Here is my idea of a perfect summer day! Enjoying time with the family on the lake. Usually I bring along a good book to read on the ride. Can never seem to have too many days like this. Craig has been planning a birthday surprise for me since February and today I finally found out what it is! Then we get to dinner and Maureen shows up! What an amazing surprise! May 17, 2012.

A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and then dripped over and was gone, and the sky was brilliant over the spot where it had gone, and a torn cloud, like a bloody rag, hung over the spot of its going. And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.

First up, a pair of chilled out anglers taking it easy on a river near Salmon la Sac in Washington. These snoozing horses in Skagit Valley. Have definitely got a handle on how to keep things mellow.