Dreams of Our Fathers

Hey everybody! I feel like I haven't posted forever; it's because I've been having too much fun enjoying the warm weather, having awesome company, traveling some and trying my hand at a brand new medium of craftasticity for me, but I'll get to that for my next post. My cousin J. visited me a couple weekends ago, and I want to document that a little bit because the weekend marked something significant for me. Not only did I have an awesome time with J., but I went to Monticello, la casa de Thomas Jefferson, for the first time ever. I know, I've been in Charlottesvegas for almost 5 years, and I even went to UVa, but I had never been to the home of "The Father of the University" until 2 weeks ago!

First, we went to the Downtown Mall for some Saturday farmers market action, to show J. where I nine-to-five it and to eat the always delicious Christian's Pizza. When we got down there, the Dogwood Festival Parade was also going on! I didn't even know there was such a thing. Did you know that the dogwood is Virginia's state flower and state tree? Two birds with one stone; I like that kind of resourcefulness.

This is Miss Dogwood Queen.

J., H. and I went up to Monticello in the afternoon! I was standing in TJ's backyard when I took this one. J. and I in the Southeast Piazza, which was pretty much TJ's personal quarters' very own miniature greenhouse. This little peephole through the trees is how TJ looked down on his beloved University being built and watched his dream unfold into a reality. The Rotunda is the white blob in the bottom right of the tree cutout. I wonder how often they trim the branches on the trees to keep UVA in view... We also made the peposo I wrote about some time ago from the pork tenderloins from my brother's hog (seared with freshly ground black peppercorns), some Yukon gold potatoes, onion rings and about 6 garlic cloves, drenched in Cabernet Sauvignon and baked for 1.5 hours in the Dutch oven. Beautiful. And delicious!