My Prayer for Obama, My Prayer for Our Nation

I love this. This 'Obama' in the field is located on Rt. 23 just west of Hillsdale. Far better than a crop circle, I hope it can help send a message to the man above as we finally reach Election Day 2008.

Now, I am not a religious person. Spiritual, sure. But as we close in on November 4th, I feel the need to say a prayer of my. Please bear with me…I rarely do this.

Dear G*d,

Please take away the anxiety I’m feeling, it’s almost as bad as the post- 9/11 stress that went on for months and months as we waited for “the other shoe to drop.” Looking at where we are now, dozens of pairs of dropped shoes later, I pray for help…and yes, Hope That We Can Believe In.

• I pray for the election win of Barack Obama. Let his integrity, intelligence and intuition guide Our Nation into a more peaceful co-existence with each other and with the rest of the world.

• I pray for the safe-keeping of Barack Obama. A man with such vision needs to be protected, but there is still too much hate in this world and I fear what the worst-case scenario would bring to this country. Please, keep him and all of us safe from harm’s way.

• I pray for the well-being of our country. Let’s separate Church (and Mosque, Synagogue and 12-Step Programs while we’re at it) and State. The lines have gotten far too blurred lately and fundamentalism seems to be everywhere. There’s no difference in committing a terrorist act in the name of Allah or going into an unjustified war in the name of G*d.
  

• This Election Day, I pray that the people of this nation are able to vote freely and without fear of their vote not being counted. No hanging chads or rigged electronic booths. I further pray that Obama wins substantially, to provide him with the mandate he needs to make this country great again.

• In July 2008, Obama visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem. He wrote: "Lord — Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."

Please hear his prayer...

Also, a friend of mine sent this along from earlier this week in The New Republic (Oct. 26 - Photo of the Day).

Terrorist?? Yeah, sure.

A Riot of Colors

We've been up at the house last two weekends -- pretty much the peak of the leaf-peeping season.

Whenever John and I drive down 27 towards Hudson he says, "I'm telling you, it's just a riot of colors! A riot of colors, Christina!"

I guess this expression is English (since he is a Brit), but it pretty much makes me break out in giggles every time...which makes it all somewhat a literal translation.

Anyway, these photos were taken on a walk I did in the hood.

UPDATE: John has informed me that, as a Brit, he actually said 'a riot of colours, not colors.'

I wish I could come up with a smart-ass rebuttal, but he's pretty much got me stumped on this point.

The House That Love Built

I had a bit of time to myself last weekend up at the house and spent most of it writing on the porch.

I always keep the camera at the ready in case a deer, chipmunk, wood chuck or some wild turkeys come by, but at one point I looked up from the computer and saw the sun hitting the screen of the porch and thought it looked like a heart...

Okay, a bit hokey, I know, but I took it as a sign...and I think we can all thank g*d that I didn't see the Virgin Mary. ;-)

Peeps in the Hood: Tim & Nina Zagat

So our friend Dave, who's place is down Millerton way, sent us a recent article that appeared in The New York Times about Tim and Nina Zagat (of restaurant guide fame), who have a gorgeous historic farmhouse on an 160-acre spread just outside of Millerton, NY.

The second best part of the article is this little dandy, regarding renovations on historic homes. Tim starts:

“We gutted the whole house to the outer walls, and then we had to jack it up to dig a basement,” he recalled. “I said to the architect, ‘This is more expensive than building a new house.’ And he said, ‘Of course it is.’ He had never brought up the fact that it would have been cheaper to knock down the old house and build a new one!”

Har, har, har, har, har. Our design consultant that helped us with our place told us of a similar story (not with our place, our's is newish made to look old = SMART). In the end, it is cheaper to put up new rather than re-do the old (that's how you get these fabulous cities like Hong Kong), but I totally respect the Zagats for preserving their lovely farm house. It IS beautiful.

That said, the best (or maybe it's the worst) part of the article has to do with the photo of Tim Zagat that accompanies the piece. I mean, what the *&$#&?! Why anyone would agree to be photographed looking as if he's all too comfortable doing work in his business shirt and three-ring binder while hip deep in his (saltwater) pool is beyond me.

C'mon Tim, you know more about marketing yourself than most...what were you thinking?! Even Nina looks like she wants to pull you out for your own good.

Oh and if you've ever wondered what it would be like to work for the Zagats, check this out.