You make me happy when skies are grey.

You Are My Sunshine

I find it interesting how routines find their way in to our lives. They sneak up on you. One day you just realize that you missed something, "Hey, I didn't get to take a picture of that construction site for my time lapse project. Damn you, El Nina!". They are like a comforting blanket that we wrap around us to keep the winds of change at bay.

Our family has several routines in place that comfort and appease us; Friday night date night, Wednesday music night, Sunday morning pancake breakfast. There have been a lot of changes in my day-to-day schedule over the last several months. The absence of a regular 9-5 job has left me bereft of many of my old routines. I miss that comfort, not to a Rain Man degree, but I certainly miss them. So, Hazel and I are finding our new routines together. It seems like we both feel more at-ease on the days we adhere closer to a schedule.

My favourite daily activity is our walk; we are amblers. Sometimes we have a destination and others we just pick a direction and head out to see what adventures will come our way. Hazel's abundant curiosity is contagious. I watch her to see what sorts of things peak her interest and then I see those things in a new light. She is like a little spotlight focused on the things I forget to notice.

We are very lucky to have a large, hilly park near our home with lots of deciduous trees. More days than not we end up at least passing through this park. It is a perfect looking glass to see the signs of the seasons changing. A few weeks ago we started taking the extra Sunday morning pancakes to the park with us on Monday to feed the birds. Hazel loves watching little animals move around our feet and I love to watch her when she does.