Four doors

Seen in Villa Rica, Georgia.

Things I saw this weekend, part 2

China House

When I was a kid, this is where we ate a lot of Chinese food. It's closed now. It was one of those things I took for granted would always be there. Not that it was that great - I really don't remember either way. It just was there for a long time.

And now it's not.

I'm pretty sure that there was a restaurant there before China House, but I can't remember what it was.

Two buildings

When I saw this building in downtown Acworth, my first thought was that is so cute, I want to pop it in my mouth! This is the way I feel about old buildings - they look like candy to me.

My second thought was that I would like to buy it and convert it into a home. I would want to paint it a different color (pale, pale turquoise with white trim?) or get that paint off altogether. And get new windows. And attach windowboxes with purple pansies and sweet potato vines. Inside I want some of those wonderful tin panels for the ceiling, hardwood floors, a big clawfoot tub, and every room a different, happy color. Wonder if you could have a garden spot on that roof? Once I do all that, I'll invite y'all over for some sweet iced tea.

It's a worthy dream, yes?

This building is next door. It's like it matches, but it doesn't. It's cute too and I love the unusual shape. I wonder if they've always been painted and what the brick underneath would look like instead of the paint.

I've heard that they're about to do some work on the downtown area - making it even prettier. I can't wait to see it!

Three houses

We went to downtown Acworth on Sunday afternoon. These three houses are across the street/railroad tracks. I don't think it gets any cuter than these three houses all in row.

This one has a white & pink dogwood tree in front of it. So pretty! I love the porch. I'd like to sit there and knit with a glass of sweet tea by my side.

I wonder how the residents feel about the train passing in front of their homes. I'm about a mile from the train tracks and I hear it all day long. I find the sound comforting, always have, but then it doesn't pass right outside my front door.

This house has a great porch for relaxing too.

Love the pale yellow! Would love to see what the house looks like inside. I imagine hardwood floors. I'd have to furnish it with vintage finds.

See the train tracks at the bottom of the picture? Would love to see pictures of these houses from when they were first built!

On the way to the vet

V and I took Grace to the vet this morning to see if she's healthy enough to get her teeth cleaned. All is well and I'll be happy for her to have her teeth cleaned in a couple of weeks. Poor old kitty.

Anyway, on the way to the vet we pass these interesting buildings and house. I've been wanting to photograph them for a while.

I had the hardest time figuring out what this building is used for. I don't know why I was so daft - it's a barber shop! See this little barber shop pole over on the left? Silly me. The shape of this building gets me every time. Who built it? What was it for? It looks like someone lopped off the top of some old house somewhere and set it down here.

I have no idea what this building is, but I needed to turn my car around so I used its parking lot to do so. There weren't any cars parked  there. I didn't see any signs. Will need to check it out next time I go past. But someone took the time to tape up all those small pieces of paper in the windows, instead of using sheets of paper or something. Interesting.

I love this house. I don't know if anyone lives there - I never see a car there. But maybe they're just at work when I pass. I love that it's missing its porch roof.  I love how it needs to be painted. I want to know more about this house.

It took me forever to get my license and car tag taken care of - just did that this month. Took me from, what? October? until now. Sounds impossible, I know, but every time I thought I had all the correct papers, I found out there was one more document I had to order. But now I'm legal and I'm looking forward to exploring this area of the state. I need a good map...

The Big Chicken

You can't live anywhere near Atlanta and not have heard of The Big Chicken, but until a few weeks ago I'd never seen him with my own eyes.

He's so fabulous, his bright red glory blew out my sky.

His beak opens and closes and his eyes are googly.

And on the way home, roadside dandelions all yellow and green.

Thank you for taking the time to comment on my last post. We're all feeling better than we were a few days ago - Wylie had a nice, long life with much love and his passing left us an open spot to welcome another sweet kitty into our home who has spent at least the last six months in a cage. She deserves far better and now she will have it. More on that soon...

Rural decay

I think that if I'd had someone with me, I might have had the courage to go inside, but certainly not through the front door.

Now I'm kicking myself for not getting closer to this door to peek inside.

Of course there are signs all around saying not to trespass, but they look more like they're to keep hunters out and off the surrounding property.

Surely a photo or two wouldn't have hurt.

What do you think? Too dangerous to go inside? Or would you be as adventurous as I'd like to be?

This old house

I've added this post to this week's Hooked on Fridays at Hooked on Houses. Please join us to see what everyone else is hooked on this week!

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If you're driving out in the Georgia countryside, as V and I were doing yesterday afternoon, you will see an awful lot of farms. Chicken farms, cattle farms, different crop-growing farms, lots of bales of hay. It's lovely. And many of these farms have a really old farm house somewhere on the property.

I take pictures of as many of these as I can. Often the problem is that the grounds around them are no longer kept. The trees grow and grow and grow. Makes for quite the picturesque scene, but difficult to take a good photo of - at least the way I do it, all out my car window and everything.

Last week, I was driving home from my mom's house and noticed a very small, old house that looked like it'd been tossed away like into the woods. Like maybe a giant had been playing with a cardboard box, tired of it, and tossed it aside. Oh how I want to take a photo! But the road there is busy, there's no real shoulder but a really big ditch, and the trees and brush are thick. Sadly, I don't think I could do justice to the scene with my camera.

But this house, which is next to a large farm, has a very well-kept yard. Some people know when they've got something good. There is also a nice, level shoulder off the road so I actually got to park and take these pictures. That was a nice change from how I usually do it.

Notice anything else unusual about this house?

They have put a newer roof on it. Most of the houses I see like this have a metal roof. It's nice that the owners put a new roof on it when it was needed. I hope they keep this house up for a long time to come.

I also hope they see this post and invite me over to take pictures of the inside, but I won't hold my breath on that one.

House beautiful

Beautiful, ain't it? I often pass by it on my way to town. They have a wrap-around porch with lots of pretty white rocking chairs too.

All the snow is gone, and it is now pleasantly warm outside. This weekend, we have lots of papers to sign/mail, a grandparent for V to visit, empty boxes to pick up, a park to play in, some cleaning and laundry to do, and if I'm lucky, a few pictures to take (unfortunately, that last one is low down on the to-do list). Fifteen days left till moving day - better rent a truck while I'm at it!

And what are you up to this fine weekend?

At either end of the dirt road

Just down the road from where we are now, there's a small field. It's lovely and green and just a tad bit hilly. When the sky is blue and the clouds are fluffy, seeing this field makes me happy to be alive. I keep trying to take a good picture of it and I keep failing miserably.

I've passed this field countless times, seen these two houses behind it and at either end, and always wanted a closer look at each of them. Somehow, I never really noticed that there's a dirt road that runs behind it. The road has a sign naming it, so I felt free to drive through.

At one end, there's this house.

I have the feeling that the people who live here might be the only ones who ever use the road. When I was driving along, I passed a man in a truck. I gave a little wave, as people often do out here in the country, but he didn't even look at me.

At the other end is this house.

I wish I were brave enough to get out and have a look-see. But I'm not - especially not with V in the back seat. So I kept moving...

What I remember from my college art history class

Doric

Ionic

Corinthian

I feel like Corinthian columns should be my favorite, but really I love Ionic best. Do you have a favorite?

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Please join me for Hooked on Fridays at Julia's blog, Hooked on Houses.

©1974

Love this building, always have.

In the late-1970s my father lived in the house that used to be to the right of it. There was no heat in the house. My dad used to roll my brother and me up burrito-style and lay us in the bed to sleep. I'd wake up shivering to the tip of my frozen nose at 3am, and he'd still be up reading the book he'd bought when we walked to The Hobbit Habbit earlier that day.

He baked fish for dinner on a cookie sheet lined with tin foil. He doesn't remember this; he says he doesn't like fish, but I distinctly remember the bones.

I remember him proudly showing me the sourdough pancake batter that was slowly, slowly rising in the fridge for Sunday morning. We ate them with honey. He says he doesn't remember doing this either.

His American flag backpack, the serious kind with a metal frame, hung on the back porch, always ready to go. Because sometimes you had to be on the road in the 70s. It was that kind of decade.

Sometime in the late-80s or early-90s they tore down the house and the beautiful church to the left of this building (the church steeple remains, but it eluded my lens). They built an apartment complex in the area behind it. You can view the above photo large, if you like.

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Click if you'd like to read more stories about my childhood.

All blue, but for one green

So, even though I thought it was going to be painful, I took a drive around my hometown - to the historic district, mainly.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Everyone was at work and it was raining, so I pretty much had the street to myself.

I used to live in this neighborhood and go for walks just to look at these houses.

A lot of these houses used to be a bit run down and students lived there. But now it looks as though families have bought them - I kept seeing strollers on the front porches or toys in the yard. That was nice to see. If I owned one of these houses, I would treat it like a jewel.

When I looked at the photos I took, I noticed that a lot of the houses are blue. I dig the blues.

Ok, so there's this one green house, but it's too cute not to share. I love the green with the terra cotta pots. Would love to see it in the spring.

This one is for rent. Don't think I'm not tempted. It's just that it's about an hour and a half from R's job. And it's in this stinkin' town.

I can't hold that against it, though - just look at that front porch!

The prettiest house

This is the prettiest house I've seen in a while.

There are trees in front of it and I couldn't get a good picture. But that didn't stop me from almost running off the road trying.

Lucky for me, there is a church right next door and the side of the house is almost as pretty as the front. This next picture is my favorite part.

This house is in Washington, GA. Every person I've ever known who has come from Washington, GA, has nothing but good things to say about it. If you love old houses like I do, it is a most dazzling place.

Had to share

I already know I'm going to have to go back and take another picture of this house when the light's not all wonky.

Today I got to drive around three counties all by myself and take 300 pictures of all sorts of things: a very old church, an historical site, and several insanely beautiful houses.

But, though my fingers are itching to open Photoshop, I have work I have to get done tonight because tomorrow night we're going out of town and it's getting late. We're going to look around at a few houses on Saturday and see what we can see. Nothing's definite, but maybe we can pull off something wonderful in the near future.

In the meantime, check out this house! I think it's nothing short of amazing. You can view it large, if you like.

The columns holding the porch's roof up are tree trunks. I can't imagine anyone hanging out on the second floor balcony, but maybe they do. To the right of the house is a row of trailers and to the left is a lot of stuff.

Wow. I am intrigued.

More from my meanderings next week, plus I'm planning a book giveaway with two winners! I love when that happens. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. If you have a moment, leave me a little note here and let me know what fun things you'll be up to, ok?

N.O. Arnold's building

So way back in the late 1800s, there was this town called Edwin, Georgia. It was named in honor of Edwin Shaw, who owned the town store and had a post office established there. But then N.O. Arnold came to town, bought the town store and a bunch of land, and renamed it Arnoldsville.

Back when the town was growing, there was a gin, a saw mill, and a warehouse. My guess is that this building was one of these three things, but I don't know for sure because I don't know what a gin or a saw mill is supposed to look like. Don't those two need water? Anyway, I'm going to guess that this was Mr. Arnold's warehouse.

I know this was Mr. Arnold's building because above the window it says "NAT ARNOLD." I should buy a building and have my name etched in stone above one of the windows. That'd be cool.

The last time I remember taking pictures of this building, it was a lot more intact. You can see a photo (which I did not take) of it here (it's the building in the distance). Not sure what happened but it doesn't look like there was a fire.

Look at the little red berries growing up there.

Here's the underside. I thought that looked pretty cool, almost like someone painted it.

As always, it's the details that get me. Love this.

Can tree stumps fossilize? How long would that take? I tried looking down the hole in the center of this tree. I couldn't see anything, just pitch black. At some point, this was a lovely tree nestled right up next to the building, and now it's just some crazy-looking stump.

I could show you the inside of the building, but it just hurts my heart. Instead, I'll show you this, which makes my heart happy. Who gathers a bunch of rocks and builds a really big building with it? How long did it take how many people?

It looks like they used Georgia red clay to cement the rocks.

There are 22 photos of this building in my flickr set for Arnoldsville, GA. You're welcome to check them all out, if you're interested.