Friday, January 18, 2008

Owl Song


When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl:
Tu-whit! Tu-who! -a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marion’s nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit! Tu-who! -a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

from Love's Labours Lost by William Shakespeare

After leaving Hollow Farm, I went a mile up the road to Beardsley Farm. The size of this farmstead makes clear it was once the largest dairy farm in the hollow, but it's been a long time since the breath of a cow steamed the air in the barnyard. The barns are in decay and all is quiet. Far to the right, at the foot of the distant mountain, are the intact remains of Straight Farm. As you can see above, the snow was still falling. There would be a few more hours of good shooting, but by this time I was getting hungry for breakfast and morning coffee.

4 comments:

virtual nexus said...

Ted, we were driving home through flooded England yesterday, and I would have loved to have stopped and photographed the farms and barns we passed. The light as well as the fields was saturated!

I have really enjoyed seeing these stunning shots. I can find it tricky balancing the sky and land area with a subject like this.

Emery Roth said...

Thanks for the visit and the comment. Yes, I also find handling sky to be tricky. Too often the sky is not especially photogenic and I try to leave it out. Other times it is just too bright. Looking back over what I've put on this blog, the vast majority have no sky or minimal sky. It was thinking about this issue that prompted my comments in the June 23rd posting. Thanks again for your encouraging comments.

Astrid Witte said...

Hello, thanks for your comments! I like a lot of your pictures too, especially the ones of the pool with the reflections. And the ones at the grave yard.

Emery Roth said...

Thanks for your visit and your thoughts.