In search of charm . . .

As most of you know by now, I live on the gulf coast and although Texas is cattle country I don't run into many barns in my daily travels. Sailboats, fisherman, sand and sea, but not many barns. You know what that means (she says with a sheepish grin), road trip!

The weekend rolled around and my hubby agreed to be my chauffeur partner in crime. We left around 10:30 and were gone for eight hours. Yes, we had ourselves a little adventure.
 

He suggested that we drive to Brenham as he thought that might be a better place to find what I was looking for. That's a two hour tour, each way, but that's okay, I'm always up for a drive. We just flew by the seat of our pants, as we usually do, eventually finding ourselves driving down a few gravel roads for what seemed like forever.

But I knew we were getting closer when we started seeing this . . .

And then around a couple of bends and up a hill or two, there it was . . . what I had been looking for. And it was beautiful, but I have never seen so many grasshoppers in one place in my life. I got out of the car, of course, and as I walked they just started flying everywhere with some even landing IN the car. I don't say eww much when it comes to critters, but EWWWW, I'm really not a fan.

And then around a few more corners, I found my barn! An old barn, full of that lovely barn charm.

And as I was looking through these photos I was thinking about our fascination with barns, but mostly with old barns. I was wondering why are we so enchanted by something that is falling apart, peeling, missing its stair parts and sometimes no longer able to inhabit the very animals for which it was built. I mean we live in a society that wants the newest up to date technology, cars, houses, (cameras) and most perplexing is that we live in a society where people are obsessed with aging. Or should I say, preventing the aging process. And to be fair, this is something that has been going on for many, many generations through time, but it seems to be growing and with a sense of urgency.

For some reason, when we look at old barns like this, we are able to see beyond the outer layer. We also see the beauty in its history, the missing parts and yes even in its brokenness. Because it's simply in all of this that we can imagine all of the wonderful stories, adventures, and of the rich wisdom it could tell  . . . if only barns could talk.

So I'm wondering why, in our pursuit for youthfulness, have we forgotten to look beyond not only our own outer layers, but that of others. We too have beauty in our history and our run down and missing parts, and need to get back to embracing that charm that age can bring, because it's in our brokenness that we have so much to share with others.

Today, my challenge to you while seeking those barn photos, is to also seek the charm in yourself and others. Peel back those layers and share what you find with us in our Flickr group.

Our little adventure didn't stop with the finding of the barn. Join me today on my personal blog, here at  Picking Poppies, as I found some more charm at Chappell Hill Lavender Farm.

Happy Tuesday!