Sunday, March 1, 2009

Contrasts

These are both from our drive north the other day. Both are drive-by shots.
Isn't there a world of difference between the two? The top was taken very late in the evening...it was verging on getting dark and the ISO was set at 800...
This was taken on the way so was in daylight...ISO set at 400. Both are a tad out of focus...it is harder to succeed with drive by shots if looking out the side window. It tends to show the motion more.

If you look close, in that top one there is a line through it...I have no idea what it is caused by. No idea at all. Still, it is another where you can only imagine what kind of life has happened within its walls. I have a harder time looking at barns and knowing what went on...

When I look at old houses, I can hear children's laughter ring out and sometimes I imagine I can hear wives and/or mothers crying at the loss of a child or husband. But with a barn it is different. I think because I don't know if it was used just for storage, or for working in, or if animals lived within its walls at any time.

I always wish I could enter the barns though, just as much as I do a house. Maybe because I had so much fun in our barn....I guess this is something I should have told a while back when telling random things about myself.

When I was young, say along 7, maybe eight years old...I used to go to the barn and play by myself. I would get up in the loft and just sing and sing....songs like Henry the 8th for one...that is the only one I remember for sure. And I would pretend I was singing to an audience. So there, I don't know if I have ever shared that with a soul....

Or I would pretend to be a trapeze artist...on the tier poles we had a sort of swing. It was short but wide with a 'pole' of sort to sit on. It wasn't a board...and I have no idea where it came from. It was probably 2 to 3 inches through and worn very smooth...no bark on it. I would hand upside down from it, climb across the tier poles, and what all else I can't remember. But I had fun.

Some of it, I couldn't even watch my kids do now; have no idea how mom lived with us. Some of it she probably didn't know. We didn't always gather the fodder in from the corn but a few years we did, and it stood on the side with no loft above it...well, I know me and my one brother would go up in the loft and jump over and out and land in it. Not Neal, though maybe he did it too. I just can't remember. But I know one thing...it would have been my brother that had the nerve to try it the first time.

Now one thing Neal did do was this thing--don't think we had a name for it. But I was little then...5 or 6 years old. He would lay in the hay on his back and raise his feet up and I would lay across his feet on my belly and hold to his hands and then he would launch me on to the other hay. I can remember wanting him to do it more and more. That is another thing I don't know if our mom knew about or not.

So that is another thing I think about when I look at barns...I wonder if any kid played in them.

20 comments:

  1. This is certainly a contrast into the way the landowner views their barns. One is proud the other - appears to care less if it falls down. Such a shame.
    I used to play with my brother and two of our friends in their barn. I remember being afraid to stand to close to the open doorway in the loft.
    "I'm Henry the 8th I am" - a Hermans Hermits fan were you? :)
    How about "Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely daughter"...

    ReplyDelete
  2. great shots

    I'd suggest the line is dirt on the window - probably from when the window is half wound-down.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The things we play as a child...I don't think my mum knew what we were doing all the time. I remember that we had siesta daily from 1 PM till 3 PM. We played or I read all the time. Our beds were islands and we had to swim from one island to the other. But the sea was full of sharks, which made it very difficult. Eventually we made it and arrived safely at the other island.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It looks like the top photo has a pole, T-post or something skinny on the far left, that is very close (blurred) and not in the yard with the others. Could there have been a barbed wire that is the blur?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I forgot to tell you that this all happened in Indonesia Where we lived until after WW II.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I find old barns fascinating. You've captured a couple that are excellent examples. The falling down version is sad in that you could wish that someone would restore it the way people restore cars. Nice shooting.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Rose for the great pictures and for the thoughts on *remembering*...for me "tunnels amongst the straw bales" in the barn are what I remember best! My parents knew about it but I am not sure the fear was there that most of us have today!

    ReplyDelete
  8. We did the airplane too! That's what we called the last thing you described - that was sooo much fun!
    There used to be a hanging bar in the garage that hung from the ceiling that my dad used to hang from that he said lined his vertebra out (that's what he called it anyway - he had back pain from moving furniture) Anyway, I'd hang from my knees from the bar & not hold on to anything & swing & flip over & land on my feet - mom didn't like watching me do that - she was always afraid I'd get caught on the chain!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I wonder if there's any ghosts in that old barn?! Wooo

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lust loved your barn stories, and photos. the top one looks like one good wind and... Glad you have it documented!

    ReplyDelete
  11. BTW - You have another "lil something" on my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for your comment on Today's Flower. Yes we wanted to stay there too, but we had to go home my daughter had her work.

    ReplyDelete
  13. If I take thru the front windshield there is usually a line on mine.
    I'm like you, I always want to go exploring but I'm afraid I'd find a snake. My husband's old barn has all kinds of neat things in it but I won't go in there by myself.
    My sister used to do the same thing to me just to give me a ride but only on the bed so I just got raised in the air but it was great fun for a little girl.
    I love both of these barn pictures!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Loved reading your memories of the barn! Reminded me of several things in my own life...my grandmother's barn, and playing on our trapeze and apple trees. What fun we had back then with very little in the way of "things" to play with...just our imaginations! I used to sing all the time, too...including that song :-) Do you live anywhere near Bloomington, or go to the quilt show there? I'm going on Thursday this coming week.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Both are classic views of countryside Americana.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love your barn photos, Rose, and especially your remembrances of playing in the barn. I'm sure it was best (for her nerves) that your mother didn't know everything. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Neat pictures Rose. As you well know we had a lot of fun in the barn when we were growing up.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great shots, Rose.
    I love to see old farms.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love the photos of the barns!

    ReplyDelete
  20. There is something about barns that make it impossible for kids NOT to play in them.
    You did a good job getting these pictures from a moving vehicle.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog...I hope you like it enough to take the time to comment. I enjoy comments so much, and always try to make a return visit.