While a nice, bright, sunny day does a lot to improve my mood and make me feel energized, you won't find me complaining about the recent spate of dark and gloomy weather we've been having. Sure, I'd like to head out to the pool. We have a ton of outside projects that need to get started. The kids have been clamoring to set off on many of the adventures we have planned for the summer.

Personally, though, I am enjoying the slow, wet, chilly start to our summer. All these gray clouds have their share of silver linings.To me, gloomy days are all about comfort food. I usually put my Dutch oven and slow cooker away when the warm weather arrives. However, the past few weeks have found me whipping up a batch of soup one night, and then serving it with grilled cheese sandwiches or quesadillas for the rest of the week. This quick and easy meal plan has served us well as last-minute cancellations or rescheduled baseball games have made our schedule unpredictable.The kids have also just about mastered the art of making the grilled cheese. E prefers to toast her bread in the toaster, and then pop it in the microwave to melt the cheese. A and G follow more of a purist recipe, and use the grill pan and press to create a sandwich that is not only perfectly toasted, but could appear in an ad for grilled cheese.Gloomy days put a damper on the myriad outdoor chores that really need to get done. At some point, the lawn is going to have to get mowed, and the porch is going to have to get sealed, and some masonry work is going to need to be finished. At the rate things are going, they're all going to be crammed into a sunny weekend in August, when the temps are in the 90s. But for now, we are making the most of the sun not shining.Since we've had a few rained-out weekends, I've been able to catch up on most of the indoor chores, and with the kids being out of school, we don't have any projects or homework hanging over our heads. I've managed to spend some quality time on the couch reading more books in the past month than I have in the last year. To keep my brain from completely turning into mush, I'm in the middle of Ron Chernow's biography of George Washington.I've plowed through a pile of mindless, beach reads, and I'm currently getting through George Saunders' "Lincoln in the Bardo." I'm always a happier person when I'm reading, and the kids have been following my example, flying through books that I thought would last them until at least July. Running out of reading material is a good problem to have, and we are going to get back into a regular routine of going to the library every week.There does come a time, though, when you need to get outside and get some air regardless of what the weather is doing. G and I headed out for a walk the other evening. The two of us fit comfortably under a golf umbrella and trekked around town for about an hour. I'm not sure if it was the view from under the umbrella, or just a different atmosphere, but G was full of "I never noticed that before" observations about town. We also discovered that he's not quite tall enough to be the chief umbrella holder. We executed a little dance when I would switch hands holding the umbrella, where he would maneuver around to my other side to stay under the umbrella. It doesn't sound like much, but it became a challenge for us to execute the maneuver without breaking stride, and wow, did we feel accomplished when we did it. It may have just been a break in the monotony, or getting away from his siblings for a few minutes, but whatever the reason, G has asked when we can go for another "rain walk" and I hope we get a few more in before summer arrives.The best part of rainy weather is that it makes for good sleeping weather. The cooler temps mean that we can sleep with the windows open, but still need to cover up with a thick blanket. There is nothing more soothing than listening to a heavy, soaking rainfall as you drift off to sleep, and no better feeling than waking up in the morning, hearing the rain, and being able to sleep in for another hour or two. A few late-night and early morning thunder rumbles have sent the kids scurrying into our bed, and I'm grateful for a few precious moments that my growing-up-way-too-fast, big kids still need their mommy.No doubt the weather will turn and in a few weeks, or maybe even days, we will be complaining about the heat and the sun, and sporting second-degree sunburns. I will be back to refusing to even turn on the stove, let alone cook something hot for dinner, and I will abandon walking in favor of heading to the pool to cool off for a few hours. Until then, I'll be curled up on the couch with a cup of cocoa, watching the next season of "House of Cards," listening to the rain beat on the window panes.Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.