Marie at 1 Write Way

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #258: Fences

This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is hosted by Dawn of The Day After. Dawn invites us to share our photos of fences. She shares a lovely variety of fences in her post so please pay her a visit.

I hesitated to join in this week’s challenge because I don’t have a lot of photos with fences in them. I’m almost always trying to keep fences out of my photos. That will change. After seeing what others are contributing to the challenge, I’ve realized that I need to look at fences more closely.

That said, generally I don’t like fences, especially ones like this:

No Trespassing sign affixed to fence gate.

The gate closes off private land from Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park. Maybe I shouldn’t complain. The park was developed in cooperation with the city, the water management district, and the property owner (Phipps) and has over 600 acres for recreation. I guess I can’t begrudge the Phipps family for keeping part of their land. 

This next photo sparks some good memories for me. Taken during one of our trips back to San Francisco, we had walked up Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park. The walk was one that we often took when we lived in San Francisco back in the late 80s. I love how the fence was built twining fallen branches around posts.

“Natural” fence at Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park (San Francisco).

Chain-linked fences are popular in my neighborhood. They’re easy to put up, inexpensive, but pretty boring except when a young Red-Shouldered Hawk decides to take a break on one. 

Young Red-Shouldered Hawk perched on a chain-linked fence.

Some fences are built to let people know where they can and cannot walk. The photo below shows one of our favorite resting places at another park in Tallahassee. Beyond the fence is a lake and where’s a lake (or any body of water), there’s likely to be alligators. Best to stay on the right side of the fence.

My husband sitting at one of our favorite resting places at a park in Tallahassee. The fence serves to keep people away from the alligators that might be hanging out in the lake.

I do like this wrought-iron fence, another good place for a hawk to perch. The fence has seen better days, but it still serves a purpose, for the hawk anyway. 

Yet another hawk perched on a fence, this one a wrought-iron fence that has seen better days.

Finally, our fence. Starting late last year, we had a string of contractors tearing down and building up our property on the west side of our house. We had 15 trees taken down, hardscaping for a patio and walkway put down, a privacy fence with a barn-like gate put up, and a bunch of plants put in. 

The metal contraption is for our gate, which slides like a barn door. Seems like a bit of overkill but we’re used to it now.
View from our little side porch off the garage.
Our fence is 8 feet tall, our neighbor’s roof just visible. Everyone, including our neighbors, is happy with this fence.
A view toward the garden.

By the way, my husband built that green bench in the foreground. It’s long and wide enough for him to lie down and do his exercises.

Thanks to Dawn for joining as host this week. Please be sure to link your responses to her fun post here. If you choose to join in, remember to use the Lens-Artists Tag so your post appears in the WP reader.

Ciao for now.

Marie A Bailey

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59 responses to “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #258: Fences”

  7. Your backyard is lovely, and I agree with the above about a little oasis.

    I like that natural wood fence–very cool. When we walked around in Connecticut once, we noticed all the–maybe not fences, but stone walls there. I guess they’re throughout New England, the remnants of farmers clearing the land. I liked how the stones fit together.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Love seeing your yard! So pretty what you’ve done! Now I will see fences differently. The one thing I like about our wrought iron fence (part is that and part is solid) is the shadows the sun makes with it.

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  11. It looks like your eight-foot fence gives your backyard a lot of privacy. It’s great that your neighbors are happy with it too (I’m reminded of the Robert Frost poem, Mending Wall, and the line, “Good fences make good neighbors”). As much as we may like those who live on either side of us, we all like to have our own private spaces.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, Janis. We gave our neighbors the “pretty” side of the fence. It’s more aesthetically pleasing from the road so even our neighbors across our street love it :-) We do have good neighbors but it’s nice to have a break from always being in view of each other ;-)

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  12. Your fences are lovely but of course I’m enamored with your hawks Marie! And you did a wonderful job adding the privacy fence for your outdoor space! Thanks so much for joining the fun this week.

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  16. For someone hesitant to join, you nailed it Marie. I love the phot of your husband near lake. Such a secluded spot, I can see why you enjoy a rest there. Ever see any of those alligators? Seems to me that fence would keep them away. Like the others, how great to see the hawks. And what a lovely home, cozy and welcoming. I love the shelf, or I guess it is a percent flower box on the fence.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you so much! I think only once we saw an alligator at that lake and it was pretty far off in the water. But we’ve seen A LOT of alligators since we moved here 30+ years ago. They come with the territory ;-) And, yes, those are planters that my husband fitted onto the fence. We are definitely having fun seeing our garden grow and adding to it over time. Thanks for coming by!

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  17. A peaceful and pretty yard, Marie. And adorning fences with real hawks looks beautiful. How great! My favourite fence is the natural one at Strawberry Hill – been planning to make one myself!

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  18. Love the fence challenge! Great photos, Marie! I especially low the one with the hawk. I wish I could have snatched a photo of the hawk that landed on my balcony railing months ago. But it flew away too quickly.

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