Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Part I

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is the home Thomas Jefferson built just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. He built it in 1773 following the neoclassical designs popular at the time. The site has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with nearby University of Virginia, which was also designed by Jefferson.

The house

The house is part of a plantation where Jefferson grew cash crops. At first the main crop was tobacco; wheat took over later. Jefferson inherited the property from his father. He also inherited most of his slaves. Near the parking lot, archeologists discovered an African American burial ground with over forty graves.

The African American burial ground

The house is situated on top of a hill ("Monticello" meaning "little mountain"). A modern visitor center is located lower on the hill by the parking area. Visitors can buy tickets, get food at the cafe, visit the shop, and see a movie about Jefferson's life.

Plaza of the visitor's center

Just down a staircase is the Griffin Discovery Room, an area where children can get a hands-on experience of what life was like on the plantation.

Going down to the discovery room

Jefferson was a bit of a scientist, inventing many things he needed to make life easier or to accomplish specific tasks. He made a cipher wheel to send encoded messages.

Trying out the cipher wheel

Sometimes he wanted to send duplicate letters and invented a device to write two letters at once! He called it a "polygraph," but that name has been taken over by a more modern invention.

Twice as much scribbling in the same amount of time!

The room also had some recreations of plantation jobs, including a nailery where they made nails. After trying out many things, my daughter also tried out the bed, which was cosy.

After a hard day's work

We took a shuttle up to the house for our tour. The view from the top was quite nice.

View of the mountains

East Walk to the house

Side view of the back of the house

The house also incorporated several inventions and clever devices to make life easier for the family. The wind vane on the roof is fairly typical. To make it easier to read, even on rainy days, Jefferson had the shaft of the vane go down through the house to the porch ceiling, so he could look up (or even just outside the door) to see the wind's direction.

Weather vane

Outdoor ceiling fixture!

We weren't allowed to take pictures during the inside part of the tour, but we did see the main floor. The dining room features a dumbwaiter built into the mantlepiece for delivering bottles of wine from the wine cellar! The library room still has some original books that Jefferson owned, behind protective glass.

Back outside, we saw the cistern that held water for the house.

Cistern

The grounds have many flower gardens. Since we visited in April, many blooms were in full glory.

Flower bed

West lawn

On the north pavillion of the house, a small gap in the tree cover shows the University of Virginia.

Kid holding UVA photo

UVA in the distance

More beautiful flowers

Just behind the north pavilion is a small farm shop with more children's activities. A popular one was writing with a quill pen. All of our children tried it out. After writing with the wet ink, the paper needed to dry. A clothes line was set up for hanging writings and drawings. We dutifully hung the children's up to dry and forgot to come back and pick them up later.

Trying the quill

Using an old shirt for protection

"Wait, I could have had ice cream!?!"

Drawing

A wash house is at the end of the north pavilion. Now it is the home of an orrery. It shows the relative position of objects in the solar system. The kids loved looking at this (and being out of the hot sun). Jefferson had one to help in his astronomical observations.

Explaining the orrery

The north pavilion was also the storage area for carriages and the stables for the horses. One carriage is still on display.

Carriage

Demonstration wheel

The ice house was right nearby. Ice was stored there in the winter and used to keep meat and dairy products fresh, as well as to make ice cream in the summer. Sometimes the ice would last through a whole summer!

Ice house

A privy is also located at the near end of the pavilion, so people could take care of business before heading into the house.

North privy

We told the kids that the north cellar passage was a secret tunnel underneath the house. They were excited to explore.

Secret passage!

More on this in the next post!

Game Review: Unlock! Series

After playing The House on the Hill as part of our twelve games of Christmas, we tried another Unlock! game. This one, called The Island of Doctor Goorse, has players divided into two teams as they parachute onto the eponymous island and land in two different areas.

Excited to try it!

The first several puzzles are separate but the groups eventually come together. We enjoyed that a lot, though one group was a lot slower than the other. On our first play, we missolved a puzzle halfway through and wound up out of order. We realized the problem pretty quickly and put the game away to play the next day. On the next try we swapped the two teams and proceeded in a much more orderly fashion. We needed hints on one puzzle that turned out to be something we felt we should have figured out on our own. Then we got to the final puzzle with about ten minutes to spare. We thought we solved it and tried one code which didn't work. After two more codes we ran out of time. We kept working it hoping to get the puzzle solved. Eventually, we went through the hints and got a code that was no where near what we came up with. Doing some research on Board Game Geek, others have had similar problems. After everyone went to bed, I was finally able to figure out how we were supposed to solve the puzzle. I didn't think it was at all obvious, especially given the instructions on the card, which are poorly worded for what players are actually supposed to do. Oh well! We got enough stuff right to garner two stars.

Island of Doctor Goorse results

We didn't give up on the series, especially when I saw that a lot of people on BGG said this was the worst of the games (and one of the original three, so they were probably working out kinks still).

Our next Unlock! game was the Wizard of Oz-based game called The Adventurers of Oz. The game generally follows the story of Dorothy visiting Oz from Kansas. Players take on the roles of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin-Man, and the Cowardly Lion. They travel from Dorothy's crashed house to the city of Oz and on to the Wicked Witch of the West's castle. The art is lighthearted and fun. The game includes a map and a special mirror that is used to solve puzzles and figure out how to move on. Our game play had some tense moments debating solutions to puzzles.

The puzzles were a little tricky but a lot more intuitive than our previous experience. The game is longer, starting at 90 minutes (as opposed to other games that give you 60 minutes), so our results weren't as bad as they look. We had one puzzle that was four of our six missed codes.

The Adventurers of Oz results

In the interest of trying something different, we printed out one of the print and play versions of the game--The Elite. I saw the demo tab at the bottom of the app screen and found out there are six adventures (as of this writing) that players can print at home. I downloaded the file from the publisher's website (click on the Download the Unlock! demonstration kit) and had a little trial-and-error printing session. I bought a ream of card-stock paper a long time ago and used that for printing so the cards are sturdier. The deck is twenty cards, so shorter than the sixty cards in a regular Unlock! deck.

In this game, players are investigators in Las Vegas trying to find evidence of a patron cheating in the casino. We go into the hotel room and start searching for clues. It was a fun adventure. We were surprised that it was sixty minutes at the start but soon enough something dropped us to thirty minutes.

We worked our way through the clues patiently and managed to solve it with several minutes to spare. And a full five stars!

The Elite results

We printed and played 5th Avenue, another early version of the game that was clearly a promo for the first set of games. In the story, players do a favor for Al Capone by committing a little industrial espionage. Sneaking in to a New York office building, players work to unlock a safe with a revolutionary new product inside.

We had one minor snag that slowed us down, otherwise the caper went like clockwork. We played with our four-year old, who insisted on getting several clues to help us out. I think that's what tanked our star rating in the results below. Plus one penalty for using the wrong tool on the wrong item. Whoops!

Fifth Avenue results

Tombstone Express is a store-bought game where players race to foil a train robbery. We play as a sheriff on the train, starting at the engine and working our way back, trying to find who stole a valuable gem that will settle a dispute with the local natives. A few random events pop up during the game, challenging players to do more than just solve the puzzles on the cards.

We enjoyed the game, though one or two puzzles were a little more complicated than they needed to be, at least for us. The game is rated two-lock difficulty (out of three). We did take a couple of hints but the final puzzle (identifying the train robber) we got right, which probably explains our five-star rating below.

Tombstone Express results

A Noside Story is a sequel to a previous Unlock! game that we hadn't played. The sequel was rated one lock and has cartoony art, so we didn't think it would be a problem. In this story, some foul smoke is plaguing the town and the local authorities call the players to investigate. That means going to the home of Noside, local villain/scientist/clown. At least, that's what you find out after you start the app on your device. The typical intro text on the first card is actually an audio recording in the app, an interesting twist.

Most of the puzzles were fun but we had three or four that were very difficult and much further outside our expectations for what we'd need to do. We used a bunch of hints and had quite a few wrong guesses at codes. Once or twice we did a puzzle too fast but two puzzles in particular were too poorly crafted for us to even guess at the right answer (especially the clock puzzle). I did enjoy the cartoony logic of many of the puzzles.

A Noside Story results

The Temple of Ra print and play has the players infiltrating the recently-discovered temple of Ra in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. An amazing fortune awaits those who can decipher the clues to the tomb of Ra. The theme is a very fun idea.

Unfortunately, that's where the fun ends. A lot of the puzzles are fourth-wall breaking and in an especially bad way. The family worked on this scenario for about half an hour before giving up. I came back to it several days later with some new, kooky ideas that happened to work. It has the sort of logic I'd expect from the Noside game. At one point in the tomb, there's a fancy bit of tiling that is clearly based on Arabic non-pictorial art, so completely anachronistic in an ancient Egyptian pyramid. The game also includes a completely useless red herring card that does nothing for the game and adds a lot of frustration for the players.

This was easily the worst game of Unlock! I have played--it was too hard in the worst sort of way. When I played it the second time, I did have a huge time advantage (that first half hour of playing wasn't registered with the app), but I used two hints, even though the final score shows only one hint used. I am totally confounded that I had a three-star rating for this game.

Temple of Ra results

Overall, I have to say I'm underwhelmed by the Unlock! games. Some were fun but others were just not entertaining. I like the idea that they can be replayed by other people (or if you wait long enough and are forgetful) but the format of using only cards may be too limiting for their puzzle design. Interestingly, both Oz and Tombstone include non-card components that open up some new possibilities. We might just stick with the Exit the Game series from here on out.

Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

What makes a man great? This question challenges most people, especially today when the idea of a masculine role model is generally frowned upon, if not completely ignored because masculinity is supposed to be toxic. Such an assumption is based on false examples of manhood--the bully, the egoist, the muscle man, etc. Eric Metaxas argues that positive role models of manhood do exist and are important to culture (not just ours, but any culture). Examples of how to behave are sorely needed in an age that idolizes pop stars and self-centered politicians. Metaxas gives short biographies of seven men who truly embody the strength of character and selfless serving that role models should have.

Many of these men are not perfect men but achieved a level of greatness by their choices and their actions. George Washington's military career started rather disastrously--he basically started the French and Indian War. But as he grew in leadership, he came to the point where he would refuse to be king of the newly-free states of America. He voluntarily rejected great power for the sake of the people of the new nation. Charles Colson started out working and scheming for Richard Nixon. He came to Christian faith and turned his life around, creating a ministry that helps to reform prisoners. He had direct experience of prison life due to Watergate and he realized the desperate needs of the imprisoned. He chose a different life and became a role model.

Other men in this book went through great trials. Pope John Paul II was a young and vibrant man who, in the last years of his life, suffered greatly (and publicly) from Parkinson's disease. He became a great witness to the value of all human life, even the weak and the sick. Jackie Robinson had to run a gauntlet of hate and unbelievable mistreatment as the first man of color to play major league baseball. He chose to be strong enough not to fight back. His example opened up opportunities for others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran minister who fought against the Nazi government that oppressed so many people in Germany and throughout Europe. Bonhoeffer eventually wound up in a concentration camp where he died. Great trials make great men when they choose to act selflessly.

The book is very inspiring and makes me want to read more about these great men. Metaxas has written longer biographies of William Wilberforce (who fought against the slave trade in early 1800s England) and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I will probably read those soon.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Star Wars Darth Vader Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 1 by C. Soule et al.

Star Wars Darth Vader Dark Lord of the Sith Volume 1: Imperial Machine written by Charles Soule, art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, and inks by Cam Smith

Picking up Darth Vader's story from the end of Episode III, Vader is sent by Emperor Palpatine in search of a weapon proper to a Sith Lord--a red lightsaber. HE can't just build a saber. Vader has to take the saber of a Jedi he has defeated. That's not easy to do since they killed almost all the Jedi. With a little research, Vader finds a hidden Jedi who has forsworn a public life. With all that free time, he has perfected his fighting skills so Vader is in for a very tough match.

The story is interesting enough, with some new mythological additions to spice up the story. While those new things don't feel too far-fetched, they do feel like they are created specifically to move the plot along. So they are not that satisfying. The art is fairly impressive. Artist Camuncoli has found a way to make Vader's mask emotionally expressive without looking distorted, a trick probably only achievable in comic-book form. The art is very enjoyable.

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) co-written and directed by Guillermo del Toro

Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is called out to investigate an attack on an auction house. The auction included a piece of an ancient golden crown. Thanks to the fantastic pre-credit sequence, viewers know that the piece is part of an elvish crown that, when put back together, commands an undefeatable mechanical army, the titular Golden Army. The elf prince Nuada (Luke Goss) wants to use the army to make war on the humans. The elves and humans made an ancient pact to live separately, with humans in the cities and elves in the forests. But the elves have been forced further and further into hiding as man perpetually expands his domain. Nuada's twin sister Nuala (Anna Walton) wants no part of this war and eventually winds up in the hands of the B.P.R.D. She and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) have special feelings for each other as they are both isolated outcasts. Meanwhile, Hellboy's relationship with Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) is going through difficult times. With a potentially tough fight coming up, Hellboy needs to get things straight in his life.

A lot of different elements are going on at the same time. There's the minor concern over man's mistreatment of the environment. There's the importance of personal relationships over the work of the B.P.R.D. There's Hellboy's desire to be liked which causes him trouble. There's a lot of interesting dualism (the twins, the two romantic relationships, the real world vs. the fantasy world, etc.). Del Toro adds plenty of visual details into his movies. All these elements are contained in an amazingly imagined and crafted world. None of the elements overpower the others and with so much stuff happening, the film is never slow or uninteresting. The ending is a little disappointing, mostly because it clearly is looking forward to a Hellboy III which never happened. The battle with the elves is resolved but a lot of other issues remain unresolved. The movie definitely leans more on del Toro's creativity than on Hellboy creator Mike Mignola's vision for the character. That's not a bad thing, a little variety makes things interesting. Overall, it's a very satisfying movie.

Recommended.

Cute Kid Pix April 2019

More pictures that didn't make their own post...

The biggest event last month was Easter. As often happens, we were so busy celebrating that we didn't get many pictures. We did take some snaps before going to church in the morning.

All the kids, happy together

The youngest couldn't stay for more than one photo

One last shot

My son participated in Battle of the Books, an event co-sponsored by the local school system and the local library system. Each fifth-grade team had to read thirteen books before coming to a two-hour Friday night trivia contest. My son's team didn't win but they did have fun.

Teams entering

My son the standard-bearer

We went on a hike along the Patuxtent River near Savage Mill and enjoyed the spring weather and not-yet-lush scenery.

The roughest part of the river

A serious fellow

Side stream pouring into the river

We tried out duck pin bowling, which has smaller balls and smaller pins, but still the same size alley. The kids had fun though it was not so easy, even with an extra third throw. I had to remind them that it was our first time playing and we were just getting used to the different sizes. Our scores came out pretty close.

The youngest watches his ball

Not the greatest bowling ever

My son's saxophone needed some repairs. The day we picked it up, the weather was nice enough to do a little geocaching. We found A Stitch in Time, a fun urban cache. The kids weren't very patient and we looked at the hint very soon. Still, it was a fun find.

Ground zero for A Stitch in Time

Not far away is Short Line, a trail that was converted from old railroad tracks. This cache had no hints. I was a little worried because the area looked like it had undergone an undergrowth clearing, with several stumps from smaller trees visible. Thankfully the cache was still there and our youngest managed to find it first, to his great delight.

A happy geocacher

Another library story time saw us making a dinosaur puppet, just like the one from the Dinosaur vs. series by Bob Shea.

Gluing him together!

Finished product

Religious education for this academic year ended on the last Sunday of the month, with a crowning of Mary. Usually such crownings happen in May but since the parish is dedicated to Mary, it's appropriate anytime. The year typically ends with a May crowning, just this year the classed ended in April instead of May. We had the crowning indoors because the weather was ominous.

Crowning Mary

Random Charlottesville Stuff

We spent some time in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the main purpose of seeing Thomas Jefferson's home called Monticello, though we did visit James Monroe's Highland (only two miles away from the Jefferson residence) and did take a morning walk through downtown Charlottesville. Here's what we saw on our walk.

We parked near a geocache, Controversial Art, in the heart of the city. The name of the cache is based on the monument where it is located. Lewis and Clark are depicted looking nobly to the west as Sacajawea crouches on the side.

Front view of the statue

As is clear from the picture above, we did visit in the morning with the rising sun right behind the statue looking west. Better shots came from the sides.

Sacajawea's side

The other side

The controversy is over the subservient depiction of Sacajawea, who was the main guide and translator for the two explorers. Her role was much more significant than the statue suggests. To ameliorate the situation, the city invited two descendants of Sacajawea to write text for a plaque put in her honor in 2009.

Info on her contribution

Across the street is a federal building that has all the blandness of a government office building.

Boring offices

We started walking toward the University of Virginia and saw a large mural in an alleyway.

Street art not directly on the street

A Cheyenne man is depicted on the mural. The artist used a 1927 photograph as the basis for his work.

Slightly better look at the mural (hard to get a good shot in an alley)

We tried to find another geocache without success but did see a good looking church building. It wasn't open otherwise I would have snuck inside.

Cool church

Just before getting to the university, we saw a statue dedicated to George Rogers Clark. The pedestal claims that Clark was the "Conqueror of the Northwest," which seems dubious since none of us had heard of him. He fought during the American War for Independence and he took over the area north of the Ohio up to the Great Lakes, the area then being called the Northwest Territory. It was ceded to America by England in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Clark died in Louisville in 1818. He was born locally, so that's why the statue is here.

George Clark memorial

We knew we were very close to the university when we saw a giant book store that sold text books. Somehow my family stopped me from going. I'm sure they realized I could spend the whole rest of the day perusing volumes!

Book store!

We saw young people pouring through some gates that were clearly the entrance to the campus. We used the same gates.

Gate of the university

Words above the gate

The main thing we wanted to see on campus was the Rotunda. It was designed by Jefferson in imitation of an ancient temple he saw in Europe. We went inside, but just to use the bathroom.

The Rotunda

The Rotunda is at one end of a grassy mall that served as the original college. We saw a lot of tour groups coming through the area. Most likely they were high school students checking out UVA as a possible college.

Mall with groups in the distance

The buildings had some fun decorative bits.

A little relief at college is welcome

We also saw Brooks Hall, which we assumed was a science building based on the name of Aristotle over the front and a bunch of more contemporary scientists around the sides of the building (along with some impressive animal head sculptures).

Brooks Hall

Rhino protecting Lyell, Scotish Geologist

After all this walking, we wanted to get a snack. We wandered off campus and found a coffee shop (Grit Coffee) with some in-house made treats that were wonderful.

Enjoying a blueberry muffin

My apple pastry

We had a fun walk and thought there was plenty more to see if we ever visit again. The kids are a long way from college, but that time will come faster than we think.