"Come let's enjoy our winecup today"

"O Day after day we can't help growing older.

Year after year spring can't help seeming younger.

Come let's enjoy our winecup today,

Nor pity the flowers fallen."

-   Wang Wei, On Parting with Spring

Oh, how true that "day after day we can't help growing older" - and feeling older!  I worked late every day this week, arriving home after most people have settled in front of their TVs or are busy putting the children to bed.  But the evenings were cool, and my husband was waiting on the deck for me.  We delayed dinner late enough to relax and unwind, and then continued enjoying the fresh air by eating our dinner on the deck.
When I was growing up, without air-conditioning, we ate all of our summer meals on the screened porch.  We knew summer had arrived when we were allowed to drink iced tea, go barefoot, and eat on the porch.
Since moving to this house with it's large back deck and relatively private backyard, we've spent as much time as possible enjoying the outdoors.  What a great way to "enjoy our winecup today"!

Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit.  A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world.  ~Ada Louise Huxtable