Finding your peace place

White Poplar leaves

Early one morning, while at the far corner of Bassett Creek Park, I met our newspaper carrier.  He was in route, and driving a beat up old pick-up, complete with a broken windshield.  Reminded me of the pizza delivery pick-up in Toy Story.  He surprised me when he shared with me that this was his "peace place".  It took me a couple of requests for him to repeat this statement before my early morning consciousness understood what he meant.  While delivering papers on the weekend he must occasionally pull over by the park and enjoy a moment of peace.

I like this peaceful park corner too.  It is one of the least accessed areas of the park, despite being only a berm away from a highway.  It's where the park's frontage road ends in a cull de sac. It doesn't get much foot traffic, since the walking trail doesn't extend to that far corner.

White Poplar leaves ... "gradients of green"

The pictures on yesterday's blog are from just up the hill from the "peace place". Sadly, this peace place realized a chain saw massacre recently.  The tree I love to photograph most, a White Poplar, was cut down by a park employee.  I guess it was too close to an oak tree that had been planted nearby.

I've since discovered the White Poplar is considered to be an invasive species.  Upon research I didn't see any indication of other White Poplar's invading the surrounding area.  Where that it was as invasive as Buckthorn, I'm confident we would have seen a whole big grove of poplar taking over.

Do you have a "peace place" where you can relax, pray, meditate, or simply catch you breath?