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This week's Community Triple Take assignment asks this question: What are your three favourite places in Fredericton and why?

I love my little garden.

It's not the fanciest garden around, but almost every flower in it was planted by me. I chose the stunning and fragrant Stargazer lilies, the purple and blue California delphiniums, the purple German re-blooming irises, the dark purple Monk's Hood, the pink and white astilbes.

The short, dark purple irises that arrive first, shortly after the bright yellow narcissus tip over in the spring rains, the delicate white Japanese irises that stroll in for a late summer show.

The bright pink white azalea tree that survived the historical Ice Storm and blossoms in defiance of ice every spring.

The white and pink rhododendrons that hold court under our front window,

Next to the Coral Bell heucheras and the bright red monarda, which stand proudly over the whole garden, competing with the delphinium for height.

The hens and chicks that cuddle under the white birch tree, looking up to the echinacea for advice.

But my most favourite of all?

The almost four-foot tall pale purple, cotton candy scented irises, imported from an old garden in Montreal.

These gorgeous gems are my pride and joy! Perhaps next summer, I'll weed more.

We have friends who shared their little piece of heaven with us this summer.

Drive up past Mactaquac and pull into a campground, drive a bit more and you will find Doug and Debbie's corner of paradise.

I am a west coast girl and I miss being on the ocean, floating on a boat or a dock with my hand in the water, or just walking along the beach, toes in the wet sand, cooling off from a hot day.

So when someone says "come anytime" and you then boldly invite yourself after a really lousy day, it can be a bit awkward (because you're late), until your hosts smile and yell: "We've been waiting for you! Hurry up and get in the boat!"

A boat ride? In a really fast boat? Oh yes!

Off we went, up and along the St. John River, in and out of coves, pulling the kids on the Ski Biscuit, laughing until tears came as they spun off into the water. It was soothing to just toss the stresses and strains of life into the air.

At their trailer, Doug has built a deck and a nice long dock, a fire pit. There is also a gazebo, a porch swing and even strings of lights under the corner pergola.

With the sun slowly falling into the west, the river began to light up with the long sunset. A loon even swam across from the dock, giving us permission to call it a day.

As I drove away from two favourite places in one, and then home to another, I realized how blessed I am.

Jennifer Major is a mother of four who hopes one day to finish the laundry. She lives in New Maryland.

***

I don't circulate widely. No one has ever said of me, "Boy, he gets around!" In a world of motion, I'm pretty static.

So it may be that my three favourite places in Fredericton lack some scope and "oomph."

Still, they are my favourite places.

The more I thought about what those three were, the more elusive they became. The first two were easy. The third was not. Was it this place? That place? Maybe it's the place over there?

The first place is my house.

No, it's not one of Fredericton's great tourist attractions, but it's the place I most like to be. Having lived in apartments and condos my entire adult life, a house with a large backyard is a novelty.

There is also what I mean when I say "my house." It means house, property, neighbourhood. I actually know my neighbours and they know me. I even know their dogs and they know mine.

Compare that to meeting anonymous people in hallways and occasionally exchanging mumbled greetings. Yes, I have a dog. This means second on my list is Odell Park, where I go willingly or not.

Twice a day. It's Odell or havoc in the home, as Molly, in ways none too subtle, tells me she wants to do something.

But that's OK. I love Odell, though I don't always get to experience it in the contemplative, "commune-with-nature," Thoreau-like way I might prefer. A boxer-border collie mix, the concept of slow is unknown to Molly. Her slowest speed is a frenzied trot so we go through Odell fast and with focus. For me, Odell is literally breathtaking.

And my decision for third? Hang on to your hats.

It's the store.

It may be the Superstore, Sobeys, Victory, or wherever you get groceries. As a friend said to me once: "If you're ever lonely, go to the store. All your friends are there."

And they are! I'm always meeting someone I know when I shop. And I know, at least in a passing way, the people who work in the stores. So there is always someone to have a quick word with. I used to live in much larger cities (Ottawa and Edmonton) and I don't recall this kind of thing in those places.

You may notice that all three of my favourite places involve people. More than anything, it's the people in the places I've named that appeals to me.

In my admittedly limited experience, if Fredericton is anything, it's people.

Without people, any place is just another place.

Bill Wren is a writer, editor and social media guy at the Writelife.net blog. He abandoned Alberta for Fredericton just because he could.

***

Writing on this topic right now is perfect timing for me. I moved to Halifax in June and now that the big stuff is out of the way (settled into a new job and a new apartment), I am finding more and more time to be sentimental about Fredericton. When I first moved, I knew I would miss my friends and family, but I never realized just how much I would miss the city itself.

Easily one of my favourite spots in Fredericton is Odell Park. Even though the deer were always my favourite part (child-Kerys was pretty darn sure they would have made great pets), there's still plenty to enjoy, between sledding and cross-country skiing in the winter, and the trails in the summer.

Another place that I love at all times of the year is the courtyard on STU campus.

I spent five years at STU and it's nearly impossible to attend a day of classes without seeing the beautiful view down the hill and across the river. In the spring and late summer it's nice to spread out and do some homework in the sun, and in the fall nothing beats the sight of the foliage all along the river valley.

The first place I thought of, which I was hesitant to include, was my parents' house.

Obviously everyone has fond memories of the house they grew up in, but this house is important to me for two big reasons.

Obviously it's the house that I visit my parents in now that I no longer live at home.

It's also the place where my boyfriend and I first said "I love you" to each other (when he was living at home in Nova Scotia and I was living at home in Fredericton). Almost most importantly, the house in which my parents currently live is the house that my dad grew up in with his parents, who are no longer with us.

I have vivid memories of Halloween, walking up their street on a crisp fall evening with a plastic bucket for the inevitable marshmallow ice cream cones, or of visiting my grandparents in their art room as they painted (but not for too long, because it was in the basement and there were spiders there).

For most people, their own house might not be the first thing to come to mind as their favourite place, but the more I get away from it (from living there during school, to my own apartment in Fredericton, to my apartment here in Halifax), the more I focus on the great memories I have there and the more I enjoy Fredericton when I get the time to visit.

Kerys Llewellyn is a native Frederictonian now living and working in Halifax.