Autumn Prayer

O extravagant God, in this ripening, red-tinged autumn,

waken in me a sense of joy in just being alive,

joy for nothing in general except everything in particular;

joy in sun and rain mating with earth to birth a harvest;

joy in soft light through shyly disrobing trees;

joy in the acolyte moon setting halos around processing clouds;

joy in the beating of a thousand wings mysteriously knowing which way is warm;

joy in wagging tails and kid's smiles and in this spunky old city;

joy in the taste of bread and wine, the smell of dawn, a touch, a song,

a presence;

joy in having what I cannot live without-other people to hold and cry and laugh with;

joy in love, in you;

and that all at first and last

is grace. (words from "Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder, photos by Isaac)

An Attitude Adjustment!

I've been carrying the following around in my pocket for a long time and thought I would share it today.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than education,

than money, than circumstances, than failures,

than successes,

than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.

It will make or break a company...a church...a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude

we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past....

We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.

We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play the one string we have

and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me

and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you.........

we are in charge of our ATTITUDE.

Up, Up, and Away

John and I awoke at 5am on Saturday morning to travel to Glens Falls, NY for the Annual Adirondack Balloon festival. Traffic was very congested but we made it in time to watch the launch of over 50 hot air balloons. Here are some photos.

Last Words

What if you had an opportunity to speak to a gathering of friends and family about your values and principles? And what if you knew that the end of your life was imminent? What would you share? What would be the focus of your speech?
Colleges and Universities around the country have been inviting faculty to imagine that they had one last opportunity to speak. They call this the "Last Lecture Series". For Randy Pausch, 46, a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, this is not a hypothetical situation. He has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given mere weeks to live. The September 20, 2007 edition of the Wall Street Journal has an article about his inspirational speech. To see excerpts from Professor Pausch's moving and surprisingly humorous lecture, click here.

To Blog or Not to Blog.....

If there is anyone still checking this blog.....I guess I owe an explanation for my long absence.

The truth is....I've been enjoying summer.....my best summer since Junior High.

You remember those days, before you had summer jobs. The days of July and August stretched out in front of you, unpaved and unscheduled and filled with mosquitoes, sunburns, fireflies, campfires, and adventures. Nat King Cole sang in 1963 about the kind of summer I experienced in 2007.

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

I had forgotten how enjoyable summer could be. Walks in the park; camping in our pop up camper which has been setting in the yard the last three years unused;;fishing with friends, children, and grandchildren; spending weekend evenings at the local dirt tracks; watching and suffering with the Mets on the TV in the back porch; sailing on Lake George; boating on the Sacandaga and Caroga lakes; licking an ice cream cone at Dan's; growing an abundance of tomatoes; Saturday mornings at the Farmer's Market; surprising friend Karl on his 20Th anniversary of ordination in Pennsylvania; leading worship on Labor Day weekend at Diamond Point Community Church on Lake George with my entire family in attendance, chasing fireflies with the grandchildren; working on a Habitat Build in Schenectady; and spending a delightful week at a friend's camp on Hunt Lake.

So dear and patient reader, if any of you still remain....that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Granddaughters' Kaylyn and Jena Grandchildren at Diamond Point John and Mary at Diamond Point

Hairspray

Hairspray-The Musical is a delightful night at the movies. I found myself smiling throughout the evening at the exuberance, joy, costumes, and the hilarious dialogue. Unknown Nikki Blonsky plays the heroine, Tracy Turnblad, with an enthusiasm and grin that is contagious. John Travolta plays her mom, Edna, with respect and sensitivity for this woman of large size and heart. A measure of Travolta's success is that I stopped thinking of the character as John Travolta in drag about half way through the movie in the joyous number, "Welcome to the '60's". The whole movie is a reminder of the fashions, silliness, and racial stereotypes of that decade. It is also a tribute to those who were willing to risk all to create the changes that needed to come. Owen Gleiberman writing in Entertainment weekly gets it right when he writes, "Hairspray is a fizzy and delirious high-camp message-movie musical that may just turn out to be the happiest movie of the summer." Christopher Walken plays Tracy's father with a goofy weirdness that is fun to watch especially when the villainous Velma Von Tussle, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, attempts to seduce him in his joke shop. The movie ends with the exhuberant "You Can't Stop the Beat" and if you go to this movie, I bet you can't stop smiling.

Vermont Weekend Log

I had the opportunity this weekend to visit with son, Josh, and his wife, Elizabeth, and their son, Noah, at their home in Barre, Vermont. It is a beautiful three hour drive up the Northway, then east to Rutland, and a winding journey on routes 100 and 107 to Interstate 89 to Barre. On Thursday evening Josh and I went to Thunder Road Speed Bowl, a beautiful facility in the hills above the city. It was a cool and crisp summer evening with plenty of exciting racing.On Friday, Noah went bike riding in the morning and then we headed to Barre to meet his Dad for lunch. We ate at LACE, a cafe and natural food store, opened by Josh and Elizabeth's friends, Ariel and Ben. I had a delicious turkey club sandwich as we sat at the front window so Noah could watch the trucks drive by. All the food served and sold at LACE is grown and produced in Vermont. Saturday morning we took Noah to the tiny Washington County Fair where he fed goats, horses, and cows. Noah also went on a few rides.

In the afternoon we went to a soccer field that is situated in the woods in a local park.
Breakfast on Sunday morning was in Plainfield, Vt. at our favorite restaurant, River Run. I ordered scrambled eggs with vegetables and one of their famous pancakes. Noah loves their pancakes. Delicious! After walking the stone wall around the church, we visited the local used bookstore.On the way home I stopped at Devil's Bowl Speedway for a Sunday evening of exciting racing. They featured winged mini-sprints as well as an old timers club of sprints and midgets.

It was a clear night, the track was fast, and very dusty.