Where is the one place you feel most at peace?

[Jst1mr]

All right, I will accept the award for most crazy, but I nominate being in the middle of the northern woods on snowshoes at 25 or 30 below zero. The air is so sharp and pure, the sky a brilliant blue, the snow a mass of sparkling diamonds, and the utter silence so refreshing. Pick up the tracks of some critter and follow along while they tell their unique story. Come across a few deer so fuzzy in their winter coats they look almost comical...handfeed a few chickadees some sunflower seeds when you stop for a break...just nothing like it!

 

[Brian41]

I have a stand of pines on the back of my property where I go and sit and think. The power company sent a guy out a couple years ago offering money to put some power lines through there. I said no thanks and offered to take the guy out there to see what he wanted to tear down, he declined too.
The deer and I like them just fine the way they are and I'm due a trip back there soon.

 

[G.T. Smith]

Out on the western part of my property, where the draw flattens out to a big flat rock. The big flat rock is actually the top of a fair sized cave with a spring. It is so quiet there that it makes your ears ring. Nothin' like it
Peace,
gordon

 

[Gamecock]

Two places come to mind.

1. Lindbergh's grave.
2. El Camino del Mar, San Francisco. The chilled sea breeze and the
forlorn foghorns fix the soul.

Joe

 

[ancient-one]

This where I felt most at peace. From 1986 until 1996 we kept a travel trailer on a rented lot at lake Eufaula OK and and our boat in a stall at the marina. Most evenings, wind permitting, we would fish a few hot spots and then travel about 5 miles to the upper end of Brooken Creek. It was always nice but the last hour of the day was so serene and quite that sometimes we would quit fishing and just sit there and enjoy the solitude. You would see nature at it's best because there was usually a shore bird or two walking the shallows, a beaver swimming not far away and shad dimpling the waters surface with an explosion every once in a while when a hungry bass would decide to feed.
We always intended to make it back to the marina by dark but many times we didn't. This all ended one morning in the travel trailer when my wife had a stroke which prevented her from ever getting in a boat again. We were very blessed that she recovered with only a few issues
which we are thankful to cope with.

 

[29aholic]

All right, I will accept the award for most crazy, but I nominate being in the middle of the northern woods on snowshoes at 25 or 30 below zero. The air is so sharp and pure, the sky a brilliant blue, the snow a mass of sparkling diamonds, and the utter silence so refreshing. Pick up the tracks of some critter and follow along while they tell their unique story. Come across a few deer so fuzzy in their winter coats they look almost comical...handfeed a few chickadees some sunflower seeds when you stop for a break...just nothing like it!

You know I hate cold, but late at night after a fresh snow when it has gotten cold enough to turn the top of the snow to a hard crust has been some of my best moments. 3am and the only sound you hear is the crinkling of the ice.

 

[Badkarma 1]

Believe it or not, a gun shop! Not the big chain type shops like Bass Pro or Gander Mountain no, a real honest to God gun shop with a guy or gal in the back cleaning/fixing guns, a wood floor, a pot belly stove, and two guys setting around telling stories!
For me being surrounded by things that go bang and possibly even being allowed to get my hands dirty by tinkering with one just puts me in my element.
Dale

 

[P&R Fan]

For me it has to be pheasant hunting all alone. I just got a good pointer a few years ago, and it's a joy to watch him work, but up until then most of my hunting was done by myself, no dog. My favorite place is a farm that belonged to some people who were close friends of my grandparents. They have passed on, but their daughter still lives there. I have permission to hunt it whenever I want. It was one of the first places my Dad took me when I was a kid, and I went there often with him and sometimes my Grampa. I like to go there and it just brings back a flood of memories about my Dad and Grampa, who have both passed on. When I am carrying the shotguns they owned, It feels extra special. In fact, I never shot either of these guns until after they died. I dropped pheasants with them both on this farm. Grampas was a Savage M220 12 Ga. single-shot and Dads was a M97 Winchester 12 Ga.
I own fancier shotguns than these two, but both are priceless to me, as are the memories. Yep, that old farm is my most peaceful place.

 

[CW Spook]

It would be a tie between here:

and here:

 

[Gamecock]

You know I hate cold, but late at night after a fresh snow when it has gotten cold enough to turn the top of the snow to a hard crust has been some of my best moments. 3am and the only sound you hear is the crinkling of the ice.

Good thought. We don't get much snow around here, but
when I get up after an overnight snow, I'm compelled to
relax and just let the day go. Can't do anything outside,
anyway.

Joe

 

[stantheman86]

My backyard range, I shoot mostly .22's here but also a lot of light .38's. In the summer I enjoy shooting some of my BP percussion revolvers.

Overall, this is a place I go to "get away" and take a little break. Before I joined the Army, when I was still "thinking" of joining and was still naive and had no idea what I was about to get myself into, I would shoot out here to "think"......after I found out I was about to deploy to Iraq as an Infantryman, wondering what the hell I was doing...... I came back for my last 4-day weekend and spent some time out here clearing my head with a S&W revolver or two. During my last couple years in the Army I came out to this spot often during my breaks when I could come home......... And now that I am a civilian again, I go here to fire some rounds, and silently reflect on how lucky I am to still be here, and to have made it back to once again shoot in my "spot". I have experienced a range of emotions out here, from frustration, anger, to sheer joy and being glad to be alive. I have fired rounds while angry, to blow off steam, rounds to celebrate a new gun found at a gun show or shop, and sometimes just for something to do. It's really nice out here during the spring and summer, to my right I can look out over the PA mountains, to the left is a pasture, and a mountain is my backstop. I can be only 100 yards from my house but feel like I'm alone in the middle of nowhere. Love it!

 

[Cyrano]

Stantheman: Don' I know you from Parallax's forum? Over there I use my real name: Colin, which was already taken when I joined here.

 

[turnerriver]

Here-looking at Black Rock. Second shot is from our porch.
In the mountains in western North Carolina.
Regards,
turnerriver
SWCA 1426

 

[scoutsdad]

This is my home in the Chiricahua Mtns, in SE Arizona. I have an old rocking chair that sits under this live oak. I sit here while filling the tank. The sounds of water running attracts all kinds of critters. Birds, bobcats, mule deer, javalina, they all come at times for a drink. It is so peaceful I find it hard to keep my eyes open, and I never want to get up.

 

[anglaispierre]

When I go to bed at night, I put a DVD in the player ready to relax and watch. One of my cats comes into the bedroom and lies across my shoulder, purring into my good ear. I wouldn't hear him if he purred into the other. Then the other cat comes up and snuggles up to me. That's why we have pets, to be company and friends. The ex-wife was never like that! In the morning they are still there waiting for me to take them out for a walk. Spending special moments with friends, 2 legs or four, it makes no difference. That's what friends are for.

All this talk of snow and frost is bugging me. I've been snowed in for days and I hate the stuff. My shovel is showing signs of severe wear from hard work clearing my lane. This morning the post lady nearly lost it going back down the hill. I was very surprised she actually made it up the hill.

I also had magic moments earlier this year when I returned to England on my BMW bike for a holiday and visited some places I remembered from my childhood. I often had to stop to take it in. I don't want to go back there to live, but it was moving to see those places for the last time. Who said nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

 

[wbraswell]

Kelly, thanks for this thread, I'm glad you're a Texan. Where in God's country is your swing? Thanks to all who have posted here, too. As much as I enjoy motorcycles and cars, I'm at peace when I'm away from them. Anywhere there is no concrete, fences, or asphalt in sight, where all I see is what man has not corrupted, yet. It can be in the woods, the hills, the plains, the mountains, or the beach. I love the peace of the forest in the snow, the majesty of snow-capped mountains, the tranquility of waves breaking on the shore. Being barefoot, with cool grass or warm sand between my toes. I'll never believe that all this just evolved, it had to be created. It's a great country, and in spite of us, it's still a great world.

 

[M29since14]

Great story about your swing. I can see why you would feel that way.

My Dad passed away unexpectedly eight years ago this month, and there were other major losses within the space of a few years on either side of that date. I have an older friend who describes this as "jumbling up your life." Taken by itself, any one incident can be dealt with fairly easily, but a series of them tends to be a little derailing. It takes time to get past it, and it must take some of us longer than others. In my own case, there is no peace right now, but like Anglaispierre mentioned, one can take some comfort in happier recollections from "days of future passed," as it was once so curiously put. (I believe I know what the author of that phrase intended, but maybe not.)

I've enjoyed reading the thoughts and seeing the pictures. Very nice thread - good time of year for it. Glad you started it.

 

[Kelly Green]

Where in God's country is your swing?

The old swing is in Brazos County.

 

[Kelly Green]

Thanks so much for your kind words and for sharing your wonderful stories, reflections and photos. In this season of peace, I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and happiness and peace throughout the coming year.

 

[NFrameFred]

I have a few spots that bring me to a peaceful place; sitting watching sunrise on the ocean, and watching the sunset over the hills as the lightening bugs come out to attract mates in the summer; but from the kind of peacefulness that comes from being alone with your Creator in His element - about 20 feet up in a tree stand on a nice fall day in an isolated stand of hardwoods on one of these WV mountains . . . lots of time to think and enjoy the solitude.