barns, barns, barns

post #461
        Can't help it. The barns in my life seem to be mostly personality and not always efficiency.  I haven't made a study of them, but when they appear on my horizon I can rarely resist welcoming them in.  I came up with all of today's dozen or so photos just by looking through what images are in my "library" (which is definitely a digital word steal for a large collections of photos!)  
        With all the current turmoil in our American history, it may be nice to be reminded of these buildings, loyal players trying their best to stand the test of time.

1) my barn, built by previous owners, with five horse stalls, not being currently used.  (It is needing its metal roof repainted! Barns don't thrive on purely artistic considerations.)

 2) This is the barn located on the land where I used to live. The old section in front surrounds a log version from the barn's earliest moments. The back section could have been used to dry tobacco, but it ended up not being strong enough to stand up for that added weight.

a very soggy time, unlike the dryness our area is currently experiencing

I didn't know I had this photo. I love it.

3)  Barns in the neighborhood, broadly speaking:

For years, we watched this barn slowly deteriorate. But this day I just had to stop my drive to town to make this photo. The barn is now completely down and gone, but the shadow of its stalwart self has not yet left me.

 4) barns with stories:

I am including this horse barn even though it is located in Kentucky horse country. It belongs to the son of a longtime friend of mine.  I will include a photo of them here later this week but I first want to get this post out.

This barn is close by to where I live. The goats are living in style!

 One time when I was in nearby Morgan County, I stopped to make some photos of this tobacco barn -- the slats were open to even out the temperature needed to cure the tobacco hanging there.   Not long after that, West Liberty ( the county seat) was hit by an extremely  destructive tornado. This barn was in its path.  I didn't know then that this barn belonged to a fellow photographer, Dean Hill, who then used what materials he and his wife, Karen, could salvage from the building to re-purpose them into the construction of his photo gallery! On this very spot! It's amazing. I was glad I had this photo to show them once I figured it all out. 

These last two photos show Gene Binion's barn nearby. I was doing an actual photo shoot this time, for a booklet the Kentucky Arts Council was compiling featuring the quilt designs that were being painted and then attached to barns in Eastern Kentucky.  This spider quilt design hasn't stood up to the weather very well, but the barn still beckons me. I made these photos at the crack of dawn.  I have more views, but these two are my favorites.


I think these are surely enough barns for now. I will do another post someday with more of them. I am a day late posting this week, but I know I am the only one who may notice that in the long run. I do love doing these posts every week. This week it has been fun to document how what we see every day can look different when we look again. And again. Thanks to all who visit this weekly blog and, essentially, are taking another look at what I take multiple looks at..