Partly sunny day

I love the smell of lilac. I love spring. (Have I mentioned that before?) I love a baby-sitter and a Starbucks giftcard. I love a sunny day.
Chicago averages 84 sunny days a year. That's 23 percent of the year. No wonder summer always feels like barely three months and never longer. This is why you see people on the beach in their bikinis in 65 degree heat (this does not include me) when the sun is still just coming and going between the sprinkling clouds (above). Because we want more! And we'll take whatever glimpses of the sun we can get. I don't know how you all in the Pacific Northwest and parts of Alaska do it. (Cold Bay, Alaska averages 10! That's days, not percent.)
We'll be getting our share of sun in the next few weeks as we travel tomorrow to visit family in Texas, where my parents average 135 sunny days a year. Yay! I'm looking forward to seeing my newly oversunned sister, as well, who has recently relocated to the 160-sunny-days-a-year San Francisco. To see how your hometown averages, see here.
I'm not sure how much access I'll have to blogging in the next week or two, but I may try that new-fangled scheduled-post feature to share some recipes and vintage goodies and things I have stored up on here. Or I may be so active with the kids and on the computer every day that I have new things to post about. Or I may be nowhere near a computer. Whatever happens, I'll be back!
Here are a few pics from my walk outside on Friday.