Carlene Hill Byron is a writer, ghostwriter and editor who lives in Topsham. Photo by Tom Scheel/Positive Profile Photography

Carlene Hill Byron is a writer, ghostwriter and editor who lives in Topsham. Her first book, “Not Quite Fine: Mental Health, Faith, and Showing Up for One Another” (Herald Press), is available at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick.

My perfect day starts at my desk where I look through a scrim of woods (and past my screen of words) over a narrow stretch of marsh that goes gold as the first sun hits it. Because it’s a perfect day, the words keep flowing until I decide it’s time for breakfast.

I brew two cups of Original Blend Dunkin in my traditional drip machine (no K-cup waste here!), then sit down with the print Portland Press Herald and a bowl of oatmeal cooked with chopped Honeycrisp apples, some of our family’s wild blueberries, and cinnamon. Next, over to Wilcox Wellness & Fitness in Brunswick for a boxing workout. I love this “group personal training” gym where I always see at least two or three friends and where the positive vibes are getting my body moving in ways it never has over six-plus decades.

Harpswell painter Margaret Leonard swings by later for a run to Lewiston and Auburn. Since it’s a perfect day, the Auburn Novelty Shop is open. Its five floors are jampacked with every kind of antique and junk, including, very often, pieces of the everyday china Margaret’s mother used. I want to make a new duvet cover, so we fly in and out of Fabric Warehouse in Auburn, where I’ve bought most of the drapery fabrics for my home.

Although we frequently choose international cuisine along Lisbon Street in Lewiston, today’s lunch is a very self-indulgent Monte Cristo at the Kopper Kettle in Topsham before Margaret goes back to her studio.

The Kopper Kettle Restaurant in Topsham. Darcie Moore / The Times Record

At home again, I pack some five-gallon buckets in my car and run over to our family farm in Brunswick where I visit with my brother and load composted manure for my neighborhood gardens. I stop at Gulf of Maine Books to pick up my most recent order (a juvenile by a writers’ group member) and chat with owners Gary Lawless and Beth Leonard (yes, that’s Margaret’s sister).

The front window at Brunswick’s Gulf of Maine Books. Laura Sitterly/ The Times Record

Late afternoon is good for puttering. I look through recipes and decide I’ll take the usual to a weekend potluck brunch – a blueberry streusel coffee cake based on a recipe in my 1940s Fannie Farmer. I add a few ingredients to my Market Basket list, then, before the sun sets, walk the short trail loop along the marsh behind my home, clipping some winterberry branches for seasonal decorations.

The marsh where Carlene Hill Byron sources her winterberries for seasonal decorations. Photo by Carlene Hill Byron

After a bit of rest, I head across the street because my neighbor, Linda Colwell – a semi-retired hospital dietician – is hosting one of her remarkable international nights. She’ll serve a dinner of dishes from some nation of her choice, letting Siri generate a culturally correct music soundtrack for the meal. Then we’ll watch a movie from the same country. The night we watched “Casablanca,” we ate a North African shakshuka she cooked in her tagine. I never fail to learn something new from this friend.

The perfect day ends with a perfect cup of Irish tea, a cuddle with my kitty (whose name is Irish), and cozying under a thick comforter. A few stars show through the skylights whose first light will wake me tomorrow.