Ladies of Liberty: The Women who Shaped our Nation is the latest book by noted political correspondent and author Cokie Roberts. It's a companion volume to Founding Mothers, in which the author pays homage to the women whose patriotism and sacrifice helped create a new nation.

Much to HVBLogger's delight, the newly published book features Louise Livingston (1782-1860) on the front and back cover. Louise was the cosmopolitan and well-traveled widow of Edward Livingston. She and her daughter Coralie Livingston Barton used Montgomery Place, Historic Hudson Valley's Dutchess County jewel, as a summer home and remade its architecture and landscape over a forty-year period. They transformed the site into a handsome, self-sufficient estate.

(Cokie also writes about Rebecca Gratz, who has links with Washington Irving. He gets a couple of mentions, too.)

In 2007, Cokie Roberts worked with Kate Johnson, curator of Historic Hudson Valley, and Catalina Hannan, librarian of Historic Hudson Valley, on the project that would become Ladies of Liberty. The author offers warm thanks to both of them in her Acknowledgements. Bravo to Kate and Cat!

If you want to learn more about the book click here.

Don't know of Cokie Roberts? Oh, come on. Yes you do! Among other career highlights, she is a political commentator for ABC News and a senior news analyst for National Public Radio. From 1996 to 2002, she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program, This Week.

Sunday was a sunny day at Sunnyside, made all the more so by the dozen artists scattered throughout the grounds creating new works of art on site as part of Artists-on-the-Hudson.

Below, you can see artist Vern Ford of Blaze fame has a cult following wherever he goes. At left, Jan Aiello of Croton captures Washington Irving's homestead in all its romantic glory.

Special thanks to Danielle Fontaine for the pics.

Brian Jay Jones is NOT the dead Rolling Stone, but he is the author of the most recent bio of Washington Irving, called "An American Original."

Besides being a total Irving fanatic and pop culture junkie, Brian is an all around cool guy who makes his daily bread as a policy wonk in Maryland.

He spoke at Irving's homestead of Sunnyside last fall, captivating the crowd with his tales of Irving's exploits. His book takes a different, more personality-based approach than the first, also excellent, Irving bio published in 2007, "The Original Knickerbocker" by the historian Andrew Burstein, who provides an in-depth analysis of Irving as an American icon.

We enjoy Brian's Literary Conceits blog, particularly his recent four-part series covering an NYC trip, and thought you might too.

Frequent visitors to Historic Hudson Valley sites know the organization's museums of history are pretty cool, pretty historic, pretty educational, and just plain pretty, but there's a whole world out there who haven't visited yet. And while it's one thing for the folks at HHV to tout the value of a visit, it's quite another entirely to get a nod (several, in fact) from the style arbiters at Westchester Magazine.

The cover story of Westchester Mag's May issue, currently on newsstands, is entitled "56 Things every Westchesterite should do (at Least) Once." HVBlogger is proud to report that HHV stuff accounts for numbers 2, 6, 8, and 19 of those things. Not bad!

Number 2: "Read Washington Irving's Short Story"

Calling it "Westchester County's very own ghost story," writer Nancy L. Claus notes The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a must read - simply watching Johnny Depp's movie doesn't cut it. Bonus points, she says, if you visit Sunnyside, the Historic Hudson Valley homestead of Washington Irving. Indeed!

Number 6: "Visit the Rockefeller Home"

Ms. Claus calls Kykuit "spectacular indoors and out." With its six-story stone mansion, modern art and sculpture, and elaborate terraced gardens, a visit to Kykuit can make you feel pretty, well, Rockefeller-like. "Even if your great granddaddy didn't start Standard Oil, you can still experience a taste of the über-good life by visiting Kykuit," says Ms. Claus. Conveniently, Kykuit opens for the season on Saturday. More conveniently, you can book a timed tour in advance online.

Number 8: "Admire Chagall Windows (and a Matisse, too!)"

Being the HVBlogger, I tend to find myself telling people about the Union Church of Pocantico Hills. And I find myself enjoying it when they are delightfully surprised to hear it contains stained glass windows by modern masters Henry Matisse and Marc Chagall. Westchester Mag was duly impressed, hence the Number 8 spot.

Number 19: "Visit the Great Pumpkin(s)"

BlazeBlogger is a little miffed this 4,000-pumpkin extravaganza wasn't Number 1 (though it is featured in the cover photo montage, as you can see), but he's a bit singular in his focus. He should take some comfort in Ms. Claus' high praise, indeed, for The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze. "(M)an oh man, you're in for a treat this October...Wind your way along candlelit paths, while spooky music plays, and oooh and aaah over the cemetery of ghosts, the patch depicting dead musicians, even a replica of our very own Headless Horseman. Grab a kid (or your inner child, if you don't have one) and get crackin'! Reservations are necessary - and tickets sell out fast." She's not kidding about that. Blaze is an October thang, but watch this space for ticket info this summer.