Sky Watch Friday

It may be dark now, but there will be light...

Rain drops keep falling on my...

Agapanthus. My favorite flower. This early bloomer is the only one currently in a flower bed in a road median outside of my office. I was able to snap it out the window while waiting for a red light to change after a rain shower had just ended.

ABC Wednesday: "G" is for Guitar

There may be a few guitars this week for ABC Wednesday, but that is ok. For me, it was either make this week's post about guitars or about golfing, and I decided that music is closer to my heart than chasing the little white ball, and so I give you guitars.

One the left you have my accoustic guitar that I use at church for the more contemporary "rock" type sound, and on the right is my "classical" guitar which I play for my own amusment and have yet to use in public, though I might break it out for a special at Christmas by playing a carol - Greensleeves anyone? Is there a more quintessential classical guitar Christmas song?


The below photos are all of me plucking around on the classical guitar. I truly love the sound of a classical guitar (think of all that great "Spanish" sounding music and you will know the sound of the classical guitar. It uses nylon strings for a softer, more mellow tone than the modern accoustic guitars which use metal strings to produce a louder sound to carry in auditoriums, etc. The classical is a much more intimate instrument, and the sound is pure, sublime, and dare I say almost holy.

For more on the history of the guitar you can check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar

And for more on the history of the "classical" guitar in particular you can check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_guitar

Landscape from work

Morning Ritual

Need that cup of joe... you know?

Carnton Plantation, Franklin, TN

Haven't taken many new pictures in the last week, so I must call upon my reserves - these from 2004 and a vacation in Tennessee we took with some of my wife's family to visit their ancestral home in the north central part of the state. But these photos are not from there... these are from a side trip I begged for: a day visiting Civil War sites nearby - Murfeesboro and Fanklin.

But today's photos are specifically of Carnton Plantation outside of Franklin, TN, which is just south of Nashville. The home was built in 1826 by former Nashville mayor Randal McGavock and was in the McGavock family until 1911, when it was sold, but was returned to the Carnton Association in 1977 to be restored as a museum. It was first listed on the national registry of historic places in 1973.

The front of the main house, facing North towards Franklin:



The back of the house, which is actually the first thing you see when visiting (this is standing in front of the gift shop where you purchase tickets for the tour):


A view from the second story veranda of the house gardens:


A quick shot snapped out of the car window of the Confederate cemetery that occupies two acres of the plantation grounds:

They don't allow photography inside, but it has been restored to mid-nineteenth century decor, including the furniture, wall coverings, etc. Quite interesting. More interesting, if not certainly more ghoulish, are the numerous blood stains on the hardwood floors, left by wounded and dying Confederate soldiers during the Battle of Franklin in November 1864. The house was used as a field hospital and many hundreds of soldiers were brought here inside the house and all over the outside grounds. Six Confederate generals died in the attack on Franklin, and four of them wound up here at Carnton laid out side-by-side on the back porch after the battle, including the promising young Patrick Cleburne, who was engaged to be wed in just a few more weeks. Sad story.

For more info on Carnton you can visit their website at http://www.carnton.org/

Welcome March...

What better way to herald the arrival of the month of March than with...

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a marching band? :)