Beautiful and delicious, small world and ironwork

- These heirloom naval oranges produced by a small grower, Rising C Ranch, in California are the best oranges I've had for years.  They smell so sweet and they are delicious.  And beautiful, I think.  I love that this husband and wife team live among their groves.

- I won this book on facebook by signing up for online event alerts from Andalusia Farm, the home of the late writer, Flannery O'Connor.  When the visitors services manager, Ross, emailed to tell me I won, I mentioned that I grew up a couple of miles away from Andalusia.  Turns out he was a "yard man" as a teenager for various people in my parents' neighborhood.  Small world.

- Will I ever find a good place in my home to hang this thing?  It's some kind of piece of decorative ironwork that I picked up at an antiques store, because I liked the intertwining vine pattern.  Right now it graces the top of a stack of magazines, which is fine for now. 

You can tell when it's been a quiet week - when I start photographing things around my home.  Quiet is good, I think!  I hope you have a great weekend!

A fine, warm day, a great find and beautiful visitor

Three photos that have been hanging out on my desktop - three good things that gave me pleasure:

- From my trip to Milledgeville, Georgia on April 11, with cousin Susan - this photo was taken from inside the tour trolley.  I wish those colorful irises showed up better (click to enlarge.)  The corner of Hancock and Clark was humming with activity - lots of college students walking about on a fine, warm day.  Milledgeville was the antebellum capitol of Georgia and the Governor's mansion can be seen across the street there. 

- Susan and I did a u-turn in order to visit this shop "The French Market & Tavern" in Locust Grove, Georgia, as we were about to part at the end of the day.  A great find!  Located in an old hardware store, the owners have made this old building their own by incorporating New Orleans style cuisine, with wonderful things to browse in the adjoining shop.  We spotted some people dining Al fresco in the courtyard, as we were leaving.  Love that flowering vine - I think it is Carolina Jessamine.

- And back home this week - I couldn't believe my eyes!  A true yellow Goldfinch visited my feeder.  Sorry the photo is so fuzzy - I didn't want my motion from the inside to startle it away by sneaking up to be closer to it.  My book group read The Goldfinch earlier this year, so I sent this photo out to the group by email - sparking lots of back and forth discussion of birds in their gardens. 

I hope you have a beautiful weekend, full of good things!

Making my way back home, trolley tour and perfect day

For months, my cousin Susan and I had been talking about a day visit to Milledgeville, Georgia, where I grew up and she went to college.  This past Saturday, we finally went:

- The first stop was the convention and visitors bureau that is housed in a lovely old building that was the built to be the post office, then became the county library and now houses the CVB.  I posted about it here in 2009, if you would like to see a photograph of the building (then the library) where I worked after school and during summers when I was in high school and early college, until I moved away.  Parked outside was this trolley, named Milly.  :)  Short for Milledgeville, I guess.  A very nice woman inside the CVB told us the trolley tour was leaving in eight minutes if we would like to go - lead by a professor emeritus from nearby Georgia College and State University.  So off we went.

- The view to the left of the CVB.  The banner on the light pole there proclaims Milledgeville as "The Great American Main Street City."  And indeed it is - having won that award in 2014.  I always knew it was.  The first stop on the trolley tour was the original state capital building for the state of Georgia from 1804 to 1868.  The building is on the campus of Georgia Military College and was in use that day for a meeting of "Georgia Republican Leadership" - they were on a break, so our group got to see the room the old legislature once met in. 

- Next - St. Stephens Episcopal Church, built in 1843 on the historic statehouse square.  Amazing that in all the years I have loved this town, I had never been inside this church.  During the Union occupation of Milledgeville during the Civil War, they reportedly burned the pews for firewood and housed their horses inside the sanctuary.  It is said that you can see the imprint of horses hooves on the wooden floors (now covered with carpet.)  When the nearby arsenal was blown up, the roof was blown off the building.  If these walls could talk!

- The stained glass windows date from the early 1900s and were each dedicated to communicants by their families.

- This is the Brown-Stetson-Sanford house and was the last stop on the tour.  It was designed by the master builder John Marlor and built in 1825.  It was originally a hotel for visiting legislators, then a private home.  In the 1950s, until 1966 it operated as The Sanford House Tea Room.  My late father used to have lunch there sometimes.  He told me that was how he became acquainted with author Flannery O'Connor, who lunched there frequently with her mother.  The house was moved to its current location in the late 1960s, when the grocery store it butted up against was planning to tear it down to make room for additional parking.  Thank goodness local preservationists saved the building by moving it and then restoring it.

I used to walk by this house after school, on my way to work at the library.  I stood under this tree while the tour guide talked and thought about what a perfect day this was - a blue sky Saturday, with a beloved cousin, in a town I love so much.

Shop dog, young beginnings and in happier times

- If only she had stood still...  This lovely pooch was standing at the door of this shop, in tiny Rutledge, Georgia, looking out.  She made such a peaceful scene that I quietly got out my phone to snap her photo, but she turned just as I did.  She gave me the equivalent of a hug on her way to the back by leaning against me as I petted her.

- Oliver Hardy grew up in my home town of Milledgeville, Georgia.  How about that?  Click to enlarge, if you can.  His mom was a hotel manager in 1903, which I find impressive.  And Oliver, known then as Norwell Hardy, took a job as a projectionist at the local movie theater, where he "resolved to become an actor in motion pictures."

- The pot of violas outside my front door, in happier times.  You should see that pot now - cut back all the way to the roots.  The below freezer temps got them - bad me, I should have sat the pot inside for a couple of days.  But their beauty lives on in this photo.  :)

Three photos that have been languishing on my desktop.  Happy Friday, y'all!

Business as usual, a bit of an adventure and home again

I gave myself a bit of an adventure on Saturday, 12-13-14, the last sequential date of this century.

- It was business as usual for a Saturday morning.  Friend Janice and I met at the park for our early morning walk and loved that the turtle along the way has been decorated for the holidays.  I've been feeling a little homesick - missing my late mom and dad, and was telling Janice that I hadn't been to Milledgeville, Georgia, where I grew up, since August 2012, when I was there for the house closing.  Friend Susan runs a shop called The Red Door - a lovely little antiques shop.  When I was leaving the park that morning, I thought, "If I call and Susan answers, saying she'll be there, I'll go."  She picked up the phone and said, "Lynn?"  So that was my sign.  :)

- So off I went, getting there around 2pm.  This is taken on West Hancock Street, under the awning of the Campus Theatre, where I spent many Saturdays watching double features.  The local university owns it now and uses the front of the house for a campus bookstore.  I pressed my nose against the glass - it was closed by the time I got there.  This is a nice image of small town America, I think.

- The Campus Theatre at night, taken by one of my sister's friends, who shared the photo.  Next on the agenda was visiting friend Susan at The Red Door..  When mom and dad were so ill, I was here almost every weekend, for several months and I loved going by and visiting with her.  She knows me so well - when I walked in, she said, "Have you been to the bakery yet?"  Of course I had.

-It was National Wreaths Across America day on Saturday, in which every fallen hero interred at a Veterans' Cemetery in the US has a wreath placed on their grave.  My father was a veteran of World War II and so he chose this place for his burial.  My mother is buried with him.  It was a peaceful few moments under a brilliant fall sky.

- Before leaving, I stopped by the garden center near our old family home and bought pansies.  I planted them in this planter on Sunday morning before leaving for church.  I'll think about my adventure in Milledgeville every time I look at them.

Home away from home, early morning peace and weekend reading

- This image of the river behind my sister's mountain vacation home is my desktop image on my computer at work.  When I am feeling stressed (which is all too often when I'm working), I look at this and can summon up the sound of the river and feel more peaceful.  I'll be looking at this scene by the end of the day today.  Car is packed - as soon as I leave work, I'm on my way. 

- Feeling a sense of nurture as I water my (now straggly) outdoor plants in the early morning hour.  I love this time when it's still dark out, no other sounds except the birds singing and the paper delivery lady making her rounds.

- Reading material for the weekend (other than a pile of magazines), Cop Town by Karin Slaughter (she is a friend) and Flannery O'Connor's prayer journal (she was a neighbor when I was a child growing up in Milledgeville, Georgia.)  Two southern writers who, I'm certain, would have liked each other.

I hope you have a weekend full of peace and good reading.  Have a great one!

Painting rescue, 306th day of the year and peacock connection

I have rescued animals before - the late Cleo and Sophie.  Neither beloved cat had a home before they came home with me.  And a plant - a neighbor retrieved a scraggly Pothos from a pile of trash from a cleared out office at Emory University and asked if I'd like it.  It has thrived on my back porch in the summers and winters in my kitchen.

But this is the the first time I have rescued artwork:

- Last Friday morning, I stopped at the trash compactor at the condos to drop off a bag and discovered this painting lying face down on top of some flattened boxes beside it.  It was wet since it had rained during the night.  I was delighted with this jewel and decided it didn't deserve to be treated this way, so I put it in the trunk of my car and hurriedly drove off to work, since I was running late.

- Later - work friend Brenda and I went out to her car to unload something together and I showed her the painting in my trunk, relating how I had found it.  And then I realized what the inscription on the back said:

- And even more astounding - look at the date!  A November day in the future, the 306th day of 2014.  What do you think about that?  This makes me sad, concerned and astounded, all at once.  I haven't really asked around to see if anyone knows a child named Kayla.  I'm almost afraid to ask.  And there is no Katrina listed in the condominium complex directory.

I guess what makes this a good thing is that the painting has been rescued.  I love its whimsy, particularly because it is a peacock.  Some of you may remember that I grew up on neighboring property to the farm, Andalusia, where the late Flannery O'Connor wrote most of her celebrated work.  I met her on some sort of field trip when I was a little girl - we went to see her peacocks.  I remember a lady with glasses (but that could have been her mother, I'll admit.  I like to think it was Flannery.)  Make sure you click on the link to Flannery's name - there is a photo of her with two of her peacocks.  Click here for a post from May 2009 (the year my father passed away) for his memory of Flannery.

So there you have it - I have a peacock painting and nowhere to hang it.  I have nothing that color in my place, but am thinking it might fit in the unfinished family photo wall in my home office, where it will be home now.

Thinking of her, messages from the phone and the upside

- I was able to quickly snap this photo with my phone on Friday morning as we paused to let someone make a right turn.  The truck made me think of niece Amanda, who is a die hard University of Florida "Gators" fan.  That driver is a Gator fan, too - if you look carefully you can see the Gator sticker on the back window.  I texted the photo to Amanda after I parked at work (just down that hill) and we had a quick texting catch up. That was also a gorgeous 7:30 am sky.

- Earlier in the week, friend Colin texted that he was going to my home town of Milledgeville, Georgia on Friday and where should he and his friend have lunch?  I texted suggestions and remarked that I so miss Milledgeville.

Around lunch time on Friday, this text from him:  "At Georgia Bob's Barbecue for lunch and then on to Savannah." 

My reply:  "You should stop at my friend Susan's shop, The Red Door.  I have my parents' '60s china cabinet and buffet on consignment there.  And next to that is the best bakery in Georgia.  I love their German Nut Bars."

Then this instagram photo came:

 - My reply:  "Ah - there it is!  At least they can put things in it."  (It's been there since last August - people look, but don't buy.)  I like that his friend is doing the Price is Right gesture there.  :)

And then this instagram photo:

- There they are - German Nut Bars there in the center.

Me:  "You're getting at least one, right???"

Him:  "Of course."

Me:  "Have one for me."

Him:  K

Thanks for indulging me on my Friday journey through texting - it was a very up and down day (the down due to work drama), but this was definitely the upside.  :)

Back to school, my old school and bittersweet

- Back to school for those young adults there, and probably the owners of those cars there, too.  In my home town of Milledgeville, Georgia on Tuesday afternoon for the legal stuff to close the sale of our family home.  I was so busy for those five hours that I had little time for photos, except for this one out of my car window.  But I saw hundreds of college students all over town yesterday and it brought back memories of my first days at that school

- The college campus pictured above is Georgia College and State University, chartered in 1889 as Georgia Normal and Industrial College - a college for women only, to prepare them for teaching or industrial careers.  It went coed in the 1960s.  That building in the background is Atkinson Hall, circa 1896, named for the founders of the college, who wanted to promote the education of women in the 1880s.  My freshman English teacher used to hold classes on the lawn in front of that building when the weather was nice.

- A lovely and bittersweet afternoon.  It was delightful hearing the distinctive middle Georgia accent all afternoon.  The bakery had my favorite German Nut Bars on hand.  The rain started just as I was leaving town and was at my back all the way home to Atlanta.

It would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday - we should all have something French to eat today in honor, even if it's French Fries.  :)

Moving on, at the junction and continuity

- Our family home, on the market for more than two years, has been sold.  It is a bittersweet feeling, but a lovely young family will be moving in next month.  My sister and I are converging upon the house on Saturday to clear out the final things remaining there.  I'm looking forward to meeting the new family at the closing and will tell them where dad had his vegetable garden out back and that mom planted this azalea in that corner of the front soon after they moved their young family in, so there would be color there every spring.

 - The house is in a neighborhood just outside the city limits of Milledgeville, Georgia.  The Union army camped on the property during the Civil War during its march to the sea - probably thought to be a good spot because a creek runs through it (and right behind our house.)  My mother would never let us go near that creek when we were children, fearing snakes (and rightly so.)  :)  We saw them around throughout the years. 

- Even though the home will be gone, we remain a close family.  Mom and Dad's second great grandchild is due, appropriately enough, on Labor Day weekend.  We three sisters talk about our late parents, without fail, every time we are together or speak on the phone.  And so lovely that when Lisa redesigned my blog, she included this flower at the top - it's from a geranium that mom tended at their home before they moved to assisted living.  It's now at my home and I think of her every time I see it.

A bit of a sentimental post this morning - thank you for indulging me.  I can't wait to see sister and brother-in-law tomorrow - I haven't seen them since May.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend - full of hugs, love and laughter.  

T is for Thirteen Columns, Trail and Top Hat

- The Stovall-O'Brien-Beecher-DeGraffenreid-Calloway-Conn-Gardner House (aka House of 13 columns), Milledgeville, Georgia, c. 1825.  My parents' attorneys (and dear friends) in my home town of Milledgeville have their law office in this lovely house.  They are in their 80s and still practice law.  A recent visit regarding estate matters gave me the opportunity to step inside again.

- It was designed by John Marlor in the Federal and Greek style and the fanlight over the door is a feature of the style of architecture of that era. The columns are thought to represent Georgia as the 13th American colony. As I take my leave, I imagine what it must have been like to stand on that porch in 1825.

- Back in Atlanta, the BeltLine trail at my favorite place to walk after work.  Tanyard Creek Park off Collier Road.  The BeltLine is a former railway corridor in Atlanta currently under development as a multi-use trail.  It goes on for miles using existing rail track easements.  The idea originated in a 1999 Masters degree thesis by a Georgia Tech student, now an employee of the city planning group of Atlanta.

- And on my Sunday morning walk, on the street where I live, this sight.  It must have been a fun party.  :)

It's Day 20 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, featuring the letter "T".  Three things that gave me pleasure.

O is for Ocopy, Orange marmalade cake and Old courthouse

From Google Images

- My darling two-year-old great niece Mina has a bunch of little plastic animals she likes to play with.  She brought one over to me to look at and I said, "What is this?"  She replied, "Ocopy!"  Hmmm - scratching head, "I don't know that one."  Her mom said, from the kitchen, "I didn't know that one either - we had to look it up."  I asked Mina what the ocopy says and she looked at me and said, "Ohhh."  It's our family joke to invent a noise an animal says if we don't know.  :)

- Stopping by my volunteer organization on a non-volunteer day, to drop off some printing I handled for them and finding there is cake.  Delicious cake, everyone says.  It turns out to be that orange cake of Mitford fame, "Esther's Orange-Marmalade Layer Cake."  It was that very cake that sent Father Timothy into a diabetic coma in one of the Mitford novels.  If you haven't read those books, start from the beginning and read them all - they are truly wonderful.  Here's a link to the recipe.  (And the cake was good, but so sweet I couldn't finish it, although I ate all the icing, which is my favorite part on any cake anyway.) 

- The old courthouse in Milledgeville, Georgia, c. 1885, now empty, taken from the steps of my mom's bank. A beautiful building and I am so glad that they are keeping it, even though it has been replaced by a newer model nearby.  I still always check the time on that clock on the bell tower.

Day 15 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, featuring the letter "O".  Three things that give me pleasure.

M is for Milledgeville, my home town

My home town of Milledgeville, Georgia was the capital of Georgia when Civil War was declared. Milledgeville has the distinction of being the only city other than Washington, DC to be designed as a capital city. (The capital was moved to Atlanta during reconstruction.)  Here are a few of my favorite houses and buildings there:

- The Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville, Georgia. Shortly after the capital of Georgia was moved to Atlanta in 1868, the building and surrounding grounds were acquired by Georgia Military College. It is still in use for classrooms and offices and is where my sister Jo met her husband.

- The Old Governor's Mansion, c. 1839, home to Georgia's governors until the end of the Civil War. The pink stucco mansion is considered to be one of the finest examples of High Greek Revival architecture in the nation. Designed by architect Charles Clusky, an Irish immigrant, and built by Timothy Porter of Farmington, Connecticut, it was claimed as a "prize" in the "March to the Sea," when General William T. Sherman headquartered in the building on November 22, 1864. It even has a cameo part in E.L. Doctorow's novel, "The March" in which a character in the book can see the Union army inside the house from the windows of her home across the street. In 1973 the Mansion was designated a National Historic Landmark by the Trust for Historic Preservation.

- On the same block as The Mansion, is the Gordon-Porter-Ward-Beall-Cline-O'Connor house, c.1820.  It was built by a General Gordon, "not of Civil War fame." It was leased as a residence for the governor while the Governor's Mansion was under construction. This was the home in town in which Flannery O'Connor lived with her parents when they moved to Milledgeville in 1938 when she was a teenager. It is still owned by the O'Connor estate.

 

- My family's home in Milledgeville is at the junction of where the 20th and 14th corps converged more than 147 years ago. It is easy to imagine 30,000 men camping on property around the bubbling creek that runs through it. 

As you can tell, I love my home town and miss it.  The family home is up for sale now and I am usually just there for estate matters.  I might slide in a few more of those beautiful homes and buildings before the challenge is over.

Thanks for taking this tour with me on Day 13 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, featuring the letter "M".  We take Sundays off during the challenge - so see you Monday!

G is for Gadgets, Graffiti and Gracious

- My dad was the ship's cook in the US Navy during World War II (he enlisted the day before his 18th birthday so that he could join the navy and "see the world.")  Oh - and see it, he did.  He was on a mine sweeper in the Pacific when all the ship's cooks were killed one day in a battle - between breakfast and lunch.  They asked for volunteers who could cook and dad put up his hand.  His father was the cook in the family and dad had learned a bit from him.  So he cooked on that ship and then another until the end of the war.  He resumed cooking when he retired.  Mom happily gave that task up.  Their house is up for sale now and every time I stop by to check on it, I bring home more of his kitchen gadgets.  I didn't have a pizza cutter and the white spoon - well, I used it so many times helping him stir that I decided I wanted it.  But that gadget on the left mystifies me.  What is that?  Does anyone know?  It's mine now, whatever it is.  :)

- Up the street from my office, a budding artist apparently had lots of time to apply some graffiti. I think this graffiti might have been commissioned for this business.  I always hope that graffiti skills will be put to employable use some day. My friend Jerry was a graffiti artist in the Bronx, New York, back in the day, and is now quite a big deal and a very successful graphic designer.

- The Alling-Bethune-Combs-Humphrey house, circa 1895, on South Liberty Street in my home town of Milledgeville, Georgia. A favorite in the historic district of Milledgeville, for its twisty-turny rooms that include a sleeping porch on the second floor. It was the gracious home of my beloved kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Combs, and now belongs to her daughter.  If you click to enlarge the photo, you will see that there is a G banner on the front porch, which just made this photo a perfect choice for the G post.

Happy Saturday, friends!  It's Day 7 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge featuring the letter G, which includes three things that give me pleasure. 

The rest of the Sundays in April are off posting days in the A to Z Challenge - so see you back here on Monday and I'll see you at your blogs.  Cheers!

D is for Darth Vader in a Kilt on a Unicycle Playing Bagpipes, Doctor H and Divine

- This one needs no further explanation and is only 46 seconds.  :)

- When I pull into my parking space at home, neighbor Travis is taking an iPhone photo of his beaming sweetheart Jessica on the sidewalk.  "Do y'all want me to take your picture together?" I ask.  Travis (wearing scrubs and off to work) says, "No - I was just getting a photo of the new Dr. H___."  She defended her dissertation yesterday and is a new PhD. 

- Finding something Divinely chocolate finally, when I went to my hometown for family business on Tuesday morning and popped into the best bakery in Georgia (I say) for a German Nut Bar.  OK - I had two.  A chewy bar with a bit of raspberry in the center and topped with chocolate icing.  Yummmm.

Day four of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  Three things that begin with "D" that gave me pleasure.   Happy Wednesday, y'all!

Another lovely tree, fun greeting and a treasure

- This is the tree that stretches up into the rotunda of Georgia's antebellum Governor's Mansion in Milledgeville, Georgia - I posted about my visit there here. My sister snapped this photo and then we snapped no more, although we both had our cameras. I liked that it included a number of hand made ornaments, such as ones that might have been included on a tree in the 1860s.

- Most fun Christmas card received so far - from my cousin's stepdaughter (does that make me her stepcousin?) and her husband.  They got married in Las Vegas this summer and posed at a slot machine.  Someone went in and added the Santa hats.  :)

- And this one from my aunt (my dad's older sister) felt as if I was sitting down to have a cup of tea with her.  I love her exquisite handwriting (soon to be a lost art) and how she always includes a little inspirational leaflet of some kind.  On a recent visit, a surprised Aunt Catherine opened the door dressed as if she was going out.  I love how she dresses up, even when planning to just be home alone all day.  And I love the thought of her sitting down to lovingly address her Christmas cards.  I always love sending a card to her, too, because I know she truly treasures it.

I hope many treasures are in store for you this weekend, my friends, and that it is happy and full of good things.

The Mansion, lovely Saturday and Advent

 - My sister and I had the honor of attending a party at the antebellum Governor's Mansion in Milledgeville, Georgia on Friday night.  Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia when the Civil War began, but was moved to Atlanta shortly after.  All the government buildings remain, including this one.  It looks a bit gloomy at night, but there were "ambassadors" to greet us and escort us up those steep steps and carolers on the lawn.   It was lovely to see all the beautiful holiday decorations inside; there was even a gingerbread house replica of "The Mansion."

- Since the first photo is so gloomy, I stopped by on sunny Saturday morning to get this brighter picture.  It really is a treasure - pink stucco on the outside and a beautiful rotunda on the inside with a glass ceiling.  But my favorite part of the weekend was seeing friend Susan at her antique shop on Saturday morning and visiting with other friends who dropped in while I was there.

- This was the second Sunday of Advent and four generations of women lit the candle on Sunday morning.  Mackie (great name!) is a member of our church and she had her daughter, granddaughter and two great granddaughters with her.  The baby smiled at the congregation on cue.  A peaceful moment in an otherwise hectic weekend.