My sons are watching “The Hobbit” in the background (the animated one w/ Leonard Nimoy) and they’ve just left Rivendell…
which leaves me wishing for my own “Last Homely House”, someplace beautiful, restful, restoring, from which I can venture forth refreshed and ready to face the world. No such place in my life.
It sure ain’t my own home, which is a source of work and dissatisfaction more than a haven (though it is certainly somewhat of a “relative” haven). It’s not my parents’ home, though for sure when I go there they do take me in. It’s messier and more stressful to me than my own home. None of my friends has a “haven like” home either.
Maybe the closest thing is this state park somewhere in America (you think I want this sylvan inexpensive best kept secret overrun with Dopers?) which we visit one week every summer. It does “restore” me with all that natural beauty and all, but since I’ve been bringing my kids, it’s also the kind of vacation that leaves me feeling like I need a vacation.
So is anybody lucky enough to have a “Rivendell” to retreat to?
I’m blessed with possession of a chunk of land that consists of fields, woods, streams, hills, and trails. It’s a lovely get-away for an after work or weekend walk. It takes a bit of maintenance though, which is either welcome physical labor, or a nuisance, depending on my mood. It’s very private.
Otherwise the Mrs. and I enjoy a particular spa out in the desert that we love relaxing at. It’s a small 9 room place, with wonderful owners, and this is our second year in a row that we plan to go for about a week. I never thought I was a spa sort of person until I spent time there!
Currently, my apartment is my haven. It’s my very first place. Everything in it, I picked out. I hung the paintings, positioned the furniture, bought the lamps, chose the sheets…etc. From the type of dishwashing liquid I use to how many scissors I own - it’s all my decision.
I love coming home to 650 sq. feet of personal space.
Home is the nicest place I go all day. Everything I love is here. I even know where most of it is! I have my own room. I wouldn’t call it an office, as it’s more the room where all my computer and audio equipment, records and CDs are. This is where I spend most of my time, rather than planted in the living room in front of the TV.
Besides it being my mom’s kitchen, which would be a refuge no matter where it was [and this one is so far out in the toolies that it takes real determination to get there]. It is a perfect kitchen – cozy and beautiful with a huge picture window that looks out over a field of wildflowers and down to the Atlantic ocean.
Home is definitely my haven. Everything here is exactly the way I want it, and if it’s not, then I can do something about it without having to go through committee. Sure, it requires some maintenance, but it’s happy work, because it’s part of that “making it the way I want it” thing.
And like Mr. Roboto, I can’t imagine living far from the ocean. There are few things more relaxing and rejuvenating than a day at the beach, or on the boat. It calms me, and gives me a sense of perspective.
Our summer cottage! I have been known to, at the beginning of the summer, show up at the cottage and roll around on the floor in a joyous fit.
It’s insulated and heated so it could be used as a (very small) year-round house, and I have fantasies of someday living there fulltime … but on some level, I know it wouldn’t be quite the same if we lived there and had to deal with the hassles of work and daily life. Right now, being at the cottage is equal to being on vacation. There is nothing better than the fun of being on vacation combined with the comfort of being in your own home – all my stuff is mine, I picked out the mattress I like, it’s stocked with food I like, and I NEVER have to get up early if I don’t want to.
Every summer, we rent a cabin on Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks. That’s my Rivendell – no TV, no Internet, no cell phone, just a beach and plenty of time to read.
My first is my home. Hubby and I have a very peaceful, comfortable life. It’s a place where we read, play video games and enjoy one another’s company. We both make an effort not to bring work-stress home, and we don’t let housework get in the way of enjoyment.
The second is a house on one of the Great Lakes. We take a trip there about once a month and stay for a few days. Both of us are immensely soothed by the sounds of the waves on the rocks, the cries of the birds and the ever-changing view. (It’s best in the winter when no tourists are around and the storms roll in off the lake.)
Especially 5 or 6 AM on summer mornings when the sun is just rising and you can smell the hay. Everything is still and quiet and the horses are half-asleep in the pasture.
Although, not so much on winter mornings when the rain is going sideways and the horses are standing knee-deep in mud and/or manure with their manes plastered against their necks.
My car. I can just drive around the bypass in my hometown for an hour or so listening to the radio. It’s not air-conditioned, I never speed, but it’s nice. I think it’s the sense of freedom: I could just drive to California, if I really wanted to.
That barn sounds great. Love early mornings and the smell of horses.
Our home, for one. 2 acres, no neighbors, absolutely fantastic views. Tiny little stream. If I take my spotting scope out, I can see people as they summit the 14,000 foot peak on the other side of the valley. The deck (what there is of it) is just a great place to spend a lazy afternoon reading.
We also have 40acres, about 40 minutes from our house. Great little piece of property. It has a nice big hill on it, and about 200-300 ponderosa pines, plus about 5 acres of aspen trees. The views are also spectacular, but they are long views, much different than our house. I’ve gone to the top of that hill a number of times, start a little fire and enjoy a beer and a cigar.
My Wife and I have a standing date to camp on the 40 acres for our anniversary.
Kinda funny, considering where we live, trying to ‘get away from it all’ generally puts us right in the middle of it all.
Naw, not really. Havens aren’t for me. I’m a drifter, and find most comforting the thought of where I’ll be rather than where I am. Know that song, “World at Large”, by Modest Mouse? Yeah, I’ve got the wandering blues - that’s me.
