The Perfect Summer Day

What is your definition of a "perfect summer day"?
My definition is a summer day that starts out sunny but cool and ends with a high of 80- 85. Just warm enough but not too hot. As long as you don't have to be out physically laboring in the hottest part of the day it is just perfect.

I wake up to the sun streaming in my bedroom and lots of neighborhood noise through the window I left open all night. I throw my covers all the way back, throw open the window all the way and let summer do its magic on my whole bedroom, leaving it fresh and crisp when I return for another balmy night's sleep that night.
I like it warm enough to enjoy iced tea and a BBQ after work but probably not hot enough to get the mosquitos going.
The evenings of such days here in the Portland area are still warm enough for a brisk walk with the dog but not humid. Walking through the neighborhoods, open doors seem to bring us all together and no one seems too worried about someone bursting into their home uninvited but then you read that it does happen even in good neighborhoods sometimes.

Still , I like the relaxed attitude of those open doors in a neighborhood where that kind of crime is usually unlikely. Why, if someone started something, half the neighborhood would respond because their doors were open too.

I don't really care about heavy weeding or planting at this point, as long as someone mows the lawn and the watering system keeps it watered one can just finally enjoy the yard. Raspberries, strawberries, and a few blueberries hang waiting for a leisure stroller to pluck them from their stems, flowers burst in color and fragrance now with so little effort. Tomato vines show evidence of soon to be enjoyed red fruit, sliced on a platter next to whatever gets BBQed that night. These are the high rewards of gardening.

Maybe it is the warmth and the longer evenings with daylight lasting as late as 9:30, but these are my favorite days of the year.