Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: back of barn

Why is it that so often when I go out for a long drive, the weather forecast is wrong?! Far too many of my photos have uninteresting, cloudless, washed-out skies. I was so happy to see blue sky behind this bright red barn. This photo shows the back of the barn and I guess this must be the most protected end, as the rest of the barn is far more weathered and pale. On 30 October 2017, I spent the day driving mostly roads that I had been along before (a round trip of 230 km). I still found a few roads so confusing! My destination was partly to check on two old, red barns, including the one in this photo. Having been there once before, with my daughter in January 2015, I knew that there were several other old barns and homesteads en route. This day was definitely a barn day, not a bird or wildlife day. The other, much larger barn was one that I had been looking forward to finding and seeing for the first time, which I finally did in January 2015. I would love to have been able to get photos from both sides of it, but it was in a farmer's field that was, of course, private property. The second old barn that I saw in this area (seen in this photo, is in far worse condition, but I love it. It was funny, because I was standing in the road and had already taken a handful of photos of this crumbling, weathered structure, when I noticed someone walking towards me in the distance. Talk about deja vu! I started walking towards her and it turned out that she lived at the farm just down the road, but had previously lived in the house next to this decaying barn, and it was her property. She told me to wander wherever I wished, take as many photos as I wanted. I laughed and said that in January 2015, when my daughter and I had been standing right there in the road, a lady came by on her horse and told us the very same story - it must have been the same person! Felt so good! It felt great to be able to photograph the barn from all sides and I was able to walk through the open end on the right side of the photo. Another place I stopped at on this day was a farmyard full of old barns, sheds and vehicles. I pulled over and got out to take a quick shot of an old, blue truck from across the road. A person happened to just appear, walking across his farmyard, so I called out to him and we had a delightful chat. I think he was very amused at my passion for old things and told me to walk around and take whatever photos I wanted. Which I did, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I told him what an amazing place he had, full of interesting things - some of which are seen in the next photo. I got the impression that he saw things very differently - lots of old things that needed fixing or tidying up : ) On the way home, I called in at the Saskatoon Farm to see if the restaurant was still open, but it had just closed (3:30 pm). I realized I had been enjoying myself so much that I had totally forgotten to eat anything all day. Managed to get a much-needed cup of coffee, though, and I did buy a box of frozen, uncooked Saskatoon Berry and White Chocolate scones. I bought some of these last time I was there and they are SO good, piping hot, straight out of the oven.

Nine days ago, 21 January 2015, my daughter and I spent the day together, out in nature. I know I needed to get out myself and the fact that my daughter asked if we could do that, told me that she, too, desperately needed to get a break from all the sadness and reminders of her big sister/my older daughter for a few hours. Friends have been telling me how important it is to be outdoors with my camera, especially at a time like this, and I know they are right. Much as it would have been great to have gone looking for Snowy Owls, I just didn't feel up to that long of a drive. Instead, I drove to a much more familiar, closer area, SE of the city. The day was a mix of sun and cloudiness, and though the sun was hidden by clouds or in the wrong position for some of our shots, we did OK. As for birds, we saw a couple of Great Horned Owls, a very distant Snowy Owl, a raptor of some kind (either a Prairie Falcon or a Gyrfalcon), several Gray Partridge and what I think must have been Horned Larks. The rest of the day, my daughter and I drove mostly roads that we had driven before, except for one short stretch where we found these two old, red barns. This day was as much a barn day as a bird day, Normally, I never walk from the road on to the surrounding land, even when there is no "No Trespassing" sign, so we were standing on the road, photographing this second barn. While we were there, a lady on horseback came towards us along the road, calling out that it was her property, so to go over and explore. A similar story to the Great Horned Owl story under one of my recent images, thanks to someone's kindness. We smiled when she apologized that the barn wasn't in better condition - as we told her, we like barns to be old and weathered, of course! I think being out with our cameras, driving the backroads, was therapeutic - certainly for me as I could enjoy my daughter's company, and hopefully for her, too.

Three days ago, 21 January 2015, my daughter and I spent the day together, out in nature. I know I needed to get out myself and the fact that my daughter asked if we could do that, told me that she, too, desperately needed to get a break from all the sadness and reminders of her big sister/my older daughter for a few hours. Friends have been telling me how important it is to be outdoors with my camera, especially at a time like this, and I know they are right. Much as it would have been great to have gone looking for Snowy Owls, I just didn't feel up to that long of a drive. Instead, I drove to a much more familiar, closer area, SE of the city. The day was a mix of sun and cloudiness, and though the sun was in the wrong position for some of our shots, we did OK. As for birds, we saw a couple of Great Horned Owls, a very distant Snowy Owl, a raptor of some kind (either a Prairie Falcon or a Gyrfalcon), several Gray Partridge and what I think were Horned Larks. The rest of the day, my daughter and I drove mostly roads that we had driven before, except for one short stretch where we found not just one beautiful, old, red barn, but two. This photo was taken at the second barn. This day was as much a barn day as a bird day, as there was one particular barn that I really wanted to see for the first time. We were lucky that this second barn was just down the road. Normally, I never walk from the road on to the surrounding land, even when there is no "No Trespassing" sign, so we were standing on the road, photographing this second barn. While we were there, a lady on horseback came towards us along the road, calling out that it was her property, so to go over and explore. A similar story to the Great Horned Owl story under one of yesterday's images, thanks to someone's kindness. We smiled when she apologized that the barn wasn't in better condition - as we told her, we like barns to be old and weathered, of course! I think being out with our cameras, driving the backroads, was therapeutic - certainly for me as I could enjoy my daughter's company, and hopefully for her, too.