OLD ABANDONED HOUSES

 There's just something about them that draws me. Maybe it's how lonely and forlorn they appear. Some standing in what are now pastures for cattle. Windows long gone, roofs caving in and doors hanging open on rusted hinges.
 
I wonder what the inside looks like? Is there a sink in the kitchen or was water hauled from a well and a dishpan used for washing dishes and people alike. Is there an old rusty bed frame, springs broken and falling apart? Is the wood cook stove still inside?

What might there be tucked into the dusty corners, of the family who once lived here?  A button? A little toy car? The leg of a broken doll? Has the floor rotted away and grass growing where the mother once stood to wash the family's clothes?
Do mouse families now enjoy the shelter?

 I imagine the children playing inside in the cold winter months, and outside running in the soft grass in spring and summer. I see the  father carrying buckets of warm milk to the house and tending the animals, and the mother at the clothesline with chickens wandering close by, scratching for breakfast.

I wonder how many children there were.  I imagine each one, the clothes they wore, the color of their hair and their personality too. A little red haired boy with a mischievousous smile, I see them walking miles across the fields and through the woods to go to school, book tucked under an arm and a sandwich in the other for lunch. No Twinkies, no candy, or cookies, just wholesome homemade bread and cheese sandwich and it was enjoyed. Hunger is the best appetizer. A young girl who likes to read and is mama's helper and maybe a baby who is just learning to walk.
the family dog lays sprawled under the apple tree while a batch of kittens plays with a patch of dandelions.

I don't know why I am so drawn to old abandoned houses. Just something in me I guess. It's only the very old ones, bare boards, shingle roofs caving in and rickety porches.
I do have a huge imagination and am a curious person. I suppose that's a lot of it.

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Spring is trying very hard to shove old man winter out of the way at my place. My tulips are up about 6 inches with a patch of snow under them, but the sun is out today and my heart sings.

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