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The duchesse de Gramont-Caderousse Several years ago, I visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum  in Kansas City, Missouri and discovered a portrait of Marie-Gabrielle de Sinéty , the Duchesse de Gramont-Caderousse by Elizabeth Vigree Le Brun.   I have gazed upon thousands of portraits in my travels and throughout my years of research, but something about this lady's face captured me.  Perhaps it was her delicate nose, flushed cheeks, and open, expressive brown eyes that gave her an air of innocence and insouciance. I confess, the fashionista in me coveted her black velvet jacket with the slashed sleeves.  I adored the way the sleeves were fastened to the jacket with red silk bows.  Who doesn't find an ensemble in red and black utterly dramatic and appealing? But there was something else that drew me to the portrait, that had me standing there, gazing at it for nearly a quarter of an hour.  A familiarity that seemed to ha...

I'll admit it:  I am a seasonal Martha Addict.  Each year, as autumn brushes the world in an ochre hue, I find myself inexplicably drawn to Martha Stewart, that peddler of crafty pastimes.  I know I should focus my energies on writing and home obligations, but the temptation becomes too great.  As the air turns crisp and crackly leaves litter the sidewalks, I suddenly start watching Martha's television show and reading her magazines.  I will sit with a plate of Fuji Caramel Apple Cookies with Brown Sugar Icing (a Martha recipe) balanced precariously on my lap, watching as the Gandhi of Gardening, the Diva of Domesticity single-handedly builds a dovecote out of Popsicle sticks and fills it with birds she humanely captures with silken ropes or bakes a million puff pastries which she then uses to recreate the Taj Mahal. I've watched Martha Stewart successfully try her hand at c ake decorating, sewing, scrap booking, woodwor...