1st Annual Durham Reunion

Reylin (Matt's niece)

"oooo"

Reylin, Matt and Ty (Matt's nephew)

My favorite picture of Matt to date

Jamie seriously considering the potato salad entries.

I'm not sure who these people are.

But Sydney is on the left.

Lindsay and Reylin

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello 7-19-2010

I was excited to visit Monticello, because I teach this in my Western Art Survey and American art classes. I spend a whole day on it, when I could probably gloss over it in 15 minutes. There is so much to explore here. Jefferson was not only a president, a collector, an inventor, but also an architect (he designed Monticello) among many other things.

Floorplan of the house (bottom center)

and slave tunnels (each side)

The tunnels are below ground so they could go about their

business without Jefferson noticing them.

Interestingly, the slaves were treated as family.

The butler ran the house and was also a slave.

He was later freed in Jefferson's will.

tunnel

bathroom

Jefferson's grave site

Booker T. Washington National Monument - 7-18-2010

Booker T. Washington recalled his childhood in his autobiography, Up From Slavery. He was born in 1856 on the Burroughs tobacco farm which, despite its small size, he always referred to as a "plantation." His mother was a cook, his father a white man from a nearby farm. "The early years of my life, which were spent in the little cabin," he wrote, "were not very different from those of other slaves."... Later, as principal and guiding force behind Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which he founded in 1881, he became recognized as the nation's foremost black educator.   http://www.nps.gov/archive/bowa/btwbio.html 

for some reason I have a fascination with birds and their mating rituals - they mate for life

 

some sort of work station. This was a pretty location, but it was so hot!

100 degrees +. It is an old plantation with a lot of land (of course). Although owned by the nps, they still raise animals here - pigs, chickens, sheep, etc.

Sydney's 10th Birthday Party

apparently, I wasn't very concerned about those who came to the party...headless!

New Orleans

WW2 Museum

Musician off of Bourbon Street - where it is quiet. Unlike Bourbon St.

Our dinner cruise was on this boat. Fun!