Had a really nice day today. Got up a bit late and spent a nice morning doing breakfast and reading the comics. Decided it would be a good day to go and visit Thomas Jefferson's plantation, Monticello, today rather than wait until Monday or Tuesday. There are rumours out there that a hurricane is making it's way up the east coast and may touch land somewhere between South Carolina and Maine sometime at the start of the week. So there may be a whole lot of rain and wind starting tomorrow, so it was good to get a few things out of the way today.

    Spent several hours over there this afternoon and took in the movie and the regular house tour. Really an interesting place with lots of cool stuff to look at. Jefferson must of been a very smart and interesting man for his time and I can't help but think it would be enjoyable to have had dinner with him sometime. He is also still a real enigma to me, as I think he is to a lot of folks. It just seems beyond me to understand how you can write down, and most likely believe, that "all men were created equal" and then end up 'owning' more than 600 of them. I just think that it must of been the times he lived in that allowed him to do what he did, but it diminishes him a lot in my eyes because of it.... but it also makes me wonder if I would of done anything different.

    Spent some time wandering the grounds, looking at the gardens, checking out the family cemetery as well as the place where they buried the slaves that died. It was interesting to me that he built his home on top of a hill like he did. Certainly there were some good reasons to do it, cool breezes, a great view, fewer bugs etc...., but it certainly made getting water for 'everything' much more difficult. In deed, it seems that it was a problem well up until modern times.

    Did a quick dinner out after finishing up there and then went on over to the dance. It was the Syncopaths playing tonight with Seth Tepher doing the calling. Wonderful, energetic dance tonight. So much fun that the 4 hours of dancing seemed to go by before you knew it. I danced every dance this evening, even the squares, which I don't often do. A lot of very nice friends to dance with and the music was just driving.... my feet really hurt tonight. To much walking and to much dancing. But a couple ibuprofen and a little sleep and I'll be ready to do it all over again tomorrow. One more dance tomorrow at noon. It's been a really fun dance and it is certainly one that I could come to again in the future. Just depends on who's playing and who's calling. For right now though it's time to go get some sleep.
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