By MARYLYNNE PITZ, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Five years ago, when Judge Christine Ward bought this house in Pittsburgh, she could not tour its interior because the property was in foreclosure.

Standing on a side porch and looking through the kitchen windows, she saw piles of debris, empty pizza boxes and takeout containers.

If he's not designing buildings or playing the accordion, Keith Cochran is lavishing attention on restoring a Greek Revival house in Lawrenceville, Pa.

The amiable architect loves this classical style's clean lines, open floor plan and spacious rooms, and the $40,000 price made it irresistible.

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. - Michael Strueber often observes that you can't compete with nature, but he certainly expends a lot of effort complementing it.

LORETTO, Pa. - Nestled atop Cresson Mountain is an Italian Renaissance garden created by Charles Wellford Leavitt Jr., a pioneering landscape engineer.

With its climbing red and pink roses, Fisher Boy fountain and three reflecting pools edged by yellow Stella d'Oro day lilies, this tiered green space is a giant step back into an astonishing slice of Gilded Age grandeur.

Peter Argentine passes by the "Do Not Enter" signs in museums and national parks. With his cameras and crew, the filmmaker captures Michelle Obama in the Blue Room, Laura Bush in the cozy White House Library and braves unseasonably cold winds as re-enactors re-create the Battle of New Orleans.

CANTON, Ohio - As Christmas approached in 1933, the gloom of the Great Depression spread desperation over this southeastern Ohio town, where unemployment stood around 50 percent.

If you wish to donate your body or organs to medical science, ask lots of questions.

Then, fill out the paperwork, explain the reasons for your donation to your loved ones and give them copies of relevant documents before you die.

After years of writing feverishly, Charles Dickens desperately needed a break from his demanding schedule and money to finance a year abroad.

England's best-known author hoped "A Christmas Carol," a tale about ghosts haunting the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, would be his ticket to a yearlong Italian vacation for him, his wife, five children and servants.

LAUGHLINTOWN, Pa. - Terry Coyne sowed the seeds for her new floral and gift shop while working as a nutrition researcher for 13 years at the University of Pittsburgh during the late '80s and 1990s.

Amaryllis and colorful Cape primroses, which are members of the African violet family, crowded her office, thriving behind floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that faced east.

Along the Mason-Dixon Line, travelers can still see some of the gorgeous vistas Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon enjoyed in the 18th century.