Lady with cat

I took this photograph in 1978 in the Upper Richmond Road in the district of Putney, London, England. It was recently selected by Rod Fry ARPS who wrote about it in The Royal Photographic Society magazine Contemporary Group Journal. Rod first noticed the picture in a book of mine called England and the English, published in 1982. He was reminded of it when he saw that I had an exhibition of my pictures of writers and artists at The National Portrait Gallery in London, in 2011.

Barn doors on Sandy's farm

Thanksgiving 2012. No Brussels sprouts, no pumpkin pie and no guests ― just us and the dogs. Practiced the piano, edited a video of Sandy Saunders making the last mowing of the season at Wing and Wing, the field below Castle Rock, the not very medieval, but never-the-less impressive wreck of a castle on the hilltop overlooking Garrison, NY. It can been seen from almost everywhere.

We walked in the sunshine on a windless day. Probably the happiest late November day I have ever spent. Cooked Pommes gaufrettes au beurre from the incomparable Jean and Pierre Troisgros cookbook, with fried turkey breasts in a sauce made from the last of a bottle of Cockburn 20 year-old Tawney port, white wine, chicken stock, lemon juice and a knob of butter. It was planned to be Madeira sauce, but Yannitelli, our local wine merchant, had run out. Glad to be a victim of the increasing popularity of this wonderful beverage, without which Washington and his generals would never have won the war.

The photograph is of the barn at Sandy Saunders' house. Pray for the mild winter to continue.