"I am but mad north-northwest...

...when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw."

Sometimes I'm embarrassed by how much of an emotional weathervane I am. My outlook on life often seems entirely shaped by external circumstances; those proverbial sunny days that keep those clouds away make me happy and anything else makes me...very much not happy.

Not enough sleep? I'm surly all day. Miss one of my daily constitutionals? Watch out, kids. Hit all of the red lights on the way to school? Don't even bother asking for assistance with your colouring.

I'm working on being more anchored, more stable, more "be still and know that I am God"-ish. In the meantime, I'm grateful (as is my family) for nice, sunny days like today.

The day began with coffee and a walk around the lake - just like every day should. No sooner had I got home than the doorbell rang.

"Hi, I'm your next door neighbour. I'm a sophomore in high school, and I noticed you had kids; I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need a babysitter, I'm available - here's my phone number."

(Of course, said children were in full Saturday AM cartoon mode - see previous post on the new member of the family - and for some reason they were not wearing clothes, so I didn't introduce her to her proposed charges.)

Then, after a sturdy brunch of homemade waffles and hashbrown casserole (my arteries feel like I went to Cracker Barrel - yum), we walked down to the lake to play at the park and take the trolley.

Standing outside the trolley. The Girl is clearly excited.
Riding on the trolley. The excitement is palpable.
Now *that's* more like it! (You can see the bandstand and the lake in the distance behind her)

We broke up the long walk home with a stop into the most incredible children's bookstore I've ever seen. There is a dedicated door just for kids, animals wandering throughout the store (a chicken and two cats usually have the run of the place, and I've seen a chinchilla take a spin around in one of those balls) and the walls are lined with books.

Finally, home in time to rake some leaves:

(You will notice, of course, that the leaves are *maple* leaves - we're even patriotic when we do our fall cleaning.)

So today was a sunny day. Good timing, as the forecast here calls for rain for the next four days. Fortunately, the kids and I are headed back to Canada next week for a few days, so hopefully I (and therefore, they) can escape the full brunt of this flighty rooster atop her weathervane.

P.S. 10 points to the first commenter who can identify the source of today's post title - without the use of a computer.