Madison time, curling up and former glory

- A meeting in a favorite small town, Madison, Georgia, at The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, in a building that until 1957 was a "graded school." Two women were entirely gracious about my slightly late and breathless arrival by saying, "You're on Madison time now."

- So cold that even in middle Georgia the pansies decide to curl up against the cold. I still spend a cheerful hour looking in shops and having a sandwich despite the cold and before the snow fell.

- One by one, the homes in Madison are being restored to their former glory. The home directly across the street will be on the spring tour. The cultural center is host to all sorts of exhibits and its auditorium will house an upcoming concert by John Mayer.

Temple, history and dream

- Sitting in traffic on Peachtree Street in Atlanta and reflecting how the Temple-Hebrew Benevolent Congregation synagogue is hanging in there despite being surrounded by tall buildings, utility wires and expressway ramps.

- It was shown in the film Driving Miss Daisy (1989) with some judicious masking of buildings around it so it would look as it did in 1958. Not sure they could cover up the tall building hovering over it these days.

- This area of Peachtree Street has undergone quite a transformation during the last few years. The tall building behind the synagogue stands in the spot in which one of my friends lived in an apartment building. She was trying to decide the direction her life should take next, when she got the notice of the building being torn down. She decided to move to Los Angeles, a long-time dream, and as she passed her apartment building for the last time on the way to the airport, she saw a wrecking ball go through the pink walls of her living room.

Visit, walking distance and standing guard

- A holiday visit to my home town. This is the Milledgeville (Georgia) Convention and Visitors Bureau, aka "Old Milledgeville Post Office" built in 1910, later converted to be the county library where I worked in an after school job. A new library was built a few years ago, so this building has been used for local tourism since.

- Tours of Milledgeville are given in this trolley car. The library was a wonderful place to work, right in the center of town and within walking distance to everything.

- Toy soldiers at the corner stand guard over a familiar view.

Peaceful, historic and late bloomers

- A quick trip on Saturday to my hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia, and stopping by the sun dappled Sacred Heart Catholic Church to sit for a few peaceful moments in its rose garden.

- This historic church was completed in April 1874 and contains handmade pressed glass windows that had been in the Lafayette Hotel which originally stood on this spot. Local author Flannery O'Connor attended Mass here.

- Late blooming roses give off a delicious fragrance. The sculpture of the Virgin Mary has a plaque that reads, "In memory of Mary Frances d'Ambrosio. Say one Hail Mary." I meditate for a little while and head back north.

St. Joseph's, spectacular and petit paquet

- Rising 200 feet into the air, the twin cross-topped spires of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Macon, Georgia, catch my eye from an office building nearby. The church, built in 1889, is even more beautiful at ground level.

- Attending a "meet and greet" at Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation, an organization devoted to better hearing and vision in Georgia. This dress was part of a "spectacular" event this year in which student fashion designers created dresses, using parts of eyeglasses, for a fundraiser fashion show.

- Receiving this "Petit Paquet" from a friend in Canada, via another friend in Texas. I am delighted to receive this unexpected package in the mail and open it excitedly outside. The book, "Quite a Year for Plums" is by Georgia author Bailey White. I like this notion of a traveling book. And I can't wait to read it!

Wishing you all good things this weekend!

Movie palace, Paris Trout and angels

- Driving through the heart of my hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia, I am thrilled to see workers sprucing up the long closed up Campus Theatre. It opened in 1935 and showed its last film in 1983. A local accountant kept his offices upstairs and would not consider selling the building until the nearby university purchased it last year. It will be used for occasional performances and as the college bookstore. Hopefully they will light up the marquee again. I have missed it.

- The upstairs offices were the scene of an infamous crime in 1953. A fictionalized account of the story was written by Peter Dexter, who won the National Book Award for "Paris Trout."

- In a less famous area of town, a woman and her son are mowing, trimming and edging my parents' lawn and shrubbery. It is a lovely surprise because no one expected them to do this and they will not let me pay them, saying they do it because they love my parents. I call them angels.

The view, the square and the red hatters

- A lunch catch-up with friend Pat and enjoying the window view of the courthouse in Lawrenceville, Georgia. The courthouse was built in the "Romanesque" style in 1885 at a cost of $23,083, after the first one burned.

- Lawrenceville is a suburb of Atlanta where the courthouse square is full of antique shops and cafes. Our lunch at Sperata was delicious; my crab cakes and Pat's brie wrap - Yum. The coleslaw contained herbs from the garden in the back.

- While we lunch, watching a sea of laughing women wearing red hats and purple outfits file across the square and into the restaurant where a long table is set up just for them.