My Favorite Place. Wondering about yours.

[Eliza Thomason]

Summers ending, and we did not have a vacation or plan one for Fall... all our energy, money and time off was spent moving. Well most years there is no vacation. But I am remembering my favorite place in the world, and hoping that maybe next year SLI and I can go. Here it is:

Piseco Lake

How I love that place. Its a perfect vacation, to me. I vacationed there with family growing up, and I worked there one summer, and its etched on my heart forever. It's "what is a beautiful place", to me. All of this place. Besides the feast for the eyes that you see, there is kayaking on Mill Stream, hiking up Fall Stream - you can walk the rocks most of the way, too, and many places (most?) along it are paradise-beautiful. And then there is everything about the lake. How will it look on this day or this hour - it always changes, and surprises. My adventurous friend and I slept on the Island beach one night, in our tents, had a campfire, and then up early - to a sea of dense white fog, impossible to see. We had to blindingly canoe back, guessing the direction, quickly, so I could work breakfast. We did pretty well. There was water-skiing and sailing that summer, too. Lots of working hours, so we savored bits of free time. I remember we were all tired after cleaning up dinner every night, and we would sit on the porch and swing, the mixed crew that we were. Also laying out at night on the lawn to see more stars than you can see in any city. And nights when the moon was so bright it was like day hours. And the view from the bathroom in the morning (which overlooked the lake, as our staff bedrooms were in the rear) - it made getting up so early something to look forward to.

I was last there in 2010, after some time away, for a lovely couple of days an nights with a single Mom friend and her boys and mine. While I was there I did a fungus etching, and contributed it to the sitting room collection, especially to leave a piece of myself behind, in that place I love. So it was nice to see it on this page. I hope its still there at the Inn! If you want to see it, scroll all the way down, 2nd row from the bottom, on left. The only of a fungus! Maybe this direct link will work. [I started with those two light rocks, because my fungus had two bumps, and it seemed they should be rocks, then I formed the rest of the composition around it. The finished piece really looked like the Piseco I love, and I was pleased with it.


I would like to see other people's favorite, most-loved places.

...

[Creepy-bg]

Sedona in the winter, magic.


https://www.google.com/search?q=sedo...w=1024&bih=649

[Eliza Thomason]

Sedona in the winter, magic.


https://www.google.com/search?q=sedo...w=1024&bih=649

'
It is beautiful; I have been there once, in the springtime. Winter looks lovely My son was just hiking there in the heat last month!

[golden]

Santa Fe at sunset. Texas Hill Country in springtime. Grand Canyon south rim. Chicago by the lake in autumn.

[Galen]

Tsuru-Shi, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Prettiest skyscapes I've ever known

[Amber]

Not "my fav. place" ...just part of the harem. one of my many.


Bari







Matera





*sorry for the gay pic.
** sorry for the word usage.

[Amber]

Bregenz

[Skepsis]

Summers ending, and we did not have a vacation or plan one for Fall... all our energy, money and time off was spent moving. Well most years there is no vacation. But I am remembering my favorite place in the world, and hoping that maybe next year SLI and I can go. Here it is:

Piseco Lake

How I love that place. Its a perfect vacation, to me. I vacationed there with family growing up, and I worked there one summer, and its etched on my heart forever. It's "what is a beautiful place", to me. All of this place. Besides the feast for the eyes that you see, there is kayaking on Mill Stream, hiking up Fall Stream - you can walk the rocks most of the way, too, and many places (most?) along it are paradise-beautiful. And then there is everything about the lake. How will it look on this day or this hour - it always changes, and surprises. My adventurous friend and I slept on the Island beach one night, in our tents, had a campfire, and then up early - to a sea of dense white fog, impossible to see. We had to blindingly canoe back, guessing the direction, quickly, so I could work breakfast. We did pretty well. There was water-skiing and sailing that summer, too. Lots of working hours, so we savored bits of free time. I remember we were all tired after cleaning up dinner every night, and we would sit on the porch and swing, the mixed crew that we were. Also laying out at night on the lawn to see more stars than you can see in any city. And nights when the moon was so bright it was like day hours. And the view from the bathroom in the morning (which overlooked the lake, as our staff bedrooms were in the rear) - it made getting up so early something to look forward to.

I was last there in 2010, after some time away, for a lovely couple of days an nights with a single Mom friend and her boys and mine. While I was there I did a fungus etching, and contributed it to the sitting room collection, especially to leave a piece of myself behind, in that place I love. So it was nice to see it on this page. I hope its still there at the Inn! If you want to see it, scroll all the way down, 2nd row from the bottom, on left. The only of a fungus! Maybe this direct link will work. [I started with those two light rocks, because my fungus had two bumps, and it seemed they should be rocks, then I formed the rest of the composition around it. The finished piece really looked like the Piseco I love, and I was pleased with it.


I would like to see other people's favorite, most-loved places.

...

Very nice etching

There are so many places I love to go, especially to commune with nature. I live in western NY and my family and I enjoy going to the Thousand Islands in North Country at a cottage that has been in my wife's family for years. It is so peaceful and relaxing that it's hard to muster up the will to go back home We also spend a lot of time at Letchworth State Park and around the Finger Lakes.

In all honesty though, some of my favorite place to go are along my walking route in the town I live. I love walking up the hill to get a good look at the valley, or taking shortcuts through the woods or through hidden paths. I also enjoy our local parks and go for walks in them quite often.

[Eliza Thomason]

Tsuru-Shi, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Prettiest skyscapes I've ever known

Thanks for the pics. They tell the story. Beautiful! I see the Japanese Maples there - probably wild? Of course we cultivate them here and they are so lovely in a garden. Are those everywhere there, like our broader-leafed maples up north?

[Eliza Thomason]

Very nice etching

There are so many places I love to go, especially to commune with nature. I live in western NY and my family and I enjoy going to the Thousand Islands in North Country at a cottage that has been in my wife's family for years. It is so peaceful and relaxing that it's hard to muster up the will to go back home We also spend a lot of time at Letchworth State Park and around the Finger Lakes.

In all honesty though, some of my favorite place to go are along my walking route in the town I live. I love walking up the hill to get a good look at the valley, or taking shortcuts through the woods or through hidden paths. I also enjoy our local parks and go for walks in them quite often.

Thanks. I like to draw and paint but I am always especially pleased at that rare time when something comes out that really seems to express a part of me. And I can't plan that.

I have not spent lots of time at Thousand Islands myself, but I know it is beautiful. We went once with family friends when I was small, and once a few years back for an in-laws wedding, on a ferry there. (It was a gorgeous wedding but the marriage didn't last). Yes, I can imagine it is hard to go home! Same with at Piseco. How fortunate you and your wife are to have a place that has been in her family for years. Its like roots. It becomes a part of you. Isn't it wonderful to have a place to love that you can return to? I have always wanted a place at Piseco, but I sort of gave that up to God a long time ago. (I wanted to have a place where people could come to heal their souls just by being in the beauty. But if He wants it for me I'll have it; I just want what He wants for me. I truly believe I will have all the Piseco I need in Heaven...because I feel sure that the places we love reflect what we will know in Heaven ).

I think I just moved away, to here in western CT - last month - from where you are! I was in western upstate NY since I was 4 and I am getting to know a whole new place (which kind of reminds me of the Adirondacks - just more populated!). So I think I am from where you live! And I didn't know that anyone in western upstate NY knew about Socionics! How about that. I love Letchworth Park. We spent time camping there as a family. I had a large painting of Letchworh's High Falls in my living room, by my Moms old art professor at Houghton, Aimee Ortlip, most of my life (I gave it to my brother when I moved). I remember walking the trails there, always seeing deer. And the gorge! The gorgeous gorge. And the soaring train trestle! And the Letchworth Park pool, the best pool ever. Letchworth in the fall! The long thick tunnel of huge trees over the road. Giant leaf piles to play in. Stone walls everywhere. Wolf Creek.

I wonder what town the walking route is? You can PM to protect your privacy if you want. One of the places I lived was Hemlock. Also I graduated from the same high school that Shirley Jackson, in your quote above, graduated from. Quite some years later! Most recently I subbed there, and I can avow they still subject their students to that frightful story of their alumn, The Lottery, and the awful little movie that goes with it. (Well, a literary critic would not call it awful...)

Favorite places in that area: Corbets Glenn - take that walk sometime! A nice 1 mile walk in the woods with a surprise at the end. Durand Eastman Park, you must know it - in the fall or Spring it will always fill your senses with awe. And I loved the walk along Hemlock Lake, starting at the North end, on the west side. And when the lake is low you can walk the shores on either side. And maybe find a turtle rock! Its forever wild, so its nice. Once spring thaw I saw the most amazing phenomean - I heard it first, a vast musical tinkling filled the air. I realized it was the thawing lake, pushing toward shore large sheets of ice, and when the edges hit the frozen shore it forms thousands upon thousands of ice crystals that fell over and hit the ice, tinkling. I really should have thought to take a picture, becaseu I have never seen a picture of this.

I am sure you have "moments" in your mind of the beauty of Thousand Islands.

I wish I could post pics, but my computer does not let me. I don't know why. Not even ones I find online that show my favorite places in the way they are in my heart....

P.S. I often took that stunning drive to Naples in the fall, and brought home a grape pie. My son and I would pick copious volumes of grapes at Jerome's (what a view) and I made much grape juice for the year....

P.P.S. And the bird song walk at Mendon Ponds Park!!! The chickadees eat from your hand!

P.P.P.S. And a favorite in more recent years, The Abbey of the Genesee at Piffard....

[Galen]

Thanks for the pics. They tell the story. Beautiful! I see the Japanese Maples there - probably wild? Of course we cultivate them here and they are so lovely in a garden. Are those everywhere there, like our broader-leafed maples up north?

They're all totally wild. God I really want to go back again. It's the right time of year for the colors to turn.

[Eliza Thomason]

They're all totally wild. God I really want to go back again. It's the right time of year for the colors to turn.

Sometimes a place becomes such a part of you that you yearn for it like a lover.

[Skepsis]

Thanks. I like to draw and paint but I am always especially pleased at that rare time when something comes out that really seems to express a part of me. And I can't plan that.

I have not spent lots of time at Thousand Islands myself, but I know it is beautiful. We went once with family friends when I was small, and once a few years back for an in-laws wedding, on a ferry there. (It was a gorgeous wedding but the marriage didn't last). Yes, I can imagine it is hard to go home! Same with at Piseco. How fortunate you and your wife are to have a place that has been in her family for years. Its like roots. It becomes a part of you. Isn't it wonderful to have a place to love that you can return to? I have always wanted a place at Piseco, but I sort of gave that up to God a long time ago. (I wanted to have a place where people could come to heal their souls just by being in the beauty. But if He wants it for me I'll have it; I just want what He wants for me. I truly believe I will have all the Piseco I need in Heaven...because I feel sure that the places we love reflect what we will know in Heaven ).

I think I just moved away, to here in western CT - last month - from where you are! I was in western upstate NY since I was 4 and I am getting to know a whole new place (which kind of reminds me of the Adirondacks - just more populated!). So I think I am from where you live! And I didn't know that anyone in western upstate NY knew about Socionics! How about that. I love Letchworth Park. We spent time camping there as a family. I had a large painting of Letchworh's High Falls in my living room, by my Moms old art professor at Houghton, Aimee Ortlip, most of my life (I gave it to my brother when I moved). I remember walking the trails there, always seeing deer. And the gorge! The gorgeous gorge. And the soaring train trestle! And the Letchworth Park pool, the best pool ever. Letchworth in the fall! The long thick tunnel of huge trees over the road. Giant leaf piles to play in. Stone walls everywhere. Wolf Creek.

I wonder what town the walking route is? You can PM to protect your privacy if you want. One of the places I lived was Hemlock. Also I graduated from the same high school that Shirley Jackson, in your quote above, graduated from. Quite some years later! Most recently I subbed there, and I can avow they still subject their students to that frightful story of their alumn, The Lottery, and the awful little movie that goes with it. (Well, a literary critic would not call it awful...)

Favorite places in that area: Corbets Glenn - take that walk sometime! A nice 1 mile walk in the woods with a surprise at the end. Durand Eastman Park, you must know it - in the fall or Spring it will always fill your senses with awe. And I loved the walk along Hemlock Lake, starting at the North end, on the west side. And when the lake is low you can walk the shores on either side. And maybe find a turtle rock! Its forever wild, so its nice. Once spring thaw I saw the most amazing phenomean - I heard it first, a vast musical tinkling filled the air. I realized it was the thawing lake, pushing toward shore large sheets of ice, and when the edges hit the frozen shore it forms thousands upon thousands of ice crystals that fell over and hit the ice, tinkling. I really should have thought to take a picture, becaseu I have never seen a picture of this.

I am sure you have "moments" in your mind of the beauty of Thousand Islands.

I wish I could post pics, but my computer does not let me. I don't know why. Not even ones I find online that show my favorite places in the way they are in my heart....

P.S. I often took that stunning drive to Naples in the fall, and brought home a grape pie. My son and I would pick copious volumes of grapes at Jerome's (what a view) and I made much grape juice for the year....

P.P.S. And the bird song walk at Mendon Ponds Park!!! The chickadees eat from your hand!

P.P.P.S. And a favorite in more recent years, The Abbey of the Genesee at Piffard....

Grape pies!! I think I just met my new best friend, lol. I've been going to the Naples Grape Festival for the last few years. In fact the first time I had a grape pie I was returning from the Thousand Islands on year. I said, "Let's take the scenic route back home!" So we did. It was beautiful route to take. As we were passing through Naples, I saw the "Grape Pies" signs and thought we should try one. Then we started to going to the Grape Festival after that just to get pies. Of course, now we hang out at the wine tent first........Thousand Islands Winery was there and they make an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon. We'll be going again here in a couple of weeks. All of the fall festivals start, so it is always a wonderful time of year.

So you lived in Hemlock? That is so cool. I have a really good friend that I went to college with that grew up in Hemlock. What a small world this is! Last summer we went to Letchworth together for a picnic, and we hit up Wolf Creek and the Upper and Lower Falls. She was a science major too, so we were identifying different flora. There were some large trees in front of the Glenn Iris Inn, beside the goldfish pond. They had to have been 150 years old at least! I asked what these trees were and she told me they were Hemlock trees. I looked at her like she was a genius (which she is anyways) and she just gave me a look and said, "Well, I did grow up in Hemlock."

I am going to PM you! I have much more to tell you! You so made my day

[Skepsis]

Thanks for the pics. They tell the story. Beautiful! I see the Japanese Maples there - probably wild? Of course we cultivate them here and they are so lovely in a garden. Are those everywhere there, like our broader-leafed maples up north?

Japanese Maples are really wonderful trees. I have one in my yard that I've been cultivating for three years( it was three years old when I bought it...it was eighty bucks...I bought it with coins that I had saved up). The leaves on my tree are very small. I saved some seeds that grew this year that I plan on sprouting in the spring.

[Eliza Thomason]

Grape pies!! I think I just met my new best friend, lol. I've been going to the Naples Grape Festival for the last few years. In fact the first time I had a grape pie I was returning from the Thousand Islands on year. I said, "Let's take the scenic route back home!" So we did. It was beautiful route to take. As we were passing through Naples, I saw the "Grape Pies" signs and thought we should try one. Then we started to going to the Grape Festival after that just to get pies. Of course, now we hang out at the wine tent first........Thousand Islands Winery was there and they make an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon. We'll be going again here in a couple of weeks. All of the fall festivals start, so it is always a wonderful time of year.

So you lived in Hemlock? That is so cool. I have a really good friend that I went to college with that grew up in Hemlock. What a small world this is! Last summer we went to Letchworth together for a picnic, and we hit up Wolf Creek and the Upper and Lower Falls. She was a science major too, so we were identifying different flora. There were some large trees in front of the Glenn Iris Inn, beside the goldfish pond. They had to have been 150 years old at least! I asked what these trees were and she told me they were Hemlock trees. I looked at her like she was a genius (which she is anyways) and she just gave me a look and said, "Well, I did grow up in Hemlock."

I am going to PM you! I have much more to tell you! You so made my day

Yes, the drive to Naples is so beautiful from any direction. But, you have to know the BEST place in Naples to get grape pies because everyone makes them now and they are not all awesome! Its 5 Academy St., right alongside the high school on Main. That is the BEST. I just saw a pic of it on Google maps; their sign was up and cars out front. Its how they put their kids through college. Making grape pies.

I made grape fie filling one year, and pies of course, and I still have one jar of my homemade filling! I only made it the one year because it is so much work. Every grape has to be skinned and de-seeded. I forgot exactly how I did it, but it was time-consuming. Apple pie really is easy, compared to that. Yes, Hemlock, I did not grow up there but in my now-annulled marriage, we bought our house there on Main St., my son was born when we lived there, and I finished teaching (art) and stayed home with him and I homeschooled him from there through 2nd grade and the divorce (and he just graduated high school). I really enjoyed those years. Divorce, not so much though! Yes, I love the big old trees. I understand Hemlock had some really ancient ones in the wild that were difficult to access and I always wanted to see them but I never did. I will look for those hemlocks when I am at Glenn Iris again - someday!

____________

Found this interesting pic while looking for those Hemlocks!

[applejacks]

Beautiful descriptions and photos in here!

More and more I find I'm content with the ones I love. But of all my travels, Oia in Santorini, Greece holds a special place in my heart.

Each beautiful sunrise is accompanied with fresh greek yoghurt, local honey and fruit. The coffee is rich and the cream fresh and cold. Every sunset is a celebration with Zorba's dance and clapping in every restaurant, and plates of feta with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and olive oil.





We traveled around the island on ATVs, searching for the best baklava while making detours to the many beautiful lighthouses along the beaches.







The hotels are lit in the evening by candlelight, as overhead lighting is limited. The windows are carved archways which allow the ocean breeze to cool the rooms naturally. Each room has a balcony with a view to the water, along with chairs, blankets, and umbrellas.





Because Oia's main "downtown" area is carved into the side of the mountains, there are no vehicles- only pathways for walking and exploring the various terraces of restaurants and art shops. It's all a winding mosaic of pastel colors and marble architecture.





Even their routine chores are beautiful- you'll see the occasional caravan of donkeys walking down the path, carrying the local's trash to the mouth of the ocean for collection into a boat.






Time seems to pause so you can take it all in- each rotation of the sun over the water, the fresh foods, the bright colors. It's perfection.

[FDG]

Yeah, I agree, Oia is wonderful.

Just some among many:

Rapperswil-Jona (Switzerland):



Korcula (Croatia):



Feltre (Italy):



As a city, Barcelona (Spain)



or Nurnberg (Germany)

[Beautiful sky]

In bed since I'm sick

[Aylen]

I don't think I have a favorite place.

Places I feel I have special connection to are: Alaska, Santorini, India, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, Scotland, and I know I am forgetting places at the moment but they may come to me later.

[jessica129]

It's amazing how much we take for granted. For example, when I lived in California, I couldn't wait to move on to something else. I always thought the grass was greener on the other side but it most definitely is not. Just about all the spots i've visited in California were breathtaking and I can't believe I lived there at one point. I think my favorite spot was the Golden Gate Bridge lookout points and Sausalito. And then there was Napa....and Monterey...and Carmel...and Point Reyes.. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, I can't wait to move back.

It actually hurts to know I lived here at one point. I can't remember how often I would go to this spot and just be overwhelmed by it.

[darya]

There are many amazing places, but only a few hold a special place in my heart that keeps me coming back. From cities that would be Barcelona and Budapest.

Irish landscape also never fails to deliver.

ireland-landscape-mountains-nature-sheep-Favim.com-240673.jpg



Lately Thailand and Cambodia are places where I've never felt such overwhelming serenity and happiness before, so I'll for sure return next year.

thai beach.jpg

[FDG]

Bregenz

I'm here right now but can't see shit due to a thick fog

[Amber]

as cities Copenhagen and Prague won me over more than others

















In Germany - Dresden












and then there's Manarola ....

[Amber]

Kotor, Montenegro



969465_669278709755353_551153891_n.jpg970190_669275153089042_516851691_n.jpg

[Satan]

[Aylen]

as cities Copenhagen and Prague won me over more than others

Yah, Prague was one I was forgetting. Armenia, parts of Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran too, hold lots of memories for me and I have never physically been to any of those places. I am fascinated my arabic culture. Mostly ancient stuff though.

[LauriesCrusador]

...

[ENJoymENT]

Favs from places I've been:
Cities: New Orleans, LA (all visits pre-Katrina but definitely going again). Venice, Italy. Lucerne, Switzerland. Salzburg, Austria. Charleston, NC. Florida Keys/Key West, FL.

Places: Nottaway Plantation, LA. Hohenwerfen Castle, Austria. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany.

Places I hope to visit: Spain, Hawaii, South Africa, South America--Brazil or Chile.

[Beautiful sky]

With someone I love