We have a white picket fence at the front of our house.
Wikipedia defines a picket fence as: a variety of fence that has been used mostly for domestic boundaries. Symbolically: a picket fence, ideally white, is seen by some as a symbol of the ideal middle-class suburban life…

Hmmm… funny how a fence can define the “ideal” life. But I don’t see our fence like that at all. In fact I can’t wait for it to come down! We get too used to fencing ourselves in or out and dividing spaces to remind us of who owns what.
I remember having a big front lawn growing up – well it was big to me at the time! We would play often on the front lawn, it had no fence and none of our neighbours had fences either… we were free to roam and we often spent time at other people’s houses.
When I look at the fence, it reminds me of limitations, boundaries, blocking oneself into a narrow minded mentality. I also see colonisation.
It’s going to be a great day when that fence does actually come down because by then our native trees will have taken over the white picket fence and the native rimu timber that is hiding under that white paint will be able to come out in all it’s glory.
Arohanui,
Jo x