Midnight In Garden of Good & Evil - sidebar

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Just a quick note on something fun. For anyone who's ever read Midnight In the Garden of Good & Evil or seen the movie, you know that both center around Mercer-Williams House.

Blair and I took a tour of the home and in the last room, amid priceless antiques, a big black cat was snoozing on the sofa. I nudged Blair and whispered, "I could do a story on this."

After the tour I approached our tour guide. Handing her my card, I mentioned I write for several pet magazines and I'd love to do a story on the cat living in the most famous house in Savannah. She took my card but wouldn't talk to me, explaining anything for magazines had to be approved by the owner, Jim Williams sister, Dorothy Kingery.

Three days after we arrived home, guess who I receive a voicemail from? Ms. Kingery herself. After a few days of phone tag we finally met up and had a great 30 minute chat about "Mitter" the cat I'd seen, his life at Mercer-Williams, details about the home, and even some talk about Jim Williams and his favorite cat, Sheldon. Apparently the entire Williams family are huge cat lovers.

I was reflecting how surreal it was to one week be reading Midnight In The Garden of Good & Evil and the next week to be talking with the main characters sister. I'm continually amazed how much one can get in life just by asking. And now I have the makings for a wonderful story about Mitter and the Mercer-Williams house.

Very fun indeed.

Goodbye Savannah - Day 3

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Tuesday morning brings us another perfect day. This time our being up early helps because we use the extra time to pack our bags and load the car up before breakfast. Blair's packing takes all of 3 minutes as he stows away his toothbrush and cologne. My part takes a wee bit longer as a I pack like a a madwoman, stuffing 30 days worth of clothes into a suitcase for a 5 day trip and then becoming furious each morning when I can't remember what shoe or zippered compartment I stuffed my bras in. In an attempt to find said bras, I will unceremoniously dump half of my suitcase on the hotel room floor and snarl at Blair to help me start digging through the mess until we find them. So re-packing can be a bit of a chore for me.

We finally get it together and go to check out. The sweetest girl checks us out. We've seen her in the breakfast room a few times, greeting guests and have commented on her beautiful Slavic accent. What we didn't notice is how her voice is really quite loud and carries a good way. This becomes apparent when we check out as she announces our room total to the world.

"So your room cost (AMOUNT OF MONEY TRUMPTED). Now, we put (DOLLAR AMOUNT SCREAMED OUT) on your credit card, so that leaves you with a balance of (DOLLAR AMOUNT ANNOUNCED). WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE A TIP? YES? GREAT, HOW MUCH?

We run out into the street to escape. We take a long walk on the Riverfront before we walk back into town. We have big plans today. We're going to see the Mercer-Williams house, which anyone who has read or seen the movie The Garden of Good and Evil will recognize. The house is stunning, hard to believe people live in such grandeur. We saw a few other grandiose homes, stopped in at a fine linens store and made a purchase, and then made our way to Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House Dining Room (www.mrswilkes.com)

Mrs. Willkes Dining Room is famous and the walls are filled with celebrity guests who've eaten there. For $12 you sit at a round table for 10. The food --good, hearty Southern cooking--is already on the tables in bowls when you sit down and the sweet tea is melting the ice in the glass. Then everybody grabs a bowl and starts passing them around the table. To the best of my memory, here's what we ate:

Rhubarb, collards, creamed corn, lima beans, black-eyed peas, okra & tomatoes, sweet potatoes, mac-n-cheese, beets, rice, mashed potatoes, cucumber mixture, fried chicken, gravy, beef stew, green beans, corn bread and your choice of banana pudding or strawberry shortcake for dessert. You carried your plate and utensils to the kitchen when you were through. People were rolling themselves out the door.

The food wasn't my favorite (although Blair was a very happy camper), but it was well worth the wait (40 minutes) just for the experience. Every other meal of our vacation, we ate alone. Here we shared the table with couples from NC, San Antonio and Miami. We all compared notes on where we'd been and what we'd eaten in Savannah, as well as past family feasts the cooking brought to mind. It was really nice to connect with others and I strongly recommend a visit to Mrs. Wilkes if you're ever in the area.

We ended our time with a visit to the Wormsloe Plantation and then packed ourselves in the car for the hour and a half ride to Jekyll Island. Part 2 of our vacation was about to begin.

Savannah - Day 2

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Since I married the God of Dawn, we are of course up early. Showered and ready to go by 6:30 am, we cast about for something to do until breakfast is served at 8.

"Want to walk around Forsyth Park again?" asks my husband.

"Oh, I was looking forward to some quiet reading time this morning," I demur, neglecting to mention the back of my legs behind my knees are throbbing and my lower spine is a tangled ball of string and overworked muscles from yesterday's four-hour walking excursion.

"Okay," he says, for which I am profoundly grateful. And ticked. I do yoga, I do pilates, I jog on the treadmill, I sweat it out to Tae-bo. How is it possible he is fine and I am in pain? I think about calling Tonya Harding to see if she can offer me any advice on having someone pop out and whack my husband across the shins.

We eat breakfast, and I must pause for an aside. Not wanting to gorge myself and feel sick as we start our day, I had the continental option which is cereal (special K), coffee, juice, and fresh fruit. But even Special K tastes AWESOME when the milk is brought to you in your own special silver pouring pot and the fruit is served in a crystal dish. Beats my method of shoving half a banana in my mouth as I slop milk in my bowl and slurp around the edges. I could get used to having someone serve me breakfast every morning on a silver tray. Tried to talk Blair into it but so far it's a no go.

We finish breakfast and head out. Most of the leg kinks work themselves out as we walk, and we enjoy feelings of smug superiority as we watch the many trolleys drive around town with tourists hanging out the window. "Saps," we say to ourselves. "Get out and walk a little!"

We spend the day touring restored homes that are now museums and staring at antique furniture and wallpaper. We love doing things like that. We have lunch at the Griffon Tea Room and while the service was slow they had the best sour cream apple pie I've ever tasted in my life. We talked about it for days afterward.

We also took a long walk on the Riverfront, pausing to duck in every store along the way (and there are a heck of a lot of stores). We didn't buy anything, but it's fun to look. Also amazing how quickly everything starts to look the same. Too much stuff.

Made it back to the room in time to shower and catch a 30 minute nap before heading out to a 8:15 dinner--very late for us. My feet were not happy about sliding into heels for the 5 block walk to the restaurant, but pride won out. I must look cute.

Came back and collapsed into bed. We had one day left.