What do we mean when we say “Good fences make good neighbors”? I think we mean good fences maintain boundaries, surrounding an area with definitive edges. So by “good fence” here we mean a fence that hems in, protects, and provides an area of safety. But I get the feeling that we might also mean good fences carve out, marking off what’s mine and what’s not yours, helping us to keep our distance and mind our own business. So by “good fence” here we mean a fence that obstructs views, isolates, separates. And it seems to me that anything, fences included, that serves to separate neighbors is emphatically not good. Any fence that isolates neighbors is not a good fence at all, but a terrible fence.

Cottage is neighborly. And what sort of fences do good neighbors make? Cottage wants to see the neighbors, to chat with them, to befriend them, to be neighbors to them. Even if those neighbors don’t reciprocate. Cottage wants a fence that provides all the good things a fence does: safety, protection; but none of the bad things a fence can: isolation, separation. Good fences make good neighbors, but first good neighbors make good fences. And eventually we will plant some grass, too. And park the cars somewhere other than the side yard. And paint the house.

Cottage is neighborly. This is Cottage.