Meanderings in the Countryside ... Farm Roads and Country Drives ..

This last week we were out meandering in the countryside on an overcast cool day. Enjoying the country roads .. seeing the farms dotting the countryside.. and all the cows out in the beautiful green spring fields munching away on the new sprouts of goodness shooting from the earth... 

We had driven by this abandoned farm a few times and on both occassions I had left home without my sidekick ..no not Abbey .. but my camera .. but on this day out I happened to have it with me so we stopped and walked the grounds and enjoyed the old place. 

This farm had 2 beautiful old wood barns .. the first of the two was slightly smaller and had an amazing shake roof ..

When I went to photograph the front of it I was delighted to see that the barn had a face and it appeared to be smiling at me .. can you see the face and the 1/2 smile ?

Many of the fields have purple blooms throughout .. and they are simply breathtaking sort of puts me in mind of lavender fields .. however these are just pretty weeds ...

The old white farmhouse still sits proudly at the front of the property with the old trees surrounding it. The trees are just budding out so they are still looking a bit dreary and dull from winter but I imagine this weekend after an abundance of rain and now sunshine those branches will be overflowing with beautiful green leaves of goodness. 

The fields to the right of the house were brilliantly lit up in yellow and white .. although I would love to say they were some amazingly beautiful flowers.. this was simply a field of yellow and white dandelions .. nonetheless I thought it was quite pretty ...

The 2nd barn and the biggest barn on the property looks like a beacon of strength from the front .. but sadly it has fallen in on the back right side .. you can kind of see day light through the front opening there ..  

The inside is still beautiful .. and I think with some love and tender kindness the barn could be saved if one had a mind to do so ... As the stalls and pens and rafters still all looked in amazingly good condition considering .. 

As I turned around at the end of the barn and looked back out the doors I saw to my delight that the opening of the barn "the eye of the barn" .. was looking back at the farmhouse making a stunning frame around it ..  what a fun photo to discover and I was thrilled to get home and see it had turned out. 

And you know that feeling you have that you're being watched .. we seemed to have that feeling that day .. as we headed back to the car .. across the farm road .. we had quite the audience. The girls had walked in from their beautiful field of green goodness and were quite the curious ones looking on at us as if to say "Hey what are you all doing ?" 

We love cows .. so we ventured to the other side of the farm road and gave them a day they won't forget their very own "Glamour Shots" .. I think they did well posing don't you ?

Well it's Friday .. and who knows what we'll be doing this weekend .. thus far no plans .. but there's always the hunt for something vintagey awaiting .. or a country road that needs exploring .. or just a relaxing weekend at home enjoying the quiet and contentment of one's own home. 

"Happy Easter" ... He has Risen ... Praise the Lord on High !

Memories .. we all have a few .. "The Window in the Barn"

The Window in the Barn ... 

It's amazing how images..photos spark memories buried in our minds and bring them back to life and allow us to relive those times long ago as though they are today. 

These images of Barn Windows sparked a memory from long ago for me... when I was a wee bit of 7 yrs of age we lived in a small Horse town. We had a small plot of land with a home and a barn and room enough for a few farm animals ( 1 cow, several chickens, 2 ducks, 1 pig, 2 dogs and 3 horses). 

My Dad worked a lot of hours so it left my mom in charge of the house and the garden as well as the animals and us kids. We had our chores and helped out. We had a small red barn.. my dad had shot guns for country shooting and hunting ...and had a re-loading center in the front section of the barn. Another area was for all the saddles and tack .. and a small dark back room maybe 10 x 10 ft. if that was where we kept the feed... 

Back then we would drive the truck down and buy Alfalfa Cubes at the feed store . They would use a small tractor/loader to fill the bed of the truck with cubes .. and upon returning home my mom would shovel all those cubes from the truck bed into the feed room. She was quite the young woman. I remember helping try and throw a few in by hand .. but the door was narrow and she swung that shovel with a mighty strength and she always told me to stay well back so I wouldn't get hurt.

On several occasions as she swing the shovel or had to go inside to push the cubes further back in the room, making way for more cubes ....she mentioned she wished that feed room had a window for some light .. because the mice liked to hide in that room .. and you never knew when one might take a run for it across your foot ...no less in the dark. That happened on several occasions.

Well one day I got it in my head no less at 7 yrs old that I was going to make a window for mom. So I set out to the barn .. picked up the Bale cutters which had one sharp pick style end on them .. and began banging at the wall ..I have no idea how much time had passed but enough for me to get the tiniest hole started in the wall.. when mom came looking for me... She didn't get mad at me ...I think she was shocked I had picked a hole in the barn ...I explained I was making a window for her ... I can't remember much after that other than we boarded up the hole .. and we never did put a window in that room ... I tried though. I was certain then that I could make a window just as beautiful and perfect as these barn windows below ..

 I hope you enjoyed a little memory from my life ..

Photos courtesy of Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/sweetmagsfarm/barn-ology/