domestic life - Living

White Picket Fence

June 2, 2004 - By 

P5310001 Look at that — my very own white picket fence! It’s taken a couple of weeks, and when the guys first came to build it, somehow we’d agreed on a four-foot fence (to match last year’s big investment, the board fence on the south side of the yard). When they put the posts in I nearly had a heart attack — at four feet, it was going to look like Fortress Charlotte. They were nice enough to cut the posts down some, and build the three-foot fence I’d envisioned. So I spent my Memoiral Day weekend painting the fence — just like Tom Sawyer, with my paintbrush. It wasn’t a bad chore, but as a man walking past my house yesterday said — “There’s a good, tedious job.” By that point I was on the last section, and, I must admit, I was getting kind of bored.

But there’s something to be said about tedious physical work. I’ve been having a hard time figuring out the next part of my memoir, and two days of sitting on a milk crate painting pickets gives a girl a lot of time to think about things. I’m not sure I have much more sense of the structure of this section, but it did give me time to think of some other scenes I want to add, and to sketch them out in my head.

And so, back to the real work, as my old prof Gary Snyder would say …

I'm a writer and editor based in Livingston, Montana. I moved to Livingston from the San Francisco Bay area in 2002 in search of affordable housing and a small community with a vibrant arts community. I found both. LivingSmall details my experience buying and renovating a house, building a garden, becoming a part of this community. It also chronicles my efforts to rebuild my life after the sudden death of my younger brother, and closest companion, Patrick in a car wreck.

8 Comments on “White Picket Fence”

  1. I was starting to think you weren’t writing anymore. It’s nice to see you back and what a lovely job on the fence. I got a backyard in need of one of those, and that helps give me an idea of what it would look like.

  2. Actually the problem is that I am writing, but more manuscript than blog. That and it rained for two weeks, which didn’t leave room for much garden news …

  3. Well, it’s nice to see you back. I missed your writing. And even though I’ve never met you, I missed you too. Weird, huh? 🙂

  4. Nice fence! Having a fence of the right size really makes a house look set-off from the road — and therefore more like a home. One of the things I long to do for our house is to put a split-rail fence in front, then plant roses. . . . and I also agree that tedious, non-mental, non-physical work like painting is good for the mental process (and the soul?).

  5. Sometimes I think a job in a factory would be just the thing for me. . .lacking that, maybe I will just pull a lot of weeds this summer.

  6. It looks lovely, CHarloote – great paint job! I’m thinking a three board horse fence if we end up fencing in our proerty – painted white of course 🙂

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