Middle of January already, and here in Holland - and the rest of the N. Hemisphere - the days are almost imperceptibly getting longer.

From 27 December - 7 January, the girls & I were back in Virginia visiting family, friends, and taking a look at high schools. Spent a few days with my Mom in Hot Springs. The first few pictures are from some familiar stops along the road, i.e. the top of Warm Springs Mountain (looking E. towards the Blue Ridge, note the fog), and, further east, the beloved Maury River. Many of you will know the third daughter in the pictures, for those who don't, she is Sarah, AI's best bud, who accompanied us.

Since Moi is currently taking U.S. history, I thought I would use one of the days - 3 January - to visit a couple of Virginia's plethora of historical sites, namely Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Madison's Montpelier. I have a tenuous family connection to the latter, as my maternal grandmother was a friend of Marion duPont Scott, the house's previous owner, and I can recall driving up to the house sometime in the latter half of the 70's. It's in the midst of a massive restoration project which will return it to what it was when James Madison lived there. For more information follow the link.

Believe it or not, the girls didn't mind their educational day. It was a gorgeous, unseasonably warm January day (global warming or El Nino?), and the route down and up the Wilderness Road (so named for the adjacent Civil War battleground) enabled us to stop twice at the Sheetz gas station at the intersection of Hwy. 20 and Route 3. It's "MTO" - made to order - sandwiches, etc. are a subject for another time. We were also able to finish listening to Alex Berenson's The Faithful Spy, a terrific latter-day espionage novel.

Anyway... enjoy the view - looking west this time - of the Blue Ridge from Mr. Madison's front porch.