Here’s my perfect day.  You’d think it would involve the beach and lots of sunshine, or maybe a river, or a mountain. But I am in fact reveling in my perfect day right now.

My husband and I have an older home, built in the 20s.  It’s brick with lots of hardwood floors and real wood doors, tall ceilings and archways.  And we were lucky enough to find a house with a screened-in porch.  For those of you who do not live in the South, the idea of a screened-in porch may not seem all that important.  But we live below “The Gnat Line” in Georgia and not only are the gnats bad but so are the mosquitoes.  So if you want to enjoy the out-of-doors in Georgia you’d better have a screened-in porch.

And I have one.  My handy, teacher husband spent one summer rebuilding, re-screening and painting the ceiling of my screened-in porch.  The porch is 10 by 20 feet just off my living room and is bricked like the rest of the house with arched openings on three sides.  When we moved in we added a ceiling fan for those warm summer days and nights.  In the morning the porch gets a bit of sun, but the worst of the day’s heat is focused at the west side of the house, and so the brick sides and red tile floor help keep my porch cool on warm days.

Now today is a perfect day for a number of reasons.  It is a holiday and so my husband is home and no schoolwork beckons for the 6 year old.  Autumn is peeking its lovely head out in the mornings now, the thermometer dipping below 70 degrees for a blessed few hours.  But clouds have kept the sun from allowing that temperature to move up today and so I am here, in a sweater and pajama pants, sipping coffee and reading a book.  The wind blows through the trees that surround my house.  The robins, thrashers and cardinals are chirping their way from branch to branch.  The squirrels are scampering from pecan tree to pecan tree storing up for winter.  I can see the tree house in the backyard and the chickens in their pen.  I hear my boys inside, and not one of us has turned on a moment of visual entertainment since climbing from our beds.

Please excuse me now.  There’s more coffee to make, more book to read and more of this perfect day to enjoy.

Copyright 2009 Katherine Barron