Do You Have a Place of Solitude OTHER THAN Your House?
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There is an excellent curvy road nearby that at one point leads down to a small creek, with an area that one can pull off the road. I have no idea who owns this property, but the times I have visited it, I have been alone except for whatever travelling companions I brought with me. Just a lovely place, hard to express it in words here on the 'net.
That said, my house, out in the country on 13 acres, is quite secluded enough. Close the driveway gate and I am alone here with the cats.
Well, after giving up my search for a property with a stream on it, I can now go out my back door and be alone and peaceful beside the pond and triple waterfall I had installed in my side yard. I can see and hear the sound of the water from the enclosed porch and it begins to relax me. I can't wait to plant spreading, flowering groundcovers on the sides of the raised mound and put a nice bench out there to enjoy my place of solitude.
Yes. Close to fourteen years ago, an ad appeared in the local paper's real estate section: "For Sale by Owner: 13 wooded acres with cabin and creek. Call XXX_XXXX for more info."
So I called, made arrangements to see the place, instantly fell in love, negotiated the price a bit - and a month later, it was mine. The cabin is one room, small and rickety, but with a nice small front porch overlooking the little waterfalls in the clear, cold creek (which is a tributary of a river, one mile downstream). No electricity (by choice), and the only running water is in the creek. It's a three-season place. I keep bottled water on hand, have a screened "indoor outhouse" in a corner of the cabin, and a firepit in the adjacent outdoor seating area.
Heaven.
I didn't know I'd also purchased a spring ephemeral wildflower wonderland until the following spring, when more than 35 varieties popped up all over the place. I didn't know that the creek was classed as an "outstanding state resource" and "an exceptional waterway" by the state until a few years later.
But I knew I was absolutely blessed to have found such a place within less than an hour from my suburban home. The various additional blessings are still revealing themselves, all these years later. I have never regretted its purchase one second - it remains a blessing and a joy.
We moved to our place of solitude over a year ago. Far enough away from the smallish city we can't hear it but just a 10 minute drive to work or if we need anything. We had to carve out a spot from raw land so there's still quit a bit of wildness around the 5 acres. It's a joy to look out the front window and see deer and wild turkey or sit out front listening to the birds.
When I really need solitude from the spouse, though, I head out to the little camper up the hill, my She-Shed. Can read, write, watch a movie or take a nap when I need alone time.
We have a farm in Hawaii. 1/3 of our land was never developed and that entire parcel is just thick jungle. Using a machete and a chainsaw I cut a trail through the length of the lot close to a fence line (the lot is about 1100 feet long but the trail meanders a bit so about 1/4 mile) so I could connect it in a loop with other trails on our other properties so I can walk the dog a few miles without leaving our land. From that original main trail I'm cutting other trails to explore the property, partly to see if there is an entrance to one of the many lava tubes in the area but also just to discover what is there. So far I've found a banyan tree and a bunch of cool geological features. I can also use the trails I'm making for hunting pigs, though usually we just trap them on our main farm lot. There is one area full of happu ferns and palms and a small lava tube where I like to stop and relax. I plan to put a covered sitting area there, and also by the banyan tree, but first I want to completely explore the entire area.
It's easy for me to lose an entire day in there. I frequently only go home because my aging joints start complaining about swinging the machete all day. At some point I will have to hire a surveyor because I'm not exactly sure where the far end of the property line is. Our neighbor won't care if I make trails on his property but I don't want to expend my labor on somebody else's land. It's a place I can go and all stress evaporates into the jungle. My dog loves it there too.
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