To Keep In or to Keep Out

“The wide world is all about you; you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

Everything pictured here is within ten minutes of my house.

The cemetery is a five minute walk—just past the apple orchard where the Gravenstein apples will be ready in several weeks. A mile down the road is a sheep farm where you can find Cotswold sheep wool, yarn, and blankets or a 1/2 or whole lamb carcass.

Buried in the cemetery are some who died in King Philip's War. "This cruel war... was attended by inexpressible calamities, each party making every possible effort for the total overthrow of its antagonist."
—James Thacher, 1832
"The war was devastating for Native Peoples. Entire families were sold into slavery abroad; others were forced to become servants locally. The Wampanoag had to adapt aspects of their culture to survive; their political independence ended."

Drive five minutes and a construction site—a square building is replacing several wood structures that were in dire need of repair.

Less than ten minutes away is a correctional facility. The prison houses over 1,400 medium, maximum, and protective custody inmates

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