Friday, July 25, 2014

Friday, July 25, 2014

Tonight's picture was taken on July 25 of 2009. This was the last birthday I celebrated with Mattie. That day, Mattie constructed this beautiful lighthouse birthday card for me, with the help of Peter's parents. Mattie and I saw many lighthouses together and the card captured those special adventures. It is hard to believe that with that beautiful smile and looking so happy, Mattie died a month and a half later. 








Quote of the day: And perhaps there is a limit to the grieving that the human heart can do. As when one adds salt to a tumbler of water, there comes a point where simply no more will be absorbed. ~ Sarah Waters


We started the day with sunshine! Which after yesterday was a glorious treat. This morning we woke up to birds singing and outside our window is a beautiful lake. There is something quite delightful about the old world charm of the Boar's Head Inn. It started with breakfast this morning, from how to where it was served. It isn't fancy. But it is charming, like staying in a country inn. With warmth and attention to detail. I am so used to cities where no one wants to connect with ANYONE!  

Peter and I went to visit Monticello. The home of Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson taught himself to speak French, Italian, and other languages. He was a gifted architect (also a self taught skill) and what appears to be what I would call a "gadget man!" He named his home, Monticello, which in Italian translates to "Little Mountain." Which is perfect for this home, because it is tucked right into a mountain. A very ideal and tranquil setting. It took him 40 years to build Monticello and this home has NOTHING to do with his public or political life. It had everything to do with his life as a man. His love for learning and for experimentation with plants, science, learning, language, and technology. Every aspect of this comes through in this house. He also was the founder of the University of Virginia. A campus which had NO religious affiliation. For he believed education and religion should be separated, and therefore created such an institution for this to occur. On his property, perched up high he would look through the trees with his telescope to assess the progress builders were making and this gave him great joy when he was in his late 70s!  

Here are the facts on Thomas Jefferson. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom. He was the third president of the United States, and the founder of the University of Virginia -- voiced the aspirations of a new America as no other individual of his era. As public official, historian, philosopher, and plantation owner, he served his country for over five decades.

Of course given the era that Jefferson lived, he maintained about 200 slaves. In fact, now historians believe that Jefferson was the father of one of his slave's children. Jefferson's wife died at an early age. He had six children with his wife, of which only two remained alive. He never remarried. I realize it would be very easy for us to judge Jefferson by our modern standards and condemn him for his decisions and choices. Naturally as Peter and I walked through his home, we did not condone the slavery that we heard about or the persecution or any individual. Quite on the contrary. But I live in 2014, not in the 1770s. As I watched a documentary on Jefferson at Monticello, we got to understand that Jefferson himself despised slavery, but he also admitted that he did not have the courage to address this issue in his lifetime. That it would have to be for the next generation. At least he was candid about it and honest. 

This is the beautiful exterior of Monticello! We went on a first floor tour of the house. We were unable to take photos inside the house, so I downloaded a few from the website to show you. 

To me, Monticello had a very masculine feeling inside! But that could be because Jefferson's wife was not living in the house with him. He designed the house, and really it was like his classroom and his place for experimentation! This was the grand entrance way! NOT at all like George Washington's Mount Vernon!!! Instead it has a very classroom feeling to it! Jefferson was clearly obsessed with time. Clocks seemed to be in every room. Right over the door was an impressive clock whose case was designed by Jefferson. The clock ran on gravity. The weights were cannon balls!  Also in this entrance way were art displays. This was designed to keep his visitors busy and entertained while they waited for him. There were 11 copies of old Master paintings as well as busts of prominent figures such as Alexander Hamilton and Voltaire. The room held natural history specimens such as antlers and bones, as well as maps, such as one of Virginia as surveyed by Jefferson's father, Peter Jefferson, To accommodate many visitors, the room contained up to twenty-eight chairs.

The dining room featured one of Monticello's thirteen skylights, a wine dumbwaiter on either side of fireplace which brought wine up from the cellar below and a serving door with shelves which enabled the help to move dishes in and out of the room more easily and with fewer intrusions to diners. There were also Wedgwood decorations on fireplace! But it was Jefferson who designed the dumbwaiters on either side of the fireplace to bring wine up from the cellars. He was completely into gadgets and inventions and also very influenced by the culture and customs of France. At one point he was the Minister of France, and as such, he learned a great deal about the cuisine of France. From wine to food!

We now have entertainment rooms. Back then they had Palors! In his palor, Jefferson had games, art, and music. The room displayed much of Jefferson's art collection and was the site of weddings, dances, and christenings. Several tables for cards or other amusements were in the room, as well as musical instruments such as a harpsichord and piantoforte. 

This room was Jefferson's bedroom and office. The bed was in an alcove. A technique of architecture he learned in France. Though he was over six feet tall, this bed looked SUPER small. But they say this was the size of his bed and he had a pink bed spread not unlike this one. The round holes at the top of the room, were air holes. Not windows. This was where he stored his clothes. Like a closet for his clothes, when they were not in use! The funny part is to access them you needed a ladder.

On the other side of the bed was his office. What I love about this office, was this particular gadget on the deck. It was called a polygraph. Of course when we think of a polygraph, we think of a lie detector machine. In his case, the polygraph was like a xerox machine. As he wrote a letter, in tandem the machine had a pen copying his message on a piece of paper right next to him. Since he was a prolific writer, having copies of his work were crucial. 

The exterior of the house
was very special and was to be appreciated. However, I was a bit surprised by the LACK of flowers. But the garden tour explained this!

Glorious Sunflowers!

My Peter Jefferson in front of Monticello! I think it is funny that Thomas Jefferson's father's name was Peter Jefferson. Peter's middle name is Jefferson! Though Peter's middle name is a family name, in many ways, Peter is a lot like Thomas Jefferson. Very time conscious, very into learning, and VERY much into gadgets and understanding how things work!

Vicki in front of the Blue Mountains.

Thomas Jefferson wanted to grow grapes and to start his own vineyard. The problem was he never watered his grapes. He was in the mountains! Any water he brought to the house, was for drinking, cleaning, or bathing. Watering flowers and a garden was low on the priority list. Which explains why there aren't English type gardens around this house. 

Jefferson was an avid gardener! The vegetable   garden was a kind of laboratory where he could experiment with imported squashes and broccoli from Italy, and beans collected by the Lewis and Clark expedition, figs from France, and peppers from Mexico. Although he would grow as many as twenty varieties of bean and fifteen types of English peas, his use of the scientific method selectively eliminated inferior types.