A threadbare childhood quilt, long stashed away, is my rediscovered place of solace. I spread it in my backyard and gaze up at the sky. B, Arts director, Maine

Normally happy homebodies, my son and I go on walks every day to disconnect from virtual obligations, and connect to something bigger and each other. I make my son hold something memorable and I photograph it (“for scale” I say), but really it’s to capture him and this time. NA, artist, San Francisco, CA

Alone sitting in my glassed in porch, knitting and binge watching BBC mysteries to escape loneliness, fear, and my to do list. JH, retired CPA, Atlanta, GA

Sea scape escape. Distant orange buoy bright in the sun. Stroke, chat, stroke, straight out. Success. Grin. Stroke, chat, stroke to shore. Released and grounded. LP, network engagement officer / massage therapist, Edinburgh, Scotland

On my back, arms and legs splayed, on a patch of turf in the backyard. The leaf’s veins are a thousand tiny rivers. And as they turn water and sun and air into nutrients, I learn. SB, Berkeley, CA, writer

Whether it is running on the beach, or riding bikes in the mountains; the fresh air and exertion provide a great peace. LH, food supply sales, Evergreen, CO

Needles and cones crunching under my feet, clean clear air rich with pine and wild sage echos through the treetops...warm sun on my face...the snow has given way to daffodils but still stripes the mountains on the horizon...a perfect sized black lab galloping next to me. MK, architect, Truckee, CA

My walls through the bluebells, past the sheep and their lambs, to the field above the village where the church steeple can be seen over the red rooftops of the houses below. M, Kent, England, writer

Island the size of Manhattan with very small population. Beach house on the harbor. Salt water, rocky beach, wind, clouds, sun, green, blue, peace. CS, visual artist, Seattle, WA

My backyard and garden brings me solace. To watch plants and flowers thrive when the rest of the world seems to shrivel. CP, social worker, IL

Grateful for my secluded home amongst the trees. Listening to the creek flow, watching the leaves blow. Practicing yoga and meditating in appreciation of life's slower pace. TS, designer, Portland, OR

Running. On the woodsiest trails. The hardest concrete sidewalks. The biggest hills. Anywhere out of the house. Alone. Necessary. LC, Development Director, Kensington, CA

Golden Gate Park Casting Pools. Still, shallow, square, turquoise pools, rough concrete, mostly empty, the occasional practicing caster whipping her line back and forth, back and forth. So few people. So soothing. A, writer/educator, San Francisco, CA 

My feet on the sand. It's remarkably hot but the feeling between my toes is alive. Walking the dunes, the green and purple succulents so bright they look animated. Down to the ocean. Feeling so small and insignificant. I have everything. AC, therapist, San Francisco, CA

I mount my bike and ride to the bottom of my narrow street where I cruise softly into the open bike lane and feel a surge of relief and excitement. Pedal fast. I choose not to be confined by the white lines on my left and right, biking loosely on all parts of the road; the streets, sidewalks, unclaimed pavement. TJ, Student, San Francisco, CA

Lock down down down
Time Flows
Our happy places shrinking from our grasp
We Zoom and Zoom
Then it dawns
That space it is ‘I’
R, Teacher, Edinburgh, Scotland

I've been needing a space to indulge in small delights. Mostly, I'm indulging in childhood memories, which, similar to cotton candy, melt away too fast. LS, high school student, San Francisco, CA

A room of oceans. Walls of waves that crash around me sheltering me from the storm. Open eyes watching as the water washes the unknowns away. EB, high school student, San Francisco, CA

Nature brings deep peace, at every scale. Wildflowers, towering trees, overgrown alleys, expansive landscapes, and the magnitude of the Pacific each provide inspiration and comfort. CD, creative director/strategist/artist, San Francisco, CA

Tree grove, overstory creates big cavern, ferns blanket ground
Warmed up, cross meadow
Meander down
Murmuring creek
Mossy rocks, copper water
Ancient road lifts us
SW, high school teacher, Bryn Mawr, PA

Near my home is a rock outcropping that looks out over Glen Park canyon. Hidden from the street is a rock where I sit, cry, space out, dream. M, San Francisco, CA

Being in my room by myself brings me peace because everyone is squeezed in our small house. I can sit in bed and listen to music. EJ, middle school student, San Francisco, CA

I like the beach and the seashells and the drip castles and the sun and the sand and doing handstands in the water and on the sand. CH, elementary school student, Evergreen, CO 

In these spaces, one too sunny the other too shady. The sound of wind from the ocean. The sound of birds. The sound of my neighbor on video calls. Still they grow. A, artist, San Francisco

When the birds sing in the trees in the morning. AH, elementary school student, Evergreen, CO 

Baseball, xbox, biking, watching Baylen Levine (Youtube). He is funny and brings joy. Swimming in a pool, bouncing on the tramp, doing flips, playing with friends. GH, middle school student, Evergreen, CO 

I find peace in thoughts, not actions. Thinking of gratitude to still have work, home, health, family. And thinking of “the end” when I can look back and know it is better and we all survived. DH, mobility compliance manager, Evergreen CO

What do the trees think as we scurry over their rhizome
Exposed in the meadow
Traversing down the mountain
Mutual wonder of the copper creek
SW, high school teacher, Bryn Mawr, PA

On this beach, I can see forever. The ocean, sky and red cliffs are a comfort, unchanging. Walking beside my daughter, I have hope. CC, San Francisco, CA

Sitting on my yoga blankets practicing and looking out to the garden where papyrus and birds of paradise sway in the wind and birds and moths flit about. L, Designer/Artist, San Francisco California

Garden solace
Creator given, 
Waiting,
Greening, blooming, fruiting
Fired with air, water, life.
Dark earth yielding new green 
Dark times yielding new hope
My peace
H, Retired, Edinburgh, Scotland

Two hummingbirds scan available nectar sources dropping into the following flowers: sage, sunflower, bougainvillea, banana, lavender, bird of paradise, Clivia, rose, orchid and jasmine. 
AT, visual artist, San Francisco, CA

Circling the paintings I must write about. They are dense and barbed, but exquisite, and I pry the words I need from them slowly. D, curator, Maine

i’m sheltering in a beautiful place called inverness, california, in the house where my stepdad (last living parent) died on the 19th of april. i’m tasked with sorting through everything and tying up loose ends. my favorite thing to do here is take hot baths in the deep porcelain tub. S, Inverness, California