Working from a nicer place

If you are looking for business content, Stop. You won’t likely get any from this blog.

It is Easter weekend and I am working from a nicer place. Specifically, I opened the cottage this weekend. The cottage is in Northern Ontario, on the side of a lake, in the middle of nowhere. I usually don’t have cell phone reception, but this weekend because the leaves are not yet on the trees, I have enough signal to intermittently connect and emails are pushed to my phone.

The cottage is a cabin, nothing fancy. We do have electricity and running water but the first task in the spring is to hook up the water system which means putting the water line into the lake and priming the pump. I have high speed satellite internet and satellite TV, so we aren’t completely in the stone age, but it is a different life here.

I usually don’t open the cottage this early. Spring is late this year. The area had 8 inches of snow on Wednesday and the ice on the lake is just starting to break up.

Yesterday was beautiful, clear and sunny with temperatures starting in the morning at the freezing point but warming through the day to plus 8 degrees Celsius. Fortunately, today is pouring rain because I have two major presentations to prepare which will take most of the day. Hence the title, “Working from a nicer place”.

So people ask me why I drive 5 hours each way for a long weekend to go to a place where I am just going to spend time working. They say a picture says a thousand words, so here is my answer in the form of my view yesterday as I sat on the deck reading.

Why else.

I can only describe this place as “Centering” . I do my best thinking when I am here. I sleep better. I relax. Even though, I am still working just like I would be at home.

Tomorrow, the sun is supposed to return. Johnny and Billy, who run the local maple sugar operation, are doing the last boil of the season so I’ll go help. I’ll probably do some more work in the early morning before going to the sugar bush. Monday, I drive home.

In the meantime, it is working from a nice place for me. Here are some of my other images from the weekend.