WFB Junior

William F. Buckley, Jr. (Nov. 24, 1925 - Feb. 2008) - author, editor, and political activitist who helped found the modern conservative political movement - passed away this week at age 82. Many of you may have heard about his passing on the national news. Ben was a fan of his - hence the collection of his books in the photo! I was more ignorant of his sweeping influence until I met Ben and have actually never read any of his stuff except short articles (though I hope to in the future). However, I definitely find some of his famous quotes quite thought-provoking and true, especially in light of our experiences in higher education thus far! Hope you enjoy them too:

"I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University."

"I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said."

"I would like to electrocute everyone who uses the word "fair" in connection with income tax policies." (Amen; I can relate to this, since I just finally finished our taxes the other day!)

"There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self-reliance."

"Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views."

"All that is good is not embodied in the law; and all that is evil is not proscribed by the law. A well-disciplined society needs few laws; but it needs strong mores."

Montpelier (Home of James Madison)

In celebration of President's Day, Ben and I planned a weekend to the Charlottesville, VA, area in which we would go see the homes of three of our country's first presidents: James Madison (Montpelier), Thomas Jefferson (Monticello), and James Monroe (Ash Lawn-Highland). Unfortunately, we both started feeling badly, so we had to cut short our trip yesterday and come home to rest. We did make it to one home, though: Montpelier. Another misfortune we found upon arriving was that the house is undergoing a major renovation right now. There was no mention of this on the Web site, so we learned of this "surprise" after paying, just as we began the tour. Oh well. It was interesting nevertheless, and the area is absolutely beautiful! (The renovations aren't going to be "finished" until this September, and the entire interior of the house may not be finished for at least five years, so I'm not sure that waiting would have been worth it anyway. Maybe we'll go back in 10 years when it's complete!) So, here are a bunch of pictures we took...

The famous "Temple":

The home:

The "yellow" doors below are the original color that Madison used (how cool that they can figure that sort of thing out?!):

The view from his front porch (not too bad, huh?):

Inside the house - the drawing room (in the corner are replicas of portraits of James and Dolly Madison that were in the same location of the original room):

These pictures really show that the entire interior of the house has been "torn apart" for renovation. There is no wallpaper or even final layers of paint on the walls. Workshop items are everywhere that the architect/builders are using to work on ceilings, floors, and every little detail of the house. The ultimate goal is to make it look as precisely the same as the original house as of 1820 as possible (that is the date when James Madison would have been living in the house daily and was still in good health).

These four portraits (replicas are shown--probably made at Kinko's!) were in the same formation on the wall during Madison's time. At the top is George Washington, for whom Madison was speechwriter; left is John Adams, for whom I think he was secretary state or something like that; center bottom is James Monroe; and right is Thomas Jefferson (Madison's best friend):

Madison's Garden:

The view from a field to the west of the house:

This (below) was something we saw along the road leading to Montpelier from the highway. We couldn't resist taking a picture of it, since it seemed sort of funny, especially with the large Holstein cow sitting right in front of the "Got Milk?" sign!

February Already

Well, it's already February - and nearly the middle of February, at that. Time is flying these days, I guess because we're busy every day and every weekend. About a week and a half ago, Ben bought me a lovely bouquet of a dozen roses (above), which looked so artistically arranged that I had to take a picture! One thing Ben has learned is that February 14 is NOT the day to buy a woman roses, because on that day, they are about 10 times more expensive than any other day of the year. So, he gets me roses at other times, and then on Valentine's Day, he usually gives me a different kind of flowers, like tulips or daisies, which I also like a lot. Other husbands out there would do well to learn this strategy as well :) I am very blessed to have a husband who gives me flowers frequently, too. In fact, every time one bouquet is drying up, I get sad and say how I don't want them to die. His response, every time, is always, "Well, that just means I'll have to get you more flowers!"

Anyway, for Valentine's Day, we're going next weekend to the Charlottesville area to see Monticello (Jefferson's place) and Ashlawn (Monroe's home). That is our gift to each other this year, and is a trip originally planned for my birthday in December, but one we canceled due to someone's procrastination on his end-of-semester work ;-) We're very excited about the trip and will post pictures upon our return!

This weekend, we spent much of yesterday at William & Mary's Charter Day celebration. That is when the school celebrates its founding in 1693 (when the royal charter was issued to establish it). Currently, the chancellor of the College is Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (the United States' first female Supreme Court justice). She spoke briefly yesterday at the ceremony (where they read part of the charter as well as confer honorary degrees and other awards), so here is a photo:

Other than that, we have both been busily working these days--me at my job, and Ben at his grad school work. His thesis is progressing, though we're still not sure whether he'll finish this spring or not until early fall/late summer.

The only other thing going on with us is that we've been following the presidential election primaries closely, wondering what is going to happen both with the nominations and in November with the general election. We are die-hard Republicans, both of us, but this election has been different than others we've voted in. As the national news continues to report, things are just very divided in the GOP right now, and it seems like no single candidate has everyone's general support. We vote this Tuesday. Regardless of what happens, we believe in fervently praying for the next leader of our land - which God tells us to do - because there truly is much at stake right now in so many ways, both in terms of foreign threats and social policies domestically.
Well, that's all for now. Let us know how you each are doing!