“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” Vincent Van Gogh
The National Arts Clubearns a renown for its impressive art, engaging events, and a National Historic Landmark home in Gramercy Park, but its true vibrancy comes from its members. The Club members celebrate, promote, and educate others about the “visual arts, literature, film, architecture, fashion, photography and music” in the warm way of passing along a book that is too good not to share.
“White Roses,” 1914, Philip Leslie Hale
The Club that helps keep the arts alive in the city began in 1898 with Charles Augustus de Kay, the art and literary critic for The New York Times. Mr. de Kay’s goal was to look to American artists for inspiration rather than European, which was traditional at the time, and to encourage public interest in the arts and education in fine arts. With the help of philanthropist Spencer Trask, Mr. de Kay and fellow founding members like Henry Frick purchased the Victorian Gothic Revival mansion of Samuel J. Tilden, 25th governor of New York, for the Club. Governor Tilden, who ended New York City corruption, most notably that of Tammany Hall, had bequeathed his fortune for a citywide New York Public Library. His stately home at 15 Gramercy Park South in the Gramercy Park Historic District was formerly two brownstones joined by a sandstone façade designed by Calvert Vaux, co-creator of Central Park. For the mansion’s exterior, Mr. Vaux used the Aesthetic Movement style that emphasized bringing beauty into all aspects of life, making it the ideal home for the Club. In a 2008 restoration, New York City-Brazilian artist Sergio Rosetti Morosini, active in the conservation of the city’s landmarks, added a bust of Michelangelo above the Club’s entrance. The interior includes magnificent stained-glass panels by artist John LaFarge, who had a studio in Greenwich Village, and a stained-glass dome by Scottish-born artisan Donald McDonald.
“Joyce Carol Oates,” NAC Medal recipient
The building is so elegant and distinctive that filmmakers and television producers have requested it for works like “The Age of Innocence,” “The Manhattan Murder Mystery,” “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1999), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Billions,” “Gotham,” “Jimmy Choo,” and “Boardwalk Empire”. Even more distinctive is the welcoming of women as members since the Club’s 1898 founding. Historical name dropping of former members includes artistic greats like painters Cecilia Beaux, Frederic Remington, William Merritt Chase, George Bellows, Chen Chi and sculptors Anna Hyatt Huntington, Robert Henri, Daniel Chester French, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
Portrait by Ernest Ludvig Ipsen
With such names, one might mistake the Club as being pretentious, but members are there to share a genuine love of the arts. Crossing the threshold means receiving a friendly greeting not only from other members but long-time staff. The atmosphere is lively for the sociable and serene for artists at work. Dining amidst beautiful artworks, resuming again Tuesday with safety protocols, is another opportunity to connect. Lectures and events cover topics including art, fashion, fragrances, cuisine, dance and movement, film screenings, and concerts featuring jazz, classical, and contemporary music. In the past year, the Club has celebrated its fun traditions virtually with events like this month’s Bonnet Bash hat contest, the holiday concert with the Gramercy Brass Orchestra, the Halloween Gala, and Open House New York.
Membership includes worldwide access to other clubs. Additional membership perks allow access to meeting and event rooms, overnight accommodation, and Gramercy Park, the last private park in Manhattan, all the more relaxing for restricting photography.
A portrait room
Important traditions recognize lifelong contributors to the arts with the National Arts Club Medal and encourage new playwrights with the Kesselring Prize for Playwrighting. Medal recipients, whose portraits adorn the walls, include Anna Sui, Joyce Carol Oates, Frederica von Stade, Patricia Field, Claire Bloom, Ellen Burstyn, Toni Morrison, Nadine Gordimer, Lin Manuel-Miranda, John Turturro, Itzhak Perlman, Ang Lee, Salman Rushdie, Spike Lee, I.M. Pei, Tom Wolfe, Frank McCourt, W.H. Auden, Saul Bellow, Tennessee Williams, Roy Lichtenstein, Philip Roth, Mark Twain, Downing Vaux, Calvert’s son, and more. The Kesselring Prize awarded in honor of Joseph Kesselring, best known for writing “Arsenic and Old Lace,” presently honors playwright Mona Mansour. Selected new artists receive support as Artist Fellows which gives them a membership for one year to enhance their careers.
Portrait room close-up“Gordon Parks,” 1971, by Gloria Swanson
The National Arts Club has carried on gracefully during this past year underscoring the importance of the uplifting to inspire and connect us. Artists, too, are visionaries, who give us pause to reflect. In a place where a love of art, life, people, and the city all flow together, this nonprofit’s extraordinary and newly renovated galleries are free and open to the public daily, 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with reservations presently for safety. Additionally, gallery spaces are available for non-members. (Note: On view as of early 2022: “Art of the Abstract Mark,” Libbie Marks’ collage paintings, the “Will Barnet Student Show,” which welcomes new young artists, “Consequences: A Parlor Game,” which showcases the work of the National Academicians of 2021, and “A Century of American Landscape Art,” some landscape “treasures” from the Club’s permanent collection of more than 600 works of art.) Enjoy exhibition updates and Club news on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, which offers a virtual tour, also available on the NAC website.
“Benny Goodman,” NAC Medal recipient, by fellow medalist and Club member Everett Raymond Kinstler
While living in the city, I had the pleasure of being an affiliate member for a time through an alumnae group, which was an incredible experience. Later, I attended the most welcoming and cordial reception and tour, which included a view of The Players club for the performing arts next door, through another alumni association. A delightful lecture from curators from The Clark Art Institute and French National Heritage for the exhibition “Women in Paris, 1850-1900” marked the occasion of another memorable stop.
“Some Little Talk of Me and Thee There Was,” 1905-1909, by Harry Willson Watrous
On my most recent visit, which fell on Valentine’s Day of last year right before the pandemic began, the Media/Marketing Communications director kindly gave two talented British travel and cuisine writers and myself a morning tour. Such fans of New York City, the couple was here to celebrate his birthday. Having seen a number of the inspirational city sights on other trips, they asked me about a unique and wonderful New York City experience for which the only answer was, “The National Arts Club.” On every visit, I am thrilled by being in the company of people who also value what I love.
Valentine’s Day 2020 was a day of kindnesses, so in keeping with the true nature of the city. Though this valentine meandered en route for a while, it still arrives heartfelt.
(Sources: NAC website and social media, onthesetofnewyork,com,
saxonhenry.com (member), the artstory.org, ny.curbed.com, tripadvisor.com, goodreads.com,
Wiki)
Partial view of the Club’s historic brownstone home (2017) John La Farge stained glass Angelina Jolie portrait Fun on cue Lee O. Lawrie sculpture John La Farge stained glass panels
A snow-laden winter garden may appear bleak, but beneath the earth beats the slow, steady heartbeat of hibernation. The emerging January light, perhaps the finest for photography, has a newborn clarity. January, associated with the Roman god of transition and beginnings, Janus, looks both forward and backward in his depictions. He takes the wisdom drawn from the past into the future, an investment much like the good faith planting of seeds.
With all of us keen for spring and the making of new memories, it is in the quiet time of winter that the groundwork for the miraculous happens. Looking back, we appreciate the qualities that initially drew us to friends, sustaining memories even though we may enjoy the beauty of snow and crisp, clear winter days while we wait “safely apart”. (Quotations marks convey the hope that these pandemic expressions will one day fade away from our collective memory.)
Wonderful friendships may have dubious beginnings. One friend who loved gardens and helped them flourish approached me across a middle school cafeteria during study hall. Certain I was in trouble, a fait accompli for the teenage mindset, it was quite the opposite – she worked in the school and needed a volunteer. Immediately, I admired her style. She always wore a colorful scarf, fabulous earrings, and/or a vibrant lipstick – that conveyed her appreciation for beauty. As a fan of Maureen O’Hara, I loved her red hair. This graceful woman and a gangly teenager may have seemed an unlikely duo, but the chemistry of friendship was there. Our friendship evolved like one of those lovely life surprises when your friends’ children also grow up to become your friends.
No friend was more loyal. We were each other’s cheerleaders during short hems, long hems, big hair, sleek hair, and regular to gel manicures. We shared scoops on everything from sales on bakeware to arts & cultural events. She rolled with my youthful Star Trekkiness as I did with her mystifying love of cats. (Kidding, cat fans.) No one topped her for the relish and rapid-fire sharing of news-breaking gossip divulged to her circle of friends, but like a skillful tightrope walker, she balanced airily far above meanness. She and her husband, also a wonderful friend, kindly extended themselves to many friends and former students for years.
Didiers Tulips from Rhinebeck, NY
My favorite story about her is one that I cannot share, but it involved her inventive and hilariously audacious sleuthing to help a wronged friend. (Will leave this to your imagination for now to preserve everyone’s privacy.) Nora Ephron once wrote about her disappointment that while dining out with family and friends that no one had told her that she had spinach in her teeth the entire evening. Mine was the friend of the gentle nudge or signaling nod who saved me from many awkward social situations like a slip hanging out. (Checked Macy’s online, and slips appear not to have fallen prey to COVID chic.) No one could ever even insinuate, much less say a bad word about anyone she loved in her presence, which was a rare gift to all of us as loyalties now change along with trending hashtags. Lest my friend, who became our family friend, seem too serious, it was our shared laughter that I most recall along with our second birthday celebrations together, being almost birthday twins.
In the way that both falling snowflakes on the face awaken us or the first spring breeze feels on bare skin, thinking of my friend brings home the pleasure of a garden. In her retirement, she volunteered at a beautiful arboretum among many nonprofits. She most enjoyed working in the garden away from the politics of the office, displaying perennial wisdom. Showing children how to appreciate nature and pass along beloved flowers, plants, and trees through generations was a true joy. Having grown up with a special magnolia tree, lilac bush, and weeping willow trees planted by and for family members, I can understand the deep-seated satisfaction of gardeners like my friend who grow flowers, plants, and trees anew from those passed down to them by parents and grandparents. These make a new place truly home, especially now with so many having moved. As for my friend’s own flowers, as a meal shared with friends tastes better, so the flowers in her garden were more fragrant and the petals like velvet to the touch.
Our family friend was a prolific reader with virtuosity in discussing authors and their works. My wish was to delight her by being successful with writing in her lifetime, but her love was not dependent upon any behavior or success – it was for who I was, her most generous gift. Though parting a few years ago was difficult, I was grateful to be here in the Garden State again to show her my gratitude and love while she was ill, small gestures along with those dedicated ones of her loving family and friends-like-family. Devoted to her husband and family, she summoned all her strength to live until her 50th wedding anniversary, which she did with great joy. Her life-affirming appreciation of God’s gift of nature’s beauty reflected a steadfast belief that we would all meet again.
Writing about my friend has brought long-awaited snow, a gift indeed. Next month, a visit to the arts, which my friend would have enjoyed.
Happy New Year and thank you for following! Enjoy making another delightful holiday cookie recipe from Nutley, New Jersey’s Martha Stewart in Martha Stewart Living:
Ingredients
1 cup
salted butter, softened
1 cup
granulated sugar
1 large
egg
1 teaspoon
vanilla
2 ½ cups
all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
¼ teaspoon
salt
Royal Icing
1 (16-ounce)
package of powdered sugar
3
tablespoons meringue powder
6 to 8
tablespoons warm water
Leaf green
coloring gel
2 (6-inch) lollipop sticks or wooden skewers
Directions
Prepare the cookies: Beat butter and sugar with a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy for 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until incorporated for 30 seconds. Gradually add flour and salt, beating until combined for 1 minute. Remove dough from bowl; shape into flat disk. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Roll to 1/8-inch thickness. (Note: This makes crispy cookies, but ¼ inch has more texture according to preferences.) Using a 4 ½ inch dove-shaped cookie cutter, cut out dough. Reroll scraps twice to cut 36 cookies total. Arrange two inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flip half the cookies to face in the opposite direction. Bake in two batches until slightly golden on edges but pale in centers, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes/ Transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Prepare the Royal Icing. Beat powdered sugar, meringue powder, and 6 tablespoons of the warm water with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, 1 minute. Increase to medium, and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in remaining 2 tablespoons warm water, ¼ teaspoon at a time, as needed until desired consistency is reached. Transfer 2 tablespoons Royal Icing to a small bowl; stir in 1 drop food coloring until well combined. Cover and set aside. Spoon remaining undyed icing into a ziplock plastic freezer bag with a small corner snipped off (or into a piping bag with a small round tip).
Pipe a border of undyed icing around each cookie. Flood with additional icing. Using a wooden pick, spread icing to piped border inside edges to ice cookies fully. Let stand until icing is set, 1 hour. Pipe wings onto cookies with some of the undyed icing. Spoon reserved green icing into a ziplock plastic freezer bag with a small corner snipped off (or onto piping bag fitted with a small round tip). Pipe 1 olive branch beneath each dove’s beak. Let stand until icing is set, 30 minutes.
Place 2 (6-inch) lollipop sticks or wooden skewers on a sheet of parchment paper. Pipe a ½ inch-long strip of undyed icing along the top of each stick. Place one cookie on top of icing on each stick. Place one cookie on the top of each stick. Press lightly to adhere. Let stand until dry, 2 hours…. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes: Two egg whites, beaten, can substitute for the meringue powder. A small tube of green decorating icing might be a helpful substitute the piping. The recipe places the olive branch piping near the dove’s mouth. Didn’t use the lollipop sticks on this first try, but that idea looks like fun.
Holiday decor: The ornament is from Murdough’s Christmas shop, Stone Harbor. The plaque and Christmas countdown calendar are from Prim & Proper Primitives, Smithville, and the mug is from the Village Sweet Shoppe, also inSmithville.
“Peace Dove Cookies” @2021 Kathleen Helen Levey. All rights reserved.
Charming Historic Smithville Village, just outside Atlantic City, offers an array of holiday cheer: a Christmas Light Show, a Magic Talking Tree, a children’s train ride and carousel, extensive shopping, and a variety of dining. With its mostly outdoor attractions, this idyllic spot also offers a safer way to get away and lift everyone’s spirits.
Smithville holds live events like its first performance of “A Christmas Carol” this year, which perfectly suits this warm-hearted community. The shopkeepers and staff are always friendly, admirably so at this time. The Christmas Light Show and Magic Talking Tree, generously, are open to the public. Early December features an annual Hospitality Night with events and refreshments to thank visitors for their loyalty, a courtesy which my former employers and friends in “The Christmas Customers” would have enjoyed.
Looking across Lake Meone 🦆Village Sweet Shoppe Smithville kindness at the Village Sweet ShoppeVillage Sweet Shoppe
The scenic village with the bridge crossing picturesque Lake Meone forms what is known as “The Village Greene,” part of a larger residential Smithville community within Galloway Township. The village dates back to the 1700’s when it began as a stagecoach stop. The Historic Smithville Inn, which has blog updates, is a popular event destination. The inn is one of two, the other being the Colonial Inn Bed and Breakfast. The inns and some restaurants offer dining, now outdoors or with curbside takeout in addition to other food vendors for those who are spending the day or looking to go out for the evening.
Historic Smithville InnHistoric Smithville InnPrim and Proper in the Noah Newcumb House, 1820Delightful decor and gifts at Prim & Proper Woof, Woof Barkery & Pet Boutique, one of the pet-oriented Smithville shopsThe Cottage 🌟
For warm weather fans, summertime features paddleboat rides on the lake. There is no shortage of affordable entertainment year-round with events like the annual car show and Oktoberfest.
Holiday decor at Crafting CellarA Tour of Italy Olive & Grape
Dashing to share this before the wonderful Light Show ends on January 5th. For a current schedule of holiday events, kindly visit Historic Smithville. Warm wishes for a safe and Happy New Year!
“…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!” A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol stays with us as a spellbinding tale of redemption that keeps the spirit – and spirits – of Christmas alive. As we all debate which movie version of the tale is best (partial to the Albert Finney musical “Scrooge” and Michael Caine & the Muppets), and ideally, revisit the book, friends and family, now far afield, come to mind.
Our family friends, a wonderful couple, knew how to keep Christmas year-round in a home that was open to everyone. As people of faith, they followed the example of humility and generosity bestowed on us through Christ’s birth. Though they had struggled for many years, no one kept Christmas like them, the ultimate year-round Christmas customers who wholeheartedly had bought into seeking grace. During the holidays, their home was a delightful Christmas town with illuminated miniature houses and decorations floating on sparkling snowy cotton with holiday songs playing all day long.
Christmas magic in Bradley Beach
While working for their family owned business, I learned excellent customer care: take calls immediately, get back to people promptly. Listen. Nurture the loyalty in clients that they showed each other, family, friends, and employees. The customer is indeed, always right, delicately balanced with not letting him or her take advantage. Smile. Often. Customer satisfaction not only means return business, but pride taken in a job well done.
Princeton Floral Design, Princeton
The added bonus was the Fezziwig Principle. Like Ebenezer Scrooge’s favorite boss Fezziwig, our CEO “…had the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil…The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” Our CEO might have preferred a likening with Cary Grant as the angel in “The Bishop’s Wife,” as he was a man of meticulous style, but he had the heart of a Fezziwig. He took a personal interest in each employee and would brighten everyone’s day with a story or a joke, essentially creating an extended family. This debonair man, who had grown up on a family farm, wrote all about that life that led to his success as a gift to his children and grandchildren. His kept his family and the farm close with his own beautiful gardens that shared nature’s beauty and a reverence for the Master Gardener.
Our CEO’s “bride,” as he liked to call her, and board member, who was sweet and shy, decorated the office with a joy that brought immediate smiles from everyone who crossed the threshold. Christmas for them started in November. Cookie tins, candy boxes, bottles, all wrapped elegantly and divided according to customers’ preferences were set out on tables around the largest room of the office, each labeled, so many that they spilled over onto the heating vents. The most important part was the CEO’s personal delivery of these several hundred gifts with a “thank you” and a handshake for each customer, fading traditions that one hopes will make a comeback after these days of isolation.
Lambertville Trading Co., Delaware River Towns ☕️
Each a model Christmas customer, what our friends were teaching us was not just how to treat customers, but how to treat everyone.
Enjoy making
Hamantaschen, a pastry-like cookie for Hanukkah. Popular at Purim, this treat
is a also a favorite for celebrating the Festival of Lights. This recipe is
from “Cuisine at Home” and adds cream cheese to the traditional recipe for
flavor. In this first attempt, dashed past the two-hour freezing step, which
would have resulted in a neater cookie, but everyone enjoyed these and will
make them again. Have fun and Happy Hanukkah!
“Cream
Cheese Hamantachen with Fruit Filling”
Mix:
2
sticks unsalted butter, softened (16 Tbsp.)
1
package cream cheese, softened (8 oz.)
½
cup sugar
Minced
zest of orange
Add:
2
½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
½
teaspoon salt
For
the filling, spoon:
¾
fruit butter or preserves
1
egg, beaten
Note:
For jam, the recipe suggests levkar, a kosher Hungarian jam or fruit butter.
Instructions:
Mix
butter, cream cheese, sugar, and zest with a mixer at medium speed until
smooth. (Note: Vanilla works if orange zest is not available.)
Add
flour and salt to the butter mixture and mix.
Divide
dough in half and shape those into disks; wrap each in plastic and chill 8-24
hours.
Line
baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll
one disk into 1/8 inch on a lightly floured surface. Cut with a 3-inch
cutter (a scalloped edge would look nice if available). Pinch into
triangles and leave room for jam. Brush with egg wash. (Note: You
many want to add a teaspoon of water and sugar, recipes on this vary.)
Add
filling and pinch closed into triangular shape. Freeze two hours.
Preheat
oven to 350 degrees.
Bake
until golden, 20-30 minutes. Let cool on cookie racks.
Enjoy a view at the source, Cuisine at Home. Happy Festival of Lights!
“I don’t think Christmas is necessarily about things. It’s about being good to one another.” Carrie Fisher
A slightly curving panoramic shot to capture this 8 foot long painting at the Norman Rockwell Museum
At Christmastime, Norman Rockwell’s “Home for Christmas (Stockbridge Main Street Christmas),” which perfectly captures Christmas joy, comes to life the first Sunday of December with a living recreation of the painting which is now on view locally at the Norman Rockwell Museum – Home of American Illustration Art. “Gilmore Girl” fans will recognize the tradition of tableau vivant from “The Festival of Living Art” with Stockbridge’s delightful, real-life atmosphere outdoing even the charm of Stars Hollow. In a festive tweaking, the historic Red Lion Inn from the painting, now open in winter, twinkles with lights and features harmonizing carolers on the porch. Passers-by join in song with the same delight of the Berkshires proud who cheer at the words “from Stockbridge to Boston” from “Sweet Baby James” performed by their neighbor James Taylor in his summer visits to Tanglewood. Holiday concerts fill the churches and halls while both residents and visitors stroll along Main Street, closed to traffic for a few hours, each person truly part of the holiday canvas in this highlight among a weekend of events.
“Home for Christmas” and The Red Lion Inn A real-life detail from “Home for Christmas” A Bay State classic
Everyone from our proud veteran bus driver to the carriage drivers who smiled for the camera three times while visitors like us got photos in motion right was wonderful. The vintage car owners meet up year after year, welcoming honored new ones into the fold with a neighborly rapport. Filled with goodwill, part Stockbridge, part Rockwell, strangers offer to take photos for each other and talk about their affection for the town and their favorite Rockwell paintings as if they, too, were coming home. So warm and wonderful is the atmosphere that when looking up the photos, I had forgotten that it had rained that day just two years ago.
Beautiful detail from The Red Lion InnPopular carriage rides
Though the live event did not take place this year, the good news is that a virtual version and seasonal events are online through December 31st to plan ahead for next year. Even better news, Stockbridge is open and welcoming friends in a safe way via the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce. The Norman Rockwell museum offers a train set replica of the painting along with the incredible art collection, both viewed on a timed schedule. Enjoy reading about one summer visit and the profile of the self-defined “illustrator” via “Frankly Norman: A Sketch” with a surprise guest. (Hint: The Hoboken, New Jersey guest’s “Christmas with the Rat Pack” had a unique holiday spin.) Fun tidbits are that Mr. Rockwell’s first Stockbridge studio was above the supermarket in “Home for Christmas” and his models, like Pop Fredericks who portrayed Santa in the artist’s “storytelling” and at events, were often his neighbors
“Couple Dancing Under Mistletoe,” 1928, from Norman Rockwell’s Charles Dickens series for “The Saturday Evening Post”The Norman Rockwell Museum – Home of American Illustration Art“Golden Rule,” 1961, at the Norman Rockwell Museum
Enjoy, too, the otherworldly beauty of “Winterlights” and Christmas trees at the McKim, Mead & White architectural gem Naumkeag, nearby Lenox’s virtual “A Christmas Carol” at the Gilded Age Ventfort Hall, and “NightWood” the outdoor “sound, light, and color” show at Edith Wharton’s home, all through late December – early January. With our renewed appreciation of nature, the Berkshire Landkeepers have ideas for taking in the woodland beauty. A Stockbridge Virtual Arts & Crafts Show, Gingerbread House Contest, and Hometown Christmas Light-Up Contest keep the season festive. Though the shops along Main Street offer everything from tech to nostalgia, the bow on top is the Stockbridge holiday spirit.
Stockbridge Fire Department Carolers at The Red Lion Inn Santa at the wheel Naumkeag Christmas tree Naumkeag holiday wishing trees Naumkeag Christmas tree Stockbridge Bowl Lake Tanglewood entrance, Lenox A snowy Tanglewood Tanglewood Downtown Lenox De Vries Fine Art, Lenox Shots Cafe, Lenox Snowy, scenic Lenox Merry & bright, Schots Cafe Sweet tree at Cramwell, a former resort, now a spaGreat Barrington Holiday cheer in Great Barrington A view to spring with Norman Rockwell’s “Spring Flowers,” 1969 (WikiArt)
Happy New Year with a thank you for following. Enjoy our father’s favorite cookie, the Spice Krinkle. This is not too sweet and ideal for a Super Bowl party or nosh. The wonderful aroma from the spices while the cookies bake is a warm welcome for family and friends.
SPICE KRINKLES
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup molasses
Directions: Combined softened butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and molasses. Sift together the remaining ingredients except the granulated sugar and stir into the batter. Wrap the mixture in wax paper and chill 2 hours or overnight. Break or cut pieces of dough big enough to form into balls the size of walnuts. Dip tops in sugar and set on baking sheet 3″ apart. Bake 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until set, but not hardened. Cool.
Note: Some of you may prefer the cookies baked at 350 degrees as they do bake quickly.
(Sources: Our mother & The New York Times Magazine)
“…Should it cause even one heart to feel a deeper trust in God’s goodness and love, or aid any in weaving a life, wherein, through knots and entanglements, the golden thread shall never be tarnished or broken, the prayer with which it was begun and ended will have been answered.”
Mary Mapes Dodge, Preface to “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates””
Widowed and impoverished with two small children to support, Mary Mapes Dodge, 1831-1905, wrote the beloved story “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates” at her father’s Newark farm, Mapleridge. Using her imagination and research, she unearthed such Netherlands tales as “The Little Dutch Boy,” popularizing them in the United States. The 1865 immediate best seller saved her struggling family, and she became the most popular children’s author of her day.
The Ballantine House, 1885, Newark Museum“The Chuppah,” Gianni Toso, Newark Museum
Married at 20 to lawyer William Dodge, Mary had a few short years of domestic happiness in New York City where she grew up. After experiencing a financial reversal, William left and then drowned. Mary was a widow at 28 when she began to support her boys, neither yet school age, with her writing. Ms. Dodge first achieved notoriety with “Irvington Stories” in 1864. Following this success, her sons Harry and James urged her to write down the skating bedtime stories that she made up for them. When published in 1865, the serialized story “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates” was so popular that worldwide sales brought it an award from the French Academy with a monetary prize that helped Mary’s family.
Ms. Dodge dedicated Hans Brinker to her father, a renowned chemist who developed modern agriculture, Professor James Jay Mapes, remembered today with Mapes Avenue in Newark. Mary initially assisted him with editing agricultural journals. It was the warm-hearted James who “believed children could appreciate good literature” in the age of children’s primers. Mary’s mother, Sophia, was an accomplished artist. The future writer and her siblings had had the foundation of a happy childhood and an excellent education filled with art, music, and creativity.
Historic Summit Opera House, 1894, Summit, NJ“The Triumph of Music,” Marc Chagall, Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
The story of Hans not only moved readers but thrilled them with their introduction to Dutch speed skating, even more intriguing with its setting on picturesque frozen canals. Ms. Dodge shares travel and customs in Holland with readers. St. Nicholas is a patron saint and protector of children who arrives in grand style on December 5th, welcomed with songs, poems, and traditional dishes, and exits “with a shower of sugarplums”. On December 6th, St. Nicholas Day, children awake to find their wooden shoes overflowing with presents save for the Brinkers, who find their joy in each other’s company.
“Merry Old Santa Claus,” Thomas Nast, 1881 Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, Morristown, New JerseyHoliday cheer at Wilderstein whose Rhinebeck town welcomes Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, with festivities each year following his nearby Kingston send-offRingwood Manor
Having a Dutch-American grandmother, and later, friends who helped as resources for the book, Ms. Dodge aimed to familiarize Americans with Dutch culture in a positive way as it was sometimes misunderstood. What appealed immensely to Mary was Dutch ability and the miracle of Holland itself, the “marvel of its not being washed away by the sea”. Not surprisingly, engineers are heroes in Dutch history.
Two of Ms. Dodge’s resources were the well-known “The Rise of the Dutch Republic” and “The History of the United Netherlands” by historian John Lothrop Motley, whom she heralds in the story. Though Mary had not traveled to the Netherlands when she wrote “The Silver Skates,” her work was so imaginative that the book was, and is, popular in Holland.
A bestselling first edition of Hans Brinker, illustrated by Thomas Nast, Macculloch Hall Images of beloved St. Nicholas at Winterthur Holland American Bakery, Sussex, New Jersey
In Hans Brinker, readers meet siblings Hans and Gretel, 15 and 12, with names alluding to the fairy tale, who have lived in poverty for most of their childhood. Their father Raff’s illness after an accident and the mysterious loss of the family funds leave them not only destitute children but his caretakers, a duty they assume along with their mother with a persevering love. This is the Holland of windmills and charm, but also a reflection of a real-life world where other children mock the brother and sister for their ragged clothing. Talented skaters, the siblings have only wooden ones, not iron, and cannot compete in the grand December race for the prized silver skates. When Hans earns some money through his wood-carving skill, he puts aside his hopes and buys his sister skates so she may compete. Eventually acquiring proper skates of his own and entering the race, Hans leads. When the skate strap of his loyal friend Peter breaks, Hans gives his to someone who wishes for the silver skates even more than he. Peter goes on to win the boys’ race.
Mary Mapes Dodge brings life to goodness, a character depiction sometimes dismissed as being one-dimensional. She touches readers with Hans’ decision to help his sister: “Hans turned the money thoughtfully in his palm. Never in all his life had he longed so intensely for a pair of skates for he had known of the race and had fairly ached for a chance to test his powers with the other children. He felt confident that with a good pair of steel runners he could readily outdistance most of the boys on the canal… On the other hand, he knew that she [Gretel], with her strong but lithe little frame, needed but a week’s practice on good runners to make her a better skater…. As soon as this last thought flashed upon him, his resolve was made…she should have the skates.” Gretel would win the girls’ race.
Skates, Winterthur
The happy ending brings the recovery of Raff Brinker, after a risky surgery, who restores the family finances, allowing the children to return to school full-time. He and his wife see Gretel win. The selflessness of Hans, who at another turn offered to give his skate money to pay for his father’s surgery, melts away the cynicism of the family physician, Dr. Boekman. Through him, Hans grows up to become a surgeon “in a reverence for God’s work” and marry his childhood sweetheart Annie. The miracle of Hans is that he experiences hardships without becoming hard-hearted.
A winter rose at WinterthurChristmas cheer at Cranberry’s Cafe, Hyde ParkSeasons Greetings in Irvington, New Jersey
Hans makes decisions from a generosity of spirit that shows us one touched by God’s grace. He inspires, which is undoubtedly why the book is still read today, passed down through generations.
Crèche, Vocationist Fathers, Florham Park, NJ
Mary Mapes Dodge went on to become an associate editor for Home and Hearth magazine under Harriet Beacher Stowe in 1868. In 1873, Ms. Dodge received the honor of being the first editor for the prestigious St. Nicholas Magazine, which she named, and featured work by major writers like Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mark Twain. Having grown up in a home where accomplished scientists and artists added to a lively household, Mary’s sons, too, knew the delight of these writers’ company. Mary, who was modest about her accomplishments, was an ideal editor who encouraged Rudyard Kipling to write down the adventure stories that he shared with friends. The result was “The Jungle Book”.
Poinsettia, Longwood Gardens“A Longwood Christmas,” Kennett Square, PABradley Beach, New Jersey
Ms. Dodge helped to launch the careers of young writers with the St. Nicholas League, a monthly magazine for young readers. The affiliated magazine awarded publication and monetary prizes to Edna St. Vincent Millay, E.B. White, Stephen Vincent Benet, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, with his own New Jersey connections. Ms. Dodge continued to write for St. Nicholas Magazine collected in “Baby Days,” “Baby World,” “Poems and Jingles,” and “Rhymes and Verses,” some written in her Catskills home. All of these stories and poems were immensely popular, but it is “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates” that timelessly resonates.
“Winter Light Over Catskills,” Betsy Jacaruso, Jacaruso Studio & Gallery RhinebeckHyde Park Reformed Dutch Church, 1826Rectory, Dutch Reformed Church, est. 1789
In Lord Durham’s rare book collection is an autograph calendar book inscribed by Mary Mapes Dodge from in the Orange Memorial Hospital library, formerly in Orange, New Jersey, with a date of December 16, 1902:
“Greetings. ‘Good day!’ cried one who drove to West | ‘Good day!’ the other, Eastward bound; – | Strong, cheery voices both, that sang | Above their wagons rattling sound. | And I within my song home nest, | ‘Good day!’ ‘Good day!’ still softly sang. | I saw them not, yet well I knew | How much a hearty word can do; | How braced those hearts that their way, | Speed, each to each, a brave ‘good day!’ Mary Mapes Dodge.”
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays as we travel into 2020.
Santa Vincent “Whitey” Vitale rides through Madison and Chatham, stopping at homes and senior centers, to spread Christmas cheer as he has generously done for years. He and his horse are a big hit with everyone, especially children.
The ultimate speed skater, the NJ Devils’ “The Iron Man” by Jon Krawczyk, at Championship PlazaSkater, by Tom Mosser, NJ Devils’ mural, Prudential CenterChristmas at Kip’s Castle, Montclair, part of Essex County ParksThe Rink at Winter Village, Bryant ParkHoliday magic, Jersey City Jersey Shore Christmas, jeep playing “Merry Christmas, Baby” and “Feliz Navidad,” Spring Lake Irish Centre Readington Reformed (Dutch) Church, 1719, Readington, New JerseyReadington Reformed Church celebrates its 200th anniversaryReadington Reformed ChurchDilworth Park, Rothman Orthopaedics Ice Rink, Philadelphia “Virgin and Child,” c. 1475, Metropolitan Museum of ArtChristmas, New Providence, New JerseyCamuso Holiday Display, Livingston, raises money for charityWinter cozy, Lambertville Trading, Co., Lambertville, Delaware River TownsLoreto Theatre, Sheen Center, Greenwich Village
“What you do will show who you are.” Thomas Alva Edison
Flag and WTC steel beam
From the rainbow beneath the Earth to the stars in the sky, Sterling Hill Mining Museum encompasses every aspect of science. Described as a “gem” by Fodor Travel Guide, the nonprofit museum combines geology, history, and magic in a place that fascinates visitors of all ages as they experience one of the best tours in the state – or anywhere. On the National Register of Historic Places, the museum’s fluorescent minerals are on display in both the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Natural History. The incredible Rainbow Tunnel, part of what is the largest collection of fluorescent minerals in the world, and the mining museum are about an hour’s drive from New York City and slightly longer from Scranton, as is the neighboring Franklin Mineral Museum.
The Mining Museum
Dedicated to learning for all ages and the inspiration of future scientists and engineers, Sterling Hill Mining Museum is continuously evolving as its new website shows. Return tours like the one I enjoyed in the late summer bring more discoveries. In operation for more than 300 years, Sterling Hill Mining Museum is the fourth oldest mine in the country. Passing through picturesque Ogdensburg and going up the museum’s long driveway, visitors experience the awe-inspiring sight of the sky-high conveyor of the former working mine.A visit begins with a warm welcome when buying tickets for the two-hour museum and mine tour and/or Discovery Digs (fossil and mineral), sluice mining, the GeoSTEM Academy, or periodic special tours. Observations that staff share on the tours and in museum YouTube videos are, “If you can’t grow it, you have to mine it…” and “almost everything man-made depends on mining for its production,” capture the breadth of what the museum has to offer.
A mining car filled with fluorescent mineralsHonoring the miners and mineral collector Joe Cilen Partial view of the conveyor and a 1915 mill
Touring the mine means walking through a 1/4 mile of white marble tunnels where the temperature is about 56 F (13 C) year-round. Of the 35 miles of tunnel, only the ground level remains open to the public. The mine floors are not perfectly smooth, but the tour is stroller and wheelchair accessible. Wearing layers and water-resistant clothing and shoes is helpful as is bringing protective eyewear for digs. The mine tour includes a simulated blast among the representative sights.
Mining cars and a warm welcome Zobel Hall
The tour begins in Zobel Hall Museum, which was the miner’s change house during the era of the New Jersey Zinc Mining Company, 1852-1986. Striking among many treasures in the room are the giant dinosaur skull, the incredible periodic table, and miners’ helmets in the glass cases. The fluorescent minerals in the curtained corner room give a preview of the remarkable display to come. Behind the miners’ helmets is the Oreck Mineral Gallery with beautiful minerals from around the world showcased with state-of-the-art lighting.
The extraordinary periodic table
The tour also includes the original mine and the Warren Museum of Fluorescence with a collection of more than 700 specimens of glow-in-the-dark minerals. (Interestingly, different kinds of ultraviolet light, longwave and shortwave, bring out different colors.) Wonderful in itself, the Warren Museum sets the stage for the remarkable Rainbow Tunnel. Of the 356 minerals found in Sterling Hill Mine, the discovery of as many as 80 fluorescent ones in the early 90s brought Sterling Hill Mining Museum worldwide renown.
Hand-painted detail on an antique safe
Mining Life
In Zobel Hall at the start of the tour, miners’ lockers remain with photos of those who contributed to the development of the museum. Miners’ work clothes hang from the ceiling as they did nightly to dry out for the next day. Jobs at the mine included: drill runners or lead drillers, muckers “who moved the blasted ore,” cage men who transported men and supplies on the “man cages” or elevators which descended at 900 feet per minute, and the shift bosses. Recovered footage of daily life at the mine in the 1930s is available in Sterling Hill Mining Museum videos on YouTube with links on the museum’s homepage. Extracting zinc, used to make pennies, paints, shoes, boots, ceramics, vitamins, sunblock, tires, and brass among other things, made a profit until the 1980’s when the costs of running the mine exceeded those.
White lung disease was the hazard of working in the zinc mines as black lung was of the coal. The miners of the late 1800’s came from Poland, Russia, Hungary, and other Slavic countries, some directly from Ellis Island. The new website shares the diaries of miner John Kolic, who worked in the mine from 1972 until the mine closed in 1986, and contributed to the museum from 1989 until 2014. To follow newly released diary chapters, events, and topics ranging from chemistry to geology to ghosts, sign up for the Sterling Hill Mining Museum Newsletter. Having family on our father’s side who worked in the coal mines in Northeastern Pennsylvania, visiting the mine and following its history is also of personal interest.
Thomas Edison at the Edison Ore-Milling Company
Thomas Edison, with ties to Ogdensburg, had a mining business, the Edison Ore-Milling Company, that traversed between there and Sparta following the company’s origin in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Mr. Edison invented what came to be known as the Edison Cap Lamp for the Mine Safety Alliance Company (MSA) in 1914. Battery operated, the cap allowed miners to see for as long as 12 hours without the danger of using flammable gas. Thomas is honored by the Edison Tunnel at the museum. This weekend, the film “The Current War” about the competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse & Nikola Tesla will be released. In addition to the Sterling Hill Mining Museum and Thomas Edison National Park in West Orange, science and history buffs can also visit the charming Queens home of another light bulb inventor Louis Howard Latimer, post in progress with a link to come, part of the Historic Houses of New York
From Mine to Museum
Brothers Richard and Robert Hauck bought the closed mine in 1989 with the generous thought of sharing it with the public as a museum. The moving addition of the steel remnant from the World Trade Center is a donation from an area company that assisted after 9/11, also giving visitors an idea of the character of those behind the museum.
Ongoing projects include a railroad caboose restoration. The museum offers a snack bar (with rock candy 😉) and a gift shop both of which help support this educational nonprofit. Donations of minerals, fossils, and mining artifacts are welcome as are memberships and gifts of support. The museum is a sponsor of a STEM Scholarship Award for college students.
Sphalerite from the mine
The popular museum has about 40,000 visitors a year. Groups are welcome for tours scheduled two weeks in advance. Please call (973) 209-7212. The ticket prices for the two-hour tour are incredibly reasonable for this area: adults, $13, senior adults $12, children (4-12) $10 ($9 on a group tour), and free for under 4. Tours are daily at 1 p.m. till the end of November, weekends at 1 December through March, daily at 1 April through June, and daily at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. July through August. Sterling Hill Mining Museum welcomes anyone with interest in science or engineering who would like to be a guide. The next GoSTEM Academy is Saturday, November 2nd for those who would like to register.
Posted with thanks to @sterlinghillminingmuseum for following on Instagram. In addition to the museum’s Instagram and Facebook pages, you may enjoy their informative YouTube videos.
“Not Easter eggs, but rocks, minerals, and geodes….the difference is the light in which we see them.” @kathleenlevey Instagram from spring 2016, highlighting the museum’s incredible fluorescent minerals
The Ellis
Astronomical Observatory
A new discovery on a brief follow up trip this month was the intriguing Ellis Astronomical Observatory. Far from city lights, the Ellis Astronomical Observatory offers clear views of the night sky with reflector telescopes and safe views of the sun through a Hydrogen-Alpha one.
The next viewing is for the transit of Mercury on the morning of November 11th, which is the sighting of the silhouette of Mercury against the sun. In each century, there are 13 transits of Mercury. The next one will be November 3, 2032. To make a reservation for this November, contact Bill Kroth (973) 209- 7212 or Gordon Powers: (973) 209-0710.
The Ellis Astronomical Observatory
The Mine’s Namesake
Following the initial Dutch entrepreneurs who sought copper, Lord Stirling, 1726-1783, often spelled as “Sterling” in records of the 1700’s, was one of the early owners of the mine. Serving in the Continental Army from 1775 until his death in 1783, he first led the Battalion of East Jersey and then the 1st Maryland Regiment to win the Battles of Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. Like many of his wealthy compatriots in the war, William used his own money to provide supplies and weapons for his men.
Considered flamboyant by some for his pursuit of a Scottish title, New Yorker William Alexander, Lord Stirling walked away from it without hesitation to serve his country in the fight for independence. With respect, General Washington called his brigadier general “Lord Stirling” as did William’s officer peers throughout the Revolutionary War. The issue of the title may have reflected the historical Scottish-English and English-Colonial tensions of the era. A Scottish high court granted William the title, which the English House of Lords later rescinded. The title would have given William ownership of a great deal of coastal land in New England and Nova Scotia.
Lord Stirling Stable in Basking Ridge
Loyal, William helped stop the Conway Cabal, the 1777 conspiracy by General Conway and some Continental officers to remove George Washington for being a “weak general”. Appalled by such “wicked duplicity of conduct” (ushistory.org), William informed General Washington of the plot and supported him as he had done his previous commander General William Shirley, also an early governor of Massachusetts, in the French and Indian War. William’s courage at the Battle of Long Island earned him a newspaper headline, if not an official title, and the praise of General Washington as “the bravest man in America”. General Washington left William in charge of the Continental Army in the general’s brief absence and before the war had given William’s daughter Catherine away at her wedding. Catherine’s mother and William’s wife was Sarah Livingston, sister of William Livingston from Union’s Liberty Hall, who was a signer of the US Constitution and the first governor of New Jersey. Sarah accompanied William to Valley Forge and, a capable accountant, acted as William’s agent in managing properties.
Accomplished in mathematics and astronomy, William founded King’s College, precursor to Columbia University, of which his grandson William Alexander Durer was later president. William died shortly before the official end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, which is why he is not well-known today. In some ways, William’s attitudes were reflective of his peers, in other ways, not. Historically, Lord Stirling may best be remembered as a brave man of the American Revolution. The Lord Stirling Festival returned to Basking Ridge earlier this month at Lord Stirling Park Environmental Education Center to honor William for his contributions. William’s gravesite is in Trinity Churchyard in New York City, along with his wartime compatriot Alexander Hamilton. Today, William’s love of mathematics and astronomy echo in the scientific pursuits at the museum.
Tributes to the miners are throughout the area like the one at Heaven Hill Farm’s Great Pumpkin Festival
Franklin Mineral Museum
Franklin Mineral Museum
Franklin Mineral Museum is another geological treasure trove near Sterling Hill Mining Museum, both in the Franklin District. Also known for its florescent minerals, the Florescent Room at the museum celebrates this geological bounty of the region as it does the miners.
“The Zinc Miner, Dedicated to the memory of the men who worked in the world famous Franklin and Sterling Mines,” by Carey Boone Nelson
Displays in the museum begun by a local Kiwanis Club also include types of zinc that was the basis of the Franklin District’s mining from the mid-1800s, as Sterling Hill also notes: Franklinite, discovered in the Franklin District mines, zincite, rare except in the Franklin and Sterling Hill area, and willemite. The museum literature explains that the discovery of fluorescent minerals came about when sparks from early electric equipment in the mines made the rocks glow.
Photo of Franklin miners
For visitors with children who like digging, dinosaurs, and tunnels, this is a wonderful complement to Sterling Hill. Another warm welcome from staff who enjoy sharing all that the museum has to offer is in store, though kindly ask permission regarding taking photos inside the museum.
Richard P. Hauck, who co-founded the Sterling Hill Mining Museum and after whom the mineral Hauckite is named, and his wife Elna, a geologist, two Hall of Fame Honorees at the Franklin Mineral Museum. A nice surprise 🐾Princeton colors among the minerals with donations also made by Dr. Pete Dunn, Smithsonian Institute Mineralogist and expert on the Franklin Mine minerals An exhibit of South American butterflies
A fascinating surprise was Welsh Hall, named after Wilfred “Bill” Welsh, a teacher who had served with the Navajo Code Talkers during World War II. Mr. Welsh donated his collection of Native American artifacts and fossils to the museum as well as his worldwide collection of minerals, acquired with his wife Mary.
Hopi Kachinas, Arizona Ortam, the Peace Chief of the Hackensack Tribe, Unami Leni Lenape, also known as the Delaware Native Americans, 1577-1667, New Jersey
Sussex County has beautiful family farms offering fall events and Christmas tree farms and skiing as the weather changes. For warm weather fans, the Sussex County Miners baseball team plays in Augusta. Off-season at their Skylands Stadium home there is a Christmas Light Show & Village, which takes visitors from fluorescent to holiday bright.
Franklin Pond
(Sources: sterlinghillminingmuseum.org, franklinmineralmuseum.com, youtube.com, americanhistory.si.edu, ethw.org, falconerelectronics.com, Ogdensburg Journal, nytimes.com, abc7ny.com, northjersey.com, mountveron.org, sterlinghistoricalsociety.org, lordstirling.org, ushistory.org, battlefields.org, brownstoner.com, tripadvisor.com, njherald.com, smithsonianmag.com, Franklin Mineral Museum pamphlets, tworivertimes.com, nyu.edu, William Alexander by Paul David Nelson, Past and Present: Lives of New Jersey Women, tapinto.net, americanrevolution.com, iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/bios/lordstirling.htm, Wiki)
