Perfect Day: The beach in full summer
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As part of the perfect day project, I like to record whenever we have an exceptionally good day. These are days that fill our souls and remind us how joyous life can be. It is our hope to recreate these days in early retirement. We often consider Perfect Days to be practicing for early retirement. When we have full control over our time, we believe we will be able to spend our days doing what we most enjoy.

Like previous perfect days, this one came together rather spontaneously. Weekends have been extra special during the pandemic because of the opportunity to unplug and step outside our four walls. Working from home has been great, but one side effect is that I find it more difficult to stop working at the end of the day. One Friday, Mr. Vine declared that he wanted to visit the beach that weekend. The weather looked uncertain, but we decided to try anyway. We had a backup plan in case the weather or crowds were unfavorable. 

We invited a friend over to join us. That Saturday morning we ran a few errands and came home to get started on brunch. Mr. Vine had also asked me to make a cheesecake. I began putting that together. Our brunch included breakfast potatoes cooked with goodies like scallions, kale and garlic scapes, all from our community shared agriculture (“CSA”) box. We added scrambled eggs and pastured bacon. An extra special treat was cinnamon raisin bread from a local bakery (picked up on our earlier errands). We then headed to the beach.

We hiked a mile through the woods to get to a quieter, more private spot on the beach. The weather looked nicer than predicted. We enjoyed a few drinks on the sand. We waded into the chilly water; it was a little cool for a true swim. As the afternoon waned, we packed up for the hike back to the car so we could head home for dinner. 

Dinner was eggplant parmigiana with caprese salad. We can thank the summer bounty of our CSA for fresh, garden tomato and basil for a tasty caprese salad. The CSA also inspired our eggplant parmigiana, providing the produce and the recipe. For dessert, we enjoyed slices of homemade cheesecake.

It was a simple day but we had no appointments, deadlines or schedule to keep. We did a lot, but it was all on our schedule. We enjoyed the best of summer in our region–sun, sand, fresh produce–all in good company. I could handle more summer days just like this one!

How has the pandemic changed perfect days for you? Are you still able to enjoy a perfect day? What is your favorite season in your hometown? What does your perfect day look like?

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