catch some good luck

 

It's a common practice to hang horseshoes on a barn to ward off evil and bring good luck.  The owner of this shed in Mason is of the school that believes hanging a horseshoe in an upward or U position holds in all the luck and the powers it brings.  Proponents of the downward position believe it allows the good luck and protective powers to shower upon you and the surrounding home.  The doubly superstitious might hang horseshoes both ways!  Unless the intention is "shabby chic," eight horseshoes haven't brought this shed the good luck of fresh paint or new tin for the roof.  And was it good luck for those two horses that lost their shoes?

 

Mason, Texas

1.23.2016

 



 barn abandoned

 



In these parts, abandoned buildings outnumber those that are occupied.  This forlorn barn has more character then its homestead house.  The barn ages and oxides with a patina; the house is just falling down.  Even when it was built decades ago, new materials were not used.  Faint ghost lettering is still visible of the tin's original commercial use.  I am not alone in my fondness for old buildings-- joining other photographers who try to capture the past in what the Huffington Post calls a ubiquitous trend of "ruin porn."

The old barn stands

Abandoned, rustic,

Rusting, slowly yielding

To the wind and rain.

Once home to cows or sheep,

Chickens, pigs, horses

Rafters resounded with

Moos, baas, oinks, and whineys.

Now home to crows, mice, rats

Wayfare wildlife, feral cats.

The wind howls through

Open doors, broken windows.

Every year robs

More siding

From tottering walls.

The artist pauses to capture

The testament to the past

With camera's click

Or painter's brush

Before the old grey barn finally tumbles

In splinters, done in by storm

Or wrecking crew

Unwilling to tolerate

Its drunken swaying in the wind.

Old and tired,

The ancient barn

Sighs adieu.

 

Barn Abandoned by Erin Yorke

 

County Road 5100 and Farm to Market Road 1264

Lubbock County, Texas