WINTER SOLSTICE SPIRIT

Credit: knowth.com

The following YouTube video was produced by tubelookjohn. The video was shot at the prehistoric New Grange structure is Ireland. His accompanying beautiful music captures the sense of spirit and mystery of our Winter Solstice.

LET THE GOOD TIMES "ROLLS"

MY SCHOENHUT TOY PIANO

My toy antique Schoenhut upright piano no longer plays tunes. Yet its design -- an all wooden upright case with painted wooden white and black keys reminds me of the old full-sized player piano in my great uncle's Ohio farmhouse. When I was young, it was a treat for me to sit on his piano bench while the piano rolls magically moved the keyboard keys.  Out of the guts of this piano would come loud, lively music. If I was lucky, I was allowed to listen to the piano rolls every-time I made a visit.

WEATHERED HOMESTEAD, CHRISTINA'S WORLD, AND MOZART

WEATHERED FARM HOMESTEAD, ROCKCASTLE COUNTY, KENTUCKY

I spotted this farm homestead from a narrow country road that threaded itself through a lush sparsely populated countryside.  The homestead was perched on a grassy knoll with an old house that had seen better days. A few outbuildings  appeared in better shape than the house. An  exception was a small sagging outbuilding, a log structure, that might have been a corn crib at one time. It was the only log structure on the acreage. A fine weathered barn with a small wing attachment along with an equipment shed appeared vacant, as did all the buildings.A small family cemetery was tucked away in a wooded area. The property as a whole seemed adrift in a distant memory. A lonely memory.

The vacant farm before me reminded me of a particular painting, Christina's World, by artist Andrew Wyeth. It is a sensitive painting of a woman named Christina who is shown crawling up a grassy hill toward a weathered old house. It characterizes a lonely feeling as does the appearance of my above  Rockcastle homestead.  


As you can see in the following Wyeth painting it also has a desolate feeling as does my Rockcastle County photo -- the difference being  my photo shows no human life while Wyeth's has Christina. 

Christina's World a painting by artist Andrew Wyeth, 1948
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Wikipedia

Surely, you have seen old homesteads sitting in this solitary emptiness. The air thick with spirit. 

I thought I should leave on an upbeat note after all this lonely talk. Here is a  touch of Mozart -- a rather  "pumped-up" classic. I think you'll enjoy the two minutes and fifty-two seconds of his great music. 

MUSIC, BARN, ROCKCASTLE COUNTY --Country Backroads

Last winter I passed this barn on HWY 25 in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. The small white sign on the left hand side of the barn reads:

BLACK BARN

LIVE MUSIC

SAT. 7 PM

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About Country Backroad Posts --
I pass so many cultural remnants along my travels of backroads that I thought I would post the bits and pieces as stand alone posts -- for you to feel my southern cultural landscape and sometimes places beyond.