This past week I had the pleasure of interviewing our new chef, Sophia Vigil. The aroma of cooking and baking filled the kitchen. It reminded me of a guest’s remark, “It smells like home.” Mabel considered the kitchen the nicest room in the house. It’s the heart of the house, now managed by Sophia.

Mabel Dodge Luhan & Company: American Moderns and the West opened at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History this past October. Each venue of a travelling exhibition differs in installation and interpretation. I interviewed museum curator Andrew Connors about his vision. Here are photos and the story of the Albuquerque show.

In 2012 the Mabel Dodge Luhan House received a surprise package from Pescara, Italy. It contained the newly published book Nello Specchio di Mabel. The accompanying letter from author Marco Tornar, translated the title—In Mabel’s Mirror: The Florentine Years of Mabel Dodge Luhan—and the intent. “I’ve tried to fill a grievous gap in my country, Italy, which still doesn’t know this marvelous authoress.”

The story of Mabel’s years in Florence opens with her second marriage. On board a steamship from New York to Havre, France, Mabel met Edwin Dodge, a wealthy architect from Boston. He would become her second husband.