Resting From My Labors of Unemployment

Serves me right for not keeping my blog up to date, but I made a mistake and posted about Amish country first, completely forgetting the post about my fabulous "stay-cation" over Labor Day weekend! It's possible that I mentally blocked out this weekend, even though I look on it fondly now, because of the unreal humidity that plagued the fields of the Scottish Festival that day. Finding myself completely drenched in sweat was a common, almost daily, occurrence this summer (my first on the east coast), and yet this day stands out as one in which I felt that I might literally die from the heat. Alas, my body temperature is not what this blog is about...

So, to begin the weekend, on Saturday I attended the Scottish Festival in The Plains, Virginia with my friends Brynn and Liz. Brynn has actual Scottish heritage so this festival actually meant something to her; and Liz and I just thought it sounded like fun to see some large men try to throw logs across a field.

After walking past dozens of tents set up bearing the names of different clans, we came upon the spacious fields where the sporting events and the marching bagpipe band performances were to take place. The sporting events did not disappoint. It astounds me that it is so entertaining to watch someone strain every muscle in their body in order to fling a heavy object as far as they can, and yet, it is. They threw hammers and large rocks. Then they tossed heavy weights straight up into the air to see who could throw it the highest. Then came the main event - the log toss (these probably all have proper names that I just don't know, apologies to any indignant Scottish readers). They balance this 50 foot log straight up in the air, then run forward with it and as it starts to tip forward they fling the bottom to see if they can get it to go end over end. Only one guy was able to do that. The rest are ranked based on how far up their end got measured in degrees. Like straight up would be a 90 degree angle, right? So if they got it almost straight up, but then it fell back down the way it came instead of going end over end, they'd score about an 80. Hopefully that kind of makes sense, I honestly didn't really understand most of what was going on.

Please notice the caution tape. I'm sure that will help if he
accidentally lets go of his million pound hammer and it heads right for me.
They'll say, "Hey, we warned you." 

And of course it wouldn't be a Scottish festival without bagpipes! The bagpipes were mostly just a constant background noise to the entire event. I never really sat and watched the marching bands, but I'm a fan of the bagpipes so it was not an unwelcome background noise.

Who doesn't love a man in a kilt?

There was also some sheep-herding, which just made me think of the movie, "Babe." I actually would have liked to see more of that, but they were taking so long to get it going and, as previously mentioned, I was about to die from heat stroke. So we did not stick around to watch that. We did see some Scottish dancers and folk song groups as well. Definitely worth the trip.

On Monday we decided to drive down to Charlottesville, VA to see the home of Thomas Jefferson, a.k.a. Monticello. First I should mention that we had planned to visit Montpelier (James Madison's home) that morning before heading to Monticello, but had failed to adequately research our directions and were taken to the city of Montpelier, VA, which is nowhere near the home of James Madison. At least it was a beautiful, scenic drive. After that little detour, we decided to skip it so we would have enough time at Monticello.
Now pay attention all you Utah readers. I have gotten into serious trouble for calling it Monticello with a soft "c," as in the city in southern Utah. Please pronounce it correctly when speaking of Jefferson's home - it is Monticello with a "ch" noise, as in the musical instrument. I'm just warning you in case you ever visit it.

Just stopping to smell the roses. 

Now that we've established that, I can say that this is by far my favorite place I have visited so far during my time out here. It is a bit of a drive to get there so I don't think it is as common of a tourist attraction, however it is absolutely worth the drive and I imagine I'll be returning so that I can see it once in every season of the year. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Somehow it has managed to remain removed from modern society, which adds to its historical feel that is difficult to describe. Another reason it is so beautiful is that it's situated at the top of a "mountain," the highest point in the area, so it has the most incredible view of the surrounding hills and valleys. He owned 5,000 acres, if I remember correctly, so his land stretches as far as you can see. Words cannot describe its beauty. We took a garden tour after the house tour where we had one of the most fantastic guides I've ever known. His name was Gerard and he knew more about vegetation than I ever thought was humanly possible. We'd be walking and he'd say, "Now this is a blue pine - as opposed to a white or green pine which of course has softer pine needles, etc. etc." I totally just made that sentence up, but you get the idea. I didn't know there was more than just one kind of pine tree. We loved Gerard.

We totally would have been friends.

I think one of the reasons I loved this house so much is that Jefferson designed it himself and really put his inventive spirit into the home. Some rooms are octagonal in shape and have floor to ceiling windows (unheard of for the time). He also designed a lower level to the house where everything besides the main rooms are, such as the kitchen, the stables, and wine cellar, which is a genius design because he built it so these parts of the house are unseen unless you go down the hill to the back. We also took the "Slavery at Monticello" tour. I never realized how much manpower it took to run a home as large as his. He  invented a lot of other things like this device that I relate to a "lazy susan" that he could set multiple books on at once and spin them around next to his study chair so he could have all these reference books available while he was studying. He kept his own records of the weather and was very involved in every aspect of how his household was run.

I just really loved this place. I approve, Mr. Jefferson, I approve.

This picture was taken by an elderly woman...hence the odd angle. 

Maybe I'll make a trip this winter...I bet it's beautiful in the snow!