We were in Littleton with our friends, Elizabeth and Louise today. That's us in this photo, heading into the restaurant. We had lunch at "99" and couldn't believe our good luck - today they had lobster rolls on the menu. They don't always have them, but they are super delicious and have a generous amount of lobster meat in them. We make routine stops when we go there for lunch. After lunch we go to Walmart, and from there sometimes a couple other stops (today it was the Pet Store for doggie biscuits for Otto) and just before heading home we got ice cream at McDonald's, and I got a coffee for the ride home.

We then stopped at Hastings so I could pick up the mail and the ladies could pick up some things they needed.
You'll be surprised when you go into Hastings Store next time. The post office has been expanded. The addition, seen in the photo above, extends along the right wall as you face the regular post office window. It will serve the rural carrier, Garey said. Garey will use the space vacated by the rural setup for his computer and printer, etc., and they'll have more room over all for storing packages and as work space. Garey said he's wanted to do this for years, and now, with the help of son-in-law James and a friend, it's almost complete. Looks really nice. This picture is the new section set up for sorting the rural mail.

As we were leaving Hastings, we met Richard Fortin. He and his wife, Janet, live at the end of the bridge going west out of West Danville on Rt. 2. I was surprised when he said that his home was not in Bill Rossi's new picture book. The Fortin cottage is one of the older buildings on the pond, and he was interested in seeing pictures of the school building when it was located next to his house. I promised to give him some copies of old pictures showing that - and probably was might be at least part of his present house.

Liz and John Randall are here and e-mailed pictures of "Riley", their new dog. I think I told you about him - they got him a few weeks ago at a shelter in N. Carolina that takes in animals to save them from being euthanized. He's a lucky puppy. Liz said she's pretty sure he's never seen anything like the snow or the water. He's a very young dog, and who knows what experiences he may or may not have had. Liz said he was a little timid, but seemed to be taking everything in. That's John with him on the end of their dock.

We came down Harrington Hill Road when we left this morning. That road is pretty good, especially the upper end. Where the road comes through the field towards Rt. 15 and crosses Joe's Brook, it's pretty rough, but very passable. Fred got a picture of the brook, not over its banks but running pretty full. All that snow we had has melted and there's lots of water running into the pond via brooks off the hills. This brook flows along Rt. 15, then Channel Drive and enters the pond as part of "the channel," at the north end. There is another branch of the channel that comes from the kettle ponds just west of this brook.

We were surprised at how much further along spring seems to be in the Littleton area. We saw lots of flowers, forsythia and rhododendron in bloom, both in Littleton and St. Johnsbury. Not so much in Danville and West Danville! About all we have produced around here so far are daffodils, but we've been promised a stretch of pretty nice weather beginning tomorrow, so things will begin to pick up.