Now, she is Dr. Reagon on the folklife staff at The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and founder of the a capella women's group Sweet Honey in the Rock. Both Yaddo and Lena feed the artists' bellies as well as their souls. Lena, too, was noted for her lasagna, her Italian New Year's dinners with seven kinds of fish and her Greek nut cake. Of course, the recipes matter, but the love with which the dishes are served matters more. Both places are salons, where artists of different disciplines converse.
Writer meets composer.
Singer meets actor. From such cross-fertilization, ideas with hybrid vigor grow. Now, a little history about direct links between Yaddo and Caffe Lena, which I've gleaned over the years I worked in Lena's kitchen and the many interviews we did together before she died in November 1989. Lena told me that although the guests at Yaddo are there to work many liked to explore Saratoga Springs, especially in the evening hours. In turn, they sometimes invited Lena to dinner at Yaddo.