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16 Jan 04 - 06:18 AM (#1093981) Subject: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,Boab D Hullo all just a wee one for you. Righty where in the world is the one place where you are most relaxed, happy and just peacefull? Righty then you cant say in some ones arms as that is too obvious really but in one certain spot on the planet or space if you have been there. My own personal favourite is on top of a hill called Duncolm in the Oldkil[patrick hills it is the highest point of them and on a clear sunny day you can see the entirety of Glasgow in one direction the Campsie fells in another Loch Lomond in another and down to Arran in another. It is about 5 miles from the nearest town and just the place to sit and put the world to rights on your own or with family members or friends. I love it and would happily sit there for hours smoking a wee tab drinking cups of coffee with a wee peice on egg. See how you go Dylan |
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16 Jan 04 - 07:36 AM (#1094023) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,freda u There is a beautiful place up in the top end of western australia, called Winjana gorge. You can only get there by 4 wheel drive, as the roads are too poor. I went there one day, at the end of the day, when the sun was setting. The earth in that part of the country is a rich orange-red. red dust floats in the air. The sky is vast and blue, and you drive across the open red desert, covered with low green grey plants, to a huge, long cliff of red rock, very tall, very long.. after a long time following this rock, you come to a huge crevice, big enough to walk through. you enter into Winjana Gorge. Through the crevice you walk, and find an oasis - a silver slow river winding through the white sands, slender white young gum trees, with spring green leaves. the pink dust hanging in the air, and the rosy flush of pink across the horizon, colours the tree trunks a pale pink, and the air hangs with the golden sunshine and heat of the day. and there, lying all along the riverside, sunning themselves in the sand, are dozens of johnson's river crocodiles, a tiny relatively harmless breed of crocodile only 3-4' long. it is a peaceful, beautiful untouched spot which has probably been like that for hundreds of thousands of years. freda |
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16 Jan 04 - 08:17 AM (#1094058) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,Skipjack K8 Shinglehead Point on the beautiful River Blackwater in beloved Essex. Nirvana. |
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16 Jan 04 - 08:43 AM (#1094072) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Morticia There is a small horse shoe shaped bay in the New Territories in Hong Kong and the sun rises in the space between the two curves of land.In the path of it's light you can see the sampans with small twinkling lights on board coming home into the bay from a nights fishing. It is completely silent except for cicadas chirping and is,in my opinion, the most beautiful place in the world. |
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16 Jan 04 - 09:15 AM (#1094092) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Fibula Mattock Portkelly, bang on the end of the Ards Peninsula, sea on three sides, long grass, rocks and whin bushes, and no noise save for the incessant gale that whips around the headland. |
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16 Jan 04 - 09:30 AM (#1094105) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Bassic Upper Wharfedale Yorkshire, past Oughtershaw, on the top road to Hawes, down by the stream, when the tourists have gone home. Toes in the water, sat on a flat rock. |
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16 Jan 04 - 09:41 AM (#1094114) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Jeanie Oh, Boab/Dylan, thank you so much for asking that question today. Right now I have just come in from a very difficult morning and right at this minute I need, more than ever, to 'transport' myself, in my mind's eye to my special place. My life at the moment is one of giving, giving, giving out of time and energy to a couple of people close to me who, because of the state of mind they are in, are incapable of acknowledging what I am doing for them. A thankless but very necessary task in which I feel all alone, most of the time, and as I was driving home I was just wishing for someone to do some little thing for me, just for me. Then along comes your thread to remind me that even in times when it seems as though everyone around is taking from you, and you are the one doing all the giving, there is something which is always giving and waiting for you to gratefully appreciate and receive it, and that is the beauty of the natural world and landscape and the very special places within it. My special place is even called just that: "Stow", which is the Old English word for "place" - it is West Stow, a reconstructed Anglo-Saxon village just outside Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, UK. You can see what it looks like here: West Stow It is a group of wooden houses re-built on their original site which was occupied by Anglo-Saxon settlers from around 450 to 650 AD. These folk certainly knew how to pick a special place ! Everyone I know who goes there remarks on its peaceful, happy atmosphere. You feel yourself being wrapped in a warm hug, layer upon layer. Unlike some ancient sites, the feeling at West Stow is that the people who lived there saw joyful times and there is such a strong welcoming presence, you sense it calling all down the centuries like a kinship. It is on a slightly raised piece of land, leading down to a river, with views across to fields and woodland. The living history group I belong to are fortunate enough to live in the houses, several times through the year, sleeping, cooking, working there as Anglo-Saxons, for visitors to see how the inhabitants lived. Sleeping in those houses is nothing short of magical. It is pitch black at night, making the moon and stars so much brighter. A night of creaking wood, rustling leaves, scuffling creatures, then as the sun begins to come up, thin streaks of light come darting in through the slats and you just lie there as this wonderful beamed, thatched building comes to life before your very eyes and a new day starts. Everywhere you go is the glorious scent of woodsmoke, which seems to stay in your hair and pervade all around you for weeks afterwards, catching you unawares from time to time, to remind you. In the evening, when the visitors have gone, there is nothing better than taking a bench and sitting outside, watching the sun moving across the trees. There is one space of time, only for a few minutes each evening, when one of the trees in the distance glows totally red, you blink, and it has disappeared. Then there are the evenings around the fire in the hall - the laughing, the talking, the drinking, the singing, making shadow puppets on the wall, people just being people together - now, just as one and half thousand years ago. Living there, it takes no time at all for everyone and everything to slow right down, and for this to become your world, just as it was the world for the 5th century inhabitants of Stow. There is no place I have ever been where I have felt so 'right', so content to just be. One of our group has used this special character of Stow in her successful fight against cancer: She was taught a visualization technique, where she was to take herself to a special, peaceful place, where she could feel protected and safe to combat the cancer. She placed herself on top of the hill, shooting arrows down at the cancer. She is now in full recovery - and is a superb archer ! Thank you again, Boab, for starting this thread. I will just love reading everyone's contributions. Wes ðu hal ! - jeanie |
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16 Jan 04 - 09:50 AM (#1094117) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Roger the Skiffler As a one-off, Muri Beach, Raratonga, Cook Islands,S.Pacific on my 50th birthday with Sheila by my side and some local ladies dressed in pareus,sitting in the lagoon, wearing flowers in their hair and singing softly to themselves. Or watching the sun go down from a beach or balcony in Greece with a glass of somehting local in our hands,any year. RtS |
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16 Jan 04 - 10:43 AM (#1094160) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: mack/misophist A decent sized, well lit, airy room; in a quiet part of the building; sitting in a comfortable, but not enervating, chair; thinking. After all, it's either within you or it isn't there at all. Not that there's anything wrong with beauty, not at all. At the last, though, it's only another distraction. Keep it within and it will always be available. |
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16 Jan 04 - 10:48 AM (#1094164) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Chief Chaos The Shenandoah River Valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia. Ride your horse to the country store and pick up some fresh made (hot)cake doughnuts and hot, spiced cider and watch the sun come up on a crisp autumn day. God's pallette spread on the mountainside! |
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16 Jan 04 - 11:02 AM (#1094178) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Micca On the Island of Mull west of Bunessan on the road to Finnaphort and Iona, there is a sorta farm track goes off to the right, you follow this to the bend( about 1/2 a mile) then strike out across country until you find a stream of fresh water running down to the beach, follow it and as you come into a sort of gully full of sand and the stream running down through it to a bay about 300 yards wide of PINK sand (from the pink granite that coast is made of) in the distance, across a deep blue sea the Island of Staffa is visible.The perfect place for a picnic !!! In many visits I have never seen anyone else there!!! and just the sound of the gulls and the sea lapping on the shore. the ultimate in peace and tranquillity. |
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16 Jan 04 - 11:06 AM (#1094183) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Jeanie That's absolutely right, Mack: 'Keep it within and it will always be available.' I can vouch for that. Sitting at the keyboard, describing West Stow and, more importantly, the feelings that place inspires in me, I was transported there. Believe me, I was in a very troubled, lonely space when I started to write my post, but thankfully, 'taking myself' to my special place has dissolved all that. The precious feelings of peace and calm are hidden in us all the time - the special places on this earth, and our visualizing of those places when we are not there in person, can bring those feelings to the surface anywhere and at any time. Thank goodness. - jeanie |
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16 Jan 04 - 11:15 AM (#1094192) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: CarolC I will say in the arms of my husband, because that place that feels most consistantly like home, and is most consistantly available to me. However, there is a spring (or was last time I was there about a decade ago), in the mountains of far western Maryland (USA). It's in the Potomac State Forest. I used to haul drinking water from that spring, and while there I used to get a most peaceful and at the same time a very expansive feeling. And of course, where the land meets the ocean. I have the salt of the ocean in my blood. But I very rarely find myself near the ocean for some reason. |
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16 Jan 04 - 11:21 AM (#1094197) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Peg gee whiz, too many to mention. But one I have only been to once and want to visit again: a round barrow covered with beech trees just off the Ridgeway Track between Avebury and West Kennet, England... It's beautiful to behokd from a distance (there is in fact a photograph of it in the National Trust Book of Long Walks, and when upclose it has an eerie but calming and comforting stillness. a friend and I took an afternoon nap there once before we knew it was a barrow... |
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16 Jan 04 - 02:44 PM (#1094360) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Bill D one is Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park, Oregon, but there are mountain vistas in Colorado that I'd sure like to get back to once more. |
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16 Jan 04 - 03:46 PM (#1094394) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Walking Eagle My place is rather ordinary. Its' between the staves and on top of the weave of my backyard hammock. It supports my weight equally, so I feel as though I'm suspended in air. There, between the support weave of either side, no worry or illness comes. |
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16 Jan 04 - 05:17 PM (#1094435) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,heric oh man, how can I have more fun than this! (I'm sure the "owners" of each have much better images but this is what I have to work with.) http://www.australianlandscapes.com/The_Photographers/Barry/Barry_s_Page/Windjana/windjana.html http://www.eversley-hants.co.uk/gallery/river.jpg http://www.gallery148.com/images/Sloan/Winter_Sun_Ards_Peninsula.JPG http://www.efm.leeds.ac.uk/~mark/wyntv/images/UWview.jpg http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/wstowvis.htm http://www.sydhav.no/Cook/muri_beach.jpg http://www.onlinevacation.com/AdventuresAwait/g_view.jpg http://www.seumas.mull.com/ardalanish2.html http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/art/potomacstream.jpg http://www.harganonline.com/ridgeway1.htm http://www.hevanet.com/dariusg/pix/ecola1.jpg ---------------------------------------------------------- I can't believe you took mine, Bill D. But I have a back up one, here: http://www.rannoch.com/Images/caldesert.JPG When I first went to that spot (which is set in a pine forest at 6,000 feet, overlooking a drastic drop down to the desert, below see level) the sun was setting to light up a freak snowstorm which blew in from the desert to the East. Magical. |
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16 Jan 04 - 05:37 PM (#1094455) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: CarolC Here you go, heric. Those are beautiful: Link One Link Two Link Three Link Four Link Five Link Six Link Seven Link Eight Link Nine Link Ten Link Eleven Link Twelve |
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16 Jan 04 - 05:50 PM (#1094468) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Emma B Lissamona (an old hill fort on the top of a steep hill) where an old friend herds goats on Cape Clear off the coast of West Cork - "A Song for Ireland" was written in Schull facing my friends farm across Roaring Water Bay; the sunset has to be seen at least once in a lifetime, the night is lit by thousands of stars, the Fastnet light and, at times, a phosphorscent sea. |
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16 Jan 04 - 07:03 PM (#1094531) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,heric and here I may have found the place that inspired a thread: Kilpatrick Hills (Thanks, Carol) |
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16 Jan 04 - 07:36 PM (#1094546) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: open mike mine would probably be at a hot spring..especially if surrounded by my friends. if you go here: http://www.soak.net/ and find the page on CA hot springs, and check out death valley national. park you will find it..mostly requires 4X4 access especially this time of year, also find this page: http://www.majorproduction.net/roadmisery/ the Saline Valley preservation association works to maintain the springs. they are an oasis in the desert and a "clothing optional" "resort" destination.. hard to find and get to but worth it! recently incorporated into the Death Valley National Park, there are rumours that fa policy will be implemented requiring "clothing" but it id not likely to be enforced this far out in the wilderness. The area abounds with history--arrow heads, mines, and it is surrounded by a circle of mountains...usually it does not snow down in the valley but you can look up and see snow on the peaks in the winter....while soaking in hot water...ahhhhhh--take me away, Calgon! |
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16 Jan 04 - 07:40 PM (#1094551) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Bobert My gardens in the spring... And Chief Chaos, I live on the Blue Ridge Mountain just a mile from the Shenandoah River... Bobert |
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16 Jan 04 - 09:02 PM (#1094594) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Ebbie About a half mile from where I live, just off a hardpan dead-end road there's a spot that slopes down on duff past large boulders to a lively rock-bottomed, burbly stream that periodically changes its bed, piling up rock and gravel walls that will eventually also wash away in some future winter storm. Along the bank is a tall tree-lined timeless place where you can almost visually see gladsome little beings flit about. I call it a magic place. |
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16 Jan 04 - 10:03 PM (#1094614) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Micca Nice try Heric, but No Cigar!! Ardalanish is on the South side of the Ross of Mull, the place I mean is on The North side, facing Staffa. Like many of these places mentioned it is probably a " Place in the Heart" Like Iona itself. both a Real place and a spiritual "place" we go to when we need to "feed the soul", I know it is for me along with Iona, Avebury, and some other places too. |
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16 Jan 04 - 10:27 PM (#1094626) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,heric Dang! I was hoping to hear from you on that one, as I thought it was a good one with the best chance of capturing the spirit of the thought (Link 8.) I understand what you're saying, but I'm still having fun. (I'm having a surprisingly difficult time finding Ebbie's stream. I think it's just to the left of here ). |
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16 Jan 04 - 11:10 PM (#1094645) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Micca yeah, Heric, I have searched and not found any image of that unamed little bay, the end of the Ross of Mull nearest to Iona is all red granite that breaks down to a pink sand (for images look for rocks near the ferry to Iona atFionnaphort) but the south side of the Ross near Uisken and towards Ardalanish is Mica Schist which gives a glaring white sand, but due to wind and water activity tends to dilute the pink effect, the North coast is more hilly and sheltered and apparently not so diluted. |
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16 Jan 04 - 11:39 PM (#1094657) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Sorcha I'm not telling mine....somebody might find it...well, it's Hill 8:02 in southwest Kansas...go ahead, find it. It is now an 8 hr drive from me.... |
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17 Jan 04 - 12:30 AM (#1094682) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: LadyJean St Mary's City Maryland, where the Potomac flows into the Chesepeake. It's not really close to anything, which may add to it's charm. There's a historic park, a college, and a bird sanctuary, with a lot of blue herons. You can pick up fossils on the beach, or just sit and watch the water. If you're lucky the park people will be sailing the Dove, the replica of the little ship that brought the first colonists to Maryland. Please tell any and all developers that it is full of sink holes, and poisonous marsh gasses, and other things that would make building a Wal Mart unfeasable. |
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17 Jan 04 - 03:09 PM (#1094986) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Ebbie heric, that photo amazes me- I don't suppose it can be from southeast Alaska? Out-the-road (an actual designation around these parts) is a lodge called 'Adlersheim'. It's isolated and alone and lovely. The view from their parking lot is, I swear, the picture that you posted. |
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17 Jan 04 - 03:15 PM (#1094990) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,si Glendalough. |
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17 Jan 04 - 03:54 PM (#1095019) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Deckman Mine is up at the end of "Coyote Drive," on Santa Cruz mountain, California. I'm five miles above the town. Looking toward Monterey Bay I can see the hills behind the lettuce fields in the Salinas valley. I can see the ocean. Turning around I see the lush green hills of Pine and Oak and grapes. I hear only the quiet rush of a breeze and the occasional tinkling of goat bells. The absence of busyness and the presence peacefulness is overwhelming. Well I'll be darned! Look there. Another hours gone by! CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson |
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17 Jan 04 - 06:44 PM (#1095139) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Walking Eagle On the back of a horse, riding full bore through fields around here. |
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17 Jan 04 - 07:04 PM (#1095154) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,heric oh you're so close Ebbie. I thought you'd like that. It's the stream that comes in immediately south of St. Therese. (If there's one thing I know, it's the entire Pacific Coast of North America.) |
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17 Jan 04 - 07:08 PM (#1095157) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: LilyFestre I have two.......... 1. Home...sitting at the breakfast table watching the birds and talking with my family. I love being out in our yard playing "Bird" with the dogs or watching the chickens peck for bugs. I love hearing the rooster crow at 3:30am when I get up and turn on a light when getting a drink of water. I love watching the Little One at the kitchen table working on an assignment. I love waking up to the smell of wood burning in the woodstove, the sight of my husband so lost in working on a fly rod that he forgot he had to get ready for work, driving around the yard with the tractor....I could go on and on...I love our home...it's my most favorite place in the whole world. 2. Beavertail Park, Jamestown, Rhode Island. This place isn't really a park...at least not what I think of when I think of a park. There are no swings or picnic areas. Beavertail is an area next to the ocean that is home to an old lighthouse. I love to climb on the rocks with the waves crashing so close that I can feel the spray on my face and taste the salt on my skin. I like to feed the seagulls and poke around in the tidal pools. The waves are so loud that the only other thing I can really hear is the occassional cry of a gull....one of my most favorite thinking spots! Michelle |
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17 Jan 04 - 07:58 PM (#1095192) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: SINSULL Portland Head Lighthouse mid--winter when the tourists are gone and I can talk to myself or laugh out loud without attracting attention. The ocean, the cold, the vista - a feel very small and safe here. |
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17 Jan 04 - 08:31 PM (#1095214) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Peace There is a creek that joins two lakes in Weir, Quebec. The creek is about forty feet across and it is a fairly consistent five and a half feet deep. The water is clear, and both sides have reeds that border the water. It is about 1/8 mile in length, and it is beautiful. I hope to see it once more before I die, but if I don't, I expect whatever awaits me on the other side of this life will be something like that. And if I behave, exactly like that. I spent many, many days there as a youth, looking at the fish and the mysterious waving of the shadows in the water. I know what peacefulness is because of that little creek. And I know the tremendous ability of nature to take us places only gods and artists can imagine. |
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17 Jan 04 - 09:09 PM (#1095238) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Ebbie Beautiful, brucie. I have little doubt but that you will be there again. I have a story to tell you. And heric, you are so right! That's definitely at the Shrine of St. Therese, on just about the holiest ground you'll find. The copse of trees hides the stone chapel on the little island that is now connected by a causeway to the mainland. (Adlersheim is a couple, three miles farther down the road.) And somewhere on the 'Cat you'll find my post about New Year's Day 2000 when I and a dear friend stood for an hour in the bitter cold on that island (to your left, across on the causeway and up on the higher ground) and listened to the whales sing. |
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02 Feb 04 - 09:26 PM (#1107784) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,heric I've found it Bill D. A place in Cannon Beach. But you've got to split the price with me, as it is one thousand, two hundred and thirty six dollars per square foot. cottage |
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02 Aug 09 - 08:35 AM (#2692112) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: GUEST,Girochaser I still love Duncolm in the Old Kilpatrick Hills its still inspiring and beautiful. Now that I have a family then its with them but as I said at the begining no in the arms of loved ones. But see now I love nothing more than sitting in my garden on a summers night with a wee half or a wine, sitting on the decking and the chimenea heating me up. Looking up at the stars smiling on how lucky I am. Jeannie I'm glad that this wee thread helped you when you needed a wee hug. Dylan |
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02 Aug 09 - 08:44 AM (#2692118) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: VirginiaTam Up until this year's holiday, I thought is was Glen Coe. I loved the wild desolateness of it. But now I am not so certain. There were a couple of places we stopped on the drive from Gairloch to Ullapool that were just stunning. Views of the sea and the Summer Isles, big rough mountains, soft undulating pastures, and forests of giant pine trees and waterfalls. Everything I could wish for. |
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02 Aug 09 - 09:37 AM (#2692135) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: kendall My very favorite is Maine. Then, most of England, the highlands of Scotland; the light keeps changing and one bend in the road is more beautiful than the last. The Isle of Skye is tops in beauty. Vermont; my second best favorite state. My favorite city, Edinburgh. |
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02 Aug 09 - 01:31 PM (#2692267) Subject: RE: BS: The one place for you From: Amos If I had to choose one p lace, it might be the woods of Connecticut on the banks of the Comstock creek, where I gadded about as a lad. Or Cunner's Point on the rocky coast of Squirrel Island, just off Boothbay Harbor, where I spent a lot of time learning to fish and sail. I have seen places of incredible beauty all over the world, though, and many of them would do as a spot to just hang around contemplating existence. There's a reef off Belize that has the most incredible colors, another off Cancun; there's a dappled sandscape terrain among the trunks of the kelp jungle just off our shores here in San Diego that is very restful, if you have the air to breath forty feet below the surface. There are valleys and hills in the countryside of Alsace, and sections of the coast of Brittany I would dearly love to visit again, and urban corners in Paris where I would be glad to sit for a month. Or so it seems. A |
