for adventure off the beaten path? On the South Island, the Inland Scenic 72 Route and Southern Scenic Route together offer an unforgettable expedition through the Southern Alps and the Wild West coast. For those nights on the road, New Zealand delivers every kind of accommodation in spades. From camping in the many beautiful national parks to farm stays to luxury boutique hotels, you’ll be comfortable when you rest your road-weary eyes. The ultimate road-tripper’s dream, New Zealand packs gorgeous scenery, total relaxation, cultural immersion, fantastic adventure, gourmet food and wine and adrenaline-packed experiences all into a country about the size of Colorado. Are you packing your bags yet? D. Tours Travel 21 Monroe Ave. • Larchmont (914) 833-9411 • dtourstravel.com New Zealand
GEMINI TRAVEL INC. recommends driving the Pacific Coast Highway through southern California’s beach communities as the quintessential California experience. Fly to Long Beach to avoid the hassle of LAX. Rent a convertible and head to Huntington Beach, also known as Surf City, U.S.A. Watch the surfers hone their craft from the pier stretching out into the Pacific. Join the lines waiting to enjoy breakfast at the Sugar Shack on Main Street. Continue on to affluent Newport Beach and visit the lovely marina. Be sure to take the short ferry ride over to Balboa Island to admire the architecture. Walk the length of the quaint Balboa Pier to have a million-dollar view and a milkshake at Ruby’s Diner. Next stop is Laguna Niguel, home to cove-like beaches and streets packed with little art galleries, shops and restaurants. Relax, enjoy and do some people watching. From this area, if time permits, continue down the coast, ending in San Diego. Gemini Travel Inc. 100 S. Bedford Road, Suite 340 • Mount Kisco (914) 666-6681 • geminitravelinc.com Huntington Beach Pier
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w’reel deal Art-house escape By Sam Barron
Is there anything better than escaping to an arthouse cinema? A humdrum day suddenly takes you to the countryside of France or drops you in the East Village. Or if you’re in that sort of mood, you can find out that the world is ending, because we lack clean water and good food and have too much fracking and global warming. Or you can be outraged over rape in the military or the treatment of Russian teen models in Japan. A lot of art houses have this really cool feel to them. In Toronto, I once found out that an art house I loved was going to close and I almost started crying. I’m single for a reason. Luckily, those of us who live here are privileged to have so many great art houses. Let’s take a look at some great escapes: The Picture House 175 Wolfs Lane, Pelham (914) 738-7337, thepicturehouse.org The Picture House was going to be demolished and turned into bank. A bunch of awesome people realized how lame that sounded and worked to acquire and restore the theater. They did a terrific job. I like The Picture House’s unique approach to programming. It shows two films a week for one week and then cycles in two more. If you’re seeing way too many movies, like I am, there is always something playing at The Picture House. They have two theaters – a main hall and a screening room. The screening room? Holy moly, it’s the best place in Westchester. And that includes the hot food bar at Whole Foods in Ridge Hill. The first time I went to the screening room was to see “Paul Goodman Changed My Life.” Paul Goodman did not change my life, though he did nearly cripple my back. The screening room had 20 regular chairs. It was uncomfortable, and I vowed not to return. But last year I went to see “The Island President” and I noticed the screening room was closed for repairs. Intrigued, I went back to see “Delicacy” the following week. My life was changed forever: Gone were the chairs. They were replaced with La-Z-Boy recliners. Oh my God. So while I’m sitting there watching my French movie, I’m also leaning back with my feet up like a king. It was awesome. If you see a boring movie (“Payback”), you’re liable to fall asleep. If you see an awesome movie (“Wuthering Heights”), it’s the best night of your life. There’s an ice cream shop located next 74
to The Picture House so I often bring in ice cream. Don’t read this and think The Picture House is cool with bringing in food, and then bring in a pizza and force them to ban my ice cream. I’ll be pissed. La-Z-Boy recliner, feet up, leaning back, French movie, ice cream? That’s heaven. Jacob Burns Film Center and Media Arts Lab 364 Manville Road, Pleasantville (914) 773-7663, burnsfilmcenter.org Disclosure: I actually worked at the Burns when it first opened in 2001, and I have the distinction of being the first person fired there. (Never mind.) The Burns started the refurbish-an-oldtheater-and-turn-it-into-an-art-housetheater trend, thank God. Without that, I wouldn’t have met Paul Simon, Tom Cruise and Michelle Monaghan two minutes from where I lived. And to the Burns’ credit, it has reinvigorated downtown Pleasantville. I remember Pleasantville before the Burns came in. The only thing to do was drink in the woods or loiter at 7-Eleven. I stayed home and watched “Law and Order: SVU” instead. The best thing about the Burns is there’s always something playing. It’s usually showing one to two new releases and always has an ongoing series. Once it spotlighted Romanian films. I actually sat through a three-hour documentary on Nicolae Ceausescu. The Burns’ annual Jewish Film Festival and Global Watch have something for everyone, unless you’re Hitler or a big corporation harming the Earth. My favorite series is probably Fridays After Dark, with more offbeat films. A lot of these films are really messed up. If you get a good crowd, it’s a blast. Have you seen “I Saw the Devil”? It’s so disturbing. If you liked it, you have serious issues. It made my top 10 of 2011. The seats in Theater 3 are really comfortable, and Theater 1 is big and roomy. I didn’t talk about Theater 2 for a reason. Clearview’s Cinema 100 93 Knollwood Road, White Plains (914) 946-4680, clearviewcinemas.com Whenever I can’t say anything nice about an arts theater I always say it shows movies you can’t see anywhere else. That sums up my feelings about Cinema 100. I once saw an Australian movie there called “Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger.” I see too many movies. Cinema 100 was recently acquired by
Bow Tie Cinemas. Every Bow Tie I’ve been to is really nice, so I’m hoping the new group will stay true to form and refurbish Cinema 100 while keeping it as an art house. I think it’s great that senior citizens go to movies, especially Cinema 100. That said helping our country win World War II does not give you the right to talk during movies, especially because you can’t understand dialogue. Go see a foreign film or get those clunky headphones. If I hear one more person squawk “What Did He Say?”, I’m going to flip. (Here my somewhat vintage editor has reminded me that my generation is always texting annoyingly during movies. Well, at least we’re quiet.) Avon Theatre 272 Bedford Street, Stamford (203) 967-3660, avontheatre.org The Avon is another historic theaterturned-art house. The Avon is the nicest looking theater on this list. You feel like you’re in a true movie palace. If only you could smoke, it’d
The Avon Theatre in Stamford.
be the best. (I don’t smoke, for the record.) The Avon has a downstairs, which has a library. Is that not the coolest thing? You’re waiting for your movie to start, so you go peruse the library. I feel like I should be smoking a pipe while I’m down there. (Again with the smoking reference. Freud would have a field day.) Parking at the Avon is an issue, and I do wish it had a more diverse selection, but this is a nice theater that makes me feel quaint. Isn’t that everything in New England? Four great places to escape to when you get bored with life and you’re sick of generic blockbusters. Avon, The Picture House and the Burns all have memberships too, which give you discounts on admission. They’re also nonprofits, so you can feel good about yourself, too. So, it’s a “Win Win.” (Another movie I saw at the Burns.) To read Sam’s daily musings on movies and TV, follow him on twitter at @ sb_wreeldeal. n
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where are they now? Soaring to glittering new heights By Mary Shustack
O
pen roads have taken Elyse Zorn Karlin to some interesting places. Not only has her work kept the Port Chester-based jewelry historian, author, lecturer and curator traveling the country, but more recently, it’s also taken her into space and perhaps soon, onto the silver screen. Since we last visited Karlin – she was part of the December issue’s “Bedazzled” lineup – she’s barely had time to catch her breath. A 1960s rocket-ship brooch in platinum and diamonds, from Lang Antique & Estate Then, she was fresh off an ex- Jewelry in San Francisco. Right, Venus earrings by Steven Kretchmer Design in hibition she had curated for the polarium, 18k gold and diamonds. Photo courtesy Steven Kretchmer Design. Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in The exhibition really takes off inside the gallery, with a Akron, Ohio, and had just put together another successful walk through space-themed history, from the Georgian, annual conference of the Association for the Study of Jew- Victorian and Edwardian eras (“I don’t think anyone exelry and Related Arts, held at a private club in Manhattan. pected it to go back that far,” Karlin notes) right through You may recall that she, along with Yvonne Markowitz to contemporary times. of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, founded and conBy nature, jewelry exhibitions tend to be small in scale. tinue to run the ASJRA. In addition to events, the orga- But here, with nearly 20 cases filled with an array of piecnization publishes Adornment, the Magazine of Jewelry es, it’s incredibly well-rounded and seems vast in scope. and Related Arts (which, Karlin shares, is in the midst of “I could have put another hundred pieces in easily,” a transition to a digital format that is really affecting its Karlin says. breadth of coverage). Highlights are countless, from the actual jewelry to the Most of the winter was devoted to her latest exhibi- endless ephemera, such as 1930s sheet music for “Me and tion, “Out of this World! Jewelry in the Space Age” at the Man in the Moon,” to Flash Gordon imagery to a The Forbes Galleries in Manhattan, which opened with limited-edition print of Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin during the a glittering evening of space-themed festivities in March. Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It’s a show that delves into the fascination people have The jewelry itself is stunning, from the whimsical long had with the skies, the moon, the stars and yes, trav- 1930s Bakelite-and-rhinestone brooch depicting Pierrot eling into space. swinging under a smiling moon to the utterly dramatic During a catching-up at a Rye Brook coffee shop on a showpiece, the “Tampa” necklace. This Van Cleef & Arrecent afternoon Karlin shares there were a few doubters. pels 2010 creation depicts a rocket launch into space and “A lot of people said to me they couldn’t figure out how is a burst of artistry, inspired by the classic 1860s sci-fi I was going to make it all work when they heard what it work by Jules Verne, “From the Earth to the Moon.” The was going to be,” she says. “Princess Leia” necklace (a style worn by Carrie Fisher in She not only did it but did it with flair, once again “Star Wars”) is a 1970 Björn Weckström modernist piece drawing on her very philosophy to present an insightful in sterling silver, while the “Galaxies Whirl” necklace, a and entertaining exhibition. piece by Marianne Hunter (2008), features enamel, gold, “It’s how I view jewelry in general,” she says. “You meteorite and gemstones. Blue stones float on a gold cuff never study jewelry in a vacuum. … Jewelry’s always con- by Alexis Bittar. nected to what’s going on.” “It fascinates me that so many jewelers had space in Indeed, she says jewelry reflects and develops in rela- their mind,” Karlin says. tion to current events and contemporary tastes, cultural Brenda Smith’s “Meteorite” earrings interpret a shower influences and economic times. It all comes together at of gems, while the quiet of the night is echoed in the inForbes. laid “Navajo Sky” belt buckle by Native American deThe exhibition starts off with a teaser in the lobby, a signer Jesse Monongye, a piece that features lapis, coral, case devoted to space ephemera that sums up how perva- opal and turquoise. sive the “race to get into space” was in mid-20th century Throughout, there are Sputnik-shaped earrings and America. rocket-shaped pins, work featuring fiber optic beads and It’s great retro-themed fun to look at items ranging dichroic glass. from a 1949 Atom Ray Gun toy to 1950s Valentines There’s a West Point ring worn in space by astronaut (“I’m in orbit over you!”) to a 1970s toy depicting Goofy Edward White II and a Lunar Excursion model created the Astronaut in a space capsule. by Cartier in Paris in 1969. A Tiffany & Co. Victorian
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Elyse Zorn Karlin. Photograph by Bob Rozycki
starburst pendant is another star. And if that brush with the stars has your attention, stay tuned as Karlin may become a real movie star. Well, documentary star. She’s working on “A Story to Wear: A Documentary about Jewelry History” to offer an unusual glimpse into the world of jewelry through the tastes and thoughts of those who wear it – and why. Funding got a boost with a Kickstarter campaign but she says more is needed. It’s a project that Karlin says she is “trying to get back to. … We need to raise money.” The ideal situation would be to find corporate sponsorship to supplement the grassroots funding that has allowed an enticing trailer to be filmed. Until then, she’ll be part of a curator’s tour in July at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan, an event tied to the Barbara Berger jewelry exhibition, and preparing for upcoming lectures and the ASJRA annual conference. This autumn’s edition will be devoted to “Across Time: The Symbolic Meanings of Jewelry.” She’s also going to be doing some work in conjunction with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in November. It’s all part of the ASJRA mission, she says. “Part of what we do is to promote the education of jewelry studies,” Karlin says. No matter the venue or the project, one of Karlin’s favorite things about jewelry is how it brings people together. You might admire the necklace of a woman next to you in an elevator. Next thing you know, you’re hearing all about its history, where she got it and why she loves it. It’s that power of meaning, of connection that keeps Karlin not only captivated by her chosen field but by jewelry itself – every single day. As she says, “I don’t go to the grocery store without jewelry on.” “Out of this World! Jewelry in the Space Age” continues through Sept. 7 at The Forbes Galleries, at 62 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan. For more details, visit forbesgalleries.com. For more on the documentary, visit storytowear.com. n
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T
Let the medical tourist beware By Michael Rosenberg, MD
raveling can be an interesting and exciting part of our lives, and sometimes we are lucky enough to combine the pleasures of travel with the needs of our vocation. I have attended many medical meetings and conferences in some pretty exotic locations. On the other hand, a recent and growing trend is not to travel for work or pleasure, but rather to seek medical care outside the confines of these United States. While this phenomenon known as medical tourism may present opportunities for saving money, caution is indicated, as my personal experience in Dubai will show. Of the many things I learned during my trip, the importance of thoroughly investigating standards of care outside the country, before becoming a patient, can have a critical effect on your life. In 2007, I was asked to be the medi-
cal director of a new hospital to be devoted to cosmetic surgery in Dubai, a city in the United Arab Emirates. I was extremely excited by the opportunity to visit a part of the world I had never seen. So much seemed to be happening in this country that boasted both the tallest skyscraper in the world and a desert with some of the tallest sand dunes in the world. The contrasts between the new and the old were astounding. I remember one day when we shopped in a mall with an indoor ski slope and that night had a traditional desert meal and “sledded” down a sand dune. We sampled exotic fare and visited an archipelago of islands that was entirely man-made in the shape of a palm tree. Although my visit was replete with these memories and many more, my work experience there was not as rewarding. Dubai Healthcare City was an enormous project supported by the leadership of the country. The idea was to build multiple hospitals, each with its own
specific medical discipline, in one geographic locale. This city of health care would then serve as a magnet, drawing patients from an entire region that included more than 50 million people who lived less than four hours away by plane. There would be an associated medical school and physician staff drawn from around the world. One of the hospitals being built was devoted to cosmetic surgery and I was to serve as both an operating surgeon at the facility and its medical director. I still remember the excitement of beginning to recruit plastic surgeons from both the United States and Europe who would be working at this facility. Things didn’t quite work out the way I planned. I was in the country when the hospital construction was being completed and I soon found that the hospital was not up to the standards I expected from my experiences with hospitals here. The rooms were quite beautiful, with suites available for use by extended family as well as patients during re-
covery, but the medical standards were not up to par at that time. Without the ability to enact the changes that were necessary and remembering one of the most basic dictums of all physicians, “Above all do no harm,” I felt obligated to resign from the project and return home. I only hope my successors were able to accomplish what I could not. For the person considering medical tourism for your care, remember that there are two major areas to research before you embark on this path. The first is to investigate the standards of care in the country you are visiting, and just as important, how those standards are enforced. Second, be mindful that complications can happen in any surgical procedure and know in advance how care will be provided if you have a problem with surgery that was performed in another country. For myself, I’ll stick to traveling for fun. Please send any questions or comments to mrosenberg@nwhc.net. n
Mega Outdoor Yoga Event Get On Your Mat For Mental Health
Come take your first stretch of summer under the open sky!
Wednesday, June 19, 2013 (Rain date: Thursday, June 20th)
6:00 p.m: Check in/ Register 7:00 p.m: Yoga Class Court Street in White Plains, NY (Between Main Street & Martine Avenue)
$20; all ages and levels welcome $10; for ages 12 and under
Tao Sadie Nardini Porchon-Lynch
Register now at www.mhawestchester.org
First 500 registrants receive complimentary yoga mat and gift bag!
Live music by Brooklyn band House of Waters Special thanks to our sponsors & media partners: Bronze:
Supporting:
Yoga mats generously donated by:
580 White Plains Road - Suite 510 Tarrytown, NY 10591 - www.mhawestchester.org For more information and sponsorship opportunities, call 914-345-5900 x7511 or e-mail development@mhawestchester.org.
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Play it smart to stay healthy away from home By Erika Schwartz, MD
The worst nightmare for most of us living in our present-day “flat world” where getting on a plane and leaving home for a day or a month is no longer something unusual, is getting sick away from home. Suffice it to say that most of us have come to the conclusion that we would rather not get sick anywhere, but at least at home we have doctors, family, friends and possibly some medical facility we trust somewhere in our neighborhood. Now think of leaving home and you are left not just to guess where to get your leg cast, should you need to après ski, but even to wonder who to turn to if your kid has a fever in the Caribbean. You know it: Getting sick away from home is more than just a nuisance. So what do you do? First, you should increase your chances of not getting into trouble. How do you do that? Here are some thoughts: 1. Make sure you get enough rest and don’t pile the entire vacation fun into the first night. 2. Stay well-hydrated. Drink bottled wa-
ter and if you‘re at a high altitude or in a hot climate, make sure you drink sport drinks or even sugar water to keep from dehydrating. You should know that dehydration is the number one cause for most acute illnesses. 3. Take some basic medications with you – Benadryl to eliminate allergic reactions and to help you sleep; Cipro as a broad spectrum antibiotic for infections ranging from those of the urinary tract to diarrhea to bronchitis; Immodium to stop traveler’s diarrhea from getting you very sick so you have time to get home; a cough suppressant like Tussionex to take at night should you get a terrible cough; Valium to sleep and get over jet lag; Vicodin or Percocet for bad pain; and, of course, your basic vitamins and supplements (vitamin C, 100 mg a day; Defense to boost your immune system, along with probiotics; vitamin B complex to keep your energy levels up; and fish oils –omega 3 and 6). 4. Wear clothes in layers so you don’t get cold or overheated and your body doesn’t have to work overtime to keep you from getting sick.
5. If you’re on the beach, avoid sunburn and sunstroke. Don’t fall asleep in the sun and don’t forget sunblock. Sunstroke is a major cause of dehydration and sickness on vacation that you can prevent. 6. Eat foods as similar as possible to what you eat at home and stay away from too much alcohol or caffeine to make up for loss of sleep. Too much drinking is not fun when you have to live with its aftermath, which all too often is sickness and may lead to a visit to a hospital that may hurt you more likely than help you. 7. Exercise. Don’t overdo it but keep your exercise regimen in concert with what you do at home. Indeed, step it up one notch. It will eliminate jet lag and keep you healthy as well as remind you to drink fluids, which will also keep you from getting sick. 8. Don’t worry if your flights are delayed, rerouted or the hotel is not exactly what you expected. If you can improve things, do it. If not, go with the flow and know you will be going home in a while anyway so don’t spend time producing too
much adrenalin. It’ll harm you and you might need medical care in a place where you don’t really want to avail yourself of it. 9. Use your common sense to treat small maladies with what you have and already know how to treat. Don’t panic. Don’t assume you will get better care if you go to a hospital, an emergency room or call the hotel doctor. Chances are you know better what you need and can take care of yourself if you take a few minutes to think rather than react. 10. If you really need help, it’s best to ask the hotel concierge. 11. Best bet, unless you have broken a limb, had a heart attack or run into a mountain lion, get home and have your family doctor help you. 12. Finally, don’t worry about getting sick or dying away from home. You are most likely going to have a great time away if you don’t worry, go prepared and take responsibility for having fun, being reasonable and staying healthy. For more information, email Dr. Erika at Erika@drerika.com. n
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brown
dessi
ferst
funicelli
judge
mckee
moses
yae
wit wonders: What has been your favorite journey? “My favorite journey was to Israel for my twins’ “I summer in the Catskill Mountains and I’ve B’nai Mitzvah. ... It was quite a moment in my been doing it since I was about 10 days old. It’s life.” my favorite place to go and relax.” — Kevin Brown, — Tim Judge, CEO, Hudson Barter Exchange, sales consultant, Mercedes-Benz of Greenwich, Tarrytown resident Greenwich resident “Parenthood.”
— Chris Dessi, CEO, Silverback Social, Chappaqua resident
“My honeymoon in Europe with my wife. We went to five different countries in 14 days. I got to share the most amazing time of my life with my wife, Amiee, learning the magic of the world.” — David “Magic Dave” Ferst, Thornwood resident
“I’m not through it yet.”
— Kat McKee, business development and client relationship manager, Mount Kisco resident
“My favorite journey was a trip to Israel many, many years ago. I went to Yeshiva (University), so for me it was like putting all of my experiences on the big screen.” — Leslie Moses, sales director, Hudson Barter Exchange, Yonkers resident
“I studied abroad in Florence and was there for about four months. It was quite the journey.” “Life, being alive and being healthy – what’s the — Brian Funicelli, better journey than that?” senior project manager, Silverback Social, — Alex Yae, LaGrange resident senior project manager, Silverback Social, Congers resident
Compiled by Alissa Frey. Contact her at afrey@westfairinc.com. 80
please join us for a
PARTY ON THE POND Thursday, June 6, 2013 at 6:30pm
You are invited to a magical evening on the banks of the beautiful Larchmont Reservoir-James G. Johnson, Jr. Conservancy to benefit Sheldrake Environmental Center. Waterfront Cocktails • Dining by PLATES • Auctions Musical Performances by: Larchmont Music Academy Student Jazz Ensemble and homegrown HONORING: Richard Cherry: Founder & CEO, Community Environmental Center Wendy Weinstein Karp & Matthew Karp: Owners, PLATES Restaurant and PLATES Catering
Fun, Outdoor Party Attire...Leave your Heels at Home For more information, contact Party on the Pond HQ: 914-632-9274 or Info@PartyonthePond.org or visit PartyonthePond.org Sheldrake Environmental Center, 685 Weaver Street, Larchmont, New York 10538
when&where WEDNESDAY JUNE 5
THURSDAY JUNE 6
GALA MOVES
POOLSIDE BASH
A CONVERSATION WITH THE ARTIST
RIOULT Dance NY performs 7 p.m.; The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave., Manhattan; dinner at The Altman Building to follow, 135 W. 18 St. Call for ticket price. (212) 398-5901, gala@rioult.org.
Viva Diva Wines’ reception with VIP host Perez Hilton, 8 to 11 p.m.; Noma Social, 1 Radisson Plaza, New Rochelle. $50. Vivabrandsusa.com/events.
A lecture by Kathleen Gilje, an artist whose exhibit “Revised and Restored: The Art of Kathleen Gilje” is on view through Sept. 8 at the Bruce Museum, 6:30 p.m. dessert reception preceding the lecture; 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich. $10 nonmembers, $5 members. (203) 869-0376, brucemuseum.org.
FRIDAY JUNE 7 LAUGHS AT THE PLAYHOUSE Performance by stand-up comedian Jim Breuer, 8 p.m.; The Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 E. Ridge St., Ridgefield. $40. (203) 438-5795, ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
SATURDAY JUNE 8 OTTMAR LIEBERT AND LUNA NEGRA Five-time Grammy-nominated musician Ottmar Liebert plays hits from his album ‘La Semana,’ 7:15 p.m. wine-and-cheese tasting and artist reception, 8 p.m. concert; Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 E. Ridge St. $47.50. (203) 438-5795, ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
Kathleen Gilje’s “Self-Portrait after Bouguereau’s ‘The Assault,’ 2012. Courtesy of the artist © Kathleen Gilje 2013.
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MONDAY JUNE 10
FRIDAY JUNE 21
PALACE THEATRE’S A golf outing, 11 a.m. registration followed by FOURTH ANNUAL GALA
10TH ANNUAL PHELPS GOLF CLASSIC
lunch, 1 p.m. shotgun golf start, 5:30 p.m. cocktail reception; Sleepy Hollow Country Club, 777 Albany Post Road, Briarcliff Manor. $800. (914) 366-3104, phelpshospital.org.
The event begins with a pre-show cocktail party, followed by a performance by Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers, featuring Edie Brickell, 6 p.m. cocktails, 8 p.m. concert; 61 Atlantic St., Stamford. $350. Concert only tickets: $175, $80, $55. (203) 517-3426, scalive.org.
GOLF OUTING
SWING INTO SUMMER Cocktails, dinner, dancing, live auction and music by the Alex Donner Orchestra at The Hudson Valley Shakespeare gala, 5 p.m.; Boscobel, 1601 Route 9D, Garrison. $250. (845) 809-5750, hvshakespeare.org.
SUNDAY JUNE 9 SYMPHONY SOUNDS A benefit recital for the Symphony of Westchester (formerly the Westchester Chamber Symphony), featuring violinist Alex Abayev and his wife, pianist Marina Rogozhina, 5:30 p.m.; Ossie Davis Theatre of the New Rochelle Public Library, 1 Library Plaza. $50. (914) 654-4926, westchesterchambersymphony.org.
The Miracle League of Westchester hosts its seventh annual golf outing, 10:30 a.m. registration, 11 a.m. barbeque lunch, noon shot gun start, 5 to 8 p.m. cocktail hour and buffet dinner; Hampshire Country Club, 1025 Cove Road, Mamaroneck. $250. $900 foursome. Mlwny.org, rmonzon@mlwny.org.
TUESDAY JUNE 11 THROUGH SUNDAY JUNE 16 Ox Ridge Charity Horse Show In cooperation with Pegasus Therapeutic Riding and held at the Ox Ridge Hunt Club (ORHC), the horse show kicks off the 100-year ORHC anniversary celebration in 2014, 512 Middlesex Road, Darien. Visit website for timetable. $100 individual seat for the week. $600 table. (203) 6554528, oxridge.com.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 12 NEW YORK NEW YORK IN JUNE 2013 Human Development Services of Westchester’s Big Apple-themed gala features cocktails, dinner, live music by the John Ragusa Quartet, dancing, a raffle and auction, 6 to 9 p.m.; Coveleigh Club, 459 Stuyvesant Ave., Rye. $150. (914) 835-8906, ext. 1002, nglick@hdsw.org .
FRIDAY JUNE 14 BOSTON BENEFIT CONCERT Violinist Daisy Jopling.
THE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN, ROCK BAND AND ORCHESTRA A collaboration between the Daisy Jopling Band and the Westchester/Putnam Youth Symphony, 7 p.m.; Paramount Hudson Valley, 1008 Brown St., Peekskill. $50, $35, $25. (800) 838-3006, brownpapertickets.com.
Live performances of indie, pop and alt-rock with proceeds benefiting One Fund Boston, a fund supporting families of those affected by the events of April 15, 7 p.m. doors open, 7:30 p.m. show begins; The Digital Arts Experience, 170 Hamilton Ave., White Plains. $15. 914for617.eventbrite.com, asidesmusic@gmail.com.
SATURDAY JUNE 22 AND SUNDAY JUNE 23 BROADWAY COMES TO CARAMOOR! Caramoor kicks off its 68th annual international summer music festival (which runs through Aug. 7) with its first Broadway show, “She Loves Me,” 8:30 p.m. June 22, 4 p.m. June 23; Caramoor, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
MONDAY JUNE 24 FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC Music Conservatory of Westchester’s 12th annual “Golf & Tennis Classic and Award Dinner” features a tee-off with celebrity performers, 10 a.m. registration, 10:30 a.m. barbecue lunch, 12:30 p.m. shotgun start for golfers, 1 p.m. round-robin tennis tournament, 5 p.m. cocktails, 6 p.m. dinner and award reception; Whippoorwill Club, 150 Whippoorwill Road, Armonk. $650 golf, $350 individual tennis, $600 doubles, $150 dinner. (914) 761-3900, ext. 110.
TUESDAY JUNE 25 SWING AWAY Hospice & Palliative Care of Westchester hosts its 11th annual “Golf Invitational,” 10:30 a.m. registration with lunch to follow, 12:30 p.m. shotgun start, 5 p.m. cocktail reception, dinner and awards ceremony; Westchester Hills Golf Club, 401 Ridgeway, White Plains. $400. (914) 682-1484, ext. 122, hospiceofwestchester.com.
THURSDAY JUNE 27 SHOP, DINE, ROCK & ROLL Guitarist and former Yankee Bernie Williams and his band kick off the “Ridge Hill Summer Concert Series,” which includes six Thursday evenings throughout the summer, 6 p.m.; Westchester’s Ridge Hill, 1 Ridge Hill Road, Yonkers. (914) 2072900, westchestersridgehill.com.
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NOVEMBER 2012
June 2012
PAULA ZAHN IN TUNE WITH THE ARTS CINDY JOSEPH Model for the ages
STELLA MCCAFFREY DESIGNS For the younger set
ivanka’s fashion Bouquet
ALEX DONNER
earthy delights
Choices MADE From the bar to baton
MARY JANE DENZER
Grande dame of retail
MONEY ANGEL Stephanie Newby
from Persia to The Botanical Garden
taking root
Winston Flowers arrives in Greenwich
sculpting summer
shaping the land
Byers, Kramer and Johnson
at home
with Daniele Churchill
stacy Bass
A shutterbug alights
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watch A great day for Sentebale
It was perhaps only fitting that Prince Harry’s participation in the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup at the Greenwich Polo Club May 15 should be accompanied by a bit of English weather. But the cool rain never dampened the ardor of the 400 guests from the worlds of media (Gayle King), fashion (Valentino, Jason Wu), American society (Amanda Hearst) and the British aristocracy (the Duke of Argyll). They, along with 200 members of the international press, cheered as Prince Harry’s Sentebale Land Rover team defeated the Nacho Figueras-led St. Regis squad in a taut match. But the real winner was Sentebale, the charity that Prince Harry founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006 to help children there struggling with poverty and HIV/AIDS. Photographs by Bob Rozycki.
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1. Nacho Figueras, an ambassador for Sentebale, with Prince Harry (behind fence) 2. Malcolm Borwick, captain of The Sentebale Land Rover Team and Royal Salute ambassador 3. Torquhil Ian Campbell, the 13th Duke of Argyll 4. Alex Roldan, Leighton Jordan and Kirsten Lewis, all of Greenwich Polo Club 5. What’s polo without stylish hats? 6. Jason Wu 7. A lineup of ladies in garden/polo chic 8. Gayle King 9. Pamela Deckoff 10. Carole Winchester and daughter Allison Truckenbrodt 11. A post-modern moment: Shooting the press shooting you 12. Peter Brant and Horton Schwartz 13. Men like this dashing gent rivaled the women in style. 14. Felicitas and Chris Brant 15. Hana Soukupova 16. Irene and Carl Zelinsky 17. Margaret and Geoffrey Zakarian, Iron Chef and restaurateur 18. Barbara Cirkva and John Schumacher 19. Hats off to this stylish chapeau. 20. Amanda Hearst and Jay Fielden 21. Model Karolína Kurková and husband Archie Dury 22. Valentino 23. Actress/model Olivia Palermo and model Johannes Huebl 24. Model Jessica Stam 25. Dawn Jones and Prince Harry 26. Delfina Blaquier with husband Nacho Figueras
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watch Grade A event
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1. Kim Jeffery, award recipient, and luncheon co-chair Tracy Grossman 2. Michele Smith, luncheon cochairperson 3. Peggy Sarkela, executive director, REACH Prep 4. Natalia Garcia-Sanabria 5. Tricia Dalton and Sonnet McKinnon 6. The Rev. Joseph Watkins 7. Eileen Simmons and Peter Chapman, REACH Prep board members 8. Aaron Watkins, Camille Spaulding, director of education, and Travis Powell 9. Lisa Gonzalez, associate director of admission and placement, and Pamela McKoin, board member 10. Zoe Vaz, Asya Evans and Seth Henriquez 11. Maxine Armstrong, founding chair, REACH Prep 12. Sardia Watson and Alexia Watson 13. Sarah Dubissette and Suzanne Cabot, board member 14. Patrick Barrau, intern, and Belinda Benincasa, director of development
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REACH Prep of Stamford held its 19th annual Spring Benefit Luncheon April 22, featuring guest speaker Joseph Watkins – a political commentator, television and radio host and pastor of the oldest African-American Lutheran church in Philadelphia. Kim Jeffery, former president and CEO of Nestle Waters North America, received the Model of Excellence Award. The Stamfordbased nonprofit helps high-achieving students in low-performing schools find academic success in competitive independent schools. Photographs by Bob Rozycki
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Punk’d
WAG country was well-represented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual “Costume Institute Gala,” hosted by Vogue’s Anna Wintour. Rooney Mara, Blake Lively, Gwyneth Paltrow, Met director Tom Campbell and wife Phoebe and senior vice president for external affairs Harold Holzer and wife Edith were among those who went punk or pink or both to celebrate the exhibit “Punk: From Chaos to Couture.” The 800 guests helped raise $11.3 million for the museum’s programs. Images Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art/ BFAnyc.com. 1
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1. Anna Wintour 2. Riccardo Tisci and Rooney Mara 3. Phoebe and Tom Campbell 4. Anne Hathaway and Valentino 5. Madonna 6. Blake Lively 7. Gwyneth Paltrow 8. Emma Watson 9. Gisele Bündchen 10. Amanda Seyfried and Pedro Almodóvar 11. Jennifer Lawrence 12. Jennifer Lopez 13. Sofia Coppola and Marc Jacobs 14. Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn 15. Uma Thurman 16. Edith and Harold Holzer
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watch Prescription for success
Well, there was no need to shout, “Is there a doctor in the house?” at a recent gala at 800 Westchester Ave. in Rye Brook. There were plenty on hand for White Plains Hospital’s 120th anniversary celebration. While the more than 400 guests nibbled on New York-style deli treats, scrumptious sliders, shrimp cocktails, a cold vegetable antipasto and red velvet and carrot cakes, they also had a feast for the eyes – 58 gowns and ensembles from Oscar de la Renta’s fall collection. The evening was a triumph for co-chairs Susan Yubas and Mary Jane Denzer, whose eponymous store has been carrying de la Rentas for more than 30 years. (See related story.) The gala raised more than $250,000 for state-of-the-art medical care at the hospital. –Georgette Gouveia Photographs by John Vecchiolla. 1. Mary Jane Denzer and Anastasia Cucinella 2. Jeffrey Menkes, Susan Fox, Susan Yubas and Michael Benenson 3. Dennis and Nancy Gilbert 4. Jean and J. Michael Divney 5. Anne Jordan and Georgette Gouveia 6. Harriet and Paul Weissman 7. Jay and Sari Canell and Pam and Kaare Weber 8. Leigh Anne and Kate McMahon 9. Dr. Raj and Prita Buddhavarapu 10. Evan and April Kimmel 11. Paul and Barbara Khoury and Judy and Jay Lupin
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ROAM INTO SUMMER
Leave it to Babe Rizzuto and her daughter Sophia Wojczak to host an evening that generated its own heat. There may have still been a spring nip in the air, but it was all things hot at ROAM, the ultra-chic Greenwich boutique of Rizzuto and her daughters. Rizzuto, a vision in a long dress of orange scalloped lace and Wojczak, in a sleek-and-kicky striped number, were the most welcoming of hosts, even showing off a few dance moves along the way. The indoor-outdoor party at the West Elm Street shop was designed around a Nina Swim trunk show, highlighting the so-ready-for-summer fashions of Argentinian swimwear designer Agustina Palacio. As Lauren Turner modeled a selection of the stylish options, DJ Eliana Carson kept things moving with a pulsing beat. Furthering the sizzling theme was an outdoor room set up behind the boutique, with a striped tent serving as the headquarters for Argentinian-themed cocktails, including sangria with hints of peach and Cointreau. Back inside, partygoers browsed the racks and tables bursting with new fashions, took full advantage of the ROAM staff ’s savvy suggestions and then headed to the dressing rooms. In between, they settled into the white leather couches that transformed the outdoor space into a lounge of sorts to chat, enjoy the hors d’oeuvres and sample the liquid refreshments. The evening, Rizzuto said, was a way to both spotlight those swimwear designs that had everyone daydreaming of warmer days – and to celebrate the success of ROAM, thriving before it’s even reached its first birthday. “We love parties,” Rizzuto said. Having the shop open late, with a DJ in the window and the doors open wide, also captures the attention of those passing by and inspired to stop in. One partygoer, Florencia Grether, was indeed making her first visit. She was with a couple of friends, all of them new to town. “We all pass by and we liked what was in the windows, but we never came inside before.” And? “We like it a lot,” she said. The evening was even a bit of a celebration, if unofficial, coming soon after an important business step. “We just launched our website, wheninroam.com, so you can shop online,” Rizzuto said. “Two days in and already orders.” All the success, she added, was a testament to family and hard work. She said she remains inspired by her own grandmother who in the 1920s had her own car and traveled to work in Manhattan from Brooklyn. “She was an empowering woman,” she said. And that legacy continues with Rizzuto and her own daughters. Tatiana Wojczak wasn’t in town for the party but remains an integral part of the team. ROAM, for Rizzuto and her daughters, is clearly a labor of love. “It’s really been a lot of fun – so much work – but it’s a lot of fun.” Just like a good party. — Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki. 1. Babe Rizzuto 2. Garrett DeVoogd, Sophia Wojczak and Lauren Turner 3. Florencia Grether, Beatrice Salafranca and Natalia Garcia 4. DJ Eliana Carson and Lauren Turner 5. Wan Lipp, Kim Carriere and Karina Aiello Rocha 6. Alex DiGioia and Melanie Gotlin 7. Jeanette Montufar 8. Lauren Turner
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watch They love Iona
The board of trustees of Iona College held its 51st annual “Trustee Award Dinner” at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan to honor leaders who exemplify the college’s mission of service, scholarship and value-based learning. Some 500 people were in attendance, raising more than $1 million for student scholarships. Photographs by John Vecchiolla.
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1. Patrick C. Dunican Jr. and Raymond W. Kelly 2. Andrea Canning and James P. Hynes 3. Mr. and Mrs. David P. Brown 4. Kathleen O’ Connor and Nancy Patota 5. Joseph Murphy, JoAnn M. Murphy, Regina Pitaro and Mario J. Gabelli 6. Dr. Joseph E. and Kelli Nyre
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Welcome back, Neuberger
The recent reopening of Purchase College’s Neuberger Museum of Art was vintage Neuberger – a provocative show, good music and terrific food, all with a Latin beat that set some 1,000 guests in motion. The museum had been closed for renovations to its heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Now 10 months and $10.8 million later (thank you, New York state), it’s as if we never said goodbye (and you, too, Andrew Lloyd Webber). Photographs by Lynda Shenkman Curtis.
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7. Jean Eisenstein, Patrice Giasson and Dale Schlein 8. Paola Morsiani, Lynn Halbfinger and Jim Neuberger 9. Jamila Willis and Ibrahim Lemniei 10. Helen Stambler Neuberger, and Judith and Stanley Zabar 11. Pommy and Jean-Pierre Farcy 12. Tony Maddalena and Lawrence Beck
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Hope-filled night
Grace Church Community Center recently held its annual “Oasis of Hope” event at The Ritz-Carlton Westchester in White Plains. The event raised money for the agency’s eight programs that assist Westchester County’s neediest. Tara Rosenblum, News 12 Weekend anchor, served as the emcee. White Plains Councilwoman Milagros Lecuona, Scott Sobo and the Rye Presbyterian Church were the honorees. Photographs by Rick Schwartz. 1. Marie Barrow, Nate Hogan, Sylvia and Walter Simon 2. Kassie and Carlos Muñoz 3. Alan Goldman and Merili Tilton 4. Chris Schwartz, Cynthia DeSantis, Susan Stanton and Beth Smayda 5. Barbara and Bill Biles 6. Barbara and Charles Wiggins 7. Scott Sobo and Paul AndersonWinchell 8. Lauren Reid, Ashley Elliott, Milagros Lecuona and Marissa Boylan 9. Helen and David Rasmussen 10. Jennifer Papas and Mike Jakowsky
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watch Looking fore-ward
Donors, friends and board members of the ONS Foundation for Clinical Research and Education recently held its fifth annual golf outing “Tee-Off ” party, hosted by Cynthia and Richard Koppelman and Miller Motorcars. Theresa Rogers-Matthews and Horseneck Wines presented a tasting of fine French wines that complemented an artful array of hors d’oeuvres by Watson’s Catering. The actual golf outing, presented with Greenwich Hospital, is scheduled for June 10 at The Stanwich Club and will include a round of golf, lunch, cocktails, an elaborate buffet dinner and silent and live auctions.
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1. Nat Barnum, Mark Camel, Vicki Tananbaum, Barb and Casey McKee 2. Max Tananbaum, Amanda and Seth Miller and Amory Fiore 3. Mira Muhtadie and Rebecca Karson 4. Rich Granoff and Paul Sethi 5. Stephanie Dunn-Ashley, Jim Wright and Andrea Guido 3
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Taylor-made
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Moody blue bouclé sheaths were among the standouts at Rebecca Taylor’s recent trunk show in The Westchester, White Plains. The store is a relatively new one for Taylor, who has eight, including three in Manhattan, two in Los Angeles and one each in Atlanta and Scottsdale. Photographs by Georgette Gouveia. 9. Randee Banks, Faith Ann Butcher and Stacy Geisinger 10. Ava and Eva Bai with Vien Le Wood 11. Hannah Price, Kate Wallace, Kathleen Brennan and Emily Harrison
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Picture House close-up
The Picture House in Pelham held its “Big Night Spring Gala” at the Hilton Westchester in Rye Brook recently. The centerpiece of the evening was the presentation of The Picture House’s Harold Lloyd Awards and the inaugural Next Generation Film Award. Honorees included actress Isabella Rossellini as well as film industry leaders Benh Zeitlin and Andrew Jarecki. Tom Peer, a founder of The Picture House and member of the board of directors, received the Harold Lloyd Commitment to Community Award. Photography by domenica comfort photographs. 6. Michael Gottwald, Isabella Rossellini, Andrew and Eugene Jarecki and John Calvelli 7. Tom Peer and Elaine Peer 8. Neal Huff
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At home with the Huchros
Kim and Paul Huchro hosted a party at their Briarcliff home overlooking the Hudson River to kick off a celebration of house tours to benefit the Open Door Foundation of Open Door Family Medical Centers. The Huchros welcomed 40 guests, who enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres from the Catering House of Edward Fava while watching the sun set along the Hudson. 1. Paul and Kim Huchro 2. Barri and Tom Winiarski
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Foodies’ feast
More than 180 gathered at the Century Country Club in Purchase for the 11th Sarah Neuman Gourmet Tasting. Sponsored by the Friends of Sarah Neuman, the event raised more than $60,000 earmarked for special programming to enhance quality of life for elders living at the Sarah Neuman Center in Mamaroneck. 6. Jill Oberlander and Lisa Feiner 7. William and Fran Klingenstein 8. Joy Henshel and Ned Weiser
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Gem of a show
The Rye Arts Center held a “Jewel of an Evening” to celebrate the recent exhibit “Nature’s Art: Geodes from the Collection of Robert R. Wiener. The event raised funds to benefit the center’s arts education, outreach and scholarship programs. 3. David Walker, Catherine Parker, Robert Wiener and Eileen Nieman 4. David Gelfarb and Debra Riesner 5. Judy Myers and Helen Gates
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Gearing up for fundraiser
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The Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester Humanitarian Award Dinner Committee spent a morning at the home of board member Seema Boesky, welcoming new members and signing personal notes for invited guests. The Humanitarian Award Dinner, the club’s signature fundraising event, will take place June 1 at Lexus of Mount Kisco and will honor Jim and Ashley Diamond as Humanitarians of the Year. 9. Seema Boesky, Muffin Dowdle, Benjamin Palancia and Bonnie Trotta 10. Ashley Diamond and Renee Jordan Torre 11. Meg Burdick and Ashley Diamond
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Want to be in Watch? Send event photos, captions (identifying subjects from left to right) and a paragraph describing the event to afrey@wagmag.com. 95
class&sass I love live concerts but the bigger city venues often leave me wishing I’d stayed home, put my feet up and listened to the artist’s albums on my stereo – oops, I mean downloaded and played them on my iPad. The crowds and decibel levels (not to mention the icky and overcrowded bathrooms) are too much to bear at my advanced age. That’s why I love the sparkling gem we have right in our backyard – the Ridgefield Playhouse. The quality acts it gets are astounding. I’ve recently seen the smokin’ hot Joan Jett, where I danced along with an audience filled with sizzling lesbians (who knew we had so many in our area?), and on Valentine’s Day, I sang along while the sexy (I swear he still is) Michael Bolton belted out his most famous songs and even a few opera arias, which left his mother, who was seated next to me, and myself in tears. And the comedy shows are top notch – Susie Essman (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) recently had me laughing out loud for days afterwards as I recalled her witticisms. I think at this stage of my life I just want to “let it all hang out” and I feel I can do just that at the playhouse. At this age – what have I got to lose? are lucky indeed to have that J We wonderful place in our own backyard. People travel for hours to come out and see some of the playhouse’s featured acts. And although I love to be entertained (and you know I do), I think staffers there should be applauded for their charitable efforts. They just recently rallied a plethora of artists to raise money for the families that suffered in the horrific Newtown tragedy. One of the bands that performed there that night was Grammy-nominated Chris Berardo & The DesBerardos, who took time out of their busy touring schedule to stop by and “bring the house down” with their whiskey-laced jams and soulful vocals. They have crisscrossed the country several times over, rocking and rolling along in their super-swanky tour bus. Talk about a life of adventure on the road. They are off and running once more, but if you’re lucky, you can catch them in New York again sometime soon. Thanks, guys. And thanks to (executive director) Allison Stockel, for keeping the playhouse sparkling, like the true jewel that it is. And we even got a backstage pass M to hang with Chris and the boys – just one of the many perks of being part of WAG’s Class and Sass team (lol). When
By Martha Handler and Jennifer Pappas
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Chris Berardo & The DesBerardos
I’m willing to venture a bit further out for music, I love going to Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg. It gets great acts, the crowd usually isn’t too young and you get to bowl and dance simultaneously (which does wonders for my score). If you can swing it, it’s really fun to stay across the street at the Wythe Hotel. A former textile factory, it’s now a super-hip 72-room hotel with original brick walls and breathtakingly gorgeous views of Manhattan across the East River. If you can’t stay, at least have a drink at the bar, which has a large outdoor deck or better yet eat at Reynards, located in the lobby, which is famous for its New York-raised lamb, beef and chicken, which the chef manages to cook to perfection in Reynards’ wood-burning oven. There are even bikes for borrowing. Bikes for borrowing: That reminds J me of the time my whole family went to Nantucket for a week last summer. It was so beautiful. We went fishing and swimming and yes, biking. I had this grand idea to rent bikes (they have the cutest little baskets) to go from one side of the island to the other. I wanted to find the beach where the movie “Jaws” had been filmed, which we did, three hours later. It took a lot longer to get there than I had anticipated. In my defense, those maps they hand out are very deceiving and my husband, who isn’t much with directions, directed us right into the swamps. We did see some amazing snapping turtles in that bog we deadended into. It was such a hot day and we had the kids with us, (who hadn’t wanted
to go anyway and were firing the stink-eye at me nonstop) and my mom (who likes to think she can still climb Machu Picchu, but in reality can’t). It was all right going over, barely, but we were soaking wet, full of sand and so exhausted by the time we had to turn around and come back that we had to hitch our bikes up to the “cross island” bus and ride back. That was embarrassing. I was really worried ’bout my mom though. She had started to turn, “a whiter shade of pale.” As much as I love Mayor BloomM berg and all he’s done to improve the city, I think he’s really lost his mind with his plan to put 10,000 city bikes in 600 share stations around the city. Don’t get me wrong, I love bicycles and would applaud almost any plan to help alleviate the growing congestion. But in a city with very few bike lanes, taxis that rarely use turn signals (and treat bike lanes as additional road lanes), roads riddled with potholes, tourists galore and very narrow streets (where an unexpected car door opening can prove fatal to a cyclist), I don’t see the merit. And many of the share stations are being erected in front of hotels, which means tourists, many of whom have no idea of where they’re going, will be trying to navigate the congested streets while presumably reading maps (i.e., their smart phones). I’m not usually a negative person, but this seems as crazy as his (initial) decision to go forward with the New York City Marathon only days after Hurricane Sandy hit.
I totally agree. I have personally taken out two cyclists with my car door – the poor things. It’s a horrifying sight to see them lying there, sprawled out on the pavement. And I am always stepping into those darn bike lanes. I can just imagine how many tourists will be squashed, because they are “tourists” and are lost and looking up and out, instead of down. It’s a recipe for disaster.
J
Wag Up • NYC Walking Tours. A great way to find out fascinating facts about the city – its history, its neighborhoods, its ghosts, its unsolved murders and its food. Some of my favorites are xperiencedays.com, nycgangstertours.com and bigonion.com. (M) • (J) The Ridgefield Playhouse. The most fabulous place to see movies, experience live music and host a party. ridgefieldplayhouse.org Wag Down • The odds of you being there when Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen makes a surprise appearance at a small and intimate club. (M) • Angry NYC cyclists. (Even if you aren’t usually someone who experiences “road rage,” Manhattan will allow you to do so). They are very territorial about their “bike lanes” and will literally mow you down, without a second thought, because you have invaded their space. They might, however, ding their bell at you, after they have left you in a heap. (J)
Email Class&Sass at marthaandjen@wagmag.com. You may also follow Martha and Jen on Facebook at Wag Classandsass or access all of their conversations online at wagmag.com.
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