This week, I’ve been at Squam. Each year, my family spends a week at a lakehouse on Squam Lake. It’s one of my favorite places on the planet, for a variety of reasons ranging from just enjoying the space and the peace and quiet, to a lot of good memories with friends and family. It’s sort of a sanctuary for me, and as a result, also tends to be when I take the time to write and create and tweak websites and do other random cruft. I look forward to it each year, and always wish I could find ways to extend the time, but you do what you can with the time you have.
I reference Squam on here pretty often, so I thought I might explain a bit more about the space. The house we stay in was built ~100 years ago by my great grandfather and his father-in-law, and it’s been in the family ever since.
Down the slope from the house, there’s a boat house and dock, which is a pretty great spot to hang out: even on a windy day, usually the wind is deflected by the shape of the cove. There’s a float to swim out to, and the water is somewhere between “refreshing” and comfortable depending on the time of year.
Out between the house and the dock is the point, which sort of bisects the cove (and provides that welcome windbreak for the dock). There’s a gazebo, wild blueberry bushes, a fire pit, and a secluded bench right on the water that’s great for watching sunsets or activity on the lake (or to just sit and have a good think).
It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it scratches a certain itch for me: it’s somewhere that I feel like I can go at my own pace, and feel like those base needs on Maslow’s Hierarchy are covered enough that I find myself having room to think about other things. I can (mostly) relax, and that’s a great feeling.