We had a very nice day today. First of all, the day was mostly sunny! After all the snow squalls and wind, it was really nice to get outside and feel spring in the air. There was still a bit of wind, especially in West Danville (of course!) but for all of that, the sunny intervals seemed to outnumber the brief episodes of spitting snow.

Mid-morning we set off with some things to drop at The Open Door, in Danville. It was especially nice to learn that Bobbie, one of the volunteers, was a blog reader! There were two other volunteers there, Ollie, and I'm afraid I didn't catch the name of the other lady, but we were both impressed with how clean, well kept, organized and well stocked they are with used items. Fred checked out the food shelf in the back, and then we had to get going as we were picking up our granddaughter, Jo-Ann, to spend the day with us. We enjoyed our stop at The Open Door and I wish I'd had time to look around. They have lots of interesting things.

Jo-Ann was waiting for us at Thurston Auto with her dad. She presented me with a package of Rice Krispies Treats which I will share with Grampa Fred. She brought a Valentine with lollipops attached for us when she visited a couple weeks ago.

We stopped at Hastings and Jo-Ann met Garey, Jennie, and Alyssa, who gave us a big wave and enthusiastic "Hi!" Alyssa is growing fast and will be talking whole sentences by summer, I bet.

After lunch we went for a walk along Brickett's Crossing Road to find some early pussy willows. The horses were in the big field, and one was especially friendly, but Jo-Ann was a little wary of him. A whole different sort of animal than she's used to. Lions, camels and giraffes don't faze her, but the horse, and even Woody when he makes an unexpected leap onto her lap, are worrisome for her.

Here are today's pictures: Slide Show

Tomorrow I'll put together a slide show of some pictures taken in Namibia when Bill and Monika went there to get Jo-Ann. We were going to put some into an album today, but we ran out of time, what with chasing pussy willows and pegging snowballs at utility poles along the way. Jo-Ann told us in Namibia people build their houses in groups, close together, and wondered why houses here are often so far apart and not in clusters. About all I could come up with was that many people in Vermont were originally farmers and needed the extra land around their homes to support their livestock; but I think it is probably due to a cultural difference, too.

We had a nice day all around.