We have friends visiting from Wisconsin. One of their goals in their southern adventure was to visit a true plantation home. Today we drove to the northern suburb of Roswell and toured the Smith Plantation home. This home is a true testament to how three generations of pack-rat lifestyle can end in fame.

Starting in the 1840s, anytime an item became outdated or soiled or broken, the family put the item into storage. When the final generation garnered no further children and the home came into the hands of the city, it was a historians dream. They are still working on cataloging and preserving all the items.

I can’t imagine the volume of items my life alone would create and weigh, not to mention some future historian trying to sift through and make sense of it.

Before I show off the photos, I wanted to mention that I heard back from one of the authors whose book I reviewed yesterday. Sita Bhaskar, who wrote the wonderful short story collection “Shielding Her Modesty” and lives in the my fair city of Madison, WI, wrote to let me know she is indeed working on a novel (Yay!). More information about Sita and her writing can be found on her web site, http://www.sitabhaskar.com/.

I’ve been meaning to post more photos from my parent’s visit last week. I divided them into three albums of different themes. Here they are:

Fall 06

Stone Mountain

Georgia Aquarium

I’ve caught up with my book reviews. Instead of milking these posts over the next few days, I’m giving you all my reviews at once. Most recommended of the books below are Shielding Her Modesty and Bel Canto.

• Shielding Her Modesty by Sita Bhaskar
• Hardboiled and Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
• Thud!: A Novel of Discworld (Discworld Novels) by Terry Pratchett
• Bel Canto (P.S.) by Ann Patchett

As promised here are few photos of the transformation of our house through paint. When we bought the house the foundation was such a light, bright color, it really popped out, it made you notice the foundation. We selected a color that makes the foundation disappear. We also changed the front steps from the strange blue gray color to a nice terracotta/Georgia Clay brown. I’m really happy with the results.

Thanks to my parents for bringing down their paint sprayer and then actually doing all the work.

Atlanta prides itself on the number, size and diversity of trees within the city limits. I’ve been cutting back and cutting down the overabundance of magnolia trees trying valiantly to take over the yard. Meanwhile I’ve had my eye on two trees that I wish I had instead*. The Crepe Myrtle, with its showy flowers, peeling, textured bark and beautiful fall colors (see above) and at least one of the many varieties of Japaense Maples, with their careful shapes, precise leaves and bright fall colors. Maybe if I can cut down a few more trees in the stealthy cover of darkness** I will actually have room to plant these beauties.

* I honestly don’t have anything against magnolias, well, expect for their giant, plastic like leaves and giant, wood like seed pods, that completely cover the yard in fall. I think cutting back to two magnolias in our yard should be sufficient, not the 5 plus that we have now.

** Our county has strict ordinances on how many, how big and what type of trees you may remove on your own property. This is a law that I actually think is a great idea, but aren’t laws made to be broken?