onlyontuesday
  • Blog
  • About
  • Quotes
  • Nature
  • Destinations
  • Subscribe

Pondering on Old sheds

1/17/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
Every old shed has a story … a unique story. Someone built it; someone lived and worked within its walls. Someone sheltered beneath that now-rust-covered roof.
Picture
If you listen carefully you might hear the drone of the shears and the banter of the shearers as they work through the heat of the day … or the voices of children playing amongst the scattered wool when the men are long gone and the shadows lengthen.
 
Or maybe it's the hammer on the anvil, the sound of saw-teeth ripping through timber or the lowing of cows coming home for milking. Perhaps you’ll hear a mother calling her family for the evening meal.
 
Sheds have seen it all, the good times and the lean ones too. They’ve heard words of despair in times of drought, been a shelter for a farmer when, head in hands, he felt like giving up … stood solid through it all.
 
Been there when a new day dawned.
 
Now they lie abandoned.  But for me there’s beauty in peeling paint and rusting iron. Weathering has brought its own loveliness  … mellow and inviting … a sense of mystery as I imagine their story.  Someone said that age is a work of art and that’s just what old sheds are for me.

 
They stand as a reminder of the past … monuments to those courageous and determined souls who worked the land providing  a life for their families and prosperity for this country.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
The first shed (image) on this blog was once a thriving shearing shed which had fallen into disrepair. It has now been rebuilt from the original materials and given a new chapter of its life (the image above).

It reminds me of Robert De Niro in The Intern. He's a 70 year old retiree who takes on the role of senior intern to Anne Hathaway who runs an online fashion house. It's a delightful story of a man who gets to share the wisdom, knowledge and experience of a lifetime, in a whole new unexpected chapter of his life. He becomes an asset to the company and eventually a good friend and right hand man to his young female boss. He brings insight, graciousness and patience to a frenetic workplace and 'surprisingly' the young workforce discovers that age has a great deal to offer. 

That's the beauty of age, you have the opportunity to invest the knowledge and skills learnt along the way through life to inspire and encourage others. Last week I had the thrill of helping my granddaughter establish a veggie garden. I was able to share what I've learnt from a lifetime of gardening experience and lots of trial and error. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
If ageing is a work of art, then each of us is being sculptured by the experiences of life. More often than not it's the times of 'drought' or 'flood' that stretch us to be more than we thought possible.

But the universal truth is that we are all ageing and our stories are shaping us ... the decisions we make, our reactions and responses, our thoughts and the motivations of our heart. Our stories are unique and so are the circumstances that make us who we are becoming.

I hope that the lines and wrinkles, the sags and fading are just the 'peeling paint' and 'rusting roof' of life's weathering and that the real beauty God is developing in my life is a more gentle, kind, grateful, generous and compassionate soul.
Picture
Picture
Picture
This shed looks like it might have a new chapter of its life. I wonder what that will be?
1 Comment
Peter Stanton
1/16/2017 09:04:41 pm

In world overrun by "the new", it's great to pause and consider the beauty of the old, the rusted, the bent over...the once useful which now brings enjoyment to the eyes and the heart...

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Glenyss Barnham
    ​I'm a mother and grandmother who loves  discovering beauty in unexpected places.

    Archives

    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly