Dear SO's - where is your special place?

[rosie]

Do you have a special place? A place where you just sit, and indulge a moment of bliss?

My special place(s) are my porch (or verandah in Oz). When I look out, all I can see is trees, and nature, and birds. Bliss. This place or the beach, just sitting and absorbing the magic makes my soul smile :)

So, where is your place, and how much time do you spend there?

[BelieveInHope]

Unfortunately I do not have any places in the house, because I have two small children who follow me everywhere--including the bathroom.
I used to feel peace on the beach, listening to the waves, gazing out at the glistening azure horizon--but PA has taken that from me.
I still feel it in the Smoky Mountains--hiking, surrounded by towering green mountains, sunlight dappling through the trees, birds chirping and small creatures rustling amongst the underbrush. We love to hike to waterfalls. We've rented a cabin in the Smokies this June for a week. I'm very excited!

[rosie]

The trip sounds divine BIH!

Is it possible to carve out a special place in your house? :) It just need to be a special place like a chair with a stack of books beside it. A little nook somewhere - hell, even a cushion in the corner of your bedroom with a little something special there to signify that it's yours.

:D

[NewHope10]

I like your topic/question, Rosie...

I don't have a place that I physially go to - but I feel blissful when I'm playing guitar and singing. When I take the time to just "be" with God (and I'm not saying I'm good at it)...then that is my blissful place. Soon...my blissful place is where I go to when I jog. I just got my new treadmill and I cannot ait to start jogging again!!!

I think its important that we all have a blissful place to go...whether phycially and/or in our minds/hearts.

Thanks Rosie!

[TooSensitive]

I feel at peace when the weather permits me to sit inside our gazebo screenhouse in our backyard. In the colder months, I will sit in the kitchen in the chair that faces our backyard, b/c I can still see the skeleton of our gazebo that we leave up at all times. It is soothing to me and it reminds me of that peace.

H and I have had many of our “talks” in our gazebo. I wonder what it will be like this year, now that we have stopped talking. Our yard is also not quite the same this year. Last fall, h took it upon himself, without even discussing it with me, to cut down every tree and every bush that had created a beautiful and lush little oasis at the back of our yard. It was what blocked out the gas station and the highway beyond; it was what absorbed the sound of traffic; it was what gave our yard a bit of privacy and that feeling of peace. It was where the wildlife lived – the birds, the squirrels, the rabbits, and the occasional fox or other small critter. It allowed me to feel like our yard backed up to the woods, even though it did not. So it will take a bit more imagination this year to recreate that feeling of peace. There are still other large bushes that border the sides of our yard that will soon have beautiful blooms, as well as the spring flowers here and there that have sprung up. So long as there is some green, and some color, I can use that to distract myself from the noisy world beyond. Sometimes I will sit out in our gazebo alone and read, or just sit and reflect, if h isn’t around.

Inside our home, our dining room is my favorite spot during the day. This is where my laptop is; this is where I journal. This is where my antique upright piano sits; and I don’t think there’s a piece of furniture in the room that isn’t an antique, in fact. This is where we have family gatherings on holidays and birthdays. This is where my mother’s antique hurricane lamp stands tall atop my buffet. The sight of her lamp, which has become my lamp, reminds me of the home she made for us while growing up, fond family memories, my father who has been gone for 25 years, and my mother who is still here. My mother’s lamp – my lamp – our lamp – is a source of comfort to me. The room is cozy, warm, and gives off a good vibe. As much pain has been felt in my moments of being alone during the day in this room, there has been just as much, if not more, healing felt in this room. I have had moments of feeling as if I’ve come full circle in this room. There is a lot of charm, and there is a lot of warmth, and there is a lot of inspiration, and there is a lot of comfort, and there is a lot of history to this room.

Out in the world, my favorite spots which take me away and allow those moments and feelings of bliss are Blairstown, NJ and the surrounding mountains, in particular the little Moravian stone cottage (circa 1730) h and I have rented in the past – I’ve never seen so many stars in all the sky, as we have seen there – and when we stay there, we spend hours each night sitting out front of the cottage, looking up and talking; the scenic little riverfront town of New Hope, PA, with all its artistry, shops, restaurants, canals, and winding streets; Jim Thorpe, PA, aka as “Little Switzerland”, in the Pocono Mountains, which is where h and I got engaged in front of the castle ruins on a steep and winding backroad; and the Delaware River Watergap, which cuts through the scenic mountains between PA and NJ.

Thank you for starting what feels like a very healing thread, Rosie. B/c that’s how it feels to think about those peaceful places which allow us those moments of bliss. Even if I cannot be in those places in this moment, just thinking about them has the ability to take me there.

BIH, I love the thought of the Smoky Mountains, and I have always wanted to go there, and one of these days, I will.

[WifeOfNewLifeMan]

I feel at peace when I am baking or running. I guess my peaceful place is a state of mind and not a physical place.

[transitionalgrace]

My favorite place is anywhere near water. I love to hear waves and I enjoy watching the wildlife that comes to drink the water. We have a home on an island and it was a beautiful place for me. Eagle would come daily and sun themselves while sitting on a huge rock that sat in the water. Deer would come and graze on the grass around the cabin, birds of all kinds would come in and feed at the feeders. The geese and ducks were always swimming in the water and of course the sea gulls.

I'd get up to watch the sun rise over the large body of water. Some days the water was so still that it looked like diamonds glistening off the water. Other times the waves were rolling in and I was often times amazed at how different a body of water can be from moment to moment.

I could watch storms come across the water and just wait for the storm to hit our island. Freighters were also fun to watch. We had a book near by that we could look up the freighter that was passing by the cabin.

To get to the cabin we need to take a ferry. The anticipation of getting to the island for the first time every year was wonderful. Leaving it for the Winter months was tough and sad.

I won't see it this year because I have started a full-time job now that my h and I are separated. He will enjoy my little heaven because he is off during the summer months, but the memories of the place lie in my head and my heart.

[fragileego]

I moved to Scandanavia to be with my H, and my consolation through this PA discovery is that live about two blocks away from the ocean. We have a view of a fjord and a snow-covered mountain from our apartment, and there's a path that runs along it. I don't get much free time to myself anymore due to the baby and my H's apparent inability to be a father, but when I do, I like to walk along that path and breath the crisp, cool air.