[null, {"document_url": "http://blog.hollisterhovey.com/2008/11/astorinomical.html", "unformatted_src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kM7t6IwmQlQ/SRNIjTzSUoI/AAAAAAAAGcI/IMz14XvRiDw/s400/astor+courts+tennis.JPG", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kM7t6IwmQlQ/SRNIjTzSUoI/AAAAAAAAGcI/IMz14XvRiDw/s400/astor+courts+tennis.JPG", "formatted_filename": "astor courts tennis"}, null, {"document_url": "http://blog.hollisterhovey.com/2008/11/astorinomical.html", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kM7t6IwmQlQ/SRNIVHWkIHI/AAAAAAAAGcA/ySCat3738zc/s400/astor+courts+bathroom.JPG", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kM7t6IwmQlQ/SRNIVHWkIHI/AAAAAAAAGcA/ySCat3738zc/s400/astor+courts+bathroom.JPG", "formatted_filename": "astor courts bathroom"}, null]
I get a pain in my heart when I think about how much I want a country house up by Rhinebeck.  I imagine myself rummaging through farmers markets to find glorious veg and meats to take home and slow cook for hours as my guests and I drink hot toddies by the fire (completely ignoring the fact that I have a glorious kitchen and even more glorious farmers markets in Brooklyn and all I ever seem to buy is gourmet honey and flowers and that I basically use my oven for storage...A country house would change me. I just know it).  It wouldn't have to be a big house, just a little shack with a view.  Today The New York Times takes us on a tour of a different sort of Rhinebeck country dwelling with a view:  John Jacob Astor IV's Astor Court, designed by Stanford White a few years before John went down with the Titanic.  A nice couple and Stanford's great grandson fixed it up. I'll just take the tennis courts.  Or the bathroom.  I'm sure there's a place to plug in a crock pot.