Walking with the Hounds

Truly and Maggie love to go for walks around the neighborhood.  Since Sawyer was out of school Monday for the MLK holiday, she went with us.  My idea was to take the camera and get photos for the blog while we were on our walk.  I wanted to take the pictures myself and have Sawyer serve as the model and leash holder.  She pointed out that since she's taking a photography class this semester, I should be the model and leash holder.  Being the mother who tries to support all of her academic endeavors, I relented, but I do think she whizzed me.

Walker's not with us because he's just not ready to go out for walks yet.  We're not sure that he will ever be able to go, but we're not going to count him out just yet.  He stayed home with Tim. Here's a photo of him I took Sunday - just so he doesn't feel left out:

On our neighborhood walk:

Here we are in the Woodruff House gazebo atop Coleman Hill.

Those Brindle Kids minus Walker on the front porch of the Woodruff House.

From Sherpa Guides:  "Built in 1836 for a railroad financier and banker, this Greek Revival plantation mansion was later owned by Col. Joseph Bond, one of the South's wealthiest cotton planters.  Bond was the state's largest cotton grower and most successful planter.  
During his occupation of Macon in 1865, Union Gen. James Wilson resided here, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his family were entertained here in 1887.  
The home was later purchased by Robert Woodruff, president of the Coca Cola Company from 1923 until 1954.  With his enormous Coke fortune, he was a major philanthropist and many educational and cultural landmarks in Macon and Atlanta, Georgia, bear his name.  Today the home is owned by Mercer University."  
People say the Woodruff House is haunted by the ghost of Colonel Bond who was murdered at the age of 44 by his former plantation foreman.

Maggie and Truly in the Woodruff House camellia garden.

The most favorite walk activity, smelling.

Here's another photo of the Woodruff House I took a month ago during the morning fog.

The Woodruff House sits on the north side of Coleman Hill.  Right next door to it, on the south side of Coleman Hill, sits Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law.  The building is an oversized reproduction of Philadelphia's Independence Hall.  Mercer purchased the building when the insurance company went out of business years ago.  People say the law school building is haunted by the ghost of a failed law student who jumped to his death from the top of the clock tower.

Those Brindle Kids on the law school lawn.

On one of the law school patios.

Just around the corner, to the west of the law school, is another Greek Revival mansion, Bonnie Brae.  It was built in 1838 by a physician.  He lived in the first two floors and had a hospital in the basement.  Antebellum-period medical equipment, including baby bassinettes, was found there.

You should see the inside of this house.  Absolutely gorgeous!  Bonnie Brae's elderly owner recently died.  Several months later her family held an open house.  The home has fallen to some disrepair but the original craftsmanship is stunning.  Word on the street is that Mercer University will buy and renovate it for use as the home of the university president.  I dearly hope so.  Most usually, a place like this is divided into apartments.  Yuck.
People say Bonnie Brae is haunted by the ghosts of people who died in the basement hospital during the Civil War.

Truly

Maggie

Fence post.

We came across this fence post on our way back up the block.  I don't know how many times I've walked past it and not seen it.  The root grows up through the post with a blooming iris right next to it.  I thought it was pretty.

More of our walking tour of the neighborhood later.  Are you noticing a "ghostly" theme?  I've learned that nearly everything around here is "haunted."  In fact, one of our neighborhood association's biggest fundraisers is the annual Ghost Tour at Halloween.  People loved to be scared!

Tim says Walker behaved as if he really wanted to go with us.  He wants to put Walker's harness on, hook a leash to the harness, then put another leash on his martingale, and take him with us.  Just for a short walk.  That would be o.k. as long as we walk him in a large fenced area - maybe the ballpark with its 9' fence.  We'll see . . .