Cannon Census, or it's easier than you think to lose a cannon.

For no reason except that one day about a month ago I noticed we have a lot of cannons in Franklin, I started counting them. I got up to 11. Seriously, I had no idea. 11.  I forgot about it until today when I thought about it again and decided to take pictures of all of them.

Here's where I am on the cannon count.

Everybody knows there are four cannons on the square. These are on loan to Franklin which the mayor discovered in 2004 when contacted by the Department of the Army inquiring as to the whereabouts of the cannons loaned in 1906. Fortunately, he was able to provide exact documentation of the cannons' location: 

Cannons 1-4

Heading west, I spotted this one. It's at Veterans Park at Five Points. Historic markers there relate the visit of President Andrew Jackson meeting the Chickasaw Tribe under the Indian Removal Act of 1830 but I don't believe this cannon had anything to do with that.

  Cannon 5

I parked at the archives to take close up pictures and discovered this one sitting undercover near the entrance to the archives. Fortunately it's not loaded or those folks would be in trouble.

Cannon 6

Walking around to shoot (ha! no pun intended) the second one from the top, I spied this guy. I guess it's a cannon--I don't claim to be any kind of an authority on heavy artillery so I'm not sure. But it's close enough.

Cannon 7

Heading south on Columbia Avenue, is the Lotz House cannon accompanied by a pyramid of cannonballs. (Next hunt: cannonballs). They brought this here in 2008 when the museum opened.

Cannon 8

Carter House also has a cannon but I didn't get a picture of it. That would be Cannon 9

 This is the cannon at Winstead Hill, Cannon 10.

Which leads me to, where's Cannon 11? Did I miscount before? And I'm actually missing 2 cannons since I didn't see Cannon 7 the first time I counted.

Hmmm...where are those two pesky cannons?

Now I can die happy, I've seen India

Eleven of us at the Taj Mahal (Webb stayed on the bus because he'd
 already  seen it) plus our Indian guardian angels,
Mr.. Joachim and Fr. Prasad.

I never had any interest in visiting India. I love to travel, having visited 49 U.S. states, parts of Canada and Mexico, even Cuba as a young child, and many Western European counties, but India...well, it just wasn't on my to-do list. Nevertheless, when my church's Indian pastor, Fr. Bala, planned a trip to India, I decided to go. And now I can't wait to go back. For a month next time.   

India is amazing. It's hard to put it into words, but I will try. Pictures will help.

Fr. Bala's a Franciscan priest "on loan" for 5 years to the US, and St. Philip Catholic Church in Franklin won the lottery on this one. Unfortunately, Fr. Bala could not come with us at the last minute because of an immigration snafu, so the 12 of us, 11 women and one man, ranging in age from 42 to 84, were in the capable hands with Frs. Prasad, Sleeva and Bhaskar, also Franciscans.

Part of the trip was sightseeing, and that's the part I'm going to talk about first.

Everything you've heard about the Taj Mahal is true: it's the most beautiful building in the world. No, I haven't seen all the buildings in the world, but I have seen quite a few and nothing even comes close. It's impossible to take a bad photo of it, and I'm really good at taking bad photos and even I couldn't manage it here.

We took in quite a few Muslim mosques and fortresses and Hindu temples and palaces. The temples aren't my cup of tea, although interesting, but the Muslim architecture is quite spectacular. The red sandstone is stunning. 

What's coming in that they needed these giant doors? In the year 1500?

Qutb Minard (tower) in Delhi.

 Another red sandstone mosque. They often incorporate water into the design--this was true at the Alhambra in Spain too.

The palace at Mysore was built in 1898. The women's saris are as beautiful as the palace.   

 Love, love, love the turquoise and coral with gold accents in the palace. That old maharaja had some style.  

Girls on a school trip at Hindu temple in Mysore. This temple is home to dozens of monkeys, who make themselves at home on the temple walls.

Stay tuned...more to come soon.

There's No Statehouse in Franklin, Tennessee

But that doesn't mean people don't come to Franklin looking for one.
It's happened twice that I know of.

Here it is, right in the middle of everything.

I'm in the middle of one of my walking tours on the town square by the Confederate memorial, when someone interrupts, asking, "Where's the statehouse?"

I answer, "Nashville's the capital, it's there."

No, they insist, "The statehouse of the state of Franklin."

Oh, that statehouse.

When I tell them they're about 300 miles away from it, they get very disappointed.

What they're looking for is the capitol (or statehouse) of the "Lost State of Franklin." Yes, there was such a place. For four years, from about 1785 until 1789, four counties in western North Carolina broke away and tried to form a separate state. Approval by Congress failed by just two votes. Ben Franklin didn't think much of the idea, even though its proponents tried to curry favor by naming it for him instead of their original idea, "Frankland."

Nobody ever used to ask me about any statehouse. The only reason they do now is because of a History Channel show "How the States Got Their Shapes." 

We like to think there's a Franklin State of MInd. Once, there really was.