This picture just plain makes me happy, so I wanted to share it and say, Happy Summer!

We're about a day and a half into it -- the solstice clocked this year at 5:45 Greenwich Mean Time on June 21 — a bit after midnight yesterday on America’s east coast, and 9:45 Saturday night on the west.

The longer days and warmer temperatures, and (if we’re lucky) looser schedules just tend to bring on a sense of relaxation. Our shoulders drop a little and our lungs expand. In Summer, the sun kisses our faces and causes children’s heights to spurt.

It’s the season of wearing less clothing; leaving work earlier; seeing good friends more often, eating fresh, tree-ripened fruit; and spending nights playing games or gazing at stars. In Summer, time moves just a little more slowly.

This weekend's unusually warm Bay Area weather has meant enjoying outdoor music, buying lemonade from a local stand, and taking a long Father's Day bike ride and then later watching the sky turn indigo as the first full night of Summer arrived.

I wish you all a happy, relaxed, fulfilled, sensual Summer, as you enjoy warmth, family, friends, time, nature, play, and maybe a joyful activity or two that somehow gets squeezed out of a typical year.

Here's another photo I took that says Summer to me.