Of days gone by

This story continues from the story under the previous photo .... As I mentioned under the previous image, I never go inside old barns or buildings, because I would feel so guilty walking on private land. Yesterday turned out to be very different. Perhaps I will add the beginning of the day again here and then say how lucky my daughter and I were, a little later in the day.

Yesterday, 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 who know me well 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.

Normally, I never walk from the road on to the surrounding land, even when there is not a "No Trespassing" sign. There was a very short, rough road leading to where a beautiful Great Horned Owl, spotted by my daughter, was sitting, and we walked a few steps closer to it. She had already spotted a different GHO along one of the backroads and later on, she spotted our only Snowy Owl of the day. I was reminded exactly why I never set foot on someone's land - though I had taken even more steps on this track with friends for the Christmas Bird Count. Guilt came flooding in when a truck with two young guys came down the gravel road and turned in at this very spot! Needless to say, I apologized and told them that normally, I never do this. They were so pleasant and told us, no problem at all and to go much closer (which I didn't). People like this really help make one's day, so Thank You to these two guys - hope you see the photo of "your" owl : )

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 barn, but two. This photo shows the old stables inside the second barn. A similar story in one way, thanks to someone else's kindness. There was one particular barn that I had been wanting to see for a while and after taking photos of it, we noticed another barn close by. We were standing on the road, taking photos from different angles, when a lady riding a horse came in our direction. She called out that we were very welcome to go on the property as it belonged to her - to go in and explore. She apologized that the barn was not in a better state and we told her that we love OLD barns for their character : ) I love it when we happen to come across a land owner, as almost all are friendly people. A Snowshoe Hare hopped across the snow-covered grass, too, just before we left.

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.