Sunday, November 25, 2012

Barn Love and a Book

I have a penchant for barns.  When we were property shopping we looked at a house that had a beautiful big round barn. We couldn't make it work... but I really wanted that barn. 
This barn is just down the road my old house. It stands on a stone foundation and is built into a small hill.
Sadly, it sits unused and has fallen into disrepair.


I found a book called The Enchanted Barn  available free here
It's a story about a young woman and her family that move into a barn in the early 1900's.  Here's an excerpt: 
They were coming now to a wide, old-fashioned barn of stone, with ample grassy stone-coped entrance rising like a stately carpeted stairway from the barn-yard. It was resting on the top of a green knoll, and a great elm-tree arched over it protectingly. A tiny stream purled below at one side, and the ground sloped gradually off at the other. Shirley was not noticing the place much except as it was a part of the landscape until she heard the conductor talking to the man across the aisle about it.
"Good barn!" he was saying reflectively. "Pity to have it standing idle so long; but they'll never rent it without a house, and they won't build. It belongs to the old man's estate, and can't be divided until the youngest boy's of age, four 'r five years yet. The house burned down two years ago. Some tramps set it afire. No, nobody was living in it at the time. The last renter didn't make the farm pay,—too fur from the railroad, I guess,—and there ain't anybody near enough round to use the barn since Halyer built his new barn," and he indicated a great red structure down the road on the other side. "Halyer useta use this,—rented it fer less'n nothing, but he got too lazy to come this fur, and so he sold off half his farm fer a dairy and built that there barn. So now I s'pose that barn'll stand idle and run to waste till that kid comes of age and there's a boom up this way and it's sold. Pity about it, though; it's a good barn. Wisht I had it up to my place; I could fill it."

What have you been reading lately? 



4 comments:

  1. What a wonderful excerpt. Thank you. I'm reading Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination -- to update my lectures. However, tomorrow evening is book club at the library and we'll discuss Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, which is set in the 1930s (a period I love). It is an intriguing story about friendship, love, responsibility, and identity.

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  2. Karen ~ Love that barn. I know exactly where that barn is and wonder about it often. I'm not reading anything at the moment. Trying to get Britt settled and attempting to put up my Christmas decorations ~ Have a great week ;-)

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  3. Oh, your new banner pic...that was taken a long time ago! You're right, it makes me smile. And now it is you with the chickens in your yard. Things really do go 'round-and-'round.

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  4. You blog is so sweet...I Love it!!! i found you by accident but I'm glad that I did!!!! I'm reading loads of different books at the moment...I'm re-reading The Man in the Iron Mask. I'd love for us to follow each other...I'm following you now..will you stop by my blog and follow back if you like it!?
    Much Love
    Chari T (deep fried stilettos)xoxo

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