Inspired by Mr. Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was such a remarkable person that a brief blog entry could never do him justice.  Monticello and the associated museum provide overwhelming evidence of his never ending curiosity, creativity, architectural skills, love of science and knowledge, and belief in democracy.

After five years in France Jefferson associated grandiose architecture with the aristocracy, which he found antithetical to the ideals of American democracy.  So, upon returning to Virginia he revised the design for Monticello to eliminate an imposing two-story portico.  Instead -- even as he expanded the house from eight rooms to twenty to accommodate his large and growing family -- he designed a three story house that appears to have only one story.

The gardens and surrounding farm were also sources of endless experimentation and improvement for Jefferson.

Given his love of knowledge, Jefferson provided places for the quiet enjoyment of books and nature. 

“I cannot live without books.”

During our time of endless presidential campaigning, congressional deadlock, denial of science and growing wealth disparity, it is easy to miss Thomas Jefferson:  A man who entertained his political friends and foes, he ended his Presidency personally indebted and died broke, but gave us the Declaration of Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, and the University of Virginia.  And, he loved good wine.

Some thoughts from Tom:

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”  

“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.”  

“If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?”

Escape from Early-Onset Winter

On Friday (October 28), while Barb was returning from a quick trip to California, Jon was exploring Long Island.  It was a nice, fall day.  The plan was to pick up Barb at JFK and then spend the weekend with our friends Nancy and Larry in Connecticut. 

During the afternoon, Larry called twice to warn of an impending snow storm, possible power outages, and road closures.   Lacking snow tires, we decided to skip CT and drive far enough south to avoid the snow.  Stopping after midnight in southern New Jersey, we thought we were safe.


The top photo above is the view out our motel window the next morning.

We scraped 1-1/2" of snow off the car and quickly drove farther south, but the snow persisted. 

In the first two hours we saw seven accidents.













Our trusty GPS helped us navigate the highways, which continued to have snow along them until well into Virginia.






We finally stopped when we got to Culpeper, VA and found clear skies.  The next morning it was beautiful, and as a bonus, many of the trees were spectacular:

Meanwhile, Allie and Hartford got 20" of snow.  Trinity College lost perhaps a third of its beautiful trees.  Two students ended up at the hospital when tree branches fell on them (no kidding).

In Search of Fall Foliage and Political Candidates

The political hub of New Hampshire is the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester. No one was shaking hands or kissing babies the night we visited, but the cheese steak got Barb’s vote!


Lacking presidential candidate options, we went in search of leaves...those beautiful fall colors for which the northeast is famous this time of year. We found great hikes...but where are the flaming red leaves?

We went to great lengths (and heights) to find them...

and our persistence finally paid off high in the treetops.

 We also discovered this archeological tennis relic while hiking...

In the ongoing battle between tennis players and tree huggers, it is not clear who will win.  Right now, the back-to-nature people seem to have the "ad."

Serendipity in Keene, NH

Almost by accident, we found ourselves in Keene, New Hampshire just in time for the annual Pumpkin Fest.  The setting is very different than in Half Moon Bay, which we associate with such things, and the outcome is different as well.  

But, before reporting on the festival we must let you know that even though there were signs for Romney and Santorium, and field workers for Ron Paul, the only presidential candidate with the guts to show up in Keene was none other than:








Yes, Fred Karger himself!  We were quite excited.

 
Now, back to the Pumpkin Fest:  In 1991 Keene had its first festival, and set a world's record by having 600 lit jack-o-lanterns.  The rest is history, with Keene setting the world's record many times and peaking at over 30,000 jack-o-lanterns.  Unfortunately, Boston eclipsed Keene a few years back, and then an upstart town in Illinois passed Keene as well.  So, this year the town fathers (and mothers) went all out to regain the title as the most pumpkinest city in the world.  

The competition aside, the Pumpkin Fest was great.  The whole thing definitely had the feeling of Punxsutawney, PA as portrayed in the movie Groundhog Day.

There was the delightful game of Pumpkin Bowling, which given the shape of the projectiles was anything but predictable in outcome.

With thousands of pumpkins and pumpkin artists, there were seemingly endless examples of inspiring creativity.

 

This being New Hampshire, even the pumpkins get into the presidential primary campaigns.

When the sun went down, the jack-o-lanterns were lit and the thousands of folks at the fest enjoyed the scene and the wide variety of entertainment from musical performers.

Finally, even the pumpkins were tired and it was time to call it quits.  When the dust settled, Keene had assembled and lit 16,186 hand-carved jack-o-lanterns, well short of the world record but highly impressive nonetheless.

On the road in New England

In Deerfield, MA (conveniently located between Hatfield and Greenfield) we discovered that Halloween is celebrated in much BIGGER style back east:

The kids at the local school seem to dress a little more formally than we are used to.  But then, Deerfield Academy, founded in 1797, feels it has some tradition to uphold.

We were delighted to find a student project on display throughout the campus.  The student-artist, Peter Krasznekewicz (who was admitted to this highly selective school on the basis of being able to spell his last name) produced about 40 houses which combine bumper sticker pithiness, Christos' outdoor installation creativity and Emily Dickenson's poetry. The quotes struck us as an attitudinal snapshot of our road trip.

Peter, who happens to be from Big Sur, plans to fund college and graduate school by bringing these houses back to California and selling them in the low $400,000s as affordable housing.

Upon leaving Deerfield, we were soon in Brattleboro, VT.  Being in Windham County, many things are named Windham.  Among the most important is the shop shown below.

Brattleboro has something for everyone.  In our case, a license plate combining Barb's monogram and my birth month.  (We are quite easy to amuse.)

Meanwhile, in Hartford...

 

Professor Adrienne Fulco of Trinity College, the teacher who ignited Allie’s passion for Law & Public Policy.

The Connecticut state capital as viewed from our hotel window has come to be a landmark of all our visits to Allie at college.






A new scene in Hartford just down the block from our hotel is the Occupy Hartford movement.  We have a tent and sleeping bags with us, but is was too wet and windy for us to join the encampment.

Daniel is thriving in Cambridge...

Daniel is enjoying his first semester of college, especially computer science, oil painting and SAE.

We were inspired by visits to his Ancient Philosophy and Computer Science classes, and the painting studio.

As we begin our journey

It only took a few bumper stickers and a sign to let us know we were in weren't in Kansas...  These are all from the Central Square neighborhood of Cambridge: