"Summer Surf", oil, by Joe Mancuso

Yesterday was as unsullied and sunlit a summer day as anyone could want. I celebrated it with, first, a brisk 30-minute climb up and down the stairs in the park, then back home for a veggie omelet spiced with Worcestershire sauce and Tobasco, then some pleasant editing of my teaching journal, then a little laid-back reading, followed by a seafood salad sandwich and icy milk for lunch, then an uplifting bike ride out to the beach for an hour of fun with my sons in the rowdy surf, then an unruffled ride back home to get ready for an evening at school for a reunion of scholars and colleagues from long ago, then back home through the evening streets for a glass of Chardonnay and a look at the news and the Red Sox.