Good Fences

When I lived in Sacramento, I was directed to an article by the New Yorker's Calvin Trillin, in which he discussed the ubiquitous fences that squared off every home site into mini townships and ranges. Being a New Englander, I was well aware of the value of fences in terms of neighborliness, having of course read "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost, and its aphoristic line, "Good fences make good neighbors."

My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.

Well, we now have a few fences defining 8 Tudor Road. The latest is a cool little farm fence designed by Roze and crafted by Luke, our 18-year-old aspiring photographer. It really is a triumph of recycling and hard work. Luke took the knotty pine paneling that once graced the Den (which exists no more per se) and ripped the panels down to 3" wide. He - along with girlfriend Emma and friend Jack -- then sanded and stained the boards to make stringers. The posts were made from a bunk bed used by daughters Kate and Sara 20 years ago. Thank God we moved that thing around 6 or 7 times!

This new fence stands 2 feet high, high enough to accomplish its main goal - keep Perdie out of the new flower beds.

The second-newest fence is a little deal Roze picked up at the local Made-In-China outlet. 1-foot high pickets keep Ms. Perdie out of the campanulas and nasturtiums.

The third-newest fence is the cedar pickets than now enclose the yard.

It joins a cedar plank fence the neighbors put up on the east side last year,

and a stockade fence that's marked the back end of the property for more than 15 years now.

Seems like a whole lotta fences goin on. So we must be very good neighbors, by Mr. Frost's neighbor's reckoning. I've come to like them. The define and contextualize space. Especially for the dog.

And they can be quite beautiful, in the proper context.