Best of 2019

I dedicate this collage to the last year of a decade. I hope you had a great 2019. Here are a few top images from my year. This year brought many, many changes. I welcomed all of them with open arms. One can't survive in this world without accepting change. I hope you enjoy a look back. ENJOY!

The Barn Series - Day 8 - Great Smoky Mountains

Cade's Cove is on tap today for The Barn Series journey. A beautiful, peaceful valley with old farmsteads and historic, one room churches dotting the landscape. This old barn is one of my favorites. I love to photograph it in all of the seasons with the mountains looming in the background. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the largest national park east of the Mississippi River. Visitors flock here every year in the tens of thousands. The park is located in eastern Tennessee and is actually in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Cade's Code is one of the main attractions with visitors. In this valley, you can go back in time, as you travel the winding road. View first hand how these farmers plied their trade throughout the decades. The moment you enter this park you know you are in an amazing place. The forests are thick and lush with gorgeous trees and plants and wildflowers. Rushing rivers wind through the park as they make their way down the mountains into the valleys. The flora and fauna of this national park is like none other you will find across the nation, because the Smoky Mountains is also a rain forest. Witness that first hand as you drive throughout the park or hike the trails. Water is paramount here.

I hope you are enjoying The Barn Series. Wonder where we will end up tomorrow. ENJOY!

Linking to Metamorphosis Monday

The Barn Series - Day 6 - See Rock City

Today I am sharing a vintage barn featuring the SEE ROCK CITY logos. You can find these logo barns all over the South. You can find this barn outside the gate entrance to Maker's Mark. While we are in Kentucky, I wanted to share a little bit about Rock City which is situated atop Lookout Mountain, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and features massive ancient rock formations, beautiful gardens, a waterfall and caverns. You can walk on the Swing Along Bridge or hike the Enchanted Trail, or if you fancy it, visit Mother Goose Village to shop and dine. It's an experience to see the least!

If you take the state road from Loretto to Louisville, in Kentucky, just pat Bardstown sits another Rock City logo barn. I admit I have never been to Rock City. It is on my list of places to visit in Tennessee, I would love to photograph the waterfall and take a few snaps of the overlook on top of Lookout Mountain where you can see 7 states in that one spot. Impressive!

Stop back by tomorrow for another barn in our Barn Series. You never know where we might end up. And I love having you along for the ride, as much as I love reminiscing about these old barns I photographed over the years. Have a wonderful evening. ENJOY!

The Barn Series - Day 3 - Bluegrass Scenic Byway

Day 3 and I decided it was high time to switch gears. I know modern day horse barns will not satisfy the vintage barn lovers that follow here. Believe it or not, we are still in the Bluegrass Region in central Kentucky with this post where thoroughbreds and horse farms reign supreme.

Kentucky's heritage is famed for many things. The most famous of those are horses, bourbon and tobacco. Half way between Midway and Lexington sits this barn close enough to the road to get a fairly decent photograph. It's Fall and lucky me the tobacco and been put up and the windows were open to allow the air to help cure it. Every trip I made to this region, I would drive down this particular road where this barn sits, specifically to check in to see if anything was going on with it. Some barns just do that to you. They draw you in. This one did that to me.

On this visit I was happy to find the tobacco hanging in the barn and stopped to take several photos. It's nice to know this old barn still had some use. Tobacco is less and less of a money crop on farms throughout Kentucky today as smoking becomes less and less popular. But there's something about seeing tobacco hanging in an old barn that makes me happy. It takes me back to my youth when smoking was the trend.

All around this beautiful old barn stands horse barns and fields where thoroughbreds graze. I'm never quite sure why to this day tobacco is still put up here. I have photographed many, many barns over the years in my travels. Yet, I never really elaborated on the why and where of it with most of the images. I just felt compelled to do so now. Until tomorrow. ENJOY!

The Barn Series - Day 2 - Stonewall Farm

I am thrilled you made the decision to come along with me on this trip back in time, as I reminisce about the many barns I have had the pleasure of capturing photographs of over the past decade. If I had to rate some of the barns I have seen along the Bluegrass Scenic Byway, the famed road that runs between Midway and Lexington, in central Kentucky, this barn would be in the top five on that list. Yesterday, we visited Manchester Farms, one of the most iconic horse farms in Lexington, second to Calumet Farms. Today's barn heralds from this same gorgeous region of Kentucky, and I can say, has been home to many a stallion and mare as this thoroughbred franchise is famous for.

This is famed Stonewall Farm, situated smack dab in the center of the 'Horse Capital of the World.' It is truly the perfect setting with its beautiful lake and fountain and, of course, always present historic limestone wall that runs the length of the farm along the byway. Every time I see the limestone wall that separates the road from the pastures, an emotion like known other wells up in me. That wall says it all. You are in the 'Horse Capital of the World.' Stonewall has bred many champions over the years, but I believe what they are as famous for is the beautiful fields and barns that make up the property. I often wonder what this barn would look like a hundred years from now as a new photographer stops to capture its beauty. Every barn began its story brand spanking new before it became weathered and worn. I try to keep this in mind every time I stop to photograph a barn.

Our first two posts on this journey back in time have found us at two stunning horse farms in the famed Bluegrass Region. No matter where we venture to, I know you will enjoy the ride. I miss photographing the Bluegrass Region, but I know some day I will be back in Kentucky and will call it home again. Once it is in your blood you cannot get it out. While I love the great state of Tennessee and it's rugged beauty, Kentucky is in my bones. I am so glad you came along today on this journey. I hope to see you again tomorrow. ENJOY!

Linking to The Barn Collective

Christmas Season

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon will be here. Rocking around the Christmas tree, it's a happy holiday. Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Silver bells, silver bells, it's Christmas time in the city. I'm dreaming of a White Christmas with every Christmas card I write. Dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh. I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus under the mistletoe.

Just a few of the opening lines from the Christmas Carols you are listening to this holiday season. Note the word "Carols" as my name means 'joy'. How appropriate. The most magical time of the year is upon us. I hope you are enjoying the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, wrapping the gifts, baking Christmas cookies and decorating the Christmas tree. Here's a vintage barn bedecked with a Christmas wreath. ENJOY!

A Weathered Barn Story

A while back I got to thinking about a silent movement taking place in America. In order to confirm my suspicion, I took a short drive to the outskirts of the tiny town of Portland, in north central Tennessee, about thirty miles north of Hendersonville. I turned my car down a narrow country road where fields of vegetables and hay are harvested every year. Below is the barn I was in search of taken back in 2016. It was still in its original condition, minus a plank here or there, sitting in the middle of a farm field bringing charm and beauty to the landscape around it.

Below is the same barn two years later as I photographed it a few weeks ago. Notice the distinct difference in the appearance of that beautiful, old weathered structure?

A barn wood trend has taken over the remodeling industry and especially in middle Tennessee. Barn wood doors, barn wood tables and more are all the rage. I thought perhaps a storm had come through partially destroying it. However, there's another barn right across the street from this one with whole sections missing. The barn wood trend has reached out and stripped these two old structures of their original form. I pray this trend doesn't take out all of our vintage barns dotting the landscape. They bring such charm to our surroundings. I love to drive down an old country road and look over to see an old weathered barn sitting in the middle of a field. Who doesn't love that. I wanted to share this story as I knew before I took that drive to capture new images of that old barn that I might find it in a different condition. Time changes everything, but only if we let it. ENJOY!

In the Bluegrass State: Kentucky Woman Series

The Kentucky Bluegrass area is like no other place to visit in the States. As you travel the back roads, along the designated Kentucky Scenic Byways, you pass famed horse farm after horse farm, and you soon come to realize just how beautiful this area really is. Horse barns are painted in reds and greens with most all of them beautifully adorned in various styles of cupolas.

On this particular drive on a beautiful Summer's afternoon, I happened upon this gorgeous scene along the byway. Vintage, stacked limestone fencing, a large pond with tall Cattails and a sweeping Weeping Willow tree decorated this property with this beautiful horse barn featuring multiple cuplolas. Stunning is all I could think of as I stood photographing this landscape.

As I meandered along the byway, I passed this beautiful scene of hay bales scattered all throughout this farm field just waiting to be scooped up and hoisted onto a long trailer for safekeeping elsewhere.

Driving around the Midway area all along the byway, I took in the beautiful Bluegrass horse farms. I stopped in my tracks, however, when I happened upon this black stallion grazing aimlessly in this clover covered field. He was such a gorgeous subject to photograph. Did you know it's not easy photographing horses because they constantly swish their tails back and forth.

Just for good measure, and knowing full well I had several images of foals laying around in the fields or sticking close to Mom, I wanted to add this image. This foal was sticking very close to its Mom and never ventured far from her as I stood capturing images. This obviously was taken on another trek to the area in early Spring when the foes are plentiful to photograph.

Farther along the byway, I passed this large black barn with a metal roof sitting off in the distance. Tobacco plants were growing high in the field and hail bails were resting off to the side of the farm road as I stopped to photograph this image. It was mid to late Summer so the tobacco fields were nearing ready to put up the crops. Did you know putting up tobacco is a hard, hard job and quite tedious to say the least? I remember when my family visited my great uncle's farm in Marion County, Kentucky, and watching as they completed the time intensive and quite labor intensive putting up of the tobacco.

On a side road, very near to Keeneland Race Track just outside of Lexington, I happened upon a field of dairy Goats grazing in the warm Summer sunshine. A cute brown and white one kept an eye on me as I stopped to capture images. Aren't they adorable?

As a Kentucky born woman, now living in Tennessee, I am reminded of my visits to Midway and Lexington as I browse my archives. The famed, Bluegrass horse farms with the gorgeous thoroughbreds and stallions, dot the landscape. The adorable foals as they run about the fields or lay nearby always staying in close proximity to their Mothers. The quaint cupolas that adorn the horse barns. The black wooden fences and the old stacked, limestone fences that surround the parameters of the many famed horse farms. And finally, the crisp green Kentucky Bluegrass that tops off all this gorgeousness with every twist and turn in the road. I must get back here soon. I hope you enjoyed my trek around the region as much as I did sharing it with you. ENJOY!

Red Barns of Sumner County

There are so many winding roads here in Sumner County where I live. Every now and then I take one because many of them criss cross Old Hickory Lake and I like to see if there are any wildlife viewing spots around. On this day I had taken a road that actually had quite a few farms on it. Here are a few barns I captured on that drive. I don't know if the three x's have any significance on this first barn.

Further down the road I discovered this old red barn with it's peeling paint. The owners even decorated it for the holidays with a wreath. I absolutely love that. Who doesn't love a red barn. I'm starting to notice there's a fair amount of red barns in this county. Wonder if there's anything to that. I hope your week is off to a good start. Mine will be very busy with end of year work related meetings. Back soon. ENJOY!

Cornucopia

CORNUCOPIA

Bright orange leaves fall softly to the ground
Pots filled with red and yellow mums dot the landscape

Candlelit pumpkins flicker aimlessly in the night

Crisp breezes send wicked shivers down our spine

Apple cider heaped with cinnamon warm our aching bones

Candy corn fills little buckets on All Hallowed's Eve

Black cats hidden in stealth creep out into the night

Witches dart through the sky casting black shadows across the moon 
Forgotten souls unearth their corpses from ghastly chambers

As Fall sets in, so does All Hallowed's Eve.

I gathered up a few words to help you in conjuring up the season and all its wonders. Halloween is fast approaching and Fall has arrived in all its glory. In some areas of the States, cold nights have taken hold giving way to snowy landscapes. Here in the South, Fall is gearing up for its last hooray. I truly love this season, but even more so the peak of it. ENJOY!

Barns of Kentucky

It is the perfect day to share some of the many beautiful barns I have photographed throughout the Bluegrass State of Kentucky. Kentucky has my heart, as it is my home state. I have wandered many a back road and scenic byway in Kentucky stopping along the side of the road or at times even pulled into the edge of a driveway to snap photos of a barn on my journeys. I hope you enjoy this look back as much as I enjoyed creating it. Off we go!

Historic Manchester Farms, Summer, Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Lexington, Kentucky

Barn, Horse Farm, Late Fall, Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Midway, Kentucky

Barn, Horse Farm, Fall, Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Midway, Kentucky

Vintage Barn Adorned with Rock City Logo, Maker's Mark Distillery, Summer, Loretto, Kentucky

 Barn for Curing Bourbon, Summer, Maker's Mark Distillery, Loretto, Kentucky

Tobacco Barn, Fall, Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Midway, Kentucky

Vintage Barn turned Antiques Shop, Fall, Historic Glendale, Kentucky

White Barn Adorned with Quilt Logo, Fall, Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Midway, Kentucky

Red Barn, Visitor Center, Yew Dell Gardens, Crestwood, Kentucky

Barn, Amish Farm, Summer, Scottsville, Kentucky

Vintage Barn Adorned with Rock City Logo, Summer, Bardstown, Kentucky

There you have it. Some of the barns I have photographed over the years while traveling the back roads and the scenic byways of the great state of Kentucky. I have to say I am very partial to the Bluegrass Region for obvious reasons. I especially love it in Fall, but Summer is nice too.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look back over the years at the beautiful barns throughout Kentucky. My favorite photo is the first one of Manchester Farms in Lexington taken some 15 years ago. At that time I used a Pentax K1000 manual camera with Fuji Velvia slide film. It was difficult learning 'to shoot the light' using that seemingly antiquated camera. Interestingly enough, that is the camera they still use in photography classes throughout colleges everywhere. I can see why. Many a roll of slide film was used to create that beautiful photo. I hope you will share with me your favorite image(s) on this journey of old historic and vintage barns. ENJOY!

Linking to Barn Collective

Barns of Tennessee

Oh, but for the beauty of those old, abandoned and vintage barns that we all love to photograph as we travel, off the beaten path, and drive, the scenic byways, throughout our countryside.

Visiting my archives, I encountered numerous images that I began to collect in a separate folder titled simply Barns. Before long I had assembled quite a collection of barn images from across quite a few states. Each time I opened the folder the barns seemed to scream, 'please put up a post and feature me." I finally surrendered and now what you have before you is a collection of images from the Volunteer State of Tennessee.

Are you ready? Here we go with a few of those beautiful icons that dot our landscape.

Historic Barn at a Homestead, Cade's Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Barn and Horse, Winter's Snowfall, Hendersonville, Tennessee

Old Barn, Summer, Leiper's Fork, Tennessee

Vintage Barn and Conveyor, Spring, Portland, Tennessee

Red Barn in Spring, Portland, Tennessee

Barn and Pond, Evin's Mill, Smithville, Tennessee

I hope you enjoyed my look back at some of the barns I have encountered in my travels across the state of Tennessee. I would love to know your favorite if you have one. I'll be back to post another collection of barn images I've captured across the beautiful state of Kentucky very soon. I hope your week is off to a wonderful start. ENJOY!

Linking to The Barn Collective

Vintage America

Lately, I have been posting my fair share of birds and waterfowl images. But last week I got to thinking about all of the wonderful places I have traveled over the past few years. There is rarely a place we travel daily or on a vacation that we don't find some historical artifact in some form or fashion.

Without the rustic, vintage, historical . . . without the rusted, aged, weathered . . . without these artifacts or historical places throughout America, my world would be far less interesting. On every occasion, no matter whether it is a day trip, a weekend or a longer journey, history surrounds us, and fortunately, I have embraced the vintage and historical factions in my travels. Throughout the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Michigan, Massachusetts and Virginia, I captured these images whether it be Spring, Summer, Winter or Fall. ENJOY!

Linking to Wednesday Around The World

Vintage Barn, Lebanon

A drive out to the countryside is always special when you happen upon one of these iconic 'Mail Pouch' barns as I did Saturday outside Lebanon, Tennessee. With the weather warm and a bit of sunshine before the clouds and rain moved in from the South, I decided a drive was in order. Lebanon is a small town just east of Nashville. I happened upon this barn as I was making my way back to the main road. These logo'd barns are numerous especially throughout Kentucky and Tennessee.

By the way, did you know this is a 'monitor' barn meaning the roof is raised in the center. I wasn't sure what style it was so I looked it up. There's quite a few styles of barns which I am sure we all realize in our travels.

I don't know about you, but I am eagerly awaiting the first sprouts of Spring. I envision Daffodils or "Daffys" as some folks call them, and Crocus and Dogwood blooms, and Tulips in bright orange and purple and pink. And even better, Easter is in a few weeks too. Are you getting your "bunny" on? ENJOY!

Linking to The Barn Collective and Good Fences

Barn, Bluegrass Scenic Byway

A little bit of nostalgia coming your way for today.

There are so many old dilapidated barns hanging out in the fields around Kentucky. Every now and then I have to stop and snap an image to share with you. I love old barns. What is it about old barns that draws us in? I don't know. But I know they do and I hope you enjoy this one. By the way, the snow has completed melted here in the Bluegrass State and what with 65 degree temps forecast for a day or two from now, it's starting to feel like Spring here. ENJOY!

Kentucky Farm

Such is the scene in and around the Midwest with beautiful barns such as this one situated away from the road. The farmer's corn, tobacco and hay in the foreground. It appears the tobacco is weathering well, but not so the corn. The corn should be three times the height you see it here. Fortunately, this farmer didn't plant a major crop of corn. Hopefully, his tobacco yield will sustain him into next year's growing season. ENJOY!

Barn Art!

As you drive to Harrison Crawford State Forest right off I-64 in southcentral Indiana, you'll find this Mail Pouch Barn sitting along the roadside. Also in the area is a great cave called Wyandotte Cave which isn't far from the forest itself. And, this is the same state forest where as you cross over the overpass at the entrance to the park, you will see the Green River below (I posted an image last week of canoers on the river). This was the second trip I'd made to the state forest in about two years and remembered the barn. The second time I drove by I turned around and stopped and took a few picks. It was such a beautiful day and the barn looked so gorgeous draped by all of the trees around it.

The second barn, See Rock City, actually sits about 500 yards from the entrance to Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky, up on a small hill. I took quite a few images of the distillery one Sunday afternoon on my first visit to the distillery. And, I couldn't resist photographing the barn too.

I've posted the barn with the quilt on it in the past, but still felt it was appropriate today. It sits along the Bluegrass Scenic Byway between Midway and Lexington in Kentucky.

If you visit Kentucky, Southern Indiana and/or Tennessee, you will notice we're not lacking with barns reading Mail Pouch and See Rock City or Lookout Mountain on many a barn throughout the area. I don't know if you have them in your area, but there is also a collection of barns featuring various quilt patterns on the side of the barn. I actually came across a website for the folks that paint those images. Who knew the Mail Pouch would go to the wayside and quilt images would come into vogue.

What is it about barns that draw us in? I believe it's because they're older and warn from the weather. That leaves them with an air of character and who isn't drawn to character. And it doesn't hurt to have art on the barn either.

It's raining again this week here. Mother Nature needs to turn off the spigot, please. ENJOY!

Barn, Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Lexington, Kentucky

What is it about barns? They're intriguing. I think because they come in all shapes and shapes, and all colors. Old warn barns are especially intriguing to me. This barn I photographed several years ago in the fall months when it was filled to the brim with tobacco (it's in a previous post). Now it sits with a wagon in the middle of it. This photograph was taken a few weeks ago during my trek along the Bluegrass Scenic Byway in Midway and Lexington, Kentucky. Any season, any weather, any where along the drive, you will see something to photograph. I think that's why I keep going back. It's really a nice drive and beautiful country. Enjoy!

Tobacco Barn, Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Lexington, Kentucky

Just a quick post today of some barn art I happened across while driving the Bluegrass Scenic Byway near Midway and Lexington, Kentucky a few weekends ago. I was out for an autumn drive and hadn't visited the horse farms around Lexington in quite some time so I decided to pay a visit. As I turned a sharp curve on my way from Lexington to Midway, I spotted this pretty cool looking barn art. Thought perhaps my followers would enjoy.

I Finally Chose A Header Photo!

I made a decision yesterday to add an image to my header. I hope you like it. I have two other images I thought of instead but chose this one. There's a certain calmness this photo brings to mind when I look at it. Pretty much the same feeling I got when I took the shot. Mid summer in Mustatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, central Indiana, no one around but little 'ol me. Quiet, peaceful, calming. I hope you get the same feeling. Don't know how long I'll leave it up but we'll see. I've posted it previously not too long ago and decided perhaps it was worthy of a prime spot on my blog. Enjoy!