What is that we love about old barns? Is it the rusty old tin on the roof? Is the texture of weathered wood? Is it the skeletonized framework? I don’t really know why but I love old barns.
I have taken several pictures of this one and processed several versions but it just feels right in black and white.
Image was taken on Muddlety Creek Road in Nicholas County West Virginia
Remember that trip to the lake?
Remember the innocence of our summer vacations? We spent warm days playing in the cool water. Remember the coins? They were not real money. They were aluminum disks leftover from a project but to us they were real pirate silver lost in a storm and found by two boys. We take turns tossing them in the water and then diving into the deep. I remember how the water got cooler as we dove deeply into murky depths. The real treasure we found was the adventures and the memories of Summer on the lake.
This image was taken at the Salmon Run portion of Summersville Lake in Nicholas County West Virginia.
As a youth I spent a large piece of my life on and around Summerville Lake.
Wikipedia has all the statistics (click here) and there’s a funny story about how the government almost named it Gad Dam Lake after the ghost town on the bottom. (Read about Gad) . For me, the lake was a place to escape. There were boats that belonged to friends and eventually my dad got his own boat. Summers were spent fishing and swimming and trying to impress the ladies without falling overboard.
There are stories of catfish in the lake large enough to swallow you whole! Every fisherman in Summerville has a story about how they were almost the one who landed a monster. Some will even have broken poles and fish hooks that have been pulled straight as evidence.
Scuba diving is allowed on the lake however I was never certified.
I have swam from one side of the lake to the other. The lake is three hundred and twenty seven feet deep deep ( just under 100 meters). Young boys would see who could stay underwater for the longest time. This was a game that I was very good at winning. Now as an adult, a person has a fair amount of freedom, but if I could choose I’d be a kid on the lake for at least one last endless summer.
I’m all out of deep thoughts today. Sometimes you just need to sit down and calmly recharge. It’s okay. Even Kal-El ( aka Superman) needed a day off to just go be Clark Kent. However, I’ll take a quiet spot on the lake over a frozen fortress any day.
This fishing peer on Summerville Lake in West Virginia is one of my many fortresses of solitude. It’s not that I’m really alone there, it’s actually a popular place. But it’s also a place where I feel free enough to put away the person who the world sees. I can tuck my cape into my shirt, slide on my glasses and pretend to be normal for a little while.
I had an opportunity to venture out beyond my normal routine today. As I walked along the trail at Salmon Run I found this natural threshold. There was a homestead close by at one time but the mountains are quick to reclaim anything that isn’t maintained. Perhaps the threshold here is a warning. “Beyond this point you must leave the outside world behind”. As I walked on a little further the forest began to strip away the domesticated part of my spirit. My feral nature returned. I could smell the wood and stone. I could hear the scampering of small feet just out of sight. The birds are chirping but something caught my attention. There was a hole in the noise. If one stays very still and listens the forest will tell you what is happening around you. As I tracked the silence a jogger came down the path. Once he and his dog passed the noise came back.
It was good to get out of the house even if only for a few minutes. Today was a good day.
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