Thursday, October 18, 2007

The Leaning Side



A gambrel-roofed barn in Wisconsin, U.S.A.

I love barns especially old ones. I guess atmosphere-settings-fascinate me more than a lot of other things. But more on that later. If I was a professional photographer, barns would be one object I'd take lots of pictures of. And I love to read about them in novels!

  • Did you know that older barns were built from lumber sawn from timber on a farm?
  • New England, and probably old England, used stone for their barns.
  • Nowadays, steel is the favorite building medium.

An antique barn in Poland.





Lots of them have gambrels (hip roofs) to maximize the hayloft. How many children have spent a sunny afternoon inventing adventures there? How many hoboes or homeless people or even hired hands have spent their nights in one?

A pastoral farm scene with a classic red barn located in Northern Michigan.



Here's some fun idioms:
  • To go "all around Robin Hood's barn" means: to take an indirect route.
  • To "lock the barn door after the horse is gone" implies that one is trying to be careful or try to make something certain or to fix a problem after it is too late.
  • "Were you raised in a barn?" is an accusation used when someone exhibits poor manners such as leaving doors open.
The round barn at Hancock Shaker Village.


And last here's a story about a leaning barn. Read and learn!


Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed, "Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side."

After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.

He answered, "Well sir, you see, it's like this . . . I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time. It's withstood a lot of weather, it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years. It's still standing, but one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall.

Then I got to thinking 'bout that and how much I was like that old barn. I've been around a long time, I've withstood a lot of life's storms, I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop me up on our leaning side, 'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times."

A typical crib barn in Marshall County, West Virginia.


Sometime we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't. We need to pray, "Lord, prop us up on our leaning side," so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord. --Author unknown



Two trivia Questions today!
What was the most used colors for barns, and why?
Name three rooms that were common areas in a typical barn.



Quote:

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.

- Robert Frost, October



Happy October weekend blessings . . .

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Very interesting post. ; )

Caroline said...

Where you been, girl? Glad to hear from you! & tell bro I said howdy-hi!

Sunday Morning Sunshine: Autumn's Bright Blue Weather

 Autumn's Bright Blue Weather --Helen Hunt Jackson O suns and skies and clouds of June, And flowers of June together, Ye cannot rival fo...