Do you ever feel like the “you” people see is not as shiny and pretty as you would like? Whether it’s from the toll of years of life or you were up with your sick baby in the night or bad news is wearing you down, you may be feeling ragged.
Last week I spent a day in an old mining town that makes no apologies for losing the patina of newness. Peeling paint, broken fences, dusty old things are what you find here. In fact, it’s why people come to visit.
You’ll see signs bragging of the old, the antique.
Even the buildings that are kept up, like the Julian Hotel, have a rustic look. The hotel, built in 1897, boasts a golden front . . .
but around back the steps show their age.
If a crew came in with a truckload of paint and gardening tools and fixed up the tiny town, the charm would disappear. Julian is fascinating because the old is okay, the rough surfaces are the norm. The town puts on no airs. It is simply itself.
If you’re feeling a bit like the old fence, take heart. Your experiences, your problems and worries that have etched wrinkles on your face or left circles under the eyes — these are what make you charming. They are what make you real.
Wishing you a week of being comfortable simply being yourself!
Linking up with Fridays Fences, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesdays and Communal Global.
Photos are processed with Kim Klassen’s texture minus 43.
18 Comments
Some really nice shots, captures the age of the mining town perfectly. Seen from Kent Weakly Sweet Shot Tuesday.
Wonderful collection of photos. There’s a certain charm that can be found in places like this.
Sweet words and some lovely images 🙂
This is exactly the type of place I would like to visit – photographer’s heaven! Your shots are terrific.
great shots I love old towns ….
Beautiful!
Love this! My grandmother loved antiques. I want to ad more to my apartment, but with space limited I am afraid antiques will easily make clutter!
Wonderful! I’m partial to the aged white fence in the second photo because of your great POV and the detail of the flaking paint. These are such great images.
so many photo ops in this place!
Thanks for the encouragement on accepting inevitable aging. I enjoyed being showed around this fascinating old place.
Love that picket fence. Very nice.
I echo your sentiments here…I wrote about something similar months ago about barns. We don’t hesitate to find the charm in an old run down barn, yet we forget to see that same charm in ourselves and others. You definitely captured some of that charm here.
I really enjoyed these photos…always love old stuff.
Very wise words attached to some colorful pictures. I enjoyed this post very much.
Love the fence and all the rest of the shots!
I enjoyed the story very much. A lovely read.
What a lovely serie of photo’s. definitely antiques . A bit very old for my taste. :))
Wonderful old fences, and beautiful place! I love all that rustic charm!
Great old..rustic n vintage charm!