Please don't tell my neighbors

Here's one of my favorite things: It's dusk. I'm a passenger in a car, driving through a neighborhood. The homeowners haven't gotten around to pulling their shades yet...

...and I get a peek (at 20 or 30 mph) at how they've decorated their homes.

If that's also your idea of a good time, you're going to want to know about The Providence Preservation Society's 29th Annual Festival of Historic Houses on Saturday.

Buy a ticket and you can get a really good look inside 10 historic homes in the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence, RI.

All the homes were built in the 19th century. I've been in one of them, where I worked on interior redesign. (That's the foyer of the house in the photo above.)

I'm not going to tell you where the house is...you're not supposed to know any of the details until you pick up the map at Brown University’s Maddock Alumni Center, 38 Brown St, Providence.

But I can tell you that it's got wonderful millwork, five fireplaces and beautiful gardens. I'm sure the other houses are fantastic, too.

So buy a ticket ( $30 in advance and $35 on the day of the tour). The self-guided walking tour runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the houses within about a half-mile loop.

The best part: You won't have to yell for your husband to slow the car down so you can get a better look...