Then

This all came to mind as I strolled outside Woolsthorpe Manor, the birthplace and family residence of Isaac Newton. After trying and failing to get a good shot of Newton at work indoors, all that was left was outdoors. It was said that it was from the branches of the tree in the garden that an apple fell. If it did ever happen, it must have been during those precious years away from Cambridge, while Europe was afflicted by the bubonic plague. A fence surrounded the tree’s perimeter, preventing visitors from sitting under it like Newton might have. How lonely it must be to be cordoned from the world with a wooden enclosure that did no justice to its timeless majesty.