The mill house is one of my favorite quiet spots on earth. It sits by the river where I can hear the water rushing below me as I nap on the porch. My friends, the loving proprietors, come with it, making it all the more extraordinary.
As appraisers of music ephemera -- anything from a bust of Beethoven, centuries-old sheet music, harps, books, antiquities, etchings, and the correspondence of composers and conductors -- Gene and Marianne are two of the most fascinating friends I've ever known. They've got incredible funny stories, and a cool job.
During this particular weekend at the mill house, Gene sorted through the letters of Leopold Mannes: a composer as well as the co-inventor of Kodachrome -- by content into a music pile and a photography pile. The most interesting letter to me? The one by Eleanor Roosevelt.
