Barn and Silo

Barn and Silo, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

Photo: June 4, 2011

Bicycling through the countryside, we passed farms with freshly planted rows of corn. The smell of manure wafted over the road as we passed newly fertilized fields. We city dwellers were conscious of odours. Perhaps the farmers are oblivious as we are to the smoggy smells of the city.

Winter in White

Winter in White, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Walking, I came upon this view - an old barn from another time with a cell tower behind. Even rural scenes are dotted with modern technology.

Mar 7/10 Farm

Mar 7/10 Farm, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Country air with bright blue skies and sun warming the countryside. We walked in lighter coats, our step more sprightly. Winter's snow is retreating revealing mud and thatch. The smells of spring permeate the air. Seasons changing.

Mar 3/10: Barn

Mar 3/10: Barn, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Daily Shoot: Weathered objects have a lot of character: cracked, rusted, bleached, etc. Give us your best weathered shot today.

This barn (in the middle of Montreal) stands beside the Hurtubise House, built in 1739 on land granted to the Hurtubise family by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of Montreal, around 1650. I wrote about it once before. I love to see these vestiges of our city's past. This one, at least, has been saved for the future. It is now owned by Heritage Canada. So much has been torn down with whole areas being razed for new projects. It is nice to find these jewels that still grace our city streets.
House in spring
House in winter

Day 269: Red Barn

Day 269: Red Barn, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Driving between Casselman and Ottawa I spotted this red barn (I was the passenger so this was taken from the car window while we were moving). It reminded me of the games we would play in the car when my children were young.

Game 1 - Spot the.... I would have a list of things and the children would be on the lookout for them so they could cross them off their lists - somehow a red barn was always on the list.

Game 2 - Alphabet - Find something that you see, starting with A and then through the alphabet. Needless to say, some letters were harder than others. Clotheslines helped as we got to U - underwear and sometimes they had to get creative V - very small house.

Game 3 - Geography - This is one I played in my childhood and continued with my own children. Someone starts with the name of a place (can also be a body of water, mountain range...). The next person has to respond with a place name that starts with the ending letter. There was always a groan as we fell into the a's. Alabama, Asia, Alaska, Antarctica.....

Game 4 - Ghost - This is a spelling game. One person starts with a letter. The idea is not to finish a word, but you can't just say random letters as you can be challenged and have to reply with a word you had in mind. Words have to be at least 3 letters. If you finish a word you get a G (and subsequent words continue through the letters in Ghost). The first person to get Ghost loses.

These games, along with music tapes and songs (especially those where we could make up our own verses) provided me with peace as I drove. Though occasionally the car battles erupted anyway. The children were not immune to the issues of "he's looking at me", "she's in my space". But mainly we had fun!

Day 54: Travelling past Farms

Day 54: Travelling Past Farms, originally uploaded by susanvg.

ViaRail - Canada's national railway. I travelled from Kingston Ontario, home to Montreal. I like rail travel - it goes at a pace that gets you there in a relaxing fashion. We passed through snow covered farms. I tried taking a few photos out the window - and this was one. I loved the red barn. When my children were young I used to keep them occupied while I drove with a variety of games. One was to spot certain objects. A red barn was frequently on the list when we drove through the countryside. When I saw this I felt like I had scored!

Sometimes rail travel is a little too slow - our train was 40 minutes late getting to our destination - the joys of winter travel.