Eleanor's Best

This is a selection of jams made by our friend Jennifer Mercurio in Cold Spring, New York. She actually makes 14 different flavors. One of my favorite jams is gooseberry. Gooseberries have a short season and are hard to find so she has not made it yet. I will rush to it when she does, because, if the other flavors are anything to judge by, there will be no finer gooseberry jam. Jennifer and her husband Joseph have recently bought some land in Garrison where they will farm chickens, and I hope, grow fruit, including gooseberries.  

  

A 14 year-old on Lander Street, Newburgh, NY

There are times when a photographer needs a reference. It is not unlikely that when your 14 year-old daughter is stopped in the street and asked by a stranger if they may photograph her, the mother, who  was in this case standing nearby, is going to consider the matter and ask questions. The mother said No, she did think she wanted any pictures of her daughter. As I was walking away, along comes our friend Point, a neighbor and friend of the mother and daughter. He had been observing the encounter. He vouched for me and I took the pictures.

Seldom do you see this particular street in Newburgh, Lander Street, so empty. It is usual packed with children on scooters and bikes, neighbors chatting to each other and women hurrying to work. It must have been too early in the day for any of that.