There are times when I need a place to go: a place to relax, to think, to quietly be. This spot has changed depending on where I am in my life: in my childhood, young adulthood, as a mother.

I remember growing up and finding a spot under the large trees in our back garden: we had five gum trees at the back that would sway in the wind. I enjoyed sitting under their cool shade and listening to the wind rustling through their leaves. Sitting there would help me to feel peaceful. It was a place away from the people I lived with, a place where I could read or sit and think.
When I moved into my own place, I lived alone. But still I found my favourite spot to be in my home: sitting with my legs up on the couch in the living area: reading and listening to music. The window would be open during the summer and a breeze would flutter in, cooling the space. The window was large and let in plenty of light. A bright, airy room that I enjoyed sitting in.
I have enjoyed visiting many places but my favourite spot has always been where I live: a place where I can relax, be myself, recharge myself for the days ahead. Even now as a wife and a mother, my favourite place to be is at home with my family: chatting together at the table, sitting together watching a film, or even relaxing on the sofa with a cup of tea and my book of the moment.
I have enjoyed many spots in my life: the tranquillity of the beach or a natural forest; the vibrancy of a festival; the the paved streets of Europe and the crowded pavements of a developing country; the genteel service of a five star restaurant and the flavours of a street market. But always my favourite is always the place where I go to at the end of my forays into the world: the home I have created where I lay my hat.
What is your favourite place?
(Join Jake every week for a theme for creative inspiration. This week’s prompt is Favourite Spot)
© Colline Kook-Chun, 2012
I’m totally with you Colline, I really just love being at home.
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For me it is the best place to be.
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My favorite place to be is home as well! I leave home to go on adventures such as paid work, volunteer work and visiting with friends in the cafe. At the end of it all, I am happiest at home. I always wanted to be a mom, who worked from home so that I could work and still be with my kids. That hasn’t exactly happened all the time, but when I must work outside the home, I find returning even sweeter!
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And I am sure you enjoy those moments with your children even more 🙂
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For me, it’s getting out into the African Bush. As soon as I’m out of the hustle and bustle of city life and in the bush, my whole sole breaths a sigh of contentment.
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A beautiful place to be with the sights and sounds of nature. A place I also enjoy going to 🙂
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Colline,
I was a tree climber too as a child…only I climbed pine trees. 🙂 It is a very peaceful place!
Home is the best…
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Always wished for a treehouse … but as my dad said, it was not possible to build one in the trees behind our house.
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So you made your own “house” in the trees…:-)
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And it was perfect 🙂
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Beautiful post Colline I really love your image and story for this week theme ,
Thanks for sharing my friend 🙂
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Thank you Jake. A wonderful idea for a theme – and I have seen some beautiful favourite spots 🙂
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Home is definitely one of the best places to let your guard down and just relax.
for me, my favorite place is my home, but at the dead of the night when everyone else sleeps.
Nothing is more tranquil than the silence I hear sitting all by myself reading, writing, or just contemplating.
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Ah yes, the time when all the hustle and bustle has died down and you can be alone with your thoughts. Magical.
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Home IS good! But I remember, as a kid, spending many happy hours under my grandparents’ big weeping willow tree in the front yard. Perfect: my home, w/ a huge weeping willow:)
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Sounds magical! I love weeping willows, and to be able to sit below one must have brought you some peaceful times. 🙂
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I also love being at home, with my feet up. 🙂
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Most definitely – after a long day (or long week!).
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You are such a talented writer. This is a lovely post on favorite place I can relate to.
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Thank you Scrapy. I’m pleased to hear you enjoyed reading about my favourite place 🙂
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what a lovely read Colline…home should always make you feel like it is special
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I try to make it comfy and I think I have succeeded as both me and the rest of my family like the time we spend here 🙂
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I do like my quiet spots, but which one I choose depends on my mood. I love to curl up on my couch and read or I’ll go to a park and sit on a bench away from the people. I wish I lived closer to the mountains and could sit by a small stream. I’m the type that needs my alone time. If I don’t have some each day, I become unbearable.
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I agree with you – which is why I get up a little early so that I can have my time alone. Allows one to think and recharge, doesn’t it?
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I can’t wait for the banging to stop overhead and the dust to settle so home is once more peacefull!! Have a great week!!
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Renovations definitely takes away the pleasure of a favorite place. Hope you have serenity soon 🙂
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Favorite places is a matter of perspective. After all, favorite places during our childhood is different than adulthood. Favorites from daily life are different than when vacationing.
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I agree. And when at home I think I have a a couple of favourite spots, depending on my mood 🙂
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Beautiful post. Just like you, my favorite place is at home with my family. This is where I am most comfortable and be totally myself. Have a great week.
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We are both then home bodies who enjoy spending time with the people we love. Nothing better 🙂
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A great post Colline! I don’t have a favorite place in particular, and I’ve lost all sense of where ‘home’ is….for me, it’s more about a favorite time. I love the early pre-dawn hours, the quietness and stillness of that time where its no longer night, but not yet quite day yet. No matter where I am, I like to be awake at this time, when I miss it I feel like the entire day is shot. It’s also my best time for writing.
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I too enjoy that time of day Alex. As you say, the best time for writing when your mind is uncluttered by the happenings of the day. I enjoy the quiet and the stillness before the world, and my family, emerge from sleep.
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Home is so important. Gum trees look interesting. Nice post
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Thank you. Those gum trees gave us endless shade while playing in the back yard – and plenty of sticks to pick up when my parents were mowing the lawn 🙂
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That’s a lovely piece of writing. I completely agree with you.
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Thank you Suzanne.
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Hmmm…I don’t have one favourite place…for me it is more a moment or a person. If that makes sense 😉
Love your writing!!
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Yes, it does makes sense – you can have a favourite type of moment, or enjoy spending time with a specific person. Which will make a specific spot redundant 🙂
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So glad you got it 😉
There are times that I myself don’t understand myself!!
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🙂
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I’m with you on this one Colline. Home is where the heart is… 🙂
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No matter how much we like exploring new places 🙂
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I don’t really have one, perhaps that is my problem right now.
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I imagine you being happy anywhere as long as you have your camera in hand 🙂
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Very nice to have a special place like yours.
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I am very grateful to have a place that can revitalise me as well as soothe me when I need it,
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