When the songs of the birds has just about drowned out the sound of traffic, and my nose is beginning to run, I know I’m in the right place. This is where I want to work.

I’ve found a bench to sit on because, once again, I’ve forgotten a towel to place on the wet grass. I find the one mostly clean spot on the one bench along this path. It looks like someone had a dance party on the rest of it the last time it rained.

Few people walk by here. Every so often someone comes by walking their dog, which just means that I’ll need to be careful about where I walk because people don’t always pick up afterward, especially not here in the woods. And there goes the occasional runner while the whine of an electric saw provides his background music.

Yes, it’s here that I can work.

And if the sun decides to make more of a show of it today, I can move to a more open spot where I can catch some rays, brushing past the heavy scent of honeysuckle on my way.

Looking out over an open field where a baby runs giggling down the slope, he loses his precarious balance only to pick himself up again and run off giggling once more. His mother, chatting in rapid French on her phone looks on with a bored eye, sometimes not at all. A yellow lab thunders past the baby tossing him onto his behind again. He sits, watching the animal with awe.

This is summer to me. Walking to the woods. Working outside. Enjoying the warmth of the days. Even here in perpetually raining Brussels, I’m taking advantage of the time I have to be outside.

My mind works better outside. It works better for having the walk to get here. My imagination can expand in the open and yet not too much that it wanders away from where I need it to go. The woods, the trees, they keep me centered and allow me to focus.

This is working in the summer.

Where do you work when it gets warm? Do you take a break from your usual work space or continue on as usual?

And just a small note– A Dandy in Disguise is on sale for the coming week at 99cents… just because.