There’s a barn on the Rocky Hill Road property, a big 50×54 red-and-white barn, in very good condition, with a new metal roof. It speaks of possibilities: sheep, goats, maybe two horses, in the long run — who knows? Like something waiting to be used, waiting to be filled. A good place for an old tractor to call home.

The painter Wolf Kahn has created hundreds of images of barns throughout his career. They’ve become one of his signature subjects. Barns glimpsed through woods, barns shimmering with color at twilight.

It’s Spring now, and driving back from Illinois last night, after a day of teaching at the university, I was struck by the barns sitting on hillsides, on the tops of hills in Owen County. Each has its own character, its own history. Some are neglected, aging, slowly falling back down to earth, while others stand so strong and straight and ready.

It’s Spring, and a time of rebirth, full of possibilities.